The Witches of the Glass Castle (The Witches of the Glass Castle Series Book 1) (8 page)

Mia opened her mouth to scream. But the sound caught in her throat as Colt plummeted his hand through the mist, causing an immense ripple of air to catapult her backwards. She hit the ground with a smack and kept rolling, as though she had been thrown from a moving vehicle.

The impact sobered her at once. ‘Ow,
’ she groaned, her face pressed into the dewy grass.

‘Mia!’ another familiar voice called her name. ‘What on earth are you doing out here?’ It was Wendolyn, dressed in a nightgown and shawl, her white hair plaited to the side.

Mia blinked.
Out where?
she wondered. It took her several seconds to realise that she was in fact outside. But for the life of her she couldn’t understand why. The memory of walking out into the gardens was vague, but present nonetheless. What she couldn’t fathom, however, was what had possibly motivated her to do such a thing.

She looked down at her muddy bare feet, and then looked to the thick mist that shrouded the forest. Considering the distance between her and the mist, it was almost unfeasible that
she had ever stepped into it. Could a blast of air have really thrown her so far away from it? A part of her wondered if she had been sleepwalking and imagined the whole thing.

‘Mia!’ Wendolyn said as she helped her to her feet. ‘Why are you out here?’ she repeated the question, now with a note of urgency.

‘I don’t know,’ Mia stammered.

‘Let me take you bac
k inside.’ Wendolyn gently but hastily guided Mia up the embankment and back towards the castle.

Clearly
troubled, Wendolyn led Mia to the library and urged her to take a seat. Mia willingly cooperated.

‘My dear,’ We
ndolyn began, ‘what made you go outside? Were you heading for the forest?’

‘I think so,’ Mia admitted weakly.

‘But you know that it’s not safe,’ the older woman said.

‘I know
. I’m sorry.’ There wasn’t much more that she could say.

‘Just like your mother!’ Wendolyn chuckled with a trace of uneasiness. ‘Always getting up to mischief!’

Mia frowned. ‘My mother?’ That didn’t sound much like her mother at all. In fact, Cassandra was notoriously sensible and prudent. ‘Don’t you mean my aunt?’

‘Oh, well, I suppose that Madeline was no saint, either!
But Maddie was more noncompliant whereas your mother…well, she was a free spirit in search of adventure.’

‘I’m not looking for adventure,’ Mia explained. ‘I really don’t know why I went to the forest.’

‘Oh, I believe you,’ Wendolyn reassured her. ‘You’ll have to excuse me; I was simply indulging in my memories.’

Mia smiled. ‘Actually, it’s interesting to find out what my mother was like at my age.’

‘I see a lot of her character present in you,’ Wendolyn divulged. ‘And in your brother, too.’

‘Really?’

‘Very much so.’ Wendolyn paused for a moment. ‘Mia,’ she said, ‘you must not go out to the forest again.’

‘I won’t,’ Mia replied, hoping that she would be able to keep her promise.

‘You’re unsure?’

‘You read my thoughts?’ Mia guessed.

Wendolyn chortled. ‘No. Sometimes I don’t need to.’

‘Oh.’ Mia blushed.

‘The reason why I ask for you to stay away is for your own safety. Do you understand?’

Mia nodded her head.

‘Now more than ever you must exert caution,’ Wendolyn went on, her voice grave. ‘I’ve detected an intruder presence around the forest boundaries. Hunters. A coven, I believe.’

The
hairs on Mia’s arms bristled. ‘Lotan and Colt?’

‘No, no.’ Wendolyn shook her head. ‘Lotan and Colt are a part of the Glass Castle just as much as the Arcana. In fact, the forest is their domain. What I’ve picked up on is activity just beyond
our forestland.’

‘More Hunters?’ Mia exclaimed in dismay.

‘Perhaps. Their presence is imprecise.’

‘Why are they here?’

‘I can’t be sure,’ Wendolyn mused. ‘Try not to fret. They’ll be no concern to you. They’re simply unwelcome guests. I imagine they’re here out of curiosity more than anything. But while the threat is at large, you must be extra vigilant.’

