Wolves at the Door - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,68

Riggs said. “And maybe you were considering becoming a Sinistral witch bride as well.”

“I think it’s worse than that, considering the vision that led me here,” Shoshanna said.

“A vision?” I scoffed. “Visions are wrong all the time!”

“All right, Helena, if you think that is the case, then you will speak only the truth!”

Astra and Melusine quickly drew a circle of truth around us. Now the witches had me trapped, and I felt a spell wrap around my throat. “Did you find a treasure in this house?”

“Nngh…”

“Did you?”

“Guhhh…” My mouth wanted to spill the beans, and I was trying my best to make their job harder.

I knew we’d lost. So…I was just stalling. As if an idea would come. I didn’t want to succumb without a fight.

You could still save your life if you told them everything and asked to go home to your parents, I thought.

But what kind of a life would that be?

So instead, it was this standoff, this futile end…and I wasn’t scared. I’m sure I should have been, but instead I just felt this incredible frustration. I’d escaped my family, worked my ass off, and then my old life was about to kill me.

“Where is the treasure?” they pressed.

“No!” I gasped. “No! I won’t make it any easier for you!”

“Then, you know what comes next.” Riggs jabbed me with her wand and lit all my nerves up with pain. I sank to my knees, with tears in my eyes.

Graham pounded at the magical cage as Jake and Jasper launched at Riggs. The witches whirled on them and I knew they would not hold back even a little when it came to killing wolves.

“Please, stop!” I screamed, knowing it was hopeless as they opened their mouths to cast a spell of destruction. I held on tight to Graham.

The swans suddenly flew in out of nowhere. They absorbed the entire blast with little more than a reshuffling of their wings and the witches all looked stunned.

“What’s happening?” Riggs said. “Aren’t these spirits on our side?”

“They should be,” Astra said. “Swans have been Ethereal guardians forever.”

“Why are they guarding you?” Shoshanna asked me.

“Damned if I know!” I said.

Riggs, who was a determined little monster, zapped me again. Through my screams, I saw a figure materialize in front of us. An Ethereal. A true one. She had shimmering wings and a flowing gown, and white-blonde hair down to her dainty bare feet. She held a hand out toward Riggs and blasted her with a wave of light.

Whoa.

“Riggs!” Melusine shrieked. Then she got a good look at the Ethereal spirit and got to her knees. “An Ethereal…!”

“My lady!” Shoshanna bowed. “You are the one who appeared to me in my vision! You led us here! Why would you stop us now?”

Oh, crap. She was on their side too? Could the universe give me a break? Was she going to say something like, You have done well. Now I will deal the final blow…

“I never trusted those swans,” Graham said under his breath.

“Yes, I did give you this vision. I showed you what Pandora’s Box could do. I showed you how it would bring witches and faeries, as well as wolves and demons, all together. You woke up shuddering, sweating, thinking it was a nightmare you must stop, but I was never the one who told you that.”

“My lady!”

“No,” the Ethereal said. “Ethereals, if I do speak for my race, are spirits of order, balance and peace. You, witches of the council, have not been upholding your vows to serve these ideals. Most of my kin pay no attention to you unless we are called upon, but I have paid attention. I’m sure you have noticed among humans, though you may be blind to your own faults, that their ideals do not always match their behavior. So it is, too, with wizards. Every so often…your leaders—by which I actually mean you—fall to widespread corruption, using the banner of order as an excuse to oppress, not to keep the peace. It happened a thousand years ago, and it is happening again. I fear I must intervene. Helena…” She turned to me and smiled. “You have passed your test.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Helena

The cage melted away. The witches were knocked out cold with a wave of the Ethereal lady’s hand. Jake and Jasper were safe. And now the Ethereal woman bent down and brushed her hand across Bevan’s face, and he opened his eyes.

I leaned heavily on Graham all of a sudden, as all the fight drained out