“Whoa,” I spluttered, my voice shaking hard.

  The crow jumped on my shoulder. When I threatened to jerk my hand back, he just hopped on my wrist and held it down.

  I’d already been forced to let my magic empty into something today – but this was completely different from what had happened with Diana. As my magic spread and spread and spread, I started to feel more alive. I opened one eye. Shadows were starting to collect in the middle of the circle. They then bled out to every object that constituted it. Sure enough, it had been the colors of the objects that had been most important. Because as magic fed them, the colors came alive. They darted up in front of my face. It was like the essence of each color was finally being given form.

  “What… what do I do?” I spluttered in genuine, shaking surprise as I tried to jerk back.

  The crow kept my hand pressed against the center of the circle.

  More and more energy flooded out of me until I could finally feel something rising up. “What…?” I whispered.

  A shadow was forming in front of my face. I had never seen anything like it. Even though I now had a little experience with magic, this was… different.

  Light intercepted the shadow at various places. Wherever it did, the shadow came alive. And I do not mean by that that it started to move. It… it literally became alive. I could feel it breathing. I sensed its heat. And then I was certain I could detect an intelligence picking up within it.

  I gasped. I jerked back now. The crow let me.

  I escaped the circle. I fell down on my hands and knees in front of it. Inclining my head up, I stared at it. “What the hell is this?”

  The shadow collected more and more power. Suddenly my head jerked back. My eyes rolled into the back of my head. My back arched until I thought my entire spine would snap. It just held together. My memories didn’t. Something cycled through them quickly. It was like it was a Rolodex and they were looking for a contact. Suddenly they snagged hold of it.

  I was briefly lifted up off my feet as magic completely took hold of my body. It rushed and rushed through my veins until it exploded out.

  A memory was taken from me. It was the memory of Diana. It spewed into the shadow. It jerked back and forth, back and forth. It looked as if it was at war with something. The crow cawed. I didn’t know what it meant, but my intuition told me to thrust more shadow magic into the spell. I did. Pressing down on my hands and knees, I practically hugged the circle. I forced my arms out wide. I concentrated with all my damn heart as more energy spilled through me. My teeth began to shudder as my whole body shook. It felt like I would explode, but I gave more and more of myself until finally the struggling stopped.

  There was this click – this echoing snap – then Diana formed in full. She fell down to her knees in the middle of the circle. Her eyes instantly widened. “What?” she spluttered.

  She was in new clothes. She wasn’t in that drab dress anymore. She was in jeans and a shirt. I was sure it was her, though.

  She reared up onto her knees, shifting all the way back as she saw me. She shook her head multiple times. “No. Dad said you were dead. He said you’d taken my place. He said you wouldn’t be able to come back and seek your revenge. No,” she screamed. There was real, palpable fear behind it. The kind of fear that would reach into anyone’s heart – if it was functioning in this screwed-up world – and shake it.

  Speaking of shaking, I was still jittering on the spot. I was surprised steam wasn’t rising off me.

  I pressed my hand against the back of my mouth and pushed away the dirt that had collected there. I didn’t rise. I knew I couldn’t stand. I just stared at her.

  She continued to freak out.

  I brought up a hand. It was one of the most commanding moves I’d ever made. It was completely at odds with my old personality. It suggested I had power. And I did. I was finally starting to accept that fact.

  She stilled. Her wide-open eyes shook with so much terror, I was certain it was gonna rip her in half.

  “I’m sorry,” Diana said. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t put up with another day in half-death. It was my father’s plan. But… don’t kill me.” She began to sob. She fell down to her front. She placed her hands over the back of her head as if I was about to smash her skull in.

  I finally rose. It didn’t matter that I was shaking. I managed to stand. “I’m not gonna kill you, Diana.”

  “Then why have you brought me here in a containment circle?” She stared at it.

