Behind her back, Dino locked eyes with Blue.
‘Yes,’ Blue lied.
Kizzy and Mia shared a doubtful look. And, with a satisfied smile, Dino flopped into an armchair and took a swig of tea.
Mia studied him for a moment. ‘Excuse me,’ she said at last, ‘I’m going to the library.’
‘Bye.’ Dino waved at her without bothering to look up.
Mia gestured for Kizzy to follow, and the girls made their exit.
Once they were out of the drawing room, Kizzy held up her hands quizzically. ‘What was all that about?’ she asked. ‘Why was your brother acting so shady?’
‘I have no idea!’ Mia told her. ‘Something weird is going on.’
The girls paced along the dark, winding corridor.
‘No way was that a shaving cut,’ Kizzy deduced. ‘It looked more like he’d been clawed by a wild animal!’
‘And since when does Dino drink witches’ brew?’ Mia pointed out. ‘He’s normally the most anti-vision person here!’
‘I wonder what he’s hoping to see,’ Kizzy mused.
Mia pushed open the door to the library. ‘Good question,’ she muttered.
As usual, the library was empty. Kizzy took a seat while Mia set to work scanning the wall-to-wall rows of dusty books.
‘What are you looking for?’ Kizzy asked.
‘A book,’ Mia responded distractedly.
‘Oh!’ Kizzy frowned. ‘What are you going to do with it?’
Mia smiled. ‘I’m going to read it!’
‘You’re going to read a book?’ Kizzy regarded her sceptically.
‘Yeah. Sure.’
Kizzy paused. ‘All the way?’
‘Some of the way,’ she corrected.
Kizzy giggled. ‘What do you want to read about?’ She tucked her legs up on to the chair, observing her friend curiously.
‘I want to find out about something called Enticement.’ Mia traced her hand along the wall of books, her fingers dipping periodically over their tattered spines.
‘Enticement…’ Kizzy tapped her chin thoughtfully. ‘That’s a Hunter thing, isn’t it?’
Mia glanced at her. ‘You’ve heard of it?’
‘Yeah. I don’t know all the facts, but I think it’s got something to do with blood. If a Hunter takes your blood, he can get inside your head. Do you think that’s what happened to Dino?’
‘Maybe…’ Mia said noncommittally.
‘I don’t think you should jump to conclusions,’ Kizzy advised. ‘Why do you think it’s got anything to do with Enticement?’
Mia returned her focus to the bookshelves. ‘Maybe it’s not Enticement,’ she agreed. ‘But I wanted to check up on it for my own reasons – ’
‘Mia,’ Kizzy cut her off, ‘is this about what I said last night? Y’know, about my vision of Colt and the knife?’
For a second, Mia was taken aback. Until that moment, it hadn’t occurred to her that Kizzy’s vision had indeed come true – even though it had not panned out quite as Kizzy had predicted.
‘Because’, Kizzy went on, ‘I really don’t want you to worry about that. Forget Colt! He’s just a freak Hunter. And I’m making it my personal mission to keep him as far away from you as possible.’ She beamed at her noble declaration.
Mia laughed uncomfortably. She desperately wanted to talk to Kizzy about her meetings with Colt, but how could she when Kizzy despised him so much?
She cleared her throat. ‘You don’t think there might be some good in Colt?’ she asked.
Kizzy snorted. ‘No way! He’s a Hunter. They’re inhumane, remember? They’re pure evil!’
Mia cast her eyes to the floor. A swell of sadness crept up on her. It was hard to fathom why exactly, but Kizzy’s remark stung her. She didn’t want to think of Colt as evil. He wasn’t evil. He couldn’t be.
‘Hey, look!’ Kizzy let out a whoop of delight. She hopped off her seat and skipped to a pile of books lying stacked on the apothecary table. Nimbly, she pulled a brown, leather-bound book from the centre of the pile. ‘Hunters’ Spells,’ she read aloud, handing the book to Mia.
Mia opened the old book and began flipping through the musty pages. She settled on one page in particular. ‘Found it,’ she affirmed. ‘Enticement and Entrapment,’ she read out the subtitle.
‘Well? What does it say?’ Kizzy returned to her seat and studied Mia expectantly.
