Magic in the Woods (The North Woods #3)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

July

Dafni

“My kindness is also fleeting,” I said, taking a step toward Wilder. “The next time I see you, I’ll end you.”

We stood in the damaged home of Elise’s parents, where practically everything had been destroyed from a mix of my air magic and my mother’s attempts at ending all our lives.

I exhaled out of my nose, keeping my eyes on Wilder’s sniveling face.

Out of my periphery, I could see everyone behind him standing frozen in silence.

What could they be thinking, seeing me, a kitten transformed into a woman spitting threats at one of their pack members?

Well, Wilder used to be one of them, a member of the Cedar Moon Pack, but if his face was any indication, Everett’s words revoking his pack membership had fully destroyed him, his knees buckling and a gasp leaving his lips.

Only after he’d stumbled backward into Everett did I see the woods beyond the doorway.

The trees were green and inviting, their leaves rippling lightly in the wind.

It wasn’t long ago that I’d spent days in the woods after I’d escaped Wilder, but this time was different.

I didn’t need to hide. I’d defeated my mother, the witch who’d wanted her daughter dead.

I could walk through these woods freely, with my chin held high. Now there was nothing to stop me.

I took in a breath through my nose.

Freedom smelled good.

My freedom—no, my vengeance lay just beyond the door.

This was my chance. My mother was inside the pail I was holding, in her cat form, frozen in ice.

Her orange fur looked blurry beneath the frozen surface.

I’d never had a chance like this—my mother had always bested me—but now, where I stood, she was at my mercy.

Wilder, my former captor, stumbled outside the house, disappearing into the woods. I no longer feared him—I was a powerful witch. I’d just bested the Prime.

That made me smile, the muscles in my cheeks instantly burning with the unfamiliar movement. When was the last time I’d smiled? I couldn’t remember. But then again, nothing had ever felt as good as having my mother confined.

The pail swung from the handle as I stepped down the stairs and walked toward the woods.

Elise sighed behind me, and I stopped, using my water magic to gather ice crystals from the pail.

I sent them fluttering down over the top of her as a gesture of thanks, a reminder of when she’d found me in the woods weeks ago.

Even though I wanted to say goodbye, I didn’t know how.

How did you say goodbye to someone who’d saved you, who’d nursed you back to health and now was letting you go so you could pursue your destiny?

The flurries raining down on her would have to be enough.

It only took a moment of walking before Elise and her parent’s house disappeared as the woods enveloped me.

With my mother trapped, I no longer needed Elise and Everett to protect me.

They’d been kind, taking care of me when I’d been at my most vulnerable.

I’d miss them, the packhouse—and Kleio. I’d probably miss her the most. We’d gotten as close as a kitten and a wolf shifter could—and I hadn’t had the chance to say goodbye to her either.

I’d have to get a message to her, to let her know I was okay.

Maybe once I got settled…once I’d found the Coven and taken it over, I could reach out.

Maybe all these goodbyes weren’t necessary.

Everyone could come and visit— No…I was getting ahead of myself. One thing at a time.

Find the Coven.

Study the Coven.

Take over the Coven.

The threat of my mother finding me had loomed over me in the last weeks, but now that the Matilda cloud had lifted, I felt lighter, though technically I was heavier in my human form.

I wouldn’t miss being a kitten. It was a constant reminder that I didn’t have poison and therefore couldn’t transform into a full-grown cat. That I’d have to hide from the Coven.

But I’d figure that all out later. One thing at a time.

This, right here and now, was my time—my opportunity.

The Coven, which my grandmother had raised me to lead, was mine for the taking. I just needed to get there.

When I arrived, my name, Dafni Sarracenia, would get me through the doors, though I couldn’t expect them to welcome me with open arms. No, I’d have to prove myself to them somehow.

Looking down at my mother inside the pail hanging alongside me, I was yet again reminded that I was a powerful witch—I’d trapped her in this frozen prison.

Maybe all I had to do was show her furry body, encased in ice—show that I’d bested their Prime and therefore was the next rightful leader. Then I could take my place as Prime.

Running a Coven couldn’t be too terribly hard…my mother had done it for years. After all those years, it was entirely possible that the witches hated her as much as I did.

After taking my place as Prime, the first thing I’d do would be to rid the Coven of whatever horrifying policies my mother had put in place.

If I knew my mother, there had to be a long list. I’d start with something big—something that would improve the lives of the witches who lived there. Maybe then they’d come to trust me.

