33. Chapter 32
“Is it really you?” Ivy gasped, stepping closer.
Briar’s amber eyes—the irises still just as bright, though deep purple rings tainted the skin below them—were wide.
Her eyebrows rose high as she pulled Ivy into a tight hug.
They held each other tightly, Ivy burying her face in her friend’s neck as she sobbed.
Briar used to smell of lavender and sage. Now dust and earth. But she was alive.
“Why are you here?” Briar asked, her words hard. Her hands slid to grip her shoulders as she pulled back from the hug. “You couldn’t have figured it out yet.”
“She spotted me as I was coming here,” Rhea grumbled, pulling out a satchel that clinked around from her bag and tossing it gently onto the bed. “I told her if—”
“What the hell, Rhea?” Briar said, her glare snapping in that direction. “You know what could happen by bringing her here.”
“Don’t be mad at her,” Ivy said, wiping her tears away. It was useless since they streamed like an open faucet. “I insisted she bring me here.”
“That was a stupid idea,” Briar hissed, stepping away from her. “You don’t understand what’s going on, and you think you can barge in here an—”
“Because you won’t tell me anything,” Ivy said, the words tumbling out before she could stop them. “You put it all into puzzles and riddles. Meanwhile, I had no idea if you were truly alive.”
“You would know if I were dead. Trust me.”
“How?” she asked, throwing her hands out. “Another letter delivered by your little messenger?”
“Hey,” Rhea scoffed. “If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have gotten as far as you have. She didn’t have anyone else she could trust to get to you.”
“It’s true,” Briar said. “But you would know if I were dead from this.” She stretched out her hand, showing off the scar identical to Ivy’s. “Do you remember anything from that night yet?”
“Only a few minutes,” Ivy said, opening her palm next to Briar’s. “I had a flashback or something the other day. I saw a red door. And you. You were bleeding…more than from the cut you made.”
“Well, figure it out,” Briar jeered. She closed her hand, letting it fall to her side. “It’s important for you to remember if we’re to get out of this.”
“Then why can’t you tell me? Why keep this a secret from me?” Ivy begged, reaching for Briar’s arm.
Briar stared at Ivy’s hand and her shoulders sagged. “Do you think I want to keep you in the dark?”
“Why else?” It was pathetic, begging for a scrap of honesty from someone who was supposed to be her best friend. Maybe there was an ounce of truth in what Ezra had said. If Briar wanted to be found, why put her through all this?
“You’re not ready for what’s happening. If I told you, you wouldn’t be prepared to face it.
” Briar pulled back and paced across the small room.
“There’s a plan in place by some very powerful people, Ivy.
And it’s not something that was thought of last year.
It goes all the way back to when we were kids. Before we even met.”
Ivy’s mind was drowning as she tried to delve into the recesses of her memories. So much of that night was hidden from her, and everything from the past couple of months was disconnected or only small pieces of a much larger puzzle. “I don’t understand.”
“I know you don’t.” Briar stopped pacing, her gaze dropping to the ground. “You will wh—” Then she paused, her attention darting to the door. For the first time, there was fear on Briar’s face. Her eyes were wide, her nostrils flared, and her chest moved rapidly with her hastened breaths.
“Rhea?” Briar whispered.
“Yeah?” she asked, equally as quiet.
“Hide, now.” Briar tipped her head at Ivy. “Both of you stay silent. And don’t move until I’m gone.”
“What?” Ivy gasped. Before she could move, Rhea grabbed hold of her and cast the spell over them. She pulled them flat against the wall as Briar blew out the candle.
The shack was impossibly quiet. Her breaths shallowed. Her heart thudded painfully against her chest. A ringing buzzed in her ears in the absence of any other noise.
The door creaked. Almost like someone was pulling it from the other side, but it was locked.
The entire wall groaned. The wood splintered as the force from outside grew in strength.
Then, all at once, the front of the shack exploded with a loud crack.
The shattered wooden planks flew into the forest, and the shingles clattered to the ground as the roof sank forward.
As the dust settled, five cloaked figures stood outside the shack with pristine white porcelain masks covering their faces.
Four of them were dressed in long black cloaks with their hoods drawn.
But the fifth—the one in the center of the group—was in bright red.
Briar neared the bed where the satchel still sat.
Before she could get to it, the assailant in red forced it away with a flick of their hand.
