Page 107 of The Black Witch

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Kindred

That evening I trudge back to the North Tower, lugging books and notes. A rancid, churning hatred fuels my every step. I picture hurling Ariel across the room, ripping at those foul wings of hers.

My hands balled into tight fists, I storm up the tower’s spiraling staircase, enter the hall and freeze.

Ariel is lying passed out on the floor, her wings limp behind her. Wynter is cradling her, frantically murmuring in Elvish. She looks up at me, wide-eyed and horrified.

Ariel’s chicken is dead.

Lukas found it somehow.

It hangs from the door, two stakes driven through its breast, its head dangling. Its severed wings are staked on either side of the animal’s body. Blood streaks down the door and pools on the floor below.

“Oh, no,” I breathe. “Oh, Ancient One.”

“She passed out,” Wynter tells me, her heavily accented voice strange to my ears. “It was too much to bear. The winged...it was a kindred.”

I’m reeling in confusion. “A kindred?”

“The wingeds. We can speak to them. With our minds.” Silent tears begin to streak down Wynter’s pale face. “Ariel loved this one,” she says, crying now. “Elloren Gardner...why did you do this?”

My throat goes dry. “I...I never meant for this to happen.”

“This could break her. Make her turn.”

My head is spinning. “Make her turn?”

Ariel suddenly convulses in Wynter’s arms, her body writhing, her face contorted with misery. Then Ariel’s eyes fly open, and she swivels to face me. She recoils at the sight of me at first, but quickly recovers, her eyes taking on a frightening glow. She slowly pushes herself away from Wynter, her gaze fixed tight on mine as Wynter frantically murmurs to her in Elvish.

Wings slowly unfurling, Ariel rises.

My heart pounds as I back away.

“I. Will. Kill. You!”She pushes Wynter aside and leaps at me.

My world descends into chaos as Ariel slams me to the ground. Her fists, her nails, her kicking feet are everywhere all at once, punching me, scratching me, beating me as I frantically try to fight her off. The metallic taste of blood fills my mouth as fear courses through my system. Wynter frantically yells something at Ariel as she tries, unsuccessfully, to pry Ariel off me. But Ariel is strong and scrappy. My flailing, grasping arms are only able to slightly lessen her blows, not stop even one of them.

And then, as she kneels on top of me, my hands tight around her wrists, Ariel abruptly weakens. Her lips curl back into a terrifying hiss as her green eyes mist over like frost forming on water, until they’re nothing but opaque windows into nothing. Her eyes flash back to green, then white, back and forth as I watch, horrified.

And then Wynter’s arms are around Ariel, struggling to haul her backward, dragging her across the cold stone floor, away from me. Ariel’s body stiffens and her eyes roll back into her head. She seems to be unconscious again, lost in some private hell. As Wynter pulls her past the door, Ariel’s eyes snap open.

“Get herdown!” she screams as her butchered kindred comes into view. She wrenches herself away from Wynter and hurls herself at the door. She slides to her knees, her hands clawing at the trails of blood streaking the wood.

“My sweet one!” she shrieks. “What have theydoneto you?”

Wynter moves toward me, her eyes wide. “You should leave, Elloren Gardner.”

I teeter from side to side as I rise, dizzy from so many blows to the head. Wynter reaches out to steady me.

The minute her hand makes contact with my arm, Wynter’s mouth flies open, her eyes roll back in her head and she falls backward onto the floor, grasping at her hand as if it’s been burned.

“What’s the matter?” I cry.

“When I touch people...” Her thin voice trails off, her eyes fixed on me with an expression of sheer terror.

I gasp. “You’re an Empath, aren’t you?” I remember the Icaral in Valgard, the one who could read people’s minds just by touching them.

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