The Witch is Back

Chapter Thirty-Five




“I highly doubt that’s what the counselors had in mind, Brooklyn,” I said, starting to circle the room slowly. “Unless you know something that I don’t.”

True, it sort of made sense that the final obstacle would have us competing against each other, but something about this didn’t feel right. Call it witch’s intuition, but this challenge felt different than the others.


“Scared to have a spell-off with me, Hadley?” Brooklyn asked, raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

She was calling me out.

“Is that what we’re doing here?” I asked, trying to get her to show her cards.

The truth was, as soon as I’d seen it was Brooklyn, I’d wondered if we were still in the challenge at all or if she’d just lured me down here as some sort of a plan. And if it was the latter, I was actually kind of impressed. It would’ve taken some crafty magic to get me away from the others, when we were supposedly being watched by most of the camp. But I’d learned through Samuel that if a person wanted something bad enough, they would find a way to make the impossible happen.

Well, they’d try to, at least.

But just like with the Parrishables, I wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“Finally sick of coming in second, so you brought me down here to duke it out?” I asked, baiting her. We might’ve been on her turf, but we were going to play by my rules. “Big mistake.”

“You’re the one with my sloppy seconds, Hadley,” Brooklyn spat. Her words were filled with venom and the air in the cave seemed to get even colder. “Then again, I suppose it was bound to come to this. Me against you. Fight to the finish. This world’s not big enough for the both of us.”

“Omigod, enough with the clichés already!” I said, popping a hip and sounding annoyed. And I sort of was. How could this skinny little thing think she was any match for me? Did she not know who I was? What I could do? “I still have no idea what Asher saw in you.”

I knew it was a low blow, but she’d started this and I was going to do whatever it took to take her down first.

Brooklyn narrowed her eyes at me. “Why don’t we end this now?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” I said, falling into a fighting stance.

My adrenaline began to pump as I easily dodged her first spell and it zinged past me. Following it with my eyes, I watched the magic hit the wall and then disintegrate. This was interesting. Her spell hadn’t ended in an explosion, which meant she wasn’t casting to kill. Was she just trying to play me? Make me underestimate her so she could slip something past me? Whatever the case, I adjusted the spell I was about to cast so that it was less . . . lethal.

“Why so angry, Brooklyn?” I asked, shooting a shocking incantation her way. It barely hit its target, but she flailed a bit before regaining her balance.

One, nothing.

“I mean, besides the fact that Asher’s into brunettes now. Well, actually, just this brunette,” I said, pointing at myself. “Forget to take your Lexapro this morning?”

Shaking off the shock I’d given her, Brooklyn smiled back. “Me? Angry? Not at all,” she said. And for some reason, I believed her. This caught me by surprise. “It’s not like it’s my friends who are ditching me. Talking about me behind my back. Doing everything they can to get away from me. And what about that boyfriend, Hadley? Seen much of Asher lately? I’ve heard he’s been MIA. Now why do you think that is?”

This time, I was distracted by what Brooklyn was saying and didn’t get out of the way of her counterspell. As a burst of light hit me, I was enveloped in a sort of bubble that began to fill up immediately with water.

Again with the water!

Just as it reached the space near my neck, I busted through it with a particularly powerful explosion spell, spraying droplets of water everywhere. Including on Brooklyn, who didn’t seem to notice or care. This made me even more annoyed.

“What is it with you trying to drown me?” I asked angrily.

Instead of drying off, I instantly sent an orb of magic her way, which forced her backward through the air. She hit the opposite wall with a thud and then struggled to get air back into her lungs.

How’s that for a witch fit?

I rushed over to her and placed my foot on her chest, pinning her up against the wall.

“Hey! Watch it. You’re getting dirt all over my Siriano,” Brooklyn said and then sent me flying with her own spell.

I landed with a thud nearly ten feet away. We both sat there on the ground, studying each other and breathing heavily from the fight, waiting for the other to make the next move.

“You really are out of your mind, aren’t you?” Brooklyn asked, trying to get to her feet.

“What are you talking about?” I asked annoyed.

Brooklyn gave me a look. “Witch, please. I haven’t even tried to kill you yet. You’re the one who’s been messing with me.”

This time it was my turn to be confused. “I haven’t done anything to you,” I said, relaxing a little. “Except come to Brighton. You’re the one who’s trying to steal my boyfriend, brainwashing my friends, and setting all these traps to try to get me killed.”

“You’re cracked. I haven’t done any of those things,” Brooklyn said. Then she paused. “Okay, so I’m not exactly thrilled about you and Asher, but he’s a loyal guy. If he’s chosen to be with you, nothing’s gonna change his mind. I get that. And I’m moving on.”

“Then why did you trick me into coming down here?” I asked.

Silence. “This wasn’t me,” Brooklyn said, shaking her head emphatically. “I thought this was part of the challenge.”

I was beginning to wonder if she could be right. Had I so totally misread the situation in assuming Brooklyn was here to fight me? But if this was a challenge, then what was the obstacle? All the rest of them had been pretty clear on what we were supposed to do. This one, however . . . there were no clues. Just two enemies wandering around a hole in the earth where it was unlikely that people would find them.

Brooklyn must have come to the same conclusion that I did, because her eyes grew big before turning to meet mine. “This is an obstacle, right?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Wow. You’re smarter than you look.”

Brooklyn scowled and stepped toward me. “That smackdown can still be arranged,” she said walking toward me, trying to look as menacing as she could.

“Hold on there, Beach Barbie,” I said, placing my hand in the air as I tried to work things out in my head. We’d both been brought here, because someone had secretly hoped we’d destroy each other, or at least be injured trying. So, either someone was after Brooklyn or they were after me. . . .

“We’ve been set up,” I said finally, looking over at Brooklyn.

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

“We were tricked into coming down here.”

“By whom? And why? What do they want with us?” she asked. All good questions and ones I was eager to find the answers to as well.

“When I learn how to read minds, I’ll be sure to let you know,” I said, looking around the room we were in with a fresh set of eyes. It was round and had multiple passageways coming and going from where we stood. It made me wonder what the other corridors held.

“Why don’t you leave that kind of magic up to the pros?” another voice said sinisterly. As someone else stepped out from one of the doorways and into the light, Brooklyn and I took a step forward before turning to face our attacker together.