Page 88 of Hexes and Exes

“We all know there are some in this coven who keep very dark facets of their magic to themselves. No longer. We will not hide their shame anymore. We must bring their secrets into the light.”

“What the fuck is she talking about?” Stellan glares at the woman on stage.

“Curses,” Selene responds as if she heard his question.

There’s a collective inhalation of air. We don’t talk about our curses in Mystic Hollows. The most powerful families are the ones who suffer. We’ve been taught to keep them a secret. It’s our burden to bear, even if there are plenty of witches in this town who know about them. A lot of the coven probably aren’t too fond of the sort of power our families have amassed and view the curses as a punishment we deserve.

“For centuries, there have been curses on some of the witches in this town. We’ve turned a blind eye.” She shrugs. “Pretending we didn’t notice. These curses are an infected wound that needs to be cut away.”

“What are they going to do?” Odie signs. I shake my head.

“What’s Piper doing?” Josephine gnaws on her lip, craning her neck to see over the crowd. Piper is climbing on the stage and comes to a stop next to her uncle. She looks like some Fae creature with her pale skin and red hair. A captured creature.

“Why is she just following orders?” Roman voices what we’re all thinking. None of us have answers, though.

“It’s time for us to excise this curse from our coven once and for all.” Selene searches the crowd, her mouth tipping up as her gaze lands on our little group in the midst of the rest of the coven.

“How?” Ava shakes her head, but I don’t have an answer for her. I’m just as confused.

“Together, with all of you, we can cure this coven and heal this town.” Selene raises her hands into the air, closes her eyes, and tips her head to the sky. Behind her, Francesca is holding a copper bowl. Tucker lifts a strand of Piper’s hair. The crowd gasps when he slices off a lock and tosses it into the bowl. She never moves.

“Fuck. We need to help her.” Ava moves forward, but before she takes another step, Selene begins chanting.

“By candle’s glow and blood of kin, take this token of the founders’ sin.”

Tucker pulls out a knife and slices it down Piper’s arm. She obediently holds still while her blood streams down her arm and drips into the copper vessel. I can’t see up front, but there’s shouting and a commotion within the crowd. People shift and runes on the floor begin to glow. What the fuck?

“No,” Josephine screams. She spins to look at us. “That’s the ritual. The one my mother tried to do to me.”

All hell breaks loose. Ava collapses, her body a dead weight as she goes down. I just barely keep her from cracking her head on the ground, falling down to my knees as I catch her. She’s writhing and shaking. Sweat pours down her face.

“Ava? Avalon? What’s happening?” I squeeze her to my body, panic making me hyper aware of every one of her quick breaths. The way her heart beats so fast, I can see it fluttering in her arched neck. The way her skin pales and she looks like death has touched her soul.

Odie goes down a second later, her back arching off the ground in a silent scream. She grabs Stellan’s hand and slaps it over her mouth.

“Don’t let her scream,” Roman barks out. Stellan’s head jerks over to him in confusion.

Selene takes the bowl from Francesca and lifts it high in the air. “Through generations gone before, let this curse plague them no more.”

On stage, Piper is being held in her uncle’s arms. He’s smirking while speaking into her ear. She’s frozen, not moving an inch, but her eyes are rolling back in pain.

“Ambrose and Piper are up there by themselves. We need to stop Selene.” Josephine darts into the crowd and Roman chases after her. There are others in the crowd crying out, but not many. There are only a few of the non-founding families who suffer the curse. Most of the coven is staring on in dumbfounded confusion.

Stellan looks over at his sister, his hand still firmly covering Odie’s mouth. “They’re all cursed. It’s only affecting those with curses.” His eyes drop, going wide as they land on the inky vines on my finger. “Why aren’t you down too?”

“What?” I can barely think enough to register what he’s saying.

On stage, Selene’s voice grows louder. “Transfer the curse from this age to the next. By rite of this magic…”

“No,” Josephine screams and launches herself at Selene’s legs, tackling her, and sending her body barreling into Francesca. She knocks them over like dominos. The bowl tumbles overhead, and clatters to the ground, spilling out the spell ingredients.

“You selfish assholes.” Josephine scrambles up Selene’s body and punches her.

It’s not pretty, but it’s effective, because Selene is knocked the fuck out. Philip Masters and my father lunge at Josephine, but Roman jumps up on stage to block them. He kicks out at Philip, who goes flying off stage and into the crowd. Roman rounds on our father, swinging his fist with so much force itmight as well be Thor’s fucking hammer. Vincent Blackthorn crumbles into a pathetic heap.

“Are you going to let them do this to your coven leaders?” Francesca spits out.

The crowd is stunned, but as if Francesca’s words light a fuse, the rest of the coven loses their shit. Fights break out across the ballroom. Old Tenebris and Lumen coven members throw punches at each other. Magic zings by overhead as spells are cast, being launched at witches who were a few short months ago enemies. I guess they still are.

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