Steadfast

“I’m sincerely grateful.” Elizabeth saw no reason not to be honest. “You’re a gifted witch. But you’re untrained in the higher forms of the Craft, and without a teacher.”

Nadia’s head jerked back, as though she had been struck. Reminding her of her mother’s abandonment hit a nerve.

Elizabeth continued, “You need someone to guide you as you complete your training. Without instruction, you’ll never fulfill your potential, which would be a crime. Don’t you agree?”

“It’s none of your business,” Mateo said, stepping between her and Nadia.

“It is,” Elizabeth said, “if I become her teacher.”

The effect of this was what Elizabeth had anticipated: flat disbelief. Several moments passed before Nadia managed to say, “You’re not serious.”

“Is it not one of the guiding principles of the Craft? To offer instruction and assistance to one another?”

“You’re not a member of the Craft—not any longer!” Nadia retorted. The bruises on her face must have hurt terribly; they made her anger look ugly, almost desperate. “You’re sworn to the One Beneath!”

“You mean I broke one of the First Laws?” Elizabeth cast a meaningful look at Mateo. “Like speaking of magic to a male?”

Nadia shook her head. “That’s different.”

“Is it? A coven wouldn’t think so. They’d throw both of us out, not just me. We’re outsiders together, you and I. You just haven’t realized it yet.” The wind pulled at Elizabeth’s curls, made her skin prickle into goose bumps beneath her thin cotton dress. Now that she was no longer immortal, she could feel the cold. It was a curious sensation, new enough not to be unwelcome despite the discomfort.

The world was fresh to her again. After centuries of boredom, Elizabeth found this an almost boundless delight.

“Think of it,” she said to Nadia. “I’ve lived longer than any other witch. I know magic nobody else can ever touch. I’m willing to teach you everything. What have you got to lose?”

“My soul, for one.” Nadia wrapped her arms around herself as she stepped closer to Mateo, who embraced her. “Serving the One Beneath is evil. I’ll never do that. Never.”

People who had never been immortal had some strange ideas about never. Elizabeth considered pointing this out, but at that moment, the gray-haired girl spoke.

“You destroyed my parents,” she said, voice trembling. “Even their bodies. That was all I had left.”

“Blame your friend for that,” Elizabeth replied. “I can’t have you undoing all my hard work.”

“This isn’t happening.” The gray-haired girl’s words were hardly more than a whisper, as though she lacked the breath to put any force behind them. And she was breathing fast—far too fast. “I’m not seeing you. This is a dream I’m having. A nightmare. That’s all. It isn’t real.”

Elizabeth cocked her head. “Why would you think nightmares aren’t real?”

The girl fainted, collapsing on the ground, her gray hair stark against the dark earth.

“Verlaine!” Nadia immediately kneeled by Verlaine’s side, followed by Mateo. “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing. It’s the shock, I suppose.”

“Get away from us.” Mateo looked as though he wanted to get up and punch her in the face, as foolish as it would have been to try. “You’re pure evil.”

Elizabeth shrugged and left. As she walked away, she heard them trying to rouse their fallen friend, their words caught in the rustling of the autumn leaves. It didn’t matter what they were saying, just as it didn’t matter that Nadia had refused her. Elizabeth had anticipated no other answer to this first invitation.

But the One Beneath had seen Nadia. Valued her potential.

And what the One Beneath wanted would be His.

Elizabeth would see to it.

“What the hell is Elizabeth doing alive?” Mateo said as he drove, occasionally glancing into the backseat, where Nadia had Verlaine’s head pillowed on her shoulder. “That should be impossible.”

“Not impossible.” Nadia kept fanning Verlaine’s face; although Verlaine was awake now, she was in a sort of daze. I should have known she was too fragile for this! Nadia thought. “Everything I thought Elizabeth was trying to achieve—that wasn’t even her plan. Just the shadow of her plan. Obviously I didn’t understand what she was up to at all.”

Mateo peered around again. “But you stopped her.”

“I stopped her from destroying the town. I didn’t stop her from doing whatever she actually wanted to do.” Her ignorance stung as badly as her failure. But Nadia refused to give in to it. Okay, fine, Elizabeth escaped this time. Not next time.

“So how do we figure out what she’s really up to?” Mateo said.

“I go through every resource I’ve got, starting tonight—and oh, my God, Mateo, look at the road! We nearly hit that truck.”

“Okay, okay.” Mateo turned to the front again. Nadia imagined driving Verlaine’s enormous clunker of a car was a far cry from steering his motorcycle around, and the last thing any of them needed was another accident.

Particularly Verlaine.

“Verlaine?” She patted the side of her friend’s face. “Are you okay?”

Wearily Verlaine nodded. “Sure. Fine. Except for the suicidal ideation, I’m dandy.”