The Witch is Back

Chapter Twenty




My eyes flew open as I continued to struggle against the vines that were attached to the tree. Someone was here to help! Hope flooded my body as I realized I might not die out here after all.

And then I saw who my saviors were.

Eve placed a hand on her hip and looked at me with disdain. Brooklyn stood stiffly next to her, a perma-frown on her face. I should have known they would be behind something like this.

“Fitting, don’t you think, Brooklyn?” Eve said. “That she’d end up just like her ancestors?”

“It’s definitely an interesting position to be in,” Brooklyn said, analyzing the situation.

She was going to let me hang. Because she wanted my boyfriend. Or didn’t like me threatening the kingdom she’d created. Either way, she wanted me dead.

My vision was going in and out now, giving the illusion that I was in some psychedelic dream. Brooklyn and Eve appeared to be swaying to an unheard beat, even though they were most likely standing still.

Brooklyn sighed and took a step toward me. Before I could process what was happening, she was yelling. “Exbiliby totalitum!” Brooklyn said, barely looking at the vine she was sending the spell to.

Only, nothing happened.

When Brooklyn saw that I wasn’t falling toward the forest floor like she’d intended, she squinted her eyes suspiciously. “That’s weird,” she said.

“My turn!” Eve said gleefully, stepping in front of Brooklyn without waiting for an answer. “My aim’s not awesome, Hadley, so sorry if I miss the mark.”

I wanted to yell, but I had no energy or breath left to use.


The magic hit the area of vine just above my head and I felt the shock of it reverberate inside my body. It didn’t hurt exactly, but it did cause me to spin a few times, which made the vines tighten just a bit more.

“Missed. Darn,” she said, not sounding upset about it at all.

Brooklyn was moving now. She picked up a stick from the ground and wordlessly began to walk toward me. She closed the distance in four steps and then stood there staring at me blankly, gripping the stick so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. Visions of Brooklyn treating me like a human pi?ata danced in my head and I started to wonder if there was a fate worse than death.

Brooklyn said a few words under her breath and suddenly the stick turned into a knife. A sharp, shiny, long knife. One that was perfect for cutting.

Well that’s not good.

A wave of blackness swam across my eyes and I thought I was going to pass out. But then it cleared again and I could see Brooklyn moving closer to me. Finally, when she was just a few inches away from my helpless body, she stretched up and began to saw at the ropes. If I’d been strung any higher than a few inches off the ground, it would have proved even more difficult. Luckily, Brooklyn was so freaking tall that she could reach the area right above my head.

Though it felt like a lifetime since I’d taken my last breath, it had only been about thirty seconds in actuality. Still, it was a half a minute too long.

I faded out again. This time I wasn’t sure for how long. But then the final threads were giving away and I was plummeting toward the ground. I didn’t even have time to try to soften the fall and my left shoulder made a smacking sound as I hit the dirt. I tried to scream out in pain but nothing came. Rolling over onto my side, I lay there for a few minutes just forcing air into my lungs.

Breathe. Breathe. It was all I could focus on.

Once I could talk again, I looked up at the two girls who were standing just a few feet away, silently hating me.

“You couldn’t have softened my fall with a little spell?” I asked them, angrily.

Eve shrugged. “I could have,” the dark-haired girl answered. “I just didn’t want to.”

I would have lunged at her if my legs weren’t still tied together. Instead I forced myself into a sitting position and glared at them.

“You almost killed me,” I said angrily.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Brooklyn snorted and then looked over at Eve, who started to laugh. “You think we did this?”

“Didn’t you?” I asked, growing hysterical. My hands shook as I fumbled with the noose that was still around my neck and then reached down to free my ankles.

“Hardly,” Brooklyn said. “This is a little . . . cliché for me.” She motioned in my direction like she was bored.

“Besides, death is too quick. It’s much more fun to piss you off,” Eve said.

When I was finally free from my bindings, I stalked over to Brooklyn, pushing her hard until she stumbled backward. “If I find out you had anything to do with this, you’re going to wish you’d killed me.”

“Back off, Bishop,” Eve said, stepping between her friend and me. “She just saved your butt. You should be thanking her.”

It was true. None of what had happened here was adding up. Why would Brooklyn help me down if she’d orchestrated the whole thing? Well, other than to throw me off her scent, and look like the hero to Asher. Eve was right: there were better ways to torture me.

Like taking everything I loved and making me watch while she did it.

I was about to confront her about this, but Brooklyn was already walking away, dragging Eve along with her.

Reaching for my bag, I quickly gathered the flowers that had spilled out. Inspecting one of the bright purple flowers closely, I was relieved to find that they were still intact. I was still angry and rattled over what had just happened, but at least the whole afternoon hadn’t been a complete bust.

“Oh, and Hadley?” Brooklyn said as I got up from the ground slowly. She didn’t even look back as she addressed me. “You owe me now. And I will collect.”



“I know they were the ones that set the trap,” I said adamantly.