‘“Hunters’ Enticement”,’ Mia continued to read from the yellowed page. ‘“By ingesting the blood of his prey, the Hunter is able to perform the Enticement ritual. If successfully accomplished, the Hunter can lure his victim by calling to them, enticing them to him…” Blah, blah, blah…’ She skimmed over the next few paragraphs. ‘“The only way to break the spell is by draining the blood of the possessor…”’ she trailed off.
‘What does that mean?’ Kizzy pressed.
All of a sudden Mia’s throat went dry. Colt had lied to her. ‘It means that if a Hunter takes your blood, the only way to stop the Enticement is by killing that very Hunter. That’s the only way to break the spell.’ She closed the book and ran her hand through her hair. He lied to me! He told me that the enticement could be broken through ingesting the blood of the coven.
‘Well, here’s a thought,’ Kizzy joked. ‘Don’t let a Hunter take your blood in the first place!’
But Mia didn’t smile. ‘Kizzy, I’ve got to go do something.’
‘What? You’re not going to do anything stupid, are you?’
‘No,’ Mia promised. ‘I just need some air.’
‘Sure,’ Kizzy nodded. ‘Do you want company?’
‘No, that’s OK. I think I’m going to work on my power for a little while.’
‘OK,’ Kizzy replied. ‘I’ll catch up with you at lunchtime.’
Mia mustered a smile. She felt awful for lying to Kizzy, but she knew that if she was going to find Colt, she would have to go alone.
Outside on the grounds, the world was quiet. It was still early so the Arcana were mostly indoors, and the Hunters had already begun their training in the forest. Well, that’s what Mia was banking on anyway.
She stormed through the gardens, fearlessly heading for the abyss of pine trees. Some remote part of her knew that she would be putting herself in danger, but she was beyond caring.
Why would Colt lie to me? The question rolled over and over in her mind. Or, more importantly, why did I think I could trust him? She could have kicked herself for being such a fool. How could she have been so blind? He was a Hunter after all. A callous, heartless Hunter.
As Mia stumbled down the incline of the embankment, it dawned on her that maybe this had been Colt’s intention all along. Maybe he had planned to gain her trust as part of a much greater ploy. She shuddered at the thought. What did he want from her?
Recklessly, she marched towards the mist. Nothing could stop her, not even common sense.
‘Colt!’ she screamed, plunging into the murky, grey mist.
Almost instantly she began to feel woozy. The mist slowly filtered into her mouth and nose, working its magic on her.
‘Colt!’ she called, a little less assertively this time.
As she walked on, she recognised that she was losing control and was being guided by the enchantment of the mist. It directed her stride, setting her on course like a moth to a flame.
She looked on in trepidation as the mist began to break. Unable to stop herself, she wandered onward into the looming pine trees. She was sure it was her imagination, but she could have sworn that the trees curved and parted to grant her access.
Just as her foot crunched down upon the forest floor, she was grabbed from behind. A rough hand pressed firmly over her mouth, stifling her cries. Before she knew what was happening, she was lifted off her feet and hauled backwards.
Hidden among the web of trees, Mia clawed at the hand over her mouth. It was hard to tell who was behind her, because his arm held her securely, stopping her from moving. She could feel agitated
breath on her neck, and the rhythm of a heartbeat against her shoulder blade.
‘Just a quick question,’ a voice hissed into her ear. ‘Are you insane?’
‘Ouch!’ Mia moaned, biting at the hand that clasped her mouth. ‘Get off!’
Colt loosened his grip, but his hand stayed slackly over her mouth. ‘Don’t come to the forest and call my name,’ he scolded her. ‘What a foolish move.’
‘Well, how else am I going to find you?’ Mia reached up and tugged his hand away from her mouth, but she didn’t attempt to turn around.
‘Simple answer: don’t try and find me,’ Colt berated her in a hushed voice. ‘In fact, you’re lucky I found you before you found me. You surely know that they can sense you as soon as you cross the perimeter? If I hadn’t got to you first, you’d probably be dead by now.’
‘Well, in that case, I suppose calling out your name wasn’t such a foolish move after all,’ Mia retorted unflinchingly. She couldn’t see Colt’s face, but she felt him smile against the back of her head.
‘My, my, little one, you are getting cocky.’ His voice was still lowered to a whisper.