‘Do you think they’ll leave
on their own?’ Mia asked.

‘Eventually, I’m sure. Once I’ve located them, I will find a way to exile them.’ She smiled at Mia. ‘Try not to worry,’ she said again. ‘They’re not here for you.’

Over the next few days the rain began. And it didn’t stop. It lashed down constantly in a barrage of bulging raindrops. It was as though someone had pulled the plug from the sky and there was no way of resealing it.

As it happened, the miserable weather was an apt reflection of Mia’s mood. No longer did she possess the naive hope that her power would eventually come to her. Now, she was surer than ever that a mistake had been made. And to top things off, she and Dino had drifted even further apart. Their argument in the bedchamber days before had sparked a chain of quarrels, which gradually escalated to the point of their scarcely speaking at all.

Mia sighed as she ambled into the drawing room. Imprisoned by the rain, the Arcana had come to depend on the drawing room as a port in the storm, so to speak.

Keen to avoid socialising, Mia awkwardly dragged a hefty armchair over to the window, deliberately closing herself off from the rest of the room. She curled up on the chair and watched the rain as it blanketed the courtyard. Cosily wrapped in her soft cream jumper and a pair of jeans, she gazed up at the black rain clouds, amazed by how such swollen, heavy things could float so effortlessly in the moody sky.

The drawing-room door burst open and Kizzy trudged in. Her canary-yellow raincoat was fastened to the top and rainwater from her blonde hair dripped steadily on to the carpet. She grabbed an unoccupied armchair and hauled it to the window, arranging it beside Mia.

‘You call this summer?’ she remarked huffily, clambering into the chair.

‘Hmm,’ Mia agreed distantly.

Kizzy unbuttoned her raincoat and wriggled out of it. ‘Still no luck with the power?’

‘Nope.’

‘Have you talked to Wendolyn?’ Kizzy asked.

‘Yep.’

‘And?’

Mia shrugged. ‘She says to look inside my heart.’

Kizzy rolled her eyes. ‘I hate it when people say that. It doesn’t even make any sense!’

‘Tell me about it.’ Mia forced a weak smile. All things considered, she didn’t feel much like talking. Not to Wendolyn, not to Kizzy, not to anyone.

Blissfully oblivious, Kizzy shook the water from her coat and then discarded it on to the floor. ‘Is there anything I can do to cheer
you up?’

M
ia’s smile was genuine this time. ‘No, I’m fine,’ she replied. ‘How’s your Seer ability coming along?’ She pried her attention away from the window. Even if her own power was non-existent, it didn’t mean that she couldn’t be happy for her friend.

‘It’s OK. So-so,’ Kizzy said, purposely downplaying her success. The truth was, Kizzy’s power had accelerated quickly. Her control was growing stronger, and her visions were noticeably sharper and more precise. In fact, she’d been seeing more than she could have anticipated – including some unnerving images, many of which she felt she should warn Mia of. But something held her back.

Across the room, two other new friends sat together deliberating their own skills. Dino and Blue…and a tower of buttons.

Blue stretch
ed out his fingers. ‘One more t-try,’ he decided. Evidently on edge, he sprinkled a dusting of ciron thistle into the palm of his hand. He clamped his fingers down over it and tapped the closed fist.

‘Well?’ Dino asked, feigning hope.

Blue cursed at the little brown button that nestled in his palm. ‘This must be the h-hundredth one t-today,’ he muttered dejectedly.

‘Nah.’ Dino subtly kicked a pile of buttons beneath the sofa. ‘There
hasn’t been that many.’

Blue stared despondently at the button in his hand. His honey-coloured eyes were bleak.

‘Don’t worry about it. Who cares?’ Dino picked up a deck of cards and began skilfully shuffling them. ‘Wanna play Switch?’

Blue looked down at the button once more,
then threw it in frustration. It became apparent to him that he must have lobbed it harder than he had intended, because it soared across the room and hit a boy in the back of the head.

‘Hey! Who did that?’ the boy yelled, scanning the room for his assailant. Then he noticed the button lying dormant on the floor. ‘Oh, right!’ he cackled loudly. ‘Button boy! Hey, loser!’ he shouted to Blue. ‘Keep your buttons to yourself!’

