Page 57 of Soul of a Witch

I’d seen her before, in my nightmares.

A terrifying, all-consuming desire tohurt herovertook every other thought in my head. I wanted to slit her throat, watch her choke on her own blood. I wanted to carve into her skin, hear the sweet music of her screams as I —

Fuck. No, no, no, that wasn’t right, that wasn’tme.

All I could do was try not to let the horror show on my face as they came to my table. Raelynn’s eyes were wide as she looked at the paintings I’d brought —gouge them out, poke out her eyes, burst them like grapes— but then she noticed my tarot deck and her face lit up.

“Did you paint all these yourself?” she said, and I nodded, forcing myself to smile at her enthusiasm.

“She paints every single one,” Victoria said, her voice sarcastic and her words slightly slurred. “That’s why she’s locked in her room all the time.” She leaned against my table, taking a long sip from a plastic bottle she was carrying. Doubtlessly, it wasn’t water she was eagerly gulping down. “Everly, this is Raelynn. Raelynn Lawson.”

She could still be saved.But she should die in agony.There was still time, I still had a chance to get away, to ensure no one else was hurt.But you wouldn’t betray your God, would you, Everly? Do your duty, do your FUCKING DUTY —

“Nice to meet you, Raelynn,” I said, forcing my voice to be calm and steady despite the bile rising in my throat. This poor girl had no idea, no fucking clue. What if I just blurted it out? What if I screamed at her to get away, to run and never look back? But my tongue wastight, like a cramping muscle.

It was just like with Juniper. Just like with Marcus. It was the same nightmare over and over again.

“You should pull some cards for her, Ev,” Victoria said, tossing my sample deck toward me. I could lie, but the cards wouldn’t. Why the hell Victoria wanted me to pull for Raelynn, I couldn’t understand. Was she taunting me? Testing me?

I nearly dropped the cards multiple times as I shuffled the deck. Maybe I could warn Raelynn, somehow. Even if I couldn’t tell her directly, even if the Deep One kept me tongue-tied, there had to be a way.

I smiled, and as steadily as I could, I said, “Come a little closer, Raelynn.”

There was an eager smile on her face as she stepped closer to the table.

“It’s Rae,” she said. “I mean, my friends call me Rae. You can call me Rae.”

“Rae.” I repeated her name with intention, with purpose. A name carried power, and even with my magic entirely inaccessible to me, I hoped she could somehow feel my warning. “I like that. Somewhere between masculine and feminine.”

If only I had been blessed with the gift of telepathy, or any form of psychic power at all. If I could implant the idea in her brain that there was danger here and she needed to leave, perhaps it would be enough. Concentrating my thoughts toward her, I tried to somehow impart my message.

You’re in danger. You need to leave. You can’t trust Victoria. You can’t trust any of us. Leave. Leave. Leave.

But instead of telepathically implanting a message, I received one in return. It was only a split second, the briefest of visions. But it was undeniable.

It was a vision of Raelynn’s hands, with her chipped black nail polish, holding the grimoire.Mygrimoire.

Nearly gasping, I barely kept my reaction under control. How was that possible? Why? When? This woman who’d only just arrived in town, who didn’t have a damn clue what was going on,had my grimoire?

Setting my cards back on the table, I cleared my mind, discarding the fear and the confusion. Those feelings couldn’t help me right now and they couldn’t help Raelynn either. If I was to warn her, then I needed the cards to be true even if my tongue couldn’t be. Taking a deep breath, I pulled the first card.

The Tower.

My eyes darted to Victoria, but she wasn’t paying attention. She was too busy nursing whatever liquor she had in thatwaterbottle of hers.

Laying the card on the table, I explained, “Change. The life you knew, your strong tower, has been dramatically changed. It is no more.” I wanted to tell her about the chaos this card could signify, but I could only hope the flames consuming it were enough to get the message across.

As I reached for the next card, a chill went up my back. A whisper? Or just the wind? My neck prickled. My fingers twitched. The murmuring of the crowd created a constant background of conversation and laughter, so I forced my attention back to the deck.

The next card was the Ten of Swords. How could I dare to explain this with Victoria standing right there?

Betrayal was coming. Someone Raelynn trusted would stab her in the back.

Picking up the next card, another cold chill washed over me. Something feltwrong. Like the onset of food poisoning; my body knew something vile was inside it.

Rip her open, dig your hands into the warm entrails, let the blood soak beneath your fingernails just like your mother, just like your filthy whore mother!

The card almost slipped out of my fingers.

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