The Witches of the Glass Castle (The Witches of the Glass Castle Series Book 1) (24 page)

Kizzy put her arm around him. ‘Then that’s who you are, and I think that’s pretty awesome. I think you are incredible.’

Blue smiled shyly. ‘I think you are, too. I’ll run back to the castle and get the matches. OK?’

‘OK.’ Kizzy gave him a final hug, and before she knew what she was doing, she leaned over and kissed him on the lips.

They stared at each other for a moment, unsure of what to say.

‘Sorry!’ Kizzy grinned sheepishly.

‘No, no, I liked it!’

Kizzy giggled. ‘Quick! You have to go and get the matches.’

With a deep breath, Blue changed tactics. He dug through his jeans pocket and drew out his vial of ciron thistle like a knight drawing his sword. He sprinkled the grains into his hand and enclosed them.

‘Matches,’ he whispered. Unfolding his fingers, he examined the contents of his palm.

‘Well?’ Kizzy pressed.

‘It’s not matches,’ Blue confirmed.

‘Button?’ Kizzy asked.

‘Yeah, it’s a button.’ Blue studied it curiously. ‘But it’s on fire!’

Kizzy gasped and clapped her hands fervently. ‘I knew you could do it!’

Without wasting a second, Blue used the flaming button to light the candles.

Kizzy crawled to the other side of the grave and looked across at him. His expression, highlighted by the glowing candlelight, was strong.

‘Let’s raise the dead,’ Blue said with a smile, the pulsating flames reflecting in his eyes.

Wendolyn, can you hear me?
Cassandra asked silently.

Wendolyn glanced at her briefly.
Yes, I hear you
, she replied to Cassandra’s voice, communicating through murmurs of the mind. The two Readers had become adept at conversing beyond the ears of others.

Is William with us?
Cassandra asked.

Wendolyn traced her frail fingers over the amulet.
I’m afraid not
, she returned.

I don’t know how much longer we can hold Tol off
, Cassandra admitted grimly.

Tol circled the Arcana and Colt, flocking them like lambs. But his focus was constantly on Dino, relentlessly chipping away at his mind with an intensity undetected by the others. The struggle to resist
had worn Dino down to exhaustion.

‘Say the words,’ Tol hissed. ‘Tell me that you want to join my coven, and this will all be over. I know you want to accept. Can’t you feel it?’

Dino could feel it. The desire to become a Hunter was stronger than anything he had ever experienced before. It devoured him. Something in his subconscious reminded him that Tol had planted these feelings, but it barely mattered. The urge was so extreme that it was almost impossible to resist.

‘Mia, keep talking to me,’ Dino begged, desperate for an anchor to pull him back.

‘Don’t listen to him,’ Mia pleaded. ‘It’s all a trick. You don’t want to be a Hunter.’

‘Come with me,’ Tol persisted in a lulling voice. ‘I’m your father.’

Dino baulked. Throughout his entire life he had dreamed of meeting his father. He had often fantasised about running away to find him and escaping the household of women. Now the option was a reality – although it wasn’t quite the fishing trips and sports events that Dino had imagined.

‘Say the words,’ Tol seethed.

So far, Dino had resisted, but like a fraying rope he knew he soon would snap.

‘If you will not succumb to the d
esire,’ Tol murmured, ‘then perhaps you will submit to pain.’ He contorted his hand into a fist, and Dino cried out in agony.

I need to act now!
Cassandra cried to Wendolyn.
He’s torturing him!

‘Ah,’ Tol let out a satisfied breath, momentarily releasing Dino from his clutches. ‘It seems my army has arrived.’

The Arcana waited on tenterhooks as Tol’s two followers surfaced from the shadows. Shrouded behind dark robes, their sunken, hollow faces resembled skeletons rather than humans.

‘Oh, look what the cat dragged in,’ Madeline scoffed. ‘This really
is
a family reunion. And a family reunion just isn’t complete without my two treacherous brothers.’

‘My uncles?’ Mia gasped. 

‘Anton and Phillip,’ Cassandra confirmed. ‘Good heavens, Phillip! You used to be such a handsome boy. I see that evil has spoiled you, too. You look quite rotten, my dears.’

Anton and Phillip hardly registered their sisters. Sixteen years of greed and poison had turned them into blank minions, emotionless drudges that did Tol’s biddings.

Tol turned to his two underlings. ‘Slaughter them all,’ he instructed.

Anton and Phillip lunged forward like hounds, their razor-sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight.

In a reflex action, Colt raised his hand. He charged a gust of air at the Hunters, throwing them onto their backs.

Tol directed his hand towards Colt. ‘Y
ou are a nuisance, Hunter. Why won’t you just
die
?’

