Then she paused for an instant, her eyes rolling back into her head, and began a deep guttural chant. I saw the silver chain begin to crumble and dissolve. “Morgan!” Hunter yelled, and quickly I dropped my beautiful cage of light and magick over her.
It was like watching a black moth slowly smothering inside a glass. Within a minute Selene’s rage was burning out: her screams were quieting, her thrashing had stilled; she lay coiled inside my spell as if trying to hide from the pain.
When I met Hunter’s eyes, he looked horrified, shaken, yet there was an acknowledgment on his face that at last he had accomplished his goal. He was breathing hard, sweat beading his pale face, and he met my eyes. “Let’s get out of here,” he said shakily. “This place is evil.”
But I was frozen, staring at Cal. Beautiful Cal, whom I had kissed and loved so much. Kneeling, I reached out to touch his face. Hunter didn’t try to stop me.
I shuddered and shrank back—Cal’s skin was already cooling. Suddenly racking sobs began to burst through my chest. I wept for Cal: for the brief illusion of love that I’d cherished so deeply, for the way he’d given his own life for mine, for what he could have been if Selene hadn’t warped him.
What happened then is hard to explain. Hunter shouted suddenly and I whirled, tears still raining down my cheeks, to see Selene standing, her wrists held in front of her. I could see the blisters, but the silver
braigh
was gone. Her golden eyes seemed to burn through us. Then she sank down, collapsing on the Oriental carpet with her eyes closed. Her mouth opened, and a vaporous stream floated out, like smoke.
Hunter shouted again and threw out his arm to push me back. We watched as the vapor streamed upward and seemed to disappear through the one library window. Then it was gone, and Selene was still and ashen. Hunter stepped quickly to her and put his fingers against her throat. When he looked up, his eyes reflected his shock. “She’s dead.”
“Goddess,” I breathed. I had helped kill Selene—and Cal, too. I was a murderer. How could Hunter and I be standing in a room with two corpses? It was incomprehensible.
“What was that smoke?” My voice was thin and shaky.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” He looked worried.
“Morgan?” came Mary K.’s voice, and I shook off my paralysis and hurried to her. She was sitting up, blinking, and then she stood to brush off her clothes. She looked around her as if she were waking from a dream, and maybe she was. “What’s going on? Where are we?”
“It’s all right, Mary K.,” said Hunter in his still-raspy voice. He came and took her arm so that we braced her on either side. “Everything’s all right now. Let’s get you out of here.”
By keeping his body close to her, Hunter managed to steer Mary K. out of the room without her seeing Selene’s or Cal’s bodies. I followed them, forcing myself not to look back. When we were in the hall, Hunter spelled the library door so that it couldn’t be shut again. Then we went outside, into the darkness, the biting cold of winter pressing in on us.
As we came down the stone steps, Sky pulled up in her car, followed by a gray sedan. A stout man with graying hair climbed out, and Hunter moved to speak to him: he had to be the closest council member.
I sat on the broad stone steps in my gown. I couldn’t think about what had just happened. I couldn’t process it. All I could do was hold Mary K.’s hand and start to think up what I would tell my parents. Every version I could think of started with, “It’s because I’m a witch.”