Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Dafni
Matilda stood on the stage; her eyes were just as wide as everyone else’s. The bottom of her dress was gone, her legs red with white blisters bubbling up from her skin. I needed to work on my aim.
“No!” Matilda’s shriek blew all the lantern flames around the room sideways, dimming the room before the flames returned upright.
I looked back up at the stage, at my mother now on her hands and knees as she looked out at the crowd, her wet hair draped over her face.
It was almost sad to see her like that, crumbled up in front of the witches that worshiped her.
She’d been nothing but strong and dominating every other time I’d seen her.
Intimidating my grandmother, intimidating and belittling me every chance she got.
Matilda turned her head, speaking to Robinson in words I couldn’t hear.
He looked at the Velkans and Brooke, walking over to where they stood, backing them into the wall, near the entrance of the cavern, his index and middle fingers pointed at them.
Emily clung to Annabel, who tucked her daughter behind her body, shielding her from Robinson.
As soon as he had them trapped, he turned, guarding them with his back, nodding to Matilda.
“Enough!” Matilda screeched, quieting the cavern. She stood slowly, limping as she walked to the edge of the stage, her eyes glued to me. “There is nothing that will please me more than to see you fail tonight, daughter.”
Mother turned, moving slowly toward the empty seat that’d been Gideon’s for the last two evaluations. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Robinson look behind at the Velkans before taking a step toward Matilda, conflicted about whether he should stand guard or help his Prime.
There was a flash of black hair and a white collared shirt.
Gideon.
I kept my eyes on the stage, my senses alert, as I watched him hand something to Luke…
it looked like pieces of paper. Gideon disappeared just as soon as he’d appeared, leaving the cavern.
Luke looked down at what Gideon had given him and passed it to his mother.
Annabel looked down at her hands, moving slightly behind Luke so she could get a better look without Matilda or Robinson noticing.
I saw her look up, at me.
“Let’s move on with tonight’s competition,” Matilda announced as soon as she’d settled herself in the chair. “It’s an important night for the Academy and, in turn, the Coven. I’m sure my daughter won’t try anything again…and put her beloved family at risk.”
Robinson stood a little taller, puffing his chest out.
“Young Gideon, whom I’m sure will be here shortly, will be choosing a partner,” Matilda continued. “Someone powerful. Someone who in turn will create powerful witches who will one day call the Academy home.”
Bouncing ringlets caught the other side of my periphery. Petunia. She was sitting in the front row, a determined look on her face.
“Robinson, explain the task.” Matilda slumped back in her seat. Having spent the last year frozen and being engulfed in flames seemed to have weakened her.
Robinson took a step forward, away from the Velkans, clearing his throat before he began.
“You’ll see there are work benches with burners set up.
” He motioned to the benches I’d seen when I’d walked in.
“There are cauldrons beneath the tables and ingredients located in the baskets along the wall our earth elemental witches so delicately crawled through earlier this month.”
I stood on my tiptoes, looking at the baskets overflowing with glass jars that I’d missed when I’d entered the cavern.
“You will have one hour to make a potion. One of the most challenging potions a witch can create.”
The witches around me were silent, anticipating the naming of the potion. I already knew what it would be…so long as Gideon had told me the truth.
“Rage.”
A collective gasp echoed throughout the cavern.
“Rage is one of the strongest emotions. It encompasses feelings of anger, irritation, and resentment. For a witch to create rage would signal their power, their ability to sway the strongest emotion we possess. Not all of you will be able to create rage.” He looked directly at me.
“In fact, I’m not sure any of you will.” Robinson stood a little straighter. “You have one hour. Begin.”
The witches began pushing, and I tripped over my own feet as the witches rushed toward the work benches. Finding an empty burner, I lifted the heavy cauldron up and onto the top, grunting as metal hit metal causing a screeching sound.
Ingredients.
The baskets of jars were noticeably picked over, the witches who’d rushed the benches having already picked their ingredients.
Unfortunately for them, but fortunately for me, it seemed none of them knew what to choose to make the potion.
