Page 23 of The Fearless Witch

She licked her lips, looking straight at me while fear overtook the hate in her gaze.

“She’s right,” Malakai said from behind me, and when I looked up, his brows were creased in concentration. “I’ve seen it before, a long time ago. But why can’t we feel the magic? Even I didn’t notice.”

Alice swallowed loudly, looking down at Lily’s stomach with a mix of anger and unease.

“It’s because it’s moving.” She placed her hand on the right side of the girl’s chest, then to her stomach, then back up. I focused on the trajectory, trying to follow whatever she was pointing to, but I could see nothing. Malakai must have had better luck because he murmured something under his breath and kneeled beside her. I felt his magic brush against me, gliding over the unconscious girl and sinking into her skin. “The spell acts like a parasite,” Alice continued. “Moving through her body and infecting her organs one by one. The decay starts inside where nobody can see and once it reaches the final stages, it shows up on her skin.” She ran her fingers through her dark hair, her growing horror making the air in the room suffocating. “I’ve seen it before while with the sisters of Eternal Light. She has a day at best until the decay spreads to her brain, and then…”

She swallowed loudly, catching Lily’s hand and squeezing it desperately. I didn’t stop her this time.

“Why didn’t the mark protect her? We haven’t left the house since Celeste vanished,” Kevin asked breathlessly. I hadn’t noticed him move closer, but when I looked at him again, he was holding his daughter’s other hand between his. “Wasn’t it supposed to protect us from any malicious intent? It protected Lily from that hunter when he attacked her!”

Tears were now rolling down his cheeks, his eyes looking even more sunken than before.

“This spell doesn’t attack directly as a person would. It works slowly, over days or weeks, and targets one’s vitality so she just grows weaker and weaker until her body can’t sustain itself. She might have been infected long before Celeste disappeared.” Alice explained, touching his shoulder gently. “It’s like a rapidly progressing illness that moves and evolves so the mark doesn’t know where the attack is coming from.”

Kevin let out a quiet sob, pressing his palm over his mouth.

“Can you fix her?” I asked, and my stomach hollowed when Alice closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Only magic can fight magic. You need a witch to heal her and I… I’m not one.”

“The Coven of Eternal Light,” Isaac said, and when I looked at him, he was already getting to his feet. “We can drive her there and they can heal her. I know the way, so if we hurry—”

“Moving her will only accelerate the process,” Alice sighed. “We can try reaching them by other means and pray one of them decides to translocate here, but…” Her shoulders caved in and her voice only grew quieter. “They don’t keep in contact with many people from the outside world. If we can speak to the Blacktooth pack and beg for their help, maybe they can relay an urgent message...”

The way Isaac’s eyes dimmed told me he had no means to do that either. A low, whining sound tore from his sister’s chest, and in a heartbeat, he was beside her, squeezing her shoulders.

“You can claim her. Your healing will give us the extra time we need to get her to the witches,” he said, but before I could protest, Alice grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged his face to hers.

“I will never do that to her! I’d rather both of us die than take away her choice!” Her eyes flashed golden for a moment and she glared at her brother with even more venom, then pushed him away from her.

“Wait, both of you?” Kevin asked, looking between Alice and his daughter in confusion. “What does that mean?”

Alice opened her mouth but then closed it, looking down at Lily instead. Kevin turned to me, but I ignored him as well. If Lily hadn’t told her parents about it, then that was her business. My business was keeping her alive.

“We need to find another witch to break the hex. A willing one. That’s the only chance we have,” Alice said with renewed determination.

“And where do you suggest we find one?” Isaac ran a hand through his hair, snarling in frustration. “They have locked themselves in the city and I don’t think they’d be in a very cooperative mood even if we managed to drag one of them out here. We need to at least try to get her to the sisters or—”

“I have a witch, but I’m not sure how much she could help,” I said, and they all looked at me with surprise.

“Celeste is not here, so we don’t—” Isaac started, but I shook my head.

“I’m not talking about Celeste.”

Getting to my feet, I looked at the others. They weren’t going to take that well, but at this point, I didn’t care.

“Where is she?” Alice scrambled to her feet, her previous hostility forgotten as she drew to my side. Her gaze was full of the hope and desperation I knew too well, eyes darting down to the girl as if she was counting her breaths.

“My dungeon.”

I expected her reaction to be of disgust or more hate, like before, but she just nodded readily.

“You have a dungeon?” Daniel snarled in indignation. “What else is in your dungeon?”

“Snarl at me again and you’re going to find out,” I snapped. He took a step in my direction, but his son held him back. When a hand clasped my arm, I looked at Alice to find her staring at me with singular resolve.

“Take me to her,” she pleaded. The room quieted, and I didn’t need to see the others’s faces to feel their shock. “I’ll get her to help.”

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