The dirt beneath my feet crunched as I walked, a steady metronome as my mind rolled through all the terrible things I’d heard my mother talk about over the years.

I couldn’t imagine the witches were happy with the mandatory procreation my mother had instituted.

I’d heard snippets of conversations between her and my grandmother.

Constantly bent over her cauldron, my grandmother had always been busy making anti-nausea and fertility potions for my mother to bring back to the Coven.

Mother had been obsessive about growing the Coven and creating new witches to take over more of the woods.

She’d even taken the lifestone from the ground so that the woods would die and the shifters would leave.

My mother didn’t care about the woods; she just wanted more—more power, more land, more control over the shifters.

After living with the shifters of the Cedar Moon Pack, I didn’t see the point. The shifters weren’t bad or evil. I knew Everett. He had no intention of taking over more of the woods—he had his hands full with his pack lands as it was. We could coexist and share the woods.

That was what I’d do. First I’d find the Coven. Then I’d present my frozen mother as proof of my strong powers. Finally I’d rid the Coven of her terrible policies that forced witches to reproduce and challenged the shifters who shared the woods. Maybe I could be a witch-shifter liaison of sorts…

I could do this.

The first miles into the woods were promising. My feet felt light. The handle to the pail holding my mother’s frozen body was firmly in my grip. An air of confidence surrounded me. I was on my own. Master—no, mistress of my destiny.

The cloud cover that’d made the entire morning overcast had cleared, revealing the sun was now past its tallest point in the sky. Its rays were hot. The leaves above me provided some coverage, but I already knew more freckles would be sprinkled across my nose and cheeks by day’s end.

Inside my chest there was a pull, an ache that drew me forward. It had started as I’d walked away from Elise and only had gotten stronger as I hiked.

I looked down at the pail. Was I being pulled toward the Coven because I was now Prime?

Had my mother once felt this pull? I let the feeling guide me as I walked, and a sense of peace came over me.

I was going in the right direction; I just knew it.

The feeling was deep down in my gut—I would find the Coven.

The adrenaline I’d been floating on wore off slowly in the hours I walked, and I let that ache in my chest pull me in whatever direction it chose.

That direction apparently was full of rocks and sticks—rotted logs that were hidden beneath the tree’s fall shed from last year.

I had to keep a close eye on my feet, though it was hard when the breeze rustled the high branches of the trees, the sun light dancing through the gaps, periodically blinding me.

The Coven couldn’t be far away.

The brush and plants beneath my feet tickled my ankles as I walked through them. I should’ve taken my shoes into account when I’d walked away from Elise. They were the same shoes I’d been wearing when my mother had pulled me from the cottage right after she’d…

I shook my head. I couldn’t think about that right now.

My feet stopped moving as I heard barking in the distance. Some sort of dogs…or coyotes. What else was in these woods? Bears? Bobcats?

The sun was already beginning its descent toward the horizon, lowering in the sky too rapidly for my liking. Soon I’d either have to find a place to rest or decide to continue walking through the night.

The coyotes got louder, their barks turning into yips as they got more and more excited. They must’ve caught something for dinner. There was no way I’d feel comfortable enough to sleep out here on my own—that could mean becoming someone’s midnight snack.

Decision made. I’d be walking through the night.

The barking ceased, and I continued through the woods.

The drive to Elise’s parents had been along highways.

I was here…on foot, without a car, and without a path.

I couldn’t push my body to move any faster, especially not when every rock threatened to twist my ankle and every pile of brush hid a tripping hazard that’d easily send me and my frozen mother flying.

I stopped again. This time I took a moment and looked around. There were no markers, no way to measure how far I’d gone, or even know if I was going in a consistent direction. I could’ve been walking in circles for all I knew.

I had nothing. There was no food in my pockets.

I only had the clothes on my back and my mother frozen inside a pail.

There was no map—my only direction was the ache in my chest. It pulled me, guided me.

My gut told me to trust it, that it was leading me in the right direction, but there were still so many unknowns.

I wiggled my toes in my too-thin shoes. I really needed boots or something sturdier for the terrain.

Could I do this? Walk miles and miles through these woods?

Walking along a road wasn’t an option. I had a frozen cat in the pail that hung beside me. Anyone I’d run into would ask too many questions—questions I wouldn’t be able to answer.

I couldn’t stop. Not only because I didn’t feel safe resting, but because my mother would thaw if I didn’t pay attention, if I didn’t refreeze her at appropriate intervals.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath in through my nose.

I could do this. I had to.

I could push myself for my future. For the Coven.