her knife in her mouth. Witch blood is used to open the door, as a way of keeping anyone not allowed to enter out. I learned long ago that slicing or even pricking my fingertips was a pain. Literally. Do you realize how much you use your fingers? And I don’t just mean that in a dirty way.
I’d much rather make a neat little slice on the top of my forearm than deal with sore and tender fingertips. Bending over, I pick up Pandora and follow Erin through the door, entering into a courtyard that takes us into a large hallway of the Covenstead. The gathering hall is just ahead, with the Academy to the left and offices and housing to the right.
It’s been several days since Ruth attacked, and everything is back to normal. There’s not blood smeared over the cobblestone flooring. No negative energy filling the air with tension. It’s just how it should be, and now that I’m walking the halls without the intent on finding and killing a batshit crazy necromancer, I miss it.
Hugging Pandora a little tighter, I try not to let my mind wander too far ahead. My child will have magic. I’ll want her to attend Grim Gate Academy, getting the best magical education possible. I want her to grow up with other witches and never feel alone like I did. I blink back tears and continue to follow Erin, who passes the gathering hall.
“Where are we going?”
“The great hall,” she tells me, not turning around to look at me. Something is up, and I’m tempted to have one of my familiars shadow ahead and find out what it is.
“Why?”
“That’s where the High Priestess told me to go.”
Tabatha set this up? Then it certainly can’t be bad. I think. I hope. Dammit. I hate not knowing what’s going to happen.
“We never have meetings in the great hall,” I go on. The great hall is a large room with tall ceilings and an impressively large cast-iron fireplace. Along with the gathering hall, it’s one of the two rooms in the Academy that is used regularly yet has been minimally updated. “And won’t the Academy students be eating lunch in there?” The large double doors come into view, and the scent of vegetable soup wafts through the hall, taking me right back to the lunch hours I spent talking and laughing with Kristy, Nicole, and Naomi when we were students here.
Yet, there’s no happy chatter coming from inside the hall. Everything is quiet, and Erin speeds up her pace. What the hell is going on? Erin lifts the large metal latch, pushing the door open only an inch before stopping.
I tip my head. “Is everything—”
“Surprise!” The door swings open and my entire coven is inside the gathering hall, seated around tables filled with food.
“What the fuck?” I whisper, lips parting. Pandora jumps out of my arms and everyone inside starts clapping. Erin motions for me to come inside, but I stand there, rooted to the spot. Tabatha, Evander, Kristy, and Ruby are standing by the head table, usually reserved for professors. There’s an empty spot in between Tabatha and Kristy, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I know I should go and sit there.
But I’m too damn shocked to move.
Tabatha’s brown eyes meet with mine, and she comes around the table, smile on her pretty face and arms outstretched toward me.
“What is going on?” I ask, feeling the eyes of every single coven member on me. Tabatha wraps me in a hug, squeezing me tight, and then takes my hand, leading me in. The clapping gets louder, and I see the twins sitting at a table with their parents and grandmother. Nicole gives me a wink as I walk by. She knew about this when I called. I bet Kristy was in on it too, though I’m still not sure what it is just yet.
The great hall falls silent when Tabatha and I get to the head table.
“We want to welcome you back, my darling girl,” she tells me, sweeping her hand out at the coven. “Without you, and the vampire, this coven would have seen great devastation. We are all aware this is not the first time you’ve risked yourself to save others, and as a collective, we have decided we do not agree with the Grand Coven’s ruling to excommunicate you from this coven.”
My lips part and tears spring to my eyes. “Are you serious?”