“Found you, Mayclair,” they said, their voice distorted. They stepped forward, leading the pack into the shack. “You’ve been hiding here the entire time?”
“Surprised? Looks like there was a lapse in your security in those tunnels,” Briar chided. Tunnels. So there was something beneath the school that students were getting trapped in.
“Don’t worry, it won’t happen again.” They reached out their gloved hands, and black smoke curled around Briar’s feet. A shadowed hand shot from the pool of black and snatched her leg, its claws digging into her flesh. A sharp stabbing pain pulsed from Ivy’s palm, and she winced.
“Fuck!” Briar wailed, doubling over.
Ivy’s breath caught in her throat. Rhea’s hand clamped over her mouth, keeping whatever noise she made to a minimum. She needed to run over to Briar and save her from whatever she was about to witness. But the growing pools of darkness kept her frozen.
She was afraid.
And at that moment, she knew Briar had been right. She wasn’t ready to face whatever deeper plot was at work, and she hated herself for it.
More hands clawed and pulled at Briar. Her screams echoed into the night, going where nobody else would hear them.
Pain seared through her hand, trailing up her arm like flames.
Hot tears poured down her cheeks, her quiet sobs muffled by Rhea’s firm hand.
Her fingers trembled against Ivy’s cheeks.
A reminder that Briar was Rhea’s friend, too.
Close enough to trust with carrying a secret like this.
The shadow grew larger and larger until it filled the room. She couldn’t see Briar or her attackers. But her screams were there, ringing in her ears. Silence. Ivy didn’t breathe, didn’t blink. The darkness dissipated.
They were alone. No cloaked figures. And no more Briar.
Ivy thrashed in Rhea’s grip, and she held on tight for another minute before letting her spell drop.
Ivy broke free and ran to where Briar had been standing, hoping she could find some trace left behind.
She banged against the ground and clawed at the floorboard as her cries escaped her hoarse throat.
Briar had to be here still. She couldn’t have just watched her best friend die.
Briar’s words replayed in her head. She stared at her scar.
It ached, though it wasn’t the same intense pain as when Briar was being attacked.
Did that mean she was still alive? Or was she slowly dying?
She had no clue. Her eyes closed as more tears fell, and her stomach twisted and tugged in the direction of the woods.
“brIAR!” she shouted. She scrambled toward the gaping hole in the structure. But Rhea grabbed her arm before she could leave.
“Ivy, shut up,” Rhea hissed. “They could still be nearby.”
“No, you shut up,” Ivy argued repugnantly, pulling her arm back. “If I had known she was here sooner, I could’ve helped.”
“You coming here is exactly why she’s gone.”
Her chest hollowed as if a hand had punched straight through it to yank out her heart. Rhea pushed past her, grabbing the satchel from the corner of the room and pulling a small vial out to drink from—a restoration potion. In a nearby corner was a pile of empty ones Ivy hadn’t noticed until now.
“What wa—”
“We can’t stay here any longer. They could come back,” Rhea said, her words blunt and thick.
Ivy glanced over at her, noticing that the skin around her eyes was puffy and red.
A part of her felt bad for Rhea. After all, she lost her friend too.
But Ivy would probably feel worse if it weren’t for the stalking and leaving cryptic messages under her door for the past two months, even if it was at Briar’s orders.
“Come on.” Rhea gulped another vial before shoving the satchel back into her bag. “Or do you want them to take you too?”
“Fine.”
Rhea moved closer to Ivy, her magic covering them again before they ventured back into the woods.
They trudged along silently, the pain and horror creating a barrier between them thicker than the spell cloaking them.
She wondered in which direction Briar had been taken.
Was it deeper in the woods? They stretched for miles around campus and the nearby towns.
It would be nearly impossible to track her.
They could try a locator spell, but even with a valuable item, it was inconsistent if the distance was too great.
After about thirty minutes of walking, her name was called out in the distance, the voice getting stronger by the second. The pull in her stomach intensified, and she realized it was her magic. His magic. The silk coiled around her frantically, and she gasped.
“Ezra,” she sobbed. She ran forward, leaving Rhea’s side and the protection of her spell. “EZRA!”
“Ivy!” he shouted.
Tears bubbled again as soon as he, Maeve, and Liam all came into view. Each of them held a small, glowing blue light in their hands as they searched the forest for her.
“There she is!” Maeve yelled.