Blue bowed his head in shame.

But Dino’s reaction was quite different. He slammed the deck of cards down against the coffee table. ‘You better watch your mouth, Patterson!’ he threatened the boorish boy.

‘Oh, yeah? What are you gonna do about it?’ the boy retorted.

Dino
leapt from his seat and strode across the room.

Unsurprisingly, the loudmouth boy began to lose some of his bravado. ‘Hey, relax,’ he said anxiously. ‘It was just a joke.’

All of a sudden, everyone in the room fell silent, their eyes fixed on Dino with a mixture of alarm and excitement. Mia sprung to her feet, rushing to her brother’s side.

‘Dino! Calm down!’ she ordered, grasping his arm before he could reach his rival.

Dino glanced at her briefly and shook free from her hold.

Soon Blue and Kizzy were both on the scene, too.

‘Forget h-him,’ Blue urged.

Dino grimaced. Why were they all jumping on him like this?
I’m not the one in the wrong
, he thought.

Mia renewed her clasp on his arm. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘you’ve made your point.’ Her eyes drifted to the boy who was now cowered behind a chair, half-heartedly trying to retain some of his masculinity by occasionally puffing out his chest.

‘Aaron Patterson,’ Kizzy grumbled under her breath. ‘He’s such a moron. I say hit him!’

‘Kizzy!’ Mia exclaimed.

She grinned. ‘Sorry.’

Dino relaxed slightly. Until then, he hadn’t even realised how taut his shoulders had been.

Aaron cleared his throat. ‘Chill, man. I was only having a bit of fun. It was a joke.’

‘A joke?’ Dino scowled. ‘Didn’t seem like a joke to me.’ He reluctantly allowed Mia to drag him back to his seat, where he slumped irritably. Gradually the rest of the room lost interest in the fracas and the former indistinct drone of chatter resumed.

‘I should have hit him,’ Dino muttered tersely.

‘Why?’ Mia questioned. ‘So you can prove what a big man you are?’

‘No,’ he glared at her. ‘So I can prove what a big man he
isn’t
.’

Blue laughed quietly at the statement.

The response brought a smile to Dino’s lips. ‘That Patterson’s an idiot,’ he remarked complacently, more to Blue than anyone else.

Dino wasn’t the only one whose attention was on Blue. Kizzy appeared to be observing him as though she recognised him from somewhere. ‘You’re Benny Blue,’ she said at last. ‘The Conjurer, right?’

Blue nodded his head.

‘Wendolyn mentioned there was a Conj
urer here.’ Kizzy held out her hand amiably. ‘My name’s Kizzy.’

‘I know,’ Blue admitted shyly. He shook her hand.

Dino propped his elbow up on the arm of the chair and rested his head on his fist. ‘Blue, this is my sister, Mia,’ he said with obvious disinterest.

‘Hi, Blue,’ Mia acknowledged him, but her eyes were still on Dino.

‘Drop it, Mia,’ Dino grumbled under his breath.

She raised her eyebrows at him.

‘You know what?’ Dino snapped at her, dropping his arm down sharply. ‘You can stop thinking your feelings of disapproval. Because I can hear them loud and clear. And it’s annoying.’

‘Stop telling me what to think and feel!’ she cried. ‘Get out of my head!’

‘Get out of mine!’ Dino shouted back.

Mia folded her arms crossly.
‘It’s not my fault that you’re–’

‘Seriously!’ Dino bellowed at her. ‘Get away from me!’

Mia bit her tongue to stop herself from verbally opening fire on him – it was either that or bursting into tears. She held her dignity and simply turned and walked away.

‘Mia!’ Kizzy called after her.

‘I’m OK,’ Mia insisted as Kizzy trotted up to her. ‘I need to…I don’t know…take a walk or something. I need to get away from
him.
’

‘I’ll come with you,’ Kizzy offered. ‘I’ll grab my coat.’ She glanced over to the window where her raincoat lay sprawled out on the floor, still drenched from her last outing.
She grimaced at the downpour beyond the window.

