The Ravens (The Ravens #1) - Kass Morgan Page 0,111
Vivi thought, screaming the words inside her head. Help me with my distress. It was a catchall spell Scarlett had taught her, a powerful invocation that could be used in any emergency. But without her cards or the ability to speak, there was nothing Vivi could do. She was far too inexperienced a witch to perform magic with just her mind. There was no way to break the magical binds Dahlia had placed on her.
Dahlia raised her arms higher and the birds’ pecking grew more urgent. Vivi could feel blood spilling down the front of her shirt as the beaks dug deeper into her skin. The pain was already almost too much to bear.
Dahlia’s chants had turned into a screech. She tilted her head back even farther, shouting straight to the dark sky. A jagged bolt of orange lightning sizzled through the clouds, and a moment later, a crack of thunder shook the ground. The air smelled thick and bitter, heavy with the choking smoke of wicked magic.
Another lightning bolt tore through the sky, and Dahlia’s fingertips began to glow. She laughed and spun as her hair flew around her face. “I call to Death and to the Tower,” she cried as she clutched the talisman. “Call home this witch and give me her power.”
Something began to flow out of Vivi. At first, she thought it was more blood, but it was coming from places the birds hadn’t touched. She tried to wrench her head around for a better look, but she was too weak to move.
She was dying, and Dahlia was taking her magic.
“I call to Death and to the Tower. Call home this witch and give me—” Dahlia went silent as the orange glow began to fade from her fingertips. She lowered her arms and turned, searching the dark woods for something to explain what’d gone wrong.
Another bolt of lightning flared above, and Scarlett stepped into the circle. Her dark eyes burned with fury and surging magic, and her skin seemed to glow from within. She strode forward to face Dahlia, unfazed by the grim accoutrements of wicked magic. “I can’t believe it was you all along.”
For the first time that evening, something akin to fear flashed across Dahlia’s face. “Scarlett, hold on—”
Scarlett cut her off by raising her hands. The wind immediately picked up. Trees snapped and creaked as they rubbed against one another, and rain began to fall, softly at first and then suddenly much harder, coming down in sheets that doused the candles.
A moment later, the birds vanished, and Vivi exhaled in relief.
“What did you do to Tiffany?” Scarlett demanded.
Dahlia extended her hands, and the candles flared back to life, the flames leaping to double, triple their original height. In the firelight, her face took on a strange cast, as if it were bending and snapping out of shape. “You don’t understand.” Dahlia was shouting to be heard over the rain and the wind, but there was a desperate plea in her voice. “You have to let me explain.”
“Explain?” Scarlett spat, her mouth twisted with disgust. “There’s no way you can explain killing my best friend.” She flexed her outstretched hands and Dahlia flew backwards.
The next moment, Vivi’s rigid limbs went limp and the invisible cords binding her wrists and ankles vanished. By the time she rose unsteadily to her feet, she could feel power beginning to surge into her body, like water being sucked into a growing tsunami.
She felt the earth respond to the return of her magic. The ground trembled under her feet and the leaves began to shudder, as if quivering in anticipation of her call. But Vivi couldn’t focus on anything except Dahlia’s face, which seemed to be transforming.
Her nose shrank her eye and hair color shifted, her glamour was losing its form, her concentration pulled in too many other directions to maintain the mask.
Vivi gasped and Scarlett staggered backwards. Far above, one particularly ominous storm cloud reached a finger down, almost like a tornado. But neither girl noticed—they were too horrified by the sight right in front of them.
The sister staring back at them wasn’t Dahlia.
It was Tiffany.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Scarlett
If Scarlett hadn’t been witnessing this with her own eyes, she never would have believed it. But there was no mistaking who the blond, narrow-faced girl standing across from her was. Her best friend.
“What the hell’s going on? I thought you were dead.” Scarlett’s eyes stung, though she wasn’t sure if it was from the rain, her tears, or both.