‘It seems to be a language you understand,’ Mia snapped. She wriggled to free herself from him, but he refused to relinquish his hold.
‘I’m already regretting asking this, but what do you want?’ Colt said into her ear.
‘I need to talk to you,’ Mia ordered tersely.
‘About?’
‘Last night. What you did…’
Colt interrupted her. ‘Not here,’ he murmured under his breath. ‘Spangles.’
And before Mia had a chance to respond, she felt herself soar through the air and land with a heavy thud several metres clear of the mist. It was incredible. Only a matter of seconds ago, she had been inside the forest rendered helpless by Colt’s grasp. Yet now she lay on the dewy grass at a remarkable distance from any of that. He had commanded the air to carry her as if she were nothing more than a weightless petal.
‘Spangles,’ she muttered in confusion, recalling Colt’s final words. She sat upright, rubbing at the fresh graze on her elbow and racking her brain to decipher Colt’s meaning.
‘Spangles,’ she said again. Slowly the understanding dawned on her.
Mia scrambled to her feet and set off towards the graveyard. She passed beneath the border of wind chimes and scanned the gravestones for the slab engraved with Spangles. It wasn’t hard to find – it was one of the largest stones there. She sat on the grass beside it, idly running her hand along the soft moss that grew over the ground.
In a cloud of misgiving, she wondered if Colt would show up. Or if she even wanted him to.
What have I got myself into? she thought.
Then, as if from out of nowhere, Colt surfaced, answering her unspoken question. ‘Well, you’ve just gone and made things a damn sight worse for yourself. And me, too, I might add.’
Mia stood up to confront him face to face. ‘You lied to me,’ she stated. ‘Why did you tell me that your blood would break Lotan’s Enticement?’
Colt glanced around the empty graveyard. ‘It wasn’t a lie,’ he replied at last.
Mia folded her arms. ‘It was a lie. I read up on it, and…’
‘Oh, congratulations!’ Colt cheered. ‘You read a book!’
‘Yes, I did. And I learned that the only way to break an Enticement is to drain the blood of your possessor.’
Colt gave her bemused smile. ‘Oh, dear. It seems I celebrated too soon. You didn’t read a book, you read a page.’
Mia scowled at him. ‘Why did you lie?’
Colt sighed and rubbed his brow. ‘Your research, though thorough…’ he paused to smirk ‘…was imprecise. I suppose some things simply aren’t documented. Yes, the standard procedure to break an Enticement is to drain the blood of your assailant. However, blood of the coven is a common loophole for many ritualistic attacks.’
Mia hesitated, unsure if she should believe him or not.
‘Although,’ Colt went on, ‘usually blood of the coven is not so easy to attain. You see, if a Hunter doesn’t want you to drink his blood, then it’s probably not going to happen. Not me, though – I’m just giving it away!’ he added. ‘So, unless you can find a Hunter as generous as I am, you’d be better off going for the kill. In short, draining the blood of your possessor is indeed the most plausible escape. Good luck with that.’
Warily, Mia looked him up and down. He stood with a blasé lean, not quite smiling, but not quite frowning either. ‘How can I be sure I can trust you?’ she asked.
Colt laughed. ‘You can’t trust me! And don’t ever allow yourself to feel as though you can.’
For some reason, what had been intended as a warning actually had the opposite effect on her. It somehow managed to reinforce her faith in him.
‘So, it’s true?’ she said quietly. ‘I’m not under Lotan’s spell anymore?’
He placed his index finger on his lips and winked at her.
‘What about the mist?’ Mia questioned him. ‘How did it take a hold of me if I’m not being possessed?’
‘The mist is a different entity entirely. To an Arcana, it’s like breathing in a highly potent drug. It’s a weapon in itself, designed to draw in an intruder. And you, my dear, need to steer well clear of it, because you have already made yourself far too conspicuous…’
Abruptly Colt stopped speaking. His eyes drifted southward from her face and his cool expression dissolved into a look of hunger.
Mia followed his gaze. ‘Stop that!’ she exclaimed, mortified. Her arms were still folded across her chest, where Colt’s focus also rested.
‘Cover it,’ he said in a tight voice.
Blushing, Mia adjusted her arms to conceal her shapely curves. ‘You pig!’ she cried.
Colt rolled his eyes. ‘No, not that. Give me some credit. I’m surely a little subtler when I stare at your chest. I’m asking you to cover the graze on your elbow. It’s bleeding.’
‘Oh.’ Mia inspected her elbow. He was right – it was bleeding. A smear of ruby-red blood glistened on the graze and a heavy drop drizzled down her arm like a solitary tear.
‘I’m serious,’ said Colt. ‘Cover it.’ He backed away, his eyes never leaving her elbow.
Mia did her best to wipe the blood away, but it smeared across her arm like a smudge of red paint.
In a reflex action, Colt covered his mouth and nose.
‘Oops,’ Mia muttered. ‘Sorry!’ She licked her fingers and then dabbed at the blotted area. But this only seemed to aggravate Colt further. He bit down on his knuckles. ‘You’re doing it on purpose!’ he accused.
‘I am not!’
‘Then put your arm down!’ Colt snapped. ‘Stop displaying it, devil! You know I enjoy it so!’
Mia straightened out her arm so that he was no longer able to see the scrape. Contrary to Colt’s allegation, she really hadn’t been doing it on purpose.
‘Is that better?’ she asked.
Colt’s mood altered somewhat. ‘I suppose so,’ he grumbled, letting out a tense breath. But despite his restored composure, his eyes didn’t return to her face.
‘Now what?’ Mia grumbled.
Colt grinned mischievously. ‘Nothing,’ he replied in a charming voice. ‘Perhaps I’m not as subtle as I thought I was.’ He laughed to himself and brought his eyes up to Mia’s. ‘Are we finished?’
As infuriated as she was by his behaviour, Mia realised that she didn’t want their conversation to be finished. In fact, it unnerved her to think about how much she enjoyed his company. Feeling that way was the last thing she wanted.
‘Will the other Hunters come after me?’ she asked.
All of a sudden Colt became serene. ‘I’ll do my best to stop them this time,’ he assured her. ‘But in return, you must stay away. I can’t continue to protect you.’
‘I’ll stay away from the forest,’ Mia agreed.
‘And from me,’ Colt added in an even tone. ‘I’ll do my part, an
d you’ll be safe. But this must be the last time.’ He stepped forward and placed his hand on Mia’s shoulder, his fingers absent-mindedly coiled around a strand of her hair. ‘I won’t see you again.’
The thought of this being her last encounter with Colt sent a little twinge through her heart. ‘But what about my powers?’ she pressed, in a feeble attempt to secure their alliance. ‘Won’t you help me?’ She looked up into his eyes.
Colt returned her gaze, but shook his head. ‘No. You don’t need me.’
‘But I do!’ Mia blurted out.
‘No,’ Colt repeated. ‘Don’t say that. Don’t even think that.’
Mia looked down to the ground.
Colt removed his hand from her shoulder. ‘They say moss grows on witches’ graves,’ he said distantly, his eyes cast down to the ground surrounding Spangles’ grave. ‘I don’t know why, though.’
Mia swallowed a lump in her throat. ‘Does it matter?’ she wondered quietly.
‘I suppose not,’ he said in that same distant voice. ‘But it incenses me. I’d like to know why moss will grow above my corpse. Wouldn’t you?’
‘Not really. I don’t care.’
He smiled. ‘Perhaps that’s wise.’
‘I doubt it.’
Colt’s eyes drifted back to her. ‘Do you hate me?’
‘No,’ Mia answered at once.
Colt sighed. ‘Try to,’ he cautioned gently.
‘Why?’ she whispered.
‘Don’t feel anything other than hatred towards me,’ he said.
‘Why not?’
‘Because I will never reciprocate.’ At these final words, Colt jolted backwards violently.
Mia gasped as an arrow sped through the air and plunged deep into his chest.
Colt collapsed back on to the moss of Spangles’ grave. Implanted into his chest was a slim, wooden arrow like a flagpole planted triumphantly into conquered territory.
Chapter Ten
Love’s Sacrifice
Mia dropped to the ground, crouching at Colt’s side as he writhed in pain. The slim arrow jutted out from his chest, rigid.
And then a new sound cut through the tranquillity of the graveyard.