The Witches of Glass Castle: Uprising (The Witches of the Glass Castle Series Book 2) (25 page)

They nodded in response, breathless from their sprint.

Amos’s eyes closed, while Wendolyn listened soundlessly to the thoughts of the new arrivals. Then, without a moment’s hesitation, she began reciting the words aloud.

‘
Shields and swords,

Binds and chains,

Unleash thine vessel from unbreakable reins.

Release what is guarded,

Release unto me,

Break down thine walls,

So shall it be
.’

The ground beneath their feet began to quake. Mia clung to a nearby tree trunk for support. The rough bark dug into her palms as the earth juddered.

All of a sudden, the Hunters and Dino were thrown backwards from their points on the triangle. In the centre of the triangle, Amos flung his arms wide. His lips parted as he gulped for breath, and a stream of white light gushed from his open mouth.

Mia shielded her eyes against the beam of bright light spearing from Amos. She cowered away from it, noticing the others doing the same.

There was a blinding flash, like a bolt of lightning illuminating the sky, before the world plunged into darkness once more.

After a few bated seconds, Mia peeled her fingers from her eyes and cautiously returned her gaze to Amos. Her trembling hands coiled around the tree bark once more.

Amos stood hunched and panting in the centre of the triangle. The Astral Switch spell had been broken. Wendolyn was gone.

‘You monsters,’ Amos choked tearfully. ‘You’ve taken it from me! You’ve destroyed me!’ He let out an anguished sob.

Mia glanced at the others, who were spread out around the clearing. They staggered slowly to their feet and stepped out from behind trees.

Now what?
Mia wondered with a knot of fear in her stomach. Would they keep Amos prisoner? Would they set him free? Without the Arx protecting him, he wasn’t nearly as dangerous as he had been before. But he was a threat, nonetheless. Although once she’d used the Extraction spell to remove her own Arx, would Amos still want to kill her?
Vendetta
, the word flashed through her mind, making her blood run cold.

She swallowed.

Colt was the first to speak. ‘What’s the antidote, Amos?’ he said. His voice was low and husky, and his words made the air prickle.

Amos gave an angry guffaw. ‘You think I will be rewarding you for
this
?’ he wailed. ‘You will never get your antidote, now!’

Mia’s heart started to race. ‘How could you do this to Wendolyn?’ she cried. ‘Give us the antidote, please!’

‘Never! I would rather die.’

‘Then die you shall,’ Colt spat furiously.

Amos’s sobs dissolved into a sinister rumble of laughter. ‘Is that so, Hunter? If I die, then Wendolyn dies too.
I
am the only one who can cure her, remember?’ He managed a cruel smile. ‘I suggest you curb your attitude, boy. You’re mine now.’

Mia watched in dismay as a look of defeat crossed Colt’s face.

No
, she thought desperately.
Amos can’t manipulate us like this. He can’t
.

‘Seize him, Siren,’ Colt snarled. ‘Take him to the dungeon until we figure out what to do with him.’

However, before Siren could descend upon Amos, the older man’s knees buckled and he fell forward onto the ground with a heavy smack. He lay on the earth, facedown and motionless.

A small gasp escaped from Mia’s lips as she caught sight of a dagger embedded into the back of Amos’s tweed jacket, glinting in the low moonlight. Where Amos had once stood, Demetrius now stood tall, his presence overwhelming in the quiet night.

A deathly hush fell over the clearing.

For a split second, Demetrius’s eyes locked with Mia’s. ‘There’s your antidote,’ he murmured. ‘Kill the poisoner, kill the poison.’ And without another word, he turned and loped into the dark depths of the forest.

Demetrius was gone. And just like that, Amos was too.

A New Age

Mia sat beside Colt in the graveyard. She rested her head on his shoulder as they leaned back against a headstone. Above them, the sky was brilliant blue and a light dusting of frost tipped the long blades of grass. Christmas had come and gone, and the dawn of a new year was upon them.

‘Are you okay?’ Mia asked tentatively as she toyed with the distant wind chimes, making them sway gently in the breeze.

‘Yes,’ Colt replied after a pensive moment. ‘I think so. Are you?’

Mia nodded. She entwined her fingers through his.

In return he planted a kiss on her forehead.

‘I’ll miss you,’ she whispered.

‘I’ll miss you, too,’ he replied. ‘But I imagine that goes without saying.’

‘I wish I didn’t have to leave,’ she murmured. She lifted her head and found his gaze.

‘You’ll come back, though, won’t you?’ he asked. Rays of sunlight flecked cool yellow tones in his deep green eyes.

‘Of course,’ she promised. ‘As soon as school is over.’