‘The feeling’s mutual
,’ Colt retorted.

Taking advantage of his distraction, Madeline raced for
ward and leapt on to Tol’s back. She dug her fingernails into his shoulders.

Tol roared and flung her off him. She hurtled through the air and landed on the ground with a smack.

‘Maddie!’ Cassandra screamed, rushing over to her sister’s unconscious body.

A vibrant blush of scarlet light warmed Wendolyn’s hand. She looked down at the glowing amulet. ‘Hello, my love,’ she whispered to the pendant.

Cassandra
, she beckoned silently.
William is with us. It’s time.

Maddie’s hurt
, Cassandra responded.
I can’t wake her up!

While Anton and Phillip slithered in and out of the trees circling Mia and Colt, Tol summoned Dino to him.

‘Stand before me,’ Tol demanded.

Dino edged forward u
ntil they were face to face.

Cassandra
, Wendolyn urged,
we need to do the spell at once. If you cannot wake Madeline, then we must use Mia in her place
.

Mia!
Cassandra looked at Wendolyn in alarm.
She’s not ready for such a powerful spell
.
It will consume her!

We have no choice
, Wendolyn told her.
Stand beside me, Cassandra. Take my hand.

Cassandra left Madeline’s side and re
turned to Wendolyn. She grasped the older woman’s hand. They both looked at Mia.

Colt stood protectively in front of her, warding off their two attackers.

‘Mia!’ Wendolyn called. ‘Join us. We need you.’

Mia gripped Colt’s sleeve. ‘I can’t,’
she whispered to him. 

Without response, Colt sent a burst of air to clear her pathway. ‘Go to
your mother,’ he said.

She didn’t move
.

Colt laughed lightly. ‘This is your time to shine. Why are you hiding behind me?
You surpass me.’

Mia managed a nervous smile
. ‘I thought you were unsurpassed?’

‘Don’t make me say it again! Just go!’ He gave her a little shove and within moments Mia was positioned between her mother and Wendolyn.

Cassandra took hold of her hand. ‘Mia, you must do as we say. Follow our lead.’

The three women joined hands, and Wendolyn’s amulet radiated brightly over her cotton dressing gown.

‘Colt!’ Mia cried, as Anton and Phillip pounced upon him. She tried to run to him, but Cassandra held her tightly.

‘Don’t let go of my hand,’ she beseeched her daughter. ‘No matter what happens, we must not break the connection.’

Just as the mother held the daughter, the father held the son. Tol clasped Dino’s face between his crooked fingers.

‘Say it,’ he snarled.

Dino opened his mouth, but his words faltered.

Wasting no time
, Wendolyn used her free hand to draw an Athame from the pocket of her dressing gown. She held it to the sky and then used its tip to trace a square into the mud.

With her index finger she tapped each point of the square. ‘From the four corners, I call on thee, to protect us from
our enemy…’ She handed the Athame to Cassandra.

Mia looked on in horror as Anton and Phillip overcame Colt and pinned him to the ground.

And then, by glory of a miracle, another dark figure sprung from the tree tops. A Hunter. But not one of Tol’s – one of Colt’s.

It was Siren. He had survived.

With a score to settle, Siren leapt on to Anton, snapping his neck in the blink of an eye.

Now the tables had turned, and it was Phillip who cowered as the two young Hunters took back their rightful place as the forest coven.

Cassandra gritted her teeth and kept going. She had to finish this – once and for all. She tapped the corners of the square with the blade. ‘Earth, air, fire and sea, bind Tol’s power for eternity.’ She passed the Athame to Mia.

Mia cringed as her fingers touched the cold blade. What was her mother thinking, handing her the Athame like that? She didn’t have the strength to master it – not without Colt, anyway.

She looked over at him. He stood back as Siren drove Phillip into the forest.

‘I can’t do it,’ she mouthed to him.

He smiled at her, his eyes shining with the colours of nature. At that moment, she saw his soul: beautiful, wild and free.

‘Yes, you can,’ he mouthed back to her.

Mia clutched the Athame and it let itself be known to her. Her skin tingled. She could sense it working alongside her, not exceeding her own power, merely aiding it. She brought it to the ground and used its point to tap the corners of the square, just as her mother and Wendolyn had done.

Then Mia spoke, the words flowing as if she had used them a thousand times before. ‘With lov
e and strength, set my powers free. End evil’s reign, so shall it be.’

A clap of lightening struck
overhead and Dino dropped to the ground. He scrambled to his feet and stumbled to his mother and sister.

Tol let out an almighty roar. His body blazed with a dull, purple light.

