This Coven Won't Break - Isabel Sterling Page 0,12

on my front porch. The detective is dressed in his usual crisp suit, the lack of tie the only sign that he’s not on active police duty. Cal looks even more exhausted than he did last night, wearing jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt.

“We need to speak with you,” Archer says, his voice tight and strained.

“Is everything okay?” I look from Archer’s stony expression to Cal’s fracturing calm. “What happened?”

“The raid—” Cal starts, but Archer cuts him off.

“Not out here. Hannah, can we come in?”

Archer closes the door quickly behind them. The energy in the room shifts, crackling with tension and fear. “What happened at the raid?” I ask, flinching when Morgan steps up silently behind me. I take her hand.

This time, Cal looks to Archer for approval before speaking. After a curt nod, Cal turns back to us, his face crumpling into shock and grief. “It was a trap. We lost the entire team.”

“What do you mean you lost them? Where are they?”

“They’re dead, Hannah.” Cal’s voice cracks. His eyes shimmer, but he doesn’t let any tears fall.

Archer rests a hand on Cal’s shoulder, and the younger Caster lets out a shaky sigh. “There’s more,” Archer says. “Is your mother home?”

“More? How can there be more?” I’m still trying to wrap my head around the Boston agents dying at the hands of the Witch Hunters. Who were they? Who did they leave behind?

“She’s in here,” Morgan says, pulling me down the hall.

When we reach the kitchen, shattered glass sparkles on the floor. Mom has her phone pressed to her ear, one hand clutching Dad’s ring where it hangs on a chain around her neck. She glances up at us, horror etched into her face. “Everyone?” Her voice breaks. “How is that possible?”

“The Hunters also attacked the town where your mom grew up,” Archer whispers from behind me. “The entire coven lost their magic.”

“What? How?” I’m trembling all over, and it’s only Morgan’s grip that keeps me standing upright. I know those witches. They’re family. Mom’s parents. Her friends. Aunt Camila and my cousin Zoë. Her little brothers. “But they’ll get it back. Veronica and I got our magic back.”

Except not completely, a little voice says inside. Tell him your magic only works when you have help.

But Archer shakes his head. “No. They won’t.” He steps farther into the kitchen, shoes crunching over the bits of broken glass, and reaches a steadying hand for my mother. “The Hunters perfected their drug. The effects are permanent.”

4

ON THE WALL ABOVE the sink, the clock tick-tick-ticks, marking each second of this new, terrible reality.

The Hunters perfected their drug.

The effects are permanent.

I stand frozen in the kitchen, but inside, my mind is a whirlwind of frantic activity. I try to piece together what this means. Hunters can erase our magic. Forever. I imagine my grandparents at the winter solstice, unable to light a candle in honor of the Middle Sister, heartbreak etched into their faces. I can picture Zoë at her swim meets. But without her connection to water, will she even want to keep swimming? The air won’t whisper its secrets to any of them ever again.

Cal cleans up the shattered glass while Mom and Archer exchange hushed words that I can’t hear. My mind runs through a thousand questions. How did the Hunters perfect their drug in a matter of weeks? And why did they kill the agents if they could just take away their power? Benton said that once they finished their drug, they wanted to save us, not kill us. Nothing makes sense anymore.

Morgan squeezes my hand and asks the questions I can’t push past my lips. “How did this happen? How do you know it’s permanent?”

Archer glances at us, and for a brief moment, I can see all the weight he carries with him. His shoulders slump forward. His eyes shimmer with a deep well of grief. But then he blinks and turns to lean against the counter so he can see all of us at once. He runs a hand down his face and takes a deep breath before diving in.

“A few weeks after your incident, Hannah, one of our agents was tracking the Halls.” Archer pauses, and I feel myself go tense. I knew the Council was looking for Benton’s parents, but this is the first time anyone’s told me the specifics.

“The agent was shot,” Archer continues. “The Hunters have shifted from the syringes they used on you and Veronica to a modified tranquilizer gun with their drug