Page 42 of Baneful Magick

Wells blinked a few times before he rubbed the back of his neck and mumbled something about not wanting to talk about it. Echo and I shared a look before we dropped the subject. I’d just have to ask him about it later because something told me that it wasn’t just a small thing this stranger had done. There was just something about Wells that made me want to protect him.

He and Echo started throwing out ideas, but something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. A glimmer of sun had peeked out from the cloud, and I saw a hint of glass shimmer through the woods. Magick thrummed in me, and without warning, I started for the woods.

The guys didn’t notice until I was halfway to the treeline. Some part of my brain faintly registered them calling out to me, but the magick was too loud, too magnetic, for me to reply. It felt like my whole body was overflowing, the power building and building with no way to release it. I felt like I was on the brink of an anxiety attack. Everything was amplified a million times yet somehow still super fuzzy along the edges.

I picked up speed until I was running through the woods, and then I found myself in a small clearing. And right there was the greenhouse, the same one I had seen the night I arrived. The glass was still dirty, and the plants were growing wildly inside, climbing the walls.

It didn’t seem inviting this time though. The place felt sentient, like it was waiting for me to reach for the door. No,it was demanding I reach for the door. The magick urged me to ignore every internal alarm saying that Ishouldn’tdo this. I rarely had my alarms go off, so when they did, I usually listened.

“Isla?” Echo asked breathlessly, bent over with his hands on his knees. He and Wells had caught up with me. When I didn’t answer, he glanced around, a confused expression on his face. Why he was looking around, I had no idea. The greenhouse was unmissable. Wells stood there with his mouth parted, clearly shocked by my action, but I noticed that neither of them seemed to be on edge like I was. How could they not sense the magick?!

“What is that?!” Wells asked, his gaze fixated on the building.

Echo glanced between the two of us. “What is what?”

“You can’t see it?” I asked around the magick clawing its way through my body. My hands had begun to shake.

“No?” His eyes darted to my hands. “Isla?”

Wells looked back and forth between me and the greenhouse. Concern grew on his face as his brown eyes dipped down to take in the trembles that had traveled up my arms.

“We should leave.”

“I can’t,” I whispered thickly. “This is the place I found the first night, but I couldn’t find it when we looked for it, Echo. Remember?”

The incubus furrowed his brow, but I ignored the two people by me to reach for the door.

‘Beastie, something is off with this place. It feels different than last time.’

‘I just need to go inside,’I reasoned with him.

‘Don’t!’

But it was too late.

My hand was on the door handle, and the world flipped upside down. Power shoved inside me so hard and fast that I couldn’t even scream. It felt like nails were being shoved into myhand as claws dug into my skull, pulling me apart. Power shot out of me as Echo lunged forward, trying to save me.

Wells grabbed him, holding him back and ignoring Echo’s growl.

“Let go of me, witch!”

“We don’t know what’s going on. If we interfere, it could make it worse,” Wells told him calmly. The incubus stopped struggling against Wells’ restraining hold, but the guys had matching expressions of unease.

A collection of voices spilled from my lips.“It’s starting. The end. The unbecoming.”

“Of what?” Wells asked cautiously.

My head turned to face the witch, but it wasn’t me controlling my body. Whatever power had been thrust inside of me was in full control. As if from a distance, I noticed that Wells paled when it pinned him with a stare.

“Everything.”

The power’s focus shifted from Wells to Echo, who had frozen on the spot, his gaze angled to the ground, every muscle tense. He was afraid.

“The reality that you know will be pulled apart at the threads and rewoven. Trust nothing and question everything.”

The power digging into me receded just as quickly as it had overtaken me. Feeling lightheaded, I wavered on my feet as I clutched at the door in an attempt to remain upright.

‘Beastie!’Cassius’s voice shook. I could feel his worry as I tried and failed to respond to him.

---