  I didn’t show my ignorance by pointing out I had no clue what it was called. I continued to gaze at her. My eyes slipped across her face. They took in every feature. She looked alive. But she wasn’t. Don’t ask me how, but I knew that. It was all in the shadows. For the shadows she cast were far too dense. It was as if they were keeping something trapped.

  She followed my gaze. She stared at me as I glanced at the longest of her shadows.

  She froze. “Please. Please don’t send me back there. Please – I can never go back there,” she gasped.

  “Send you back where? To half-death?”

  “It isn’t fair. I’m sorry for what my father did to you. He thought it was best for everyone. He thought it would keep you safe from Pyro—”

  “How much do you know about Pyro?” I questioned quickly.

  Her eyes opened. Then they closed tightly. “My father said you had no clue what you were. He said you didn’t have your true power yet. If you’ve created this circle—”

  I wasn’t about to show my ignorance to her. I’d never been one to command conversations before, but now the power rose within me. It was natural – just like my magic.

  “How much do you know about Pyro?” I insisted.

  “He is the end of all ends,” she whispered, her voice contorting in total fear.

  “The end of all ends…” I repeated that, but it was hard as all hell. As those words were forced from my lips, I thought I’d choke on them. I even patted my throat.

  She stared at me the whole while.

  “He’s coming for you, you know that, right?”

  Her quick words got to me. I tried not to show it, but I still shivered.

  She pushed forward. It was clear she could not leave the circle. Even as she got a little closer to the outside rim, I could see magic pick up around her. It quickly forced her back. But her eyes remained just as wide and filled with terror. “You know he’s gonna come for you, and he’s gonna break the equilibrium, right? You know he’s gonna start feeding on souls, right? He’ll use that energy to swallow the Earth whole. You have to stay away from him. I’m sorry… I’m sorry for what my father did to you, but in some ways, it was better,” she repeated. “Pyro can never find you if you’re half-dead.”

  “What are you? You’re not human. If you were ever human,” I added.

  She looked away from me sharply. “I’m a witch. Just like you.” She laughed suddenly. “Okay, nothing like you. I’m not the daughter of Death. I don’t have someone powerful watching my back. My father….” She spread her lips. It was a truly emotional move. “My father had to scrimp and scrape dark magic for 50 years,” her voice shook, “to find me.”

  “That’s why he kept those nails, then,” I whispered.

  She looked away. “He’s not proud of what he did. But he did it for me.”

  “Who did this to you?”

  She looked at me. Her brow crumpled. “What are you talking about?”

  “Who killed you? Who used you as a sacrifice?”

  “You don’t know?”

  I was way beyond caring about showing my ignorance now. I just had to find out what was happening. “Who killed you?”

  “I can’t tell you who killed me – I don’t know. But I can tell you who trapped me there. Hades,” she said softly.

  I stopped. For the second time today, I shook my head automatically. Loyalty rose within me. And this time it was far more powerful than when it had been with Stanley.

  “He wouldn’t do that—”

  “Wouldn’t do that?” she whispered, her voice tortured. “You know who Hades is, right?”

  “He’s the fourth guard.”

  “Yeah, he’s the fourth guard,” she admitted in a tortured tone. “And he’s tasked with doing anything – absolutely anything – to keep Pyro back.”

  “So why would he do this to you?”

  “Because….” She gazed to the side.

  “Why?” I insisted.

  “Because I have a connection to Pyro.”

  “What?” I receded slightly.

  “I have a connection to Pyro, okay?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m a sight-seer witch. I can be used to see the future.”

  “You’re clairvoyant? But—”

  “I was captured. There was nothing my father could do. I was used to peer into Pyro’s mind – to glimpse his future.” She shuddered.

  “What does that mean?”

  She looked at me, her disbelief obvious. “You really know nothing about this world, do you?”

  “What does it mean?” I insisted in a shaking, powerful voice.

  “It means I’ve seen Pyro’s face.”