The others watched in awe as a stream of yellow and black light poured out of his mouth, gushing like a faucet of luminous water.

The ground shuddered and the trees trembled. And with a splintering crash, Tol crumpled to the floor, lifeless.

For a long moment nobody moved.

Cassandra was the first to break the stillness. She stepped gingerly towards the motionless body. However, the man she saw on the ground was not the man who had tormented them just minutes before. Instead, she saw the young man whom she had loved for so many years. Tol’s former features had been restored.

Cassandra dropped to the forest floor and rested her head on his chest. There she wept.

Her Tol was gone.

Mia limped across the courtyard to the old blue station wagon. Even at summer’s end, the sun was strong and the sky was brilliantly blue.

‘Hurry up, hobbles,’ said Colt, impatiently. ‘You know, if you were a Hunter that ankle would have healed days ago.’

‘Oh, well, in that case, maybe I’ll become Hunter,’ she replied in jest.

‘You wish!’ Colt scoffed. ‘You’re not what we’re looking for.’ He dropped her rucksack on to the ground, propping it up against the car tyre.

Savouring their final moments together, they stood alone at the station wagon. The others would be out shortly for the customary farewells.

‘So,’ Colt sighed, serious now. ‘I’d prefer not to be here when the Arcana are around. I suppose I should say goodbye now.’

Mia smiled sadly. She had hoped that Colt would be there until the very last moment. In fact, she had hoped that he would be the last thing she saw as she left the Glass Castle.

‘You’ll come back one day, won’t you?’ he asked.

Mia nodded her head. She was afraid that, if she spoke, her tearful voice would betray her. She hated the thought of leaving Colt, but school would be starting soon for her, and, as a Hunter, Colt was obliged to stay at the castle with Siren and their new coven.

‘Good,’ he said. ‘But don’t forget, I’ll be coven leader with two new rookies to admire me, so don’t you go embarrassing me in front of them.’ His tone was flippant, but his eyes gave away the pain he felt at the loss of Lotan and Roc. And now, Mia too.

‘Embarrass you?’ Mia exclaimed. ‘The other way around, more like!’

Colt softened. ‘I’m teasing. You don’t embarrass me. I’m proud of my illness. I’d shout it from the rooftops – provided that nobody was around to hear it, that is.’

‘How very romantic,’ Mia mocked. ‘You won’t forget about me while I’m gone?’ she asked, pretending not to know the answer.

‘Yes, I’m afraid I will,’ he replied coolly.

‘No, you won’t!’

Colt
pulled her closer to him. ‘Of course I won’t.’

Mia felt a lump forming in her thro
at as she hugged him tightly.

Their moment was interrupted by a commotion at the castle entryway.
Mia gave him a melancholy smile as she pulled away from him.

‘That’s my cue to leav
e,’ Colt told her. ‘Stay safe. And if you ever need me, call for me.’ He dipped his head and kissed her lovingly. But the kiss was bittersweet.

And then, Colt was gone.

Alone in the courtyard, Mia felt his breeze enveloping her. She closed her eyes to relish in it.

‘I can’t be
lieve it’s all over!’ Kizzy’s voice cut through the silence. Her blonde hair was tied up in a shoelace and her long, patchwork dress was trailing along the gravel.

Mia greeted her with a smile
. ‘We’ll come back again. We have to. Christmas and next summer, maybe?’

‘Definitely.’ Kizzy gave her a loud kiss on the cheek. ‘And I’ll phone you tonight when I get home.’

‘Yes. As soon as you get home!’

Emerging from the
arched doorway, Dino appeared on the scene. His heavy rucksack was slung over his shoulder as he walked across the courtyard towards the station wagon. Behind him were Wendolyn, Blue, Cassandra and Madeline.

Dino busied himself loading the rucksacks into the car, muttering something about being lumbered with the hard labour. Beside him, Blue gave Kizzy a private smile.

‘Thanks for everything,’ Dino said at last, stepping out from behind the station wagon. ‘All of you.’ It was clear from his bashful stance that he had been building up the courage to say it for some time.

There was a chorus of humble responses.

‘Yes, thank you,’ Mia chimed in. She realised that she was crying openly now. Her time at the Glass Castle had gone above and beyond anything she could ever have imagined. Even with the challenges they’d faced, she wouldn’t change a second of it.

‘Come back any time,’ Wendolyn prompted sincerely.

Dino smiled at her. He looked at her now with respect and reverence. Then he turned to Blue and extended his hand.

Blue accepted the gesture an
d shook Dino’s hand.

‘Benny Blue,’ Dino said graciously, ‘you are a loyal friend. And I am honoured to know you.’

‘Aw, don’t get all slushy on me!’ Blue punched him playfully in the arm.