As soon as I’d gotten back to camp, I’d called an emergency meeting of the Cleri. We met in our room, so we wouldn’t have to worry about eavesdroppers or running into Brooklyn and Eve again. This time I let Colette stay. She needed to know how dangerous the girls were, too, and if there was going to be a battle, I wanted her on my side.

Once everyone was gathered around the room, I launched into a retelling of my near-death experience, complete with the unveiling of the growing bruises around my neck. Everyone listened with rapt attention, seemingly in disbelief over the fact that there were clearly enemies at camp with us. When I was finished, they all remained silent for a few minutes as they tried to digest what I’d just unloaded on them.

“I don’t know, Had,” Sascha said, finally. “Why would they tie you up, only to cut you down later?”

“Hanged. They hanged me, Sash. And I don’t know why crazy people do crazy things. Maybe they thought that by helping me escape, I’d be indebted to them,” I said, not getting why she wasn’t automatically on my side over this. “Which is basically what Brooklyn said before she left me out there in the woods by myself, I might add.”

“Well, isn’t that how it works?” Jasmine asked. “Someone bails your butt out and you do them a solid later?”

“Not if they were the ones that put you in the situation in the first place,” I argued.

“No offense, but why do you even care about them, Hadley?” Fallon cut in. He was sitting next to Abby on her bed, looking more than comfortable with his surroundings. “I mean . . . you’re Hadley Bishop. A centuries-old evil coven went after you last year and you beat them. Why would you let a few bitchy girls get to you? And if they’re really evil, then why not take them out? Next to you they’re nothing.”

Had Fallon just given me a compliment? I glanced over at him awkwardly, not quite sure how to respond to this kinder, less annoying version of him. The even weirder thing was that he was starting to seem more like an actual human being and not just the kid twerp I grew up with. What were they putting in the water up here, anyway?

“Um, thanks?” I said.

“This is ridiculous. Hadley can’t destroy a bunch of teenage girls just because they don’t like her, or want to steal her boyfriend,” Abby said, annoyed. The fact that she was speaking up at all caught me off-guard. Apparently Fallon was too, because he sat back, suddenly silent, clearly torn between his allegiance to me and to his girlfriend.

“Brooklyn’s not trying to steal me,” Asher said.

“She’s made it pretty clear she’s not thrilled about the fact that we’re together,” I said, looking at Asher, whose expression was pained. I turned back to Abby and gave her a pointed look. “Besides, you were the one who said that Brooklyn would do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Hello? How much more proof do you need?”

“The kind that shows she actually did it,” Jasmine said. Of all the people to come to Brooklyn’s defense, I never expected it to be her. “Look, nobody likes a good throw-down more than me, but even I think this is bull.”

“Yeah, Brooklyn’s not as bad as you’re making her out to be,” Sascha said as she played with a bracelet that hung around her wrist. It was small and gold and delicate—and completely unfamiliar to me. I glanced over at Abby and then at Jasmine and Jinx. They were all wearing replicas of the jewelry Sascha had.


If they were friendship bracelets, where was mine?

“That’s because she’s trying to turn you against me,” I said finally.

“It seems like you’re doing a pretty good job of that yourself,” Jinx said quietly.

This was especially painful to hear, since I’d been out in the woods looking for a solution to Jinx’s anxiety. It was like taking a slug to my gut.

“That’s enough, guys!” Asher said forcefully. He got up and walked over to where I was sitting on the couch and placed his hands on my shoulders reassuringly. “Hadley didn’t attack herself out there. Something’s going on—that much we know.”

“Thanks, Asher,” I said, looking up at him gratefully. Suddenly all those nights we hadn’t spent with each other since we’d arrived didn’t seem like they’d had much of an impact on our relationship. He was still there for me when I needed him, and that’s what really mattered.

“That said, I agree with the others that it couldn’t have been Brooklyn who did this,” he concluded.

What the eff.

“You guys really don’t see Brooklyn as a threat?” I asked, unwilling to let it go. Not when I was so sure I was right. When they didn’t answer, I frowned and looked away, disappointed.

“Sorry, Had,” Asher said, touching the rope burns on my neck gingerly. The contact made me shiver. “It’s not that we don’t believe you, but I think you’re accusing the wrong person here. It just can’t be her.”

“I know you used to date her, Asher, but she’s not the same girl you used to know,” I said.

“It’s not that,” he said, sighing as he ran his hands through his jet-black hair. The others were sitting around now, just watching us.

“Then what Asher?” I asked, pulling out from underneath him as I grew more frustrated with the conversation. “Someone tried to drown me in the shower and left that message in the amphitheater. Brooklyn’s the only one who makes sense! What proof could you possibly have that she’s not the one pulling the strings here?”

He remained silent for a few beats and stared down at his feet, suddenly looking guilty.

“Brooklyn couldn’t have done the stuff at the amphitheater,” he said. “Because she was with me last night.”