“You found it.” She sounded breathless with relief.
Noa allowed them a second of mutual happiness. “I found it,” she breathed, heart lighter, then froze as the church was swathed in bright light. She rushed across the room and peered through an old shutter. Her stomach dropped ten feet. A town car had pulled in to park at the church, and Noa watched, panic building, as Father Auguste and the twin priests stepped out.
“Shit,” Noa hissed when they headed for the door … the door that she had left unlocked. “Back room, now!” Noa said to Beth. They ran for the small office where the priest would once have dressed. Relief filled Noa when she saw that the room had a window small enough for her and Beth to fit through.
Noa pulled the shutters back and opened the window. She winced as it creaked, the old wooden window frame crumbling in her hands. She pushed Beth through first, and part of her panic subsided when Beth’s feet hit the tall grass and the cover of night wrapped around her black leather clothes. Noa placed her foot on the window ledge, ready to follow, but then she heard the church’s main door open and Auguste hiss, “Someone’s in here.”
“Come on,” Beth whispered anxiously, and Noa went to jump from the window. But when she heard the twins’ feet rushing around the church, searching, seeking, and Auguste’s heavy footfalls coming her way, she turned to Beth and pushed the ledger into her hands. Beth stepped back, unsteady from the force with which Noa had placed the book in her protection.
Decision made, a bolt of pure fear threatened to take Noa down, but she breathed deeply, smelling the grass on the wind, and let nature quell her nerves. “Take it. Get it home. Take it to Dinah. She’ll know what to do,” Noa said. Before Beth could argue, her brown eyes widening in realization of what Noa was doing, Noa shut the window and sealed the shutters closed, trapping Beth outside.
The old priest’s office was silent as Noa locked herself inside. She stared at the door that led to the main body of the church. She held the knife in her hand and tucked the Tiger’s Eye crystal back in her pouch.
The calmness Noa felt surprised her as it began to flow through her veins. She had retrieved the ledger. Beth would see it home. The Brethren would never even know it had gone. Noa couldn’t explain it, but in that moment she smelled patchouli and lavender cocooning her—she sensed her grandmother’s presence standing beside her. And Noa smiled, imagining Beth rushing to the line of trees, running home with the ledger.
Diel would find Cara.
Noa closed her eyes and spread her arms wide. In the distance, she heard the feet of the priests closing in. Good. She needed them to focus on her. She needed to give Beth time to run away, to get the ledger back to Diel. Her armor cracked as she thought of Diel, of him discovering what she had done without telling any of them of her plans.
But that crack sealed when she thought of him seeing Cara’s name in that ledger, proof that she was alive. That his sister hadn’t perished. One day they would be reunited. They would find each other.
Noa smiled wider, feeling warmth envelop her body. And, drawing on the teachings of her grandmother, she kept her arms spread and said, “Goddess, I draw on the elements—earth, wind, fire, water and the aether. I draw on them to wrap around me, shield me from the evil forces that threaten to bring me harm. I draw on them to hold me in their embrace and fill me with strength.” As the protection spell fell from Noa’s lips, she felt the final part of her broken spirit slot back into place, making her whole—the last fallen brick slid firmly back where it belonged.
Hushed voices grew louder, then those ever-moving footsteps landed at a stop outside the door. But Noa’s hands were still spread wide, the spell still slipping from her lips. “Goddess, I ask you to fill me with your courage, to fill me with light.” The door to the office burst open, and strong hands grabbed her outstretched arms.
“Witch.” Spit hit her cheek, but she kept her eyes shut.
Noa inhaled, exhaled. “Mote it be!”
The hand that sliced across her face made her head snap to the side, a crude and painful culmination to her protection spell. Her