The Witch is Back

Chapter Twenty-Seven




Except the next couple of nights were completely uneventful.

Directly following the discovery of Colette’s dreaming abilities, the two of us had put a spell on the door so that we’d be alerted by a faint buzzing in our bodies if anyone tried to get in or out. That way if Abby left at any point in the night, we’d know about it. We tested the enchantment before going to bed to make sure it was in working order, and only when we were satisfied did we close our eyes. Every morning that we awoke after an uninterrupted night of sleep I became less convinced that I could trust my dreams as being anything more than just that.

If Abby had been acting like her regular self, I might’ve felt a little bad about doubting her at all. But she and the other Cleri girls were still shunning me, having now taken to eating their meals at a completely different table than the one I sat at. And being that Fallon and Abby were now a package deal, he’d migrated to their side of the dining hall, too. When I’d asked him about it, he’d just said that he’d given up understanding women a long time ago.

As much as I prided myself in being independent and strong, the fact that everyone was deserting me . . . hurt. More than I expected it to. And if I was being honest, more than I wanted it to. And even though I knew in my bones that there was a spell behind it, and we weren’t best friends to begin with, and that I didn’t need everyone to like me to survive in this world, it felt awful to know that I was pretty much alone in this.

Asher may not have jumped on the “we hate Hadley” bandwagon, but things still weren’t back to normal between us. Sure, he said he was over our tiff in the hallway, but I could tell he was still annoyed. He was spending more and more time with the guys, and since I wanted to keep the peace, I let him.

I set my whole focus on proving that Brooklyn was trying to ruin my life. I balled up all the feelings I was having about possibly losing my coven and my boyfriend and placed them in a locked box that I would open later. When it was safe. Otherwise I’d shut down completely and evil would win.

Luckily, on the third night, we finally got our big break.

My eyes shot open in the dark as I felt the buzzing begin in my fingers and toes and spread to the rest of my body. Staying still so that Abby wouldn’t be alerted to the fact that I was awake, I waited for her to make her move. After a few seconds, light began to fill the darkness as our door was opened wider, and I was briefly able to see Colette lying in the bed across from me. Her face was sans glasses and her eyes were closed. I could see her chest rising and falling underneath the blankets, as if she were in the middle of a deep sleep.

Making almost no noise at all, Abby slipped out of our room, leaving us both alone again in the dark. I counted to ten before slowly sitting up in bed and looking over at the clock.

Three a.m.

The witching hour. So predictable.

As I threw back my covers, Colette did the same, nearly startling me right off of my mattress.

“I didn’t think you were awake,” I whispered as our beds lowered to the ground.

“That’s good,” she said, putting her glasses on. “That means that Abby believed it, too.”

“So, I guess it’s true,” I said, surprisingly unhappy about the fact. Part of me had been hoping that I was wrong. That Asher’s sister wasn’t out to get me. Sometimes it sucked to be right.

“Now we just have to figure out exactly what she’s up to,” Colette said.

“Let’s get out there then,” I said. “I want to get this thing over with.”

We threw on hoodies and stepped into flip-flops before moving quietly over to the door. Opening it slowly, I peeked out to see if Abby was still around. When I saw the hallway was empty, we hurried out and headed straight for the stairwell at the opposite side of the cabin.

Following the same path I’d taken to sneak out for our Cleri meeting, I gestured for Colette to stay close to me as we pushed open the door to the outside and stepped out into the cool night air. I placed my finger against my lips and pointed to where Abby was just disappearing into the woods. Colette’s eyes grew, but she remained quiet and didn’t move until I gave her the signal.

When I was sure we were far enough behind Abby to follow her without getting caught, we took off across the grass, staying off the dirt-and-rock pathway to keep from making noise. Just as we were about to enter into the cover of trees, we both heard the sound of a branch breaking and raced to hide. Sliding behind a nearby tree, I watched Colette dive behind a bush to avoid being seen.

A few seconds later, a shadow appeared about three feet away from where I was standing. Only, it was walking out of the woods instead of into them, and the silhouette appeared to belong to a guy. I took a step away from my cover to try to get a closer look, but it didn’t help. I needed him to turn around so I could see his face.

I wasn’t looking to get caught, but I also wasn’t convinced that the figure wasn’t out here to meet Abby. Turning to Colette, I gestured for her to stay hidden while I made my next move. She looked worried, but remained behind the bush. Trying only to move every time the figure took a step, I made it about five feet before he realized he was being followed and turned to confront me.

“Hadley!” Asher said, his face registering surprise and then changing to confusion. “Hi.”

“What are you doing out here, Asher?” I whispered, not wanting to blow my cover completely, if Abby was still in the area.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he said, the smile dropping from his face.

“I asked first.” It was childish, but I knew I had a good reason for being out of our room at night. I couldn’t think of any excuse he could give that would make a nighttime jaunt without me okay.

Despite the blunt nature of my question, a smile danced its way across Asher’s lips. “You are so adorable,” Asher said.

This was the blanket response Asher gave me whenever he wanted to avoid having an actual conversation. He hid behind a compliment, hoping it would derail me from whatever information I wanted from him. Asher did it all the time when we first met—but that had been mostly to hide the fact that he was a witch. And working with Team Parrish. The tactic had annoyed me then and it hadn’t gotten any cuter. “That might be true, but you’re not answering my question,” I said, not letting him get out of this one.


“Okay, Had,” he said with a sigh. “But it’s really not a big deal.”

“I usually don’t like your answers when you start off that way. . . . ,” I warned.

He rolled his eyes at me. “I was just out here with the guys. You know, goofing around.”

