The Witch is Back

Chapter Twenty-Nine




Colette caught me before I hit the ground and helped me back to my feet, gripping my arms until I was steady again. But I wasn’t sure I’d ever feel steady again. Everything was wrong and so, so horrible.

I took a step forward and my breath caught as I spoke. “How could you betray me like this, Asher? Again.” It came out as a whisper.

Asher stood in front of me, still frozen in his spot. The cute, dimpled face that I’d grown to not only love, but trust, was scrunched up in a feral snarl. His eyes, which usually looked at me with such care and affection, were hostile. It was like looking at a stranger.

I wasn’t prepared for the flood of emotions that torpedoed through me during those next few seconds. The sorrow and intense pain that hit my gut was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. It was so much worse than when I’d found out he was in cahoots with Samuel. I’d barely known him then. Now we had time behind us—over six months of constant contact—and experiences, and memories, and a bond that made this betrayal so much more devastating.

Sadness parlayed into anger, and before I knew it was coming, my hand was whipping out and slapping Asher hard across his face. My hand stung as I pulled it away. Colette took a step back, as surprised as I was that I’d just attacked the guy I loved. But as far as I was concerned, he’d gotten off easy.

Because what I wanted to do was kill him.

I started to plot ways that I could hurt him as badly as he’d hurt me. Teach him that you don’t mess with the Bishop women. I could curse him so that he’d grow disgusting hair all over his body like a human werewolf. Make him talk as if he’d been sucking on helium balloons for the rest of his life. Turn Abby against him.

As much as I wanted to get my revenge, none of these things seemed quite appropriate. And deep down, I knew that I didn’t have it in me to dip into my inner darkness.

But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to kick his ass for breaking my heart.

I reached out to smack him again, but Colette stopped me. “Uh, Had, I think you need to see this,” she said. The seriousness in her voice made me turn to look at her.

“What?” I asked, slightly annoyed at being interrupted.

Colette didn’t say anything, but reached out and threw off the hood of the figure closest to her. I gasped as Asher appeared next to her.

Whipping my head around to the figure beside me, I stared into Asher’s beautiful face. Then, I looked at the person next to Colette and saw him again.

“Have I gone temporarily insane or are there two of him?” I asked Colette carefully.

“If you’re crazy then so am I,” she affirmed.

It didn’t make sense.

“Wait a hot second,” I said, an idea forming in my head. I walked over to another figure and ripped off his hood.

Asher.

Colette did the same, going around to two others and revealing who was underneath their cloaks.

Asher.

And Asher again.

When we’d finished unveiling them all, Colette and I found ourselves standing in the woods in the middle of a sea of people who all looked exactly like my boyfriend.

“What the hell . . . ,” I said, confused and upset.

“Why do they all look like Asher?” Colette asked, turning to me for answers.

“Because Brooklyn wants to destroy me,” I said, matter-of-factly. “And she knows this is the way to hurt me most.”

“It doesn’t make sense. . . . ,” Colette said, shaking her head incredulously.

“Well, it’s about to,” I said, taking a deep breath, a newfound anger building inside of me. Only, this time, it wasn’t geared toward Asher.

“Colette, you might want to step back,” I said and then followed my own advice. Colette scurried to stand behind me as I fell into my casting stance. I could already feel the magic coursing through my body, like the universe knew what I was going to do next and it was welcoming the spell.

“Realto naturasa!” I called out. The words echoed into the night, loud enough to wake the dead. A breeze picked up around us, and the noise that the leaves and branches made as they swayed on the trees created a ghostly backdrop for the moment.

As we watched, the faces of all the Ashers began to melt like wax figures sitting in the hot sun. Their chins began to droop first and then eventually dripped off, making a sick slurping noise as clumps fell to the ground below. It was a horrifying sight and if I hadn’t been ready for it, I might’ve run screaming for the cabin. But I knew the spell was working.

“What did you do?” Colette asked me, horrified.

“A spell to show their true selves,” I said. “They’re shedding the masks they’re wearing. Not exactly pretty, is it?”

“It’s like watching a horror movie,” Colette said, turning her back so she wouldn’t have to see anymore. I have to admit, I would’ve looked away, too, if I wasn’t so hell-bent on finding out who was underneath it all.


