Page 51 of Bewitched By the Wicked Witch
"No!" I commanded, earning myself a withering feline glare.
"Who are you to issue orders to me, warlock?" he spat, clearly still nursing some grudge.
"He's right, Cosmo. Leave him breathing," Sage said, stepping over Hank's unconscious form to retrieve the keys from his belt. "We have bigger problems than one misguided enforcer."
I watched in admiration as she unlocked my cell with practiced ease, her movements fluid despite our urgent circumstances. "Looks like I'm rescuing you again," she purred, her voice low and sultry. "Just like that time I saved you from Betty 'goody-two-shoes' Harrington in college."
"And as I mentioned then, competent women taking charge are incredibly attractive," I replied, pulling her into my arms the moment I was free. The rush of magic returning to my veins was nothing compared to the relief of holding her again.
"Ugh, can you two save the romantic reunion for after we've escaped the lynch mob?" Paige announced with exaggerated disgust.
Cosmo snickered, his tail swishing with amusement. "Let them have their moment, dear Paige. It's not every day our warlock Romeo gets to play damsel in distress to his dark witch Juliet."
I reluctantly released Sage, though I kept one hand on her waist. "The overgrown cat has a point, much as it pains me to admit it. We need to move before someone discovers Hank's unexpected nap."
"Familiar, not cat," Cosmo grumbled with wounded dignity.
"There might be old service tunnels," Sage said hesitantly as we moved down the corridor. "The principal mentioned connections between these downtown buildings. We can get Paige somewhere safe, then figure out who's actually behind all this."
As we hurried through the narrow passages, I became increasingly aware of something dark and oppressive hanging in the air like thick smoke. The same malevolent energy I'd sensed during my vision seemed to be growing stronger, more pervasive.
"Do you feel that?" I asked Sage quietly, noting how she instinctively moved to shield Paige.
"The dark magic? It's been getting stronger since thefestival," she confirmed, her voice tight with concern. "Whatever's happening, I think it's building toward something significant.
"I need to get Paige somewhere safe first," she continued, scanning the darkness ahead. "Then we can focus on hunting down the real killer."
The weight of everything that had happened, the mob, the arrest, the planned execution, settled on my shoulders like a lead blanket. "Sage, the town council is operating completely outside High Council authority. They've essentially declared martial law and appointed themselves judge, jury, and executioner. This is bigger than just local politics."
"Which means whoever's behind the murders has been planning this for a long time," she replied grimly. "Long enough to corrupt the entire power structure of Old Hollows."
As we navigated the labyrinthine tunnels, one thought kept circling back through my mind: the vision, the glimpse of hands over Beverly's body, the sense that the killer had been close enough to touch during the chaos at the festival.
Someone in that mob wasn't just a misguided townsfolk caught up in hysteria. Someone there was a murderer who'd been playing a very long, very dangerous game.
And we were running out of time to stop them from claiming their next victim.
Twenty-Three
Sage
After depositing Paige safely at Cindee's house, a process that involved considerable arguing, creative cursing, and promises that we'd return with her best friend intact, Callum and I had retreated to Gran's library to research the symbols we'd encountered. Three days of fevered investigation later, we finally had answers. Unpleasant ones, naturally.
The symbol that had been haunting my thoughts since the alley encounter glared up at me from the yellowed pages ofProtective Wards and Ancient Symbols, looking as malevolent in print as it had carved into brick.
"Here," I said, stabbing my finger at the relevant passage with perhaps more violence than strictly necessary. "It's a binding rune. Specifically designed to contain magical energy or magical beings against their will."
Callum leaned closer to read over my shoulder, his proximity sending unwanted sparks of awareness through my nervous system. I ruthlessly suppressed them; we hadmore pressing concerns than my inconvenient attraction to my former heartbreaker.
"'The Purity Binding,'" he read aloud, his voice growing increasingly grim with each word. "'Historically employed by extremist factions to neutralize mixed-blood magical practitioners.'" He looked up at me, those green eyes dark with dawning understanding. "Sage, this isn't just about kidnapping teenage girls. Someone's attempting to..."
"Strip away their magic permanently," I finished, ice flooding my veins as the implications crystallized. "Transform them into mundane humans."
Cosmo lifted his head from where he'd been sprawled across a stack of ancient grimoires, golden eyes reflecting the afternoon light. "Well, that's delightfully horrifying," he observed with characteristic dryness. "Nothing like a bit of magical genocide to really brighten one's day."
The horrifying reality crashed over us like a tsunami of malevolent possibility. Paige, Beverly, and the others weren't just missing, they were being systematically drained of everything that made them who they were, turned into empty shells of their former selves.
"We need to find them immediately," I declared, slamming the ancient tome shut with enough force to send dust motes dancing through the late afternoon light streaming through Gran's diamond-paned windows.
