I was just rounding the corner and wondering what I’d do if her aunt Carolina was awake when I saw her slip out of the house wearing a dark hood. Carolina headed straight for a woman lingering near the opposite end of the street, wearing a similar dark robe. After their loss at House Greed, their use of cloaks didn’t surprise me.
I stopped dead in my tracks and pressed closer to the nearest building. Carolina paused, and the other woman glanced around, inadvertently giving the light from the moon an opportunity to reveal her features. Nonna Maria. I wasn’t surprised to see her cavorting with a dark witch. Nonna had been the witch Sursea summoned in that memory Claudia purged. The one who’d escorted Claudia here and gave her a new family. My grandmother had been working closely with the First Witch all along, and that alone ought to make me hate her.
I was… not relieved, but content to see she’d made it out of the bloodbath that occurred at House Greed. She’d wronged many, but I didn’t want her to die. Regardless of anything, she still felt like my grandmother and I believed the love she’d had for us had turned real. Nonna had been tender with us, had cared for us and been there on our darkest days.
I strained to hear her voice, but the two witches must have cast a spell or set up a ward to contain their whispers. No matter how hard I tried to hear them, no sound drifted my way. I hadn’t had the capacity to feel anything about Nonna’s involvement with Sursea while trapped in that memory, but it would have been another crushing blow if I’d remained mortal.
Nonna never liked that Vittoria, Claudia, and I were such close friends. She’d blamed it on the fact that Claudia’s family practiced the dark arts, but now I knew the truth. They’d purposely tried to keep us apart because of who we all really were.
That, at least, I understood. Keeping House Vengeance away from Claudia after we’d helped Sursea’s devious plan come to life would have been a kindness to her.
How naive we’d all been, scraping together time after work to drink wine on the beach and share our hopes and dreams. We’d all cried together as many times as we’d laughed. We’d shared our broken hearts and secret longings. The three of us were sisters not all by blood, but by choice. None of us knew something far more sinister had originally bound us together.
Nonna took one last look around before she and Carolina hurried off together. Part of me wanted to follow them, see where they were going, what they might be plotting, but there was no time to waste. I lingered in the shadows for a few more minutes, just to be certain they wouldn’t double back and attempt something nefarious. Using my heightened senses, I listened hard and didn’t hear anyone walking close by. Wherever the witches were heading, they’d truly gone.
Quickly, I stood on the stoop and brought my fist to the door. I pounded loud enough to wake Claudia, but not loud enough for any neighbors to overhear or be startled by it. A moment later, a candle flickered to life upstairs. I subtly glanced down the street again. I didn’t sense any Umbra demons and only heard the muffled sounds of mortals breathing next door as they slept.
Another moment passed, and then the bolt slid out of place and the door creaked open. My friend stood there, mouth agape as she took me in. “Emilia! Stars above, you look… are your eyes a different color?” She shook her head and stepped aside. “Come in. Your nonna said you were missing. Are you all right? Where have you been? I’ve been so worried. I thought whatever had been killing those witches had gotten you, too, and they just didn’t want to tell me.”
I stepped into her home, and she’d just shut the door when we both wrapped our arms around each other in a fierce hug. With everything that had happened, with all I’d learned and how much I’d changed, I was relieved there was still one person who genuinely cared.
Even if things weren’t exactly as they seemed, our connection had been real. Possibly the only real thing in an entire realm made up of fantasy. And even that might not last if she wanted her memory back.
“I wish I could tell you everything,” I said, meaning every word. “But I can’t stay long. And you can’t tell anyone you saw me.”
“What the devil is going on, Emilia? The coven rebanded, but they won’t allow anyone aside from the council to attend meetings. I tried scrying, but it’s as if they’ve put a block on my magic. I haven’t even been able to dream.”
I’d almost forgotten that Claudia had been blessed by the goddess of sight and premonitions; she’d have visions we couldn’t always decipher.
Having her magic blocked was a fate I knew too well, and I hated that they’d clipped her magical wings. I wondered what else they might have taken from her, what powers might be lying dormant inside her she couldn’t recall. Her mother was always scheming and plotting, and it seemed she was still playing a game.
“And do you know what is most unusual?” she asked, and I shook my head. “They were able to free old Sofia Santorini’s mind from its curse. My aunt was heading over to her house now to see what she remembers, if anything.”
I squeezed her gently, then stepped back. At least I now knew what Carolina and Nonna were up to. “Don’t trust everything the witches say. They’re not necessarily bad, but they have an agenda.”
“The witches?” Claudia’s brows knotted together. “You speak as if you aren’t one of us.”
I inhaled deeply and held my hand up, summoning a burning flower, and watched my friend’s expression turn from confusion to wonder. She reached for the flower and yanked her hand back from the burn, searching my face.
“Goddess above. You can’t be.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “How?”
“It’s a very long, twisted tale.”
She stared at me, then at the burning flower for another silent moment. Awe spread across her features, and she looked ready to explode from all her questions.
“Given your fire magic and the fact you’re a goddess, I imagine so.” She turned and motioned for me to join her. “Let’s sit.”
I did my best to not rush her, trying not to focus on the ticking clock in my mind, and followed her into the tiny kitchen. She pulled open the cabinet and went about pouring us drinks from her personal collection. I noticed the herbs drying for her tonic to forget and swallowed hard. She placed my drink in front of me, then raised her brows.
“Tell me. I need to know what’s going on.”
“The short version is the witches put a spell-lock on me and Vittoria, containing our magic and immortality, essentially making us mortal witches. That curse you mentioned? The one with the devil? It affected several other beings. Me and Vittoria included.”
Claudia pressed her hip against the countertop and tossed back her drink. “My best friends are goddesses. It’s a lot to digest. I feel as if I should bow or pray.” A look of horror crossed her face. “Should I set up an altar? Stars above, Em. This is strange.”
Despite every dark thing in my life, I laughed. A genuine, happy sound. Her questions hadn’t been laden with sarcasm, only concern. “Please do not ever pray or bow. Most especially to Vittoria. You know how insufferable she can be.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes.