Page 134 of Soul of a Witch

“It doesn’t matter what’s down there,” I said. “This is my house, and I will defend it. Nothing is allowed to enter here without my permission.” I glanced over at Callum, my chest swelling when I saw the pride in his eyes as he looked at me. “Whatever is down there will be dealt with. This ends tonight.”

48

Everly

The library had been overtaken by fungal growth. Mushrooms sprouted from the book spines, even bursting through the wooden floors. The silence around us was eerie as I opened the vault, greeted by a wafting smell of decay. Dust drifted through the meager light as I cast out my hand and lit the candles, illuminating the room. But the firelight was muted, the darkness was too heavy for it.

“This isn’t a good sign,” Callum said. He was staring at a weblike substance covering the books, desks, and chairs. “It’s growing fast.”

“Then we’re in the right place,” I said, spotting a puddle of water slowly seeping across the floor.

The hatch leading down to the tunnels creaked as Callum pulled it open. He went first, leaping down before I climbed onto the ladder. My feet squelched in mud as I reached the bottom, greeted by the stench of mold and rotting fish.

Sybil’s laboratory was in complete disarray. More pale webbing had grown over the tables, the specimen jars cracked open, wafting the smell of ammonia into the air. The ground was soaked, mud swiftly caking my boots as Callum and I approached the tunnels.

The air was cold and stale. Distantly, I could hear dripping water. Taking a deep breath, I stepped forward, but Callum grabbed my arm.

“You should let me go first,” he said.

But I shook my head. “You’re the guardian of this house, but I am its Mistress. An invasion like this is a challenge to me, directly. It’smethe Deep One is hoping to get to, so it’s me that will face It.” He didn’t look pleased, and I reached up to cup his face. “Trust me, Callum. You know what I’m capable of.”

For a moment, it looked like he wanted to keep arguing. But he pressed his lips into a thin line and nodded once, releasing his grip on my arm.

He stayed close behind me as I made my way through the tunnels. He had explored them far more than I had, but it wasn’t difficult to figure out which way to go. I only had to follow the mud and puddles of stagnant water.

“Shit —!” Stumbling forward as my boot hit something in the muddy soil, I would have fallen flat on my face if Callum hadn’t grabbed the back of my jacket. Tugging my boot free with a wet squelching sound, I cast several balls of light ahead of us down the tunnel, illuminating what lay ahead.

Broken planks of wood jutted out of the mud like jagged teeth. The tunnel was completely flooded, wood and debris floating on the surface. The water was murky and still. Impossible to tell what lay beneath.

“There was a boundary here,” Callum said. Although he kept his voice low, it still sounded so loud in the strange stillness. “It’s been broken.”

Daring to take another step forward, I focused my magic on my shoes.Light as a feather, unburdened by thick soil, resistant to the water flooding over them…

The spell work was far from perfect, and every few steps, I would sink into the mud again. But it was better than nothing, and the longer I clung to the spell, the stronger it became. The water came up to my ankles, but my magic prevented it from slowing me too much.

All the while, I kept the light moving steadily ahead of us, my mind open but guarded as I tentatively searched for any unusual magic nearby.

But everything felt socold.

My light could barely penetrate the darkness ahead. Despite trying my hardest to maintain them, one by one, the orbs of light winked out.

Then, from the dark, a voice called to me.

“Everlyyy…Oh, Eeeverlyyy…”

The voice was familiar. Realization snatched the air from my lungs and left me cold, eyes wide as I stopped moving.

“Why won’t you talk to your sister, Everly?”

The voice was distant and dissolved into laughter that left me feeling nauseous. It was Victoria’s voice, but it waswrong.She sounded unnaturally high-pitched. Her words echoed through the tunnels in a lilting singsong. “I’ve missed yooouuu! Everlyyy!”

“Do not be afraid,” Callum said. “You are strong. You know the power you possess. This is your house. Remember that.”

The water was deeper here, coming nearly up to my knees. Every few steps, the sensation of something brushing against my legs would make me flinch, but I couldn’t see anything below me in the tenebrous water. There was a distant dripping sound, and when I stopped to listen…

I could hear someone’s harsh, gurgling breath.

Conjuring a flame in my palm, I grew its strength until the illumination reached deep into the tunnel ahead. There, standing hunched and swaying within the flickering light, was Victoria.

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