Dino patted him on the back
. ‘I’ll see you around, buddy.’

‘Count on it,’ Blue grinned.

As the friends said their emotional goodbyes, Cassandra and Madeline hugged Wendolyn and then climbed into the front seats of the car. Dino hopped into the back and fastened his seatbelt.

Before retreating to the station
wagon, Mia gave Wendolyna a final hug. As an afterthought she said, ‘When I first arrived here, you read my tea leaves. You said you’d tell me what you saw when I was more able to deal with it. After everything we’ve been through, am I able enough now?’

Wendolyn chortled. ‘I’d say so, dear! The leaves foretold your destiny. And your destiny is with Colt.’

Mia glanced back at the magnificent castle and smiled. Of course she wouldn’t have been able to fathom that in the early days. She had lived in fear of Hunters – especially Colt.

‘So, you knew all along?’ she asked Wendolyn.

The older lady winked. ‘You might say I had an inkling.’

From inside the car, Madeline reached over to the driver’s side and honked the horn, hurrying her niece along.

Obediently, Mia climbed into the back seat beside Dino. She blew one last kiss to her friends as the engine spluttered to life.

With her hands rested loosely on the steering wheel, Cassandra drove through the meadow, heading away from the Glass Castle. She glanced at her children in the rear-view mirror.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about your father,’ she said in a fragile voice.

‘That’s OK,’ Mia replied. ‘I think I preferred n
ot knowing.’ She swapped a look with Dino.

‘How about you, Dino?
’ Cassandra asked. ‘How do you feel about all of this?’

Dino shrugged. ‘I always dreamed of having a father…’ He trailed off.

‘And now?’ Cassandra pressed.

‘And now, I suppose I won’t eve
r have one,’ he concluded.

Cassandra exhaled sadly.

‘Although,’ Dino went on, ‘Aunt Maddie has a fairly masculine energy, so I guess she’ll do.’

‘Oh, you dreadful child!’ Madeline shrieked. She swatted at him from her front seat.

Dino laughed as he dodged every one of her swipes. ‘Don’t worry, Mother. I’m not pining for Tol if that’s what you think.’

Cassandra’s face lit up – not because of what he had said, but because of one word mentioned within it. ‘You called me mother!’ she gushed.

Dino rolled his eyes. ‘OK, OK. Let’s not make a big deal out of it.’

Mia reached over to him and ruffled his hair. ‘Aw, how cute!’ she teased.

He shoved her hand away. ‘Women!’ he uttered, exasperated.

Giggling quietly, Mia turned her gaze to beyond the car window. Soon they would leave the castle behind, erasing it into nothing more than a memory. She squeezed her eyes shut, imploring herself not to think about Colt. She couldn’t allow herself to surrender to that yet, because, when she did, she feared that she would shatter i
nto pieces.

Was that my destiny?
she wondered reflectively.
And if that was it, is it over now?

Out of nowhere
, Cassandra and Madeline let out shrill screams and Cassandra slammed on the brakes. The tyres screeched and polluted the air with the stench of burnt rubber.

It was Colt. He had appeared in front of the car, as if he had materialised from thin air.

He rapped on the bonnet of the car. ‘Cutting it a bit close, don’t you think?’ he accused the driver. ‘You near flattened me! Crazy females!’

Madeline shook her fist at him.
‘The nerve to jump out in front of our car like that. He scared me half to death!’

Mia u
nbuckled her seatbelt and flung open the car door.

‘You came back!’ she cried. She rushed to him and threw
her arms around his neck.

He grinned frivolously. ‘How could I not?’

Mia kissed him. ‘Wendolyn told me that you were my destiny,’ she blurted the words out, then blushed as she heard them aloud.

But Colt’s response eased her uncerta
inty. ‘Of course I’m your destiny,’ he murmured. ‘I love you, remember?’

‘Do you think we were fated to meet?’

‘Absolutely. And we will continue to meet,’ he assured her. ‘It’s out of our hands.’ He gently took her palms in his grasp and lifted them skyward. A shower of pink tree blossoms sprinkled over them like snowflakes.

Mia gasped as the silken petals landed on her nose and in her hair. She dropped her hands down, letting the blossoms scatter around them.

‘
Destiny
,’ Colt dissected the word. ‘You never know where it will take you.’

‘It took me to you,’ Mia mused.

‘Then I am in its debt.’

She pondered it with a wistful expression
. ‘How long does destiny last?’

Colt laughed
. ‘Not long enough.’

‘What if it lasts for
ever?’

‘For
ever? Still not long enough.’

‘But at least there’s more to come.’

Colt smiled roguishly. ‘Oh, I have no doubt.’