‘Good,’ he said. ‘You’re safest here. Especially now that you don’t have the Arx protecting you.’

She laughed softly, and then paused for a moment. ‘Do you think I did the right thing? By breaking the Arx, I mean?’

‘Debatable.’

She groaned. ‘I had a feeling you’d say that.’ She inhaled the pine scented air around them, savouring it to store in her memory. ‘I think I did,’ she answered her own question.

‘Then you probably did.’

Colt gave her one final kiss, and in an unspoken understanding they rose to their feet and began towards the gardens. The castle towered ahead of them, its turrets soaring towards the azure sky.

They walked in silence—there was nothing more that needed to be said. Amos was gone. And, true to Demetrius’s word, Wendolyn’s strength had gradually returned.

After that night, Demetrius had vanished. There’d been no word of whether or not he had returned to the Lighthouse—or if a school of enchantment even existed anymore within its ramshackle structure. Kizzy had left shortly after, and now only Wendolyn, the Hunters and a few Arcana remained at the castle.

In the courtyard, Cassandra, Madeline, and Dino were waiting at the station wagon for Mia and Colt to arrive. As the pair crossed through the hedge archway, Mia noticed that Madeline was sniffling into a tissue.

‘See? Even Aunt Maddie’s sad to say goodbye to you,’ Mia joked.

Colt snorted.

As they closed in on the courtyard, Mia’s fingers slid from Colt’s and she gave him a parting look. ‘Bye,’ she said softly. ‘I’ll see you soon.’

‘I have no doubt,’ Colt said with a wink. He kissed her lovingly on the lips, then headed towards the forest. She was certain that he’d be watching her long after he was gone from her view.

As Mia approached her family, she began to glean the real source of Madeline’s anguish. ‘Is it me?’ Madeline was asking Dino tearfully.

‘No,’ Dino assured her. ‘This has nothing to do with you, Aunt Maddie. I swear.’

Mia frowned. ‘What are you guys talking about?’

Dino glanced at their mother and aunt, as if waiting for their approval before he spoke. The two women permitted him with a nod.

He turned to Mia. ‘I have to tell you something,’ he began. He took her elbow and steered her to a quiet spot in the courtyard. ‘I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and...’

‘What?’ Mia urged.

They came to a stop beside a tall stone pillar.

‘Dino, what is it?’ she asked.

‘I’m staying,’ he blurted out at last.

Mia blinked at him in confusion. ‘Wait, what? You’re staying here? At the castle?’

Dino smiled and nodded his head.

‘For...for how long?’ she asked.

He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Forever, maybe.’

Mia’s jaw dropped. ‘Dino! You can’t!’

‘Why not?’ he argued. ‘I’ve already got all the credits I need to finish school, and I’ll be eighteen in a couple of weeks. Blue’s staying, too, and so are Isaac and Roland...’

‘Dino...’ Mia began, but her voice failed her.

‘I’ve got a purpose here,’ he elaborated gently. ‘I don’t know exactly what it is yet, but I’m going to figure it out.’

‘But...what about me?’ was all Mia could manage.

Dino smiled sadly. ‘I’ll still be here for you. Besides, now that you don’t have the Arx to worry about, I don’t think you need me as much anymore.’

‘I still need you,’ she whispered, fighting back the catch in her voice. ‘You won’t be in the house anymore.’

‘I know,’ he smirked. ‘I’ll be in a castle.’

‘I’ll stay too,’ Mia suggested, swallowing the lump in her throat. ‘If you’re staying, then I’m staying.’

‘You can’t,’ he laughed. ‘You’ve got school, remember?’

Mia threw up her hands in exasperation. ‘I don’t care about school!’

‘Listen,’ he began. ‘Finish school, and then...’ He shrugged. ‘Then it’s up to you.’

Tears started to prickle Mia’s eyes. ‘But we’ve never been apart before.’

He turned his face away. When he looked back, his coffee-coloured eyes were glassy. ‘I’ll miss you,’ he said. ‘I just... I have to do this. I have to find myself, and I’m pretty sure I’m
here
. I need to... I don’t know,
help
people or something. I can be better than what I was. I can make a difference.’ 

Without a word, Mia hugged him. He smelled familiar to her. It was that familiar scent that only Dino had. In that moment, she was transported back to another time, another place. Her sixteen years with Dino passed before her in a blur, from scraped knees to late-night confidences. She found herself lost in this moment, cherishing the memory they were creating right then.

‘So this is okay?’ he checked.

‘More than okay,’ she whispered.  ‘I hope you find yourself, Dino.’

‘Thanks, Mia,’ he whispered back. ‘I think I just did.’