“I know.” I gripped the seat as the tightness in my chest increased. I would’ve given just about anything for a little of that witch magic right about now.

“We’re here.” Nora pulled up to a house that was almost as broken-down as the cottage had been when we’d moved in. “As you can see, the witch you’re about to meet did a number on this place.”

“I’m sorry.” I wanted to say more, but I was too weak. I hated that Nora was put in the middle of all this. She was nice enough to try to help me, and all it had done was get her house pummeled by an evil witch.

She came around to my side of the car and took me by the arm. “Hands where I can see them.” She knew her touch was helping me, but if I got too close, got into position, I would kill her to save myself. I couldn’t stop the monster inside me when it took over.

She brought me up the front steps, which were a crumbled mess of cement pieces. I held onto the side of the house while she opened the door. She took my arm again and led me down a flight of steps to the basement. A guy was gagged and tied to a chair. But not with rope. Like Rebecca, he was held in place by magic, a swirling wind all around him.

He glared at me and shifted in his restraints. His muffled screams echoed in my ears. Nora brought me inches from him and placed my hand on his neck. I felt his warmth, and I inhaled deeply, filling my lungs with air. My other hand found his chest. His heart beat beneath my fingers, quickly at first, fueled by fear. Fear of me. I basked in the life that was filling me, along with the tingling of magic that accompanied it.

As his face twisted in pain, wrinkling with age, I felt my hair float up behind me like a sudden gust of wind was blowing it back. It was the magic. I was sure of it. He was more powerful than Rebecca had been. Every inch of me tingled with life, with power. Finally, he slumped forward, and I lost my hold on him. He was dead, and I could actually see a faint glow on my skin.

“Oh, my God,” Nora whispered. “His magic is inside you. All of it. I can sense it.”

“I can see it.” I held my arms out and watched the silver glow dance across my skin. “I’m not going to stay like this, am I? Ethan will notice this for sure.”

“He won’t notice a thing. He’s human.” She walked over and touched my arm. “I don’t see a thing, and I’m a witch. I can only feel the power because I recognize it from Ben.”

“Ben?” I looked at the witch slumped over on the floor. When I took his magic, I took the power that was swirling around him, too. “How did you know him? How do you know all these witches? They’re all evil, right?”

“Unfortunately.” She turned away from me like she was ashamed of what she was about to say. “We used to all be in the same coven.”

I knew she was a witch, but the fact that she practiced magic with other witches was surreal to me. “What happened?”

“We used to get along. We were friends. No.” She shook her head. “We were more than that. We were family. We got together every night and worked on group spells. We bound ourselves to one another.”

She paused, and I wondered if she’d be able to finish her story. It was obviously hard for her to talk about.

“Everything was great. Until one day Shannon suggested we try a new spell. One that would make humans bend to our will. I didn’t like the idea. Messing with free will was against all the rules we followed. It’s not what good witches do.”

I nodded, remembering how Nora had said Shannon was treated badly by the kids at school. That was what had made her turn into such a bitch.

“I told them I didn’t want to be part of it, but they got angry. They said since we’d bound our powers to one another, the spell wouldn’t be at its strongest without me. I told them I didn’t care. I wouldn’t do it.” She sat down on a couch that was covered with a sheet. She lowered her head, and I knew she was holding back tears.

“Nora, I’m so sorry. You don’t have to tell me about it if you don’t want to.”

“No. I need to tell someone. It’s been killing me to keep it in.”

I sat next to her, placing my hand on her shoulder. “I’m guessing they did the spell anyway.”

“Shannon did. On her own. She said if the entire coven wasn’t going to take part, then she’d do it alone.”

“So, you guys can still do magic by yourselves?”

“Of course, but for the really big spells, we need to combine our magic. Unless we break the magical tie between us.”

“How do you do that?”

“The only way to break the tie is by dying.”

“Is that why you want me to kill them? So you won’t be bound to them anymore?” I couldn’t believe it. She had a personal interest in this. It wasn’t only about finding victims who weren’t innocent. It was about saving herself from the rest of the coven.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve told you sooner, but I thought this arrangement would help both of us. They’re evil, Sam. You don’t know what it’s been like being bound to them. They’re powerful enough to gang up on me. If you don’t kill them, they will kill me.”

I didn’t want that. I didn’t like that Nora had kept this from me, but she was trying to help me, too. I needed her.

“You still should’ve told me.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” She looked up at me with swollen red eyes. “Can you forgive me?”

I nodded. She hadn’t told me about all this because she was scared. She was trying to save herself the same way I was. We were a lot alike.

“What about Ben? Why did he come after you like that?”

“He said he was tired of me fighting them. Tired of me playing the good witch. That I was part of the coven, and if I didn’t go along with them, he’d break my tie to them for good.”

“He tried to kill you?”

“Yes.” She looked away again.

“What made him so angry? Was it finding out about Rebecca?” I looked over at Ben again, old, wrinkled, unrecognizable Ben.

“He was with Dylan when he found her.”

“So Ben and Dylan were still working together?”

“Yeah. Ben was Dylan’s brother.”

“What?” I whipped my head toward her. “You didn’t tell me that!”

She stood up, finding the strength to put away her tears. “What’s the big deal? He was an evil witch. Look what he did to my house. Look what he tried to do to me.” She stared at me. “And why do you care if he was related to Dylan? Dylan’s evil, too. He’s been coming after you, trying to poison you with lies. Trying to hurt you, Sam. You should hate him. You should want to kill him.”

I didn’t want to kill anyone. I knew everything else she’d said was true. Dylan wasn’t a good witch like Nora, but I felt like I knew him. And that made killing his brother unbearable. “He’s going to come after me now for sure.”

Nora nodded. “That’s why we’re going to go after him first.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

GO after Dylan. Kill Dylan. My brain wouldn’t process those words. I couldn’t do it. Ever since I’d met Dylan, there was something about him. Something I couldn’t put my finger on. But it was the reason I had memorized his phone number. 555-0851. It was the reason I hadn’t told Ethan about all the times Dylan texted me, or when he cornered me at the river. The reason I felt guilty when the school cop took him away in handcuffs. I couldn’t tell all this to Nora. She hated him. I understood why she felt that way, but for whatever reason, I didn’t share her feelings toward Dylan.

“I want to go after Shannon next,” I blurted out. “You said she was the one who started this. Who wanted to do that spell to mess with people’s free will. She should be next.” I tried to sound assertive. To sound like I was suggesting Shannon because she had been the first one to hurt Nora.

“If we attack Shannon next, Dylan will have time to attack you.”

“How many are in your coven? I need to know what I’m up against.”