Page 103 of Elora and the Crow

Elora grunted with frustration before waving the smoke away. “Goddammit.”

“Why are you smoking?” Jonah asked.

She shrugged dismissively as she took her jacket from him and hung it in the closet with short, angry movements. “It happens sometimes.”

“I’ve lived with you for two years, and I’ve never seen it happen,” Jonah said.

“It happens when she’s struggling to control her magic,” Cece said. “Helen said when she went through puberty, she smoked almost constantly.”

“Zip it, Cece,” Elora said.

“Why would puberty make it harder to control her magic?” Jonah asked.

“Sometimes a blood witch’s magic becomes more powerful when they go through puberty, and it can be difficult for them to learn to control that extra power. There was an elemental warlock at my school, and he basically leaked water from his skin all through junior high,” Cece said.

Jonah stared at Elora. “Your magic is stronger?”

“A little,” she said dismissively.

“Just a little?” he asked.

“It’s not unusual for a blood witch’s magic to increase or decrease after…”

“After a magical fight with another witch that almost kills you?” Jonah said.

“After an event that tests your magic or pushes you to use more than you ever have,” Elora said. “It’s no big deal, Jonah.”

He wanted to believe her, he really did, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze, and her voice had a furtive quality to it he’d never heard before.

“Elora -”

“The WWC isn’t going to help,” she said abruptly.

Shock rippled through him. “What?”

Elora’s hands glowed with blue light again as she laughed bitterly. “It’s their fucking job to hunt dark witches, but, apparently, the witch is put on a list that is calculated by how dangerous they are. And Malencia’s actions haven’t exactly put her at the top of the list.”

“What number is she?” Jonah asked, his stomach trying to curl in on itself.

Elora didn’t reply, but Cece said, “Fifty-seven.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Anger roared through him, and he felt likehecould start smoking at any point. “She nearly killed Elora and kidnapped Caleb, and she’s fifty-fucking-seven?”

He turned to Elora. “Did you tell them she nearly killed you?”

“I did,” Elora said. “I told them everything - how she’d cursed you three years ago, how she broke into your home and attacked us, but they…”

“They what?” Jonah asked.

Elora rubbed at her forehead. “Something bad has been happening in the witching world for the last few years, Jonah. It has the WWC frantic and… scared.”

She glanced at Cece. “Normally, dark witches are loners. There are a number of reasons why, but the biggest reason is that practicing dark magic for too long makes you paranoid as fuck. Dark witches trust no one - not even other dark witches. But there have been rumours of a large and powerful coven of witches who have been practicing the dark arts together in order to…”

“In order to what?” Jonah asked.

“To gain power,” Elora said. “Over humans, the paranormal, and all other magical beings.”

“Holy fuck,” Jonah said. “Is that coven here?”

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