Chapter 33
Sabine
All I felt was white-hot, burning rage as Astrid and the others looked at Gwen and laughed. Worst of all was how they’d branded this treachery as something sanctioned by the Harvest Moon cabin, meaning Gwen might think that I had something to do with this little skit.
Would she think I could be so cruel as to mock her? Would she believe I’d rub dirt in the wound?
But I also knew that Astrid was targeting me just as much as she was Gwen. This outburst was because I was choosing to leave the coven and because I’d chosen Gwen over her.
This was why she hadn’t told Dagmar about Gwen and me. She wanted me to be present when she humiliated me and the girl I loved.
I balled my hands into fists, trying to contain my magic.
I thought I might be able to keep it under control until my eyes landed on Gwen and saw her holding back tears as she and Faith scrambled toward the door.
I knew how badly she wanted to belong in this place, and Astrid had done everything in her power to make Gwen feel like an outsider all over again.
Something in me snapped.
Magic shot from my hands, lifting Astrid into the air and squeezing the air from her lungs. Astrid’s eyes flew wide, her hand lifting to her neck as her face went bright red.
“Sabine!” Dagmar shouted, practically barreling me over.
I released my magic, and Astrid plummeted to the floor. She put on a very good show of wailing like she’d nearly died, but she hadn’t fallen far enough to do any permanent damage.
Maybe she was a good actress after all.
“All right, outside! Now!” Dagmar barked, shoving me toward the door. “We will be having a disciplinary meeting abou—”
“No, we won’t,” I spat back, finally finding my spine.
I pointed a finger at Dagmar’s chest, and she swatted it away, baring her teeth at me.
“I’m done, Dagmar. Why weren’t you stopping them?
Why weren’t you defending her? That’s your job, and you just stood there and let them humiliate one of your campers.
Are you tongue-tied because she’s the coven leader’s granddaughter? Where’s your spine?”
“Sab—”
“No,” I growled. “Enough of this bullshit. I’m out.”
The crowd gasped like I’d just pissed on my grandmother’s grave.
Dagmar’s face reddened, but she gently took my arm and moved me toward the door. “Outside,” she said more evenly.
It was a strange feeling knowing that you were raging and out of control but still not being able to stop yourself from it. I blustered out the door, kicking the jamb. I knew it made me look like a toddler, but I couldn’t help myself.
I looked back over my shoulder, finding Gwen’s eyes like they were magnetized to mine.
Her gaze was brimming with emotion. I held her stare for one more second, wishing I could tell her all the things I’d left unsaid.
But I was a coward. So I took off the friendship bracelet that bound us together and let it fall to the ground.
Without waiting for Dagmar to scold me or talk me into apologizing, I stormed straight to my cabin and packed my duffel bag. I had to leave. Not tomorrow. Not even in an hour.
Now.
I had to leave the campgrounds before word spread and I couldn’t escape the disappointment of my parents or the coven or the town.
It was now or never.
On the edge of the parking lot, I paused and looked up at the hand-painted sign that read, “Goodbye for now” with dozens of different-colored handprints dotting every visible inch.
The pull of my last heartstrings in my chest tightened.
This wasn’t how I thought this moment would go, but a grand exit was just as final as any other goodbye.
And this way, I wouldn’t have to tell the entire coven that I was leaving.
Gossip would do the painful work for me.
And surely, Astrid would have told her mother and mine the second she’d fake-limped off the stage.
There was no going back.
I hiked my bag up on my shoulder, took a last look at the camp sign, and started walking toward the bus stop a few miles away.
Goodbye, Maple Hollow and magic and beautiful girls with red lips and midnight eyes.
I was done.