  I froze. That fact shouldn’t mean anything to me, but somehow, it meant the world. “And that’s important?” I guessed.

  She spluttered. It was completely defeated. It sounded as if she’d just swallowed a popping balloon. “Yeah, that’s important,” she admitted in the most tortured voice I’d ever heard. “It means people can go find him and stop him.” She looked at me again. Her eyes narrowed. “You’re dangerous. You’re a danger to yourself and everyone else. You don’t even know the basics. You’re easy prey for Pyro. And when you’re gone, everyone is gone.”

  “Why? I’m only the second guard. There are two more above me.”

  “Yeah, but you’re the most important one,” she said, her lips opening in an emotional sneer. “You’re the weak link.”

  I didn’t like being called the weak link. But I couldn’t deny what she was saying, either. I closed my eyes and pressed my hand against them. I let it drop. “Who kidnapped you? Who made you peer into Pyro’s past?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “That’s not good enough. I need answers—”

  “No, shadow witch,” her voice bottomed all the way out low. She looked at me. I would not have been able to turn away for the entire world. “You need to get out of here while you still can.”

  “I’m already on the run—”

  “You’re naïve. The longer you keep strong magic like this operating, the easier it will be for Pyro to find you.”

  I recoiled at that. I looked over at the crow. For the first time, I noticed that he was starting to get decidedly nervous. He was hopping from foot to foot.

  I balked.

  I went to go kick the circle, realizing that if I got rid of the shape, it might break the spell, but I stopped. I looked right at her. “I need to know more—”

  “You should’ve stayed half-dead,” she hissed. She suddenly jerked her gaze over my shoulder. So much fear broke through her expression, I appreciated there was something behind me.

  I had no option but to turn. That’s when I heard this sizzling. It was like meat cooking on a grill.

  Diana screamed.

  The crow fluttered away. He cawed, his pitch shaking in total terror.

  I fell to my knees.

  Acting on instinct, I reached over and broke the circle. Immediately Diana disappeared. It cut her scream short.

  I jerked back as I started to see something form in front of me. It was a hand. I could see its gelatinous white surface first, but all too soon, it was covered in shadow.

  It was Pyro.

  And I’d stupidly called him to my side.

  9

  I had no clue what to do.

  I had only gotten out of that church last time because of plain dumb luck. But Pyro was here for a second time, and I would not be fortunate again.

  I tried to roll to the side, but Pyro was too quick. He formed in full. The shadows arrived before his face did. I now knew that was important. He was clearly trying to hide his identity from me. I didn’t know why. But it had to be critical.

  I attempted to jerk away from him, but he quickly leaned in and grabbed me by the throat. He pulled me up.

  He didn’t crush my windpipe. He just stared at me. He brought me close to his forever-encased face. He hissed. He didn’t breathe, so much as let air escape through him as if he was burning it so the earth would become uninhabitable forevermore.

  “You brought yourself to me. Finally. There will be no more escape—”

  I grabbed hold of his hand and tried to yank it off, but there was nothing I could do.

  Every warning I had heard today caught up with me. I should’ve run – should’ve kept my head down. I should never have practiced strong magic.

  But I had. There was no going back now.

  He gripped my throat harder. I finally felt him start to squeeze.

  This is where I should scream, but I didn’t. I concentrated on my magic. It wasn’t instinctual. In fact, it was one of the hardest things in the world to bypass my fear and grab hold of my power instead. I just managed it.

  He tried to squeeze again, but more shadow escaped over my form.

  It reacted to the shadows chasing over his hand and almost pushed them back. It was the only hope I had that I might be able to get away from him, and I clutched hold of it with all my damn might.

  He hissed. “There will be no more running, second guard—”

  I squeezed my eyes closed. I concentrated – with all my damn mind and then some. I threw my psyche into my magic.

  It was not instinctual. It wasn’t even easy. It felt like there was some kind of maze in my mind – one I had to navigate on fast forward as I tried to connect and reconnect with my power. Pyro kept breaking that connection, but I just held on.