Twenty seconds later, most of the Asher masks had disintegrated, revealing the truth. Seeing Abby’s and Jasmine’s faces hadn’t been surprising, though I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt. More shocking was finding Sascha and Jinx, as well as three other random girls who were attending the intensive with us. Two were giggly clones who followed Brooklyn around. One was practically a stranger.

What could they possibly have against me?

“Why are they doing this?” Colette asked as if reading my mind.

I just shook my head.

“That’s what I want to know,” I said finally. “We need to unfreeze them to find out who’s pulling their strings.”

“Are you sure we have to let them go? I mean, there’s that whole pesky incident where they tried to hang me before. . . . ,” Colette said, letting her words trail off. She was trying to make a joke of it, but I could tell by the sound of her voice that she was still shaken. And why wouldn’t she be? I knew firsthand how it felt to be the target in the middle of a bull’s-eye.

“You can go back if you want, Colette. I’m not gonna judge you if you do,” I said, sincerely. “It’s just that, I sort of have to figure this whole thing out. It’s dangerous to have an enemy that you don’t know, because it makes it almost impossible to fight them.”

Colette stood there and thought about it for a moment before deciding to stand her ground. Alongside me. I appreciated the gesture more than she knew and turned back to the others.

“Okay. Here goes,” I said, letting go of the freezing spell.

As the magic wore off and the others began to move again, I yelled out another spell and watched as big orbs of water appeared above each of their heads and then rained down on them like burst water balloons. The liquid soaked through their clothes within seconds, and some began to sputter, while others shrieked in response.

“O-M-freaking G!” Sascha screamed, her fists balled up by her sides angrily. “What the hell? This is so not funny!”

Jasmine wiped black eyeliner from underneath her eyes slowly as she searched for the person who’d just super soaked her. When her gaze fell on me, her eyes narrowed to slits.

“You nasty little witch—” she said and began to stalk toward me. But then she recognized where we were and hesitated, looking around for some sort of clue as to what was going on.

“Why are we in the woods?” she asked finally, her eyes moving across Abby, Sascha, and the others, who’d all stopped moving now and seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“That’s what I was wondering,” I said, placing my hands on my hips, “when I followed you all out here.”

Technically we’d only followed Abby, but she’d led us to the others. It was pretty much the same thing.

“You followed us?” Jasmine asked with a snort. “You must be cracked, because I was asleep in my bed up until a few seconds ago.”

“Why would we come out here, anyway?” Abby asked, taking a daring step toward me.

“Apparently to cast against me,” I answered.

Even in the dark, I could see Jasmine roll her eyes at me. “I swear, you have an ego the size of a monster truck,” she said. “We don’t care about you enough to cast against you. So, next theory . . .”

“Fine. Whatever,” I said, already tired of her attitude. “Just because you don’t seem to remember doing it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. The bottom line is, you’ve all been meeting here in the woods at night, and doing spells meant for me.” I didn’t bother telling them I knew this because of a dream I’d had. “You did something to my ring, chanted like weirdo jungle-people, and danced around a fire. And now you’re all hating on me like I’ve actually done something to you. So, either you’re supremely jealous and plotting against me—in which case, I have no problem being your enemy—or someone’s put the whammy on you so you’ll do their bidding. I think it’s the latter, but please, tell me if I’m wrong.”

Jasmine looked over at Abby, who shrugged, and then at Sascha and Jinx, who were just standing there like sad, drowned cats. After a few moments of silence, Jasmine’s body relaxed slightly and she folded her arms across her chest.

“You’re not making this up?” Jasmine asked, eying me suspiciously.

I crossed my heart and then pointed at the sky. “You can ask Colette. She’s the one you guys magically strung up over there.”

Jasmine winced at the mention of this.

“Seriously? That really happened?” Sascha asked Colette. Colette nodded her head.

There was fear in their eyes now as they began to believe us. That they really were being controlled without their knowledge and had no idea what they’d been doing.

“Say we believe you,” Abby said pointedly. “Who’s pulling the strings and why are they targeting you?”

“Why else?” I said. “Power.”

In this case, power over me and those that I loved.