“Goofing around—in the middle of the night?” I asked, not believing his excuse one bit. “You couldn’t wait until it was light outside? Or goof off with the guys in your room? What could you possibly be doing out here in the woods with a bunch of guys?”

Asher shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “It’s guy stuff, Had. I don’t ask you what you do with your girlfriends when you hang out.”

“That’s because we don’t go sneaking off at night, wandering creepily through the woods,” I said. Although as soon as I’d said it, I realized that’s exactly what Colette and I were doing. “Speaking of . . . where are the guys? You know, the ones that you’re apparently out here with?”

“I don’t want to have this argument again, Had,” Asher responded, starting to lose his patience with our conversation. “What are you doing out here?”

Uh-oh. I hate it when the tables turn.

My eyes shifted over to the bush where Colette had been hiding.

“Out for a walk,” I said finally. This was technically the truth. “I couldn’t sleep. And then I thought I saw someone out here . . . so I came to investigate.”

“Now who’s being evasive?” Asher said, crossing his arms.

“I’m telling you the truth,” I said.

“So am I,” he answered.

We were at a standoff. For some reason, neither of us was willing to admit fully why we were there. For a moment, it made me sad to think that there were things we both wanted to keep from the other. But then I began to recall everything I’d ever heard about relationships and tried to remain calm. From what I knew, every relationship changed and morphed. It was just that Asher and I had been in the “honeymoon” phase for so long back home, that it was hard to think of us as transitioning into that place where it wasn’t all roses and puppy dogs.

On the other hand, did Asher and I really have to be around each other 24/7 to feel complete? There’d been a time when I believed that a girl didn’t need a man in her life to be happy. And even though I loved being with Asher, I knew I could survive without him if I had to. So maybe a little time apart wouldn’t kill us.

This was just the natural ebb and flow of a relationship. Sometimes you were hot and heavy, and other times . . .

“Okay,” I said finally, conceding. A girl had to pick her battles, and right now, I needed to get back to mine. “Sorry I freaked out. Go and have fun with the guys.”

“We’re finished for the night,” Asher said, softening instantly and taking a step toward me. “Want me to walk you back to your room?”

“It’s all right,” I said, appreciating the gesture but needing to get moving. I had no idea where Colette had disappeared to, and Abby was probably long gone by now. I would have to hustle if I was going to find either of them. “I sort of want to finish my walk.”

He nodded, staring at me for a few seconds before leaning down and pulling my face to his. The kiss was sweet and over much too soon. And then he was backing away, his eyes still on mine. With a wink and a smile, Asher finally turned his back to me and headed toward the cabin alone.

As soon as Asher was through the side door, I took off running into the woods, far less careful than I’d been before. It was darker than in my dream and I fought to see more than a few feet in front of me. A couple of times I narrowly avoided running head on into a tree and had to push off the damp bark to keep from colliding with it. Sticks and rocks seemed to jump out in front of my feet, threatening to trip me and leave me sprawled across the tightly packed dirt. I somehow managed to stay upright, and after ten minutes, I slowed to a light jog, wondering how far into the woods I’d have to go to find another human being. Right now, all I could hear was my own breathing. Even the typical sounds that one would find in the forest seemed to be gone. There was just silence.

I turned around in circles, trying to figure out where Abby or Colette might’ve gone, looking for any sign that they’d even been this way. But there was nothing. Just darkness and stillness and silence.

Too much silence.

And then, it was like all the sound in the whole forest came rushing at me at once. There were screams and howls, bugs fluttering, birds squawking, the rattling of wind through the leaves. Before I even knew what was happening, I was on my back and was being dragged by my ankles through the woods. My brain was fighting to keep up and it took a few seconds to realize that the yells I’d heard were actually coming from me. Leaves and twigs embedded themselves into my hair, creating a rat’s nest of serious proportions and partially obstructing my view of the forest as we blew by. I reached out blindly, hoping to catch ahold of something to stop my momentum, but my hands came up empty. Nobody was pulling me and from what I could see, there was no rope tied to my feet. Yet, I was definitely being dragged against my will somewhere into the woods.

I tried to pull myself up into a sitting position, but as soon as I’d gotten halfway there, I began to tumble and roll, hitting every part of my body before skidding to a complete stop. Breathing heavily and still trying to get my bearings, I stumbled to my feet and looked around, expecting to see the person who’d summoned me. But there was no one.

“Who’s there?” I screamed, no longer worried about getting caught, because it was clear I already had been. A fact I was not happy about, I might add. I was still disoriented and although I couldn’t feel the extent of my injuries, I knew I’d be hurting in the morning.

“I know you’re out here!” I yelled, louder this time. I was growing more and more agitated with every passing second and wasn’t sure what I was going to do when Abby did step out of the shadows.

What I heard next, though, wasn’t a voice. It was more of a grunting. At first, I couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from, but as I began to walk around, the sound got louder. I rushed down a path behind me, searching frantically for the source of the noises.

It was too dark to see at first, but as I ran closer, what loomed in front of me began to get clearer. In the beginning it was just a shape above me. I thought it was a part of a tree moving in the wind.

It wasn’t.

As I crept up to it, I began to make out a pair of legs. They swayed in the air less than ten feet away from me, and were just about eye level. I made out a pair of arms next, resting limply against an equally limp body. Finally, my eyes made their way up to the head of the person. It was cocked grotesquely to the side, eyes wide and mouth open as if midscream. Only, there was no sound coming out. Just a look of sheer terror staring back at me.

The body hung from the tree, periodic gusts of wind giving it the appearance of a puppet being controlled by its master.

I took a few hesitant steps forward until I was able to make out the face of the victim. That’s when I began to scream.

“Colette!” I shrieked, rushing toward my friend.