  He hissed at me. “You have nowhere near the power required to fight me.”

  I ignored his words. I thrust further down into my soul. I gathered all the energy I could. I didn’t use it. I didn’t know how. But I grabbed hold of it. It was enough that he couldn’t end this. Not yet.

  “You can try to fight me.” He suddenly threw me to the side.

  I landed right at his feet. I began to back off from him as he walked forward.

  Unconsciously, I was pushing myself back into the containment circle.

  “But you will never win. Shadow witch, second guard, there is no one who can save you – because there is no one who would dare try. You are as cursed as you are blessed. You can bring the dead back to life, but at a cost. Your magic is formidable. But you are not willing to pay the full price of using it. So I will take that burden from you. Once and for all.”

  He took another step. I scurried backward. I was now inside the containment circle.

  He smiled. The shadows encasing his mouth thinned for a single second, and I caught sight of his lips, that white gelatinous flesh stretching like plastic wrap.

  He flicked his hand to the side. The containment circle closed in.

  I was trapped.

  And he was right. There was no one to help me now.

  The end of Shadow Witch Episode Two.

  Shadow Witch Episode Three

  Shadow Witch Episode Three

  Penelope is trapped. Pyro won’t let her go unless she calls on her deepest powers.

  She’s thrust further into the mystery of the murders, and yet further into the mysteries of herself. There is a shadow between her and the truth in her heart. It is time to shine a light on it.

  …

  Tune in for the thrilling final instalment of the Shadow Witch mini-series. It is sure to please fans of Odette C. Bell’s Hell’s Angel.

  1

  I gasped as I rocked back in the middle of the circle. There was nothing I could do to escape it. I locked a hand over my mouth just as pulses of magic ran up from the middle of the circle and shot into me. They tied around me like a rope. Soon I was pulled down to my face and was pressed into the crackling dirt.

  Pyro stood there at the edge of the circle, his massive form looming large. I watched him extend his hands and open the fingers wide. The shadows encasing his form always caught up to his move, covering his flesh so I could barely see a glimpse. While I had witnessed his fingers and pulpy gelatinous white skin previously, I still didn’t catch a single glance of his face. For the shadows were thickest there.

  I had to go back to what I’d already discerned earlier. Clearly there was something important about seeing his face – something he was trying to hide from me. But then again, who cared about important right now?

  I was trapped. A fact that became abundantly apparent as he ground his fingers in. As magic blasted over them, the containment circle became smaller. All of the objects that had been creating it started to jitter on the ground until they jumped toward me. The circle hadn’t been big to begin with. Now it was pressed up against me. I was still down on my face. I locked my hands into the dirt. Every shaking exhalation made it play around my cheeks. As I sucked it into my nose, I was sure not to choke. Even when Pyro got down on his knees and pressed his shadowy face close, I still didn’t choke.

  “You do not benefit from being stupid,” he hissed. “You are all the easier to control.”

  This was where I had to say something bolshie. I had to rise to my own defense. What was the point? He was right. I was so far out of my depth, I hadn’t even been aware of the fact he’d been backing me up into my own trap.

  I had no idea how these containment circles worked. I didn’t know what kind of power they had, but as I reached out a hand experimentally and pushed it toward the crackling shields, the answer became all too apparent. My hand was blasted back as if I’d just touched a thousand volts. I rocked on the spot as steam escaped off me. My teeth chattered for a few seconds until I finally managed to gain control of them. As I pressed my lips together and sneered through them, I rose to my own defense. “I don’t care what you have planned, Pyro,” I spat with all my vehement worth. “I may not be able to stop you,” I conceded as my face fell forward and my hair fanned in front of my eyes. “But Hades will.” Only my lips moved. And even then, it was just a slight twitch. They pushed against my bedraggled fringe, making it jerk wildly.

 

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