Page 71 of The Warlock's Trial

Lucas snatched the drawing from her hands, terror filling his wide eyes. “This looks like the Wand falling into the demon’s pit. It’s got to be a recreation of a Seer’s vision, which means the priestesses know where to find the Wand. I don’t understand how they managed to get this information when the Wands can’t be tracked.”

“A Seer could’ve been looking into our past, or Professor Leto’s, and seen what played out that night,” I pointed out. “The Mentalist Wand could’ve appeared in the vision, even if it can’t be tracked on its own.”

“Do you think they’ve been to the Abyss yet?” Grant wondered.

Talia flipped through more pages. “According to these notes, they’ve tried summoning demons for answers, but no one is willing to strike a deal with them after what happened to Professor Leto.”

“I’m surprised they’re willing to work with demons at all after what he did,” Chloe said. “He was uncontrollable. These women don’t take kindly to being out of control.”

“Which means they’re going to be looking for other options, just like we are,” I pointed out. “We have to get to the Abyss before the priestesses do. With all the coven’s power of mind manipulation in their hands, they could do more harm to the coven than ever before.”

Lucas crushed the drawing in his hands. “Then let’s get moving.”

We hurried out of the room and down the hall. We were met with nothing but empty halls as we turned the corners?—

Until we came to a screeching halt in the Main Foyer. Our cats hissed and backed away. Ten Executors stood in a row, blocking the doors. Several of them held wands, while others had battle orbs at the ready.

Lucas grabbed the back of my cloak and yanked me in the opposite direction. We ducked down the hallway a moment before the battle orbs exploded right where I’d been standing.

Lucas put an index finger to his lips. “Shh… they’ll forget they ever saw us.”

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” an Executor taunted.

Chloe’s voice trembled, which was so unlike her. “I gave everything I had to that last spell. When we cast out those spirits, our disguise broke.”

“We can run, but we don’t know where the exits are anymore,” Grant pointed out. “The Executors won’t hesitate to hurt us.”

Lucas shook his head. “We don’t have to run. We have two Oaken Wands. What do they have? An over-inflated sense of ego?”

“If we face them, they’ll die,” Talia stated. She wasn’t protesting, more or less stating a fact. She wanted to make sure we were okay with that.

“We’re in the middle of a war,” Chloe said. “We can’t keep pretending that we can spare the people who want us dead. Let’s kill these fuckers.”

Footsteps approached slowly. “Come out and face us,” an Executor sneered. “Unless you’re too scared.”

The others laughed, as if they actually believed we’d be scared of them.

I exchanged a glance with Lucas, and he nodded, like he knew exactly what I was thinking. “We won’t kill innocent people,” I said. “So we’ll give them a choice.”

Lucas’s voice remained steady as he shouted around the corner. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourselves into. Fight us, and you’ll die. We’re giving you the option to walk away now.”

“Or what?” one of them laughed. “You’ll cast a little curse on us? We’ll kill each of your friends one by one, saving the Curse Breaker for last, so she can watch. There will be no trial this time.”

Lucas had heard enough. He grabbed his wand and leapt around the corner. I barely blinked before a powerful battle spell erupted out of the end of his wand. It connected with an Executor’s stomach and blasted him off his feet and straight through the front doors of the mansion. The wood crumbled, and I was certain the Executor had to be dead from the blow.

My friends and I quickly followed, and our cats hissed as spells shot all throughout the room. Battle orbs smashed into the front of Lucas’s shield and ricocheted back at the Executors. Chloe threw her hands apart, and her telekinesis sent the Executors flying into the walls.

We ran for the door. We were barely two paces away when one of the Executors on the ground reached out and grabbed the hem of my cloak. I tripped and caught myself on my palms, then promptly spun around and slammed my foot into his face. He reeled back the same time a female Executor lunged for me.

She landed on the ground beside me. I caught sight of an eye tattooed on her skin as her arm curled around my neck, pinning my back to her front. Physically, she was strong, like the kind of girl who’d been on the wrestling team. She certainly knew how to put someone into a headlock.

“Tell me where you and your little friends have been hiding!” she sneered.

I gasped for breath, and past my panic, my Curse Breaker powers sensed her magic invading my mind. She was trying to read my thoughts, and terror rocked through me. I tried to push her out of my mind, but she only pressed further. If this was how I died, I wasn’t taking any of my friends with me. I thought of anything but the safe house, but I felt her creeping past each wall I tried to throw up to block her.

“Get off her, you bitch!” Talia cried. She leapt in front of me, and the end of the Seer Wand began to glow. Slowly, I felt the Seer’s magic leave my mind. Talia kicked the girl in the face as hard as she could, and she loosened her hold on me.

The other Executor was already back on his feet, and a spell crackled in his palm, aimed at me. I barely had a moment to process it before Lucas jumped on him. He tackled the Executor, and they stumbled into the wall near the fireplace. The Executor lifted his crackling hand to deliver the deadly blow, but Lucas was faster than he was. My husband grabbed the Executor by the head and smashed his face into the mantle.

---