‘No,’ Mia replied
. ‘Stay here. I’m fine, honestly.’

Kiz
zy furrowed her brow. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yep.’ Mia nodded and faked a cheery smile.

Although Kizzy wasn’t fooled, she surrendered and waved goodbye as Mia paced out of the room.

Mia left the shelter of the castle and carelessly wandered out into the pouring rain. Within a matter of seconds she was thoroughly drenched. Her delicate cream jumper was instantly saturated and it clung uneasily to her skin, weighed down by the overload of water. Her chocolate-brown hair hung in thick darkened tresses, dripping down her back.

None of this bothered her. She forged on across the abandoned courtyard and through the hedge archway. She hadn’t been back to the forest since her late-night encounter with Wendolyn, and she didn’t intend ever going back, either. She just needed to get out of the castle for a while, even if that meant roaming around the gardens in the rain.

As she weaved in and out of the flower beds, she began to notice how grim everything seemed. The neat rows of dainty pink flowers drooped sadly in the flooded soil, struggling to stand tall as the rain hammered down on them. High above, the murky sky swirled and churned.

Mia suddenly realised how desperately she wanted to leave the Glass Castle. She wanted to go home. Besides, what reason was there for her to be there? As far as she was concerned, she had no power. And even if she was wrong, her power was inactive anyway, so what was the difference?

The pattering sound of rain echoed all around her, louder and more defined than she had ever heard before. It was almost as though it was raining just for her, and speaking to her in a secret language that she felt obliged to understand. In fact, she felt as though she should have been able to understand it, but for some reason couldn’t.

Of course I can’t understand it!
she reminded herself with a little laugh. It’s just rain. It’s not speaking to me.

Still lost in her own thoughts, Mia reached the embankment that signified the end of the gardens. The forest was in sight now, vast and brooding in the dismal weather. Wary of straying too far away from Arcana territory, Mia stopped walking and sat down on the ridge of the embankment. What had once been parched soil with dry grass yellowed by the sun was now soggy mud that stained her jumper and jeans.

Mia pushed her wet hair back from her face and wiped the dipping rain from her eyes. It was a pointless act, because the rain continued to pour, trickling down her cheeks like tears. And that was exactly what it felt like – all of the tears that she wanted to cry but was unable to. It was as though the rain was crying for her, releasing all of the pent-up emotion that had been bottled inside. In some ways, feeling the water on her face gave her a much needed sense of freedom, and she didn’t want it to stop.

She gazed around the land. Beyond the embankment, the forest stood staunchly behind its silvery mist. A natural curiosity held her focus to it. She was at a safe enough distance to really study it, and she couldn’t resist indulging in the temptation of doing so. After all, the forest held such mystery – it was impossible not to be intrigued by it. But the longer she
watched it, the more uncomfortable it made her. Suddenly she felt extremely exposed, as though she was no longer simply watching, but was, in fact, being watched.

Mia glanced around, intimidated by the thought of eyes upon her. There was no one around; she was alone.
Although perhaps that wasn’t a good thing.

When she looked back to the forest, the rain before her eyes seemed to distort her vision. It was as though the flow of rainfall was different somehow. And as it progressively worsened, she could barely see her own hand in front of her face. Now, the rain was no longer falling straight down, but rather it was dropping diagonally and in zigzag patterns, as though it had been caught in a ferocious whirlwind.

A familiar breeze caressed her wet hair. Mia stiffened instinctively. A Hunter was near.

Scrambling to her feet, she started to run, but blinded by the wild rain she could not make out her path. There was no time to get her bearings so she kept on running, silently praying that she was on course for the castle.

With some relief she noticed the waterlogged flower beds beneath her feet as she unwittingly trampled on them. At least now she knew that she was heading in the right direction. But her relief was premature, because with an unexpected smack she collided into something solid. For a moment she wondered if she’d run into one of the hedges. However, it quickly became clear that it wasn’t, because whatever it was grabbed her, its fingers pressing into her arms. Through the barrier of rain, Mia glimpsed a pair of deep-green eyes looking down upon her. It was Colt.