I was able to find every ingredient I needed between two baskets.
The jars of asafoetida, wild carrot, red rosinweed, a flask of honey-badger blood, and a bag of crocodile teeth filled my arms. I dumped them all onto the work bench, grabbing the jar of red rosinweed that almost rolled away.
The witches around me were already two steps ahead, their cauldrons bubbling and their wooden spoons stirring. I took the time to take a breath, inhaling through my nose and exhaling from my mouth.
I knew how to do this. I could do this.
I poured the honey-badger blood into the cauldron, lighting the burner with the matches provided.
This time, I didn’t have Gideon to light the burner for me.
I paused. I could’ve used my newly discovered fire magic…
but no. That was all too new. I’d probably end up setting the entire workbench on fire.
Popping open the corks, I added the rest of the ingredients, stirring the potion and adjusting the temperature.
The potion started bubbling, and I leaned over, breathing in some of the fumes.
I inhaled the scent of geosmin—that earthy just-rained smell.
Good. That meant it was fermenting just how it needed to.
Now it just needed time and occasional stirring.
I smoothed my shirt and continued stirring, wafting the scent of the potion to my nose to check its progress. When it turned a lime-green color, it would be ready. It took time and patience. The opposite of what rage felt like.
“Your face…did it always look like that?” I could hear her from way down the work bench. Matilda was walking, hunched over, along the line of cauldrons, taunting the witches just as she’d taunted me my entire life. “That really isn’t going to work out. You should just give up.”
Her voice got louder as she got closer. “You expect to win a male witch when you look like that?”
I could sense the tension, the irritation from the witches around me. Matilda was teasing them, mocking them. This wasn’t how you ran a Coven, how you inspired witches. I continued stirring my cauldron. It was only a matter of seconds before she was in front of me.
Pop!
I threw my body over the top of my cauldron, screaming as my chest burned from the heat. The witch’s cauldron next to mine had gotten too hot and exploded, sending drops of liquid up into the air. They rained down the back of my sweater, singeing the knit.
Too much honey-badger blood. It made for a volatile brew that often spit up. The poor witch next to me sunk to her knees wailing into her hands. It was too late to start over. Her chance at winning had ended.
I bit my lower lip as I talked myself out of comforting her. I had to win. Prove myself to the Academy and the Coven.
“Dafni!”
Everyone turned toward the yell that echoed throughout the cavern.
Gideon walked through the doorway into the cavern. He had flames shooting from his fingers, the tip of the flame singeing the floor. He looked at where I stood, glancing up and down, his nostrils flaring. With a flick of his wrist, the flames vanished, and he marched over to where I stood.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “I heard you scream.”
I nodded as he looked at me up and down, seemingly checking if I was being truthful.
Matilda took a step back, slowly glancing back and forth between us, watching our interaction. “You and my daughter, huh, Gideon?”
He sneered at her, shuffling back and forth on his feet, his knees bent, ready for her attack.
Matilda looked back at me. “You’ve been busy, daughter. All the while, I’ve been held in a solid state—waiting for someone to mess up.”
I opened my lips, drawing air into my lungs.
“It was only a matter of time.”
She looked at Gideon, tilting her head to the side. “It was you, wasn’t it? You cut the electricity.”
He stood there, unmoving.
Matilda threw her head back, her cackle echoing in the cavern. “You set me free.”
Gideon’s eyes met mine. No. It couldn’t have been him. Did he really want to hurt me that badly? Was he that scared of me that he had to release my mother? The look he gave me told me everything I needed to know. He’d done it. He’d cut the power and thawed my mother.
“It wasn’t his fault,” Annabel said from behind Matilda and Gideon. She approached the work bench slowly, palms raised in the air. Emily followed behind her, keeping close. “Like I told you, I took the pail outside and didn’t realize the electricity was out.”
Matilda laughed. “Typical Annabel. Always so careless. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten to take your magic-reducing potion as well?”
Annabel’s eyes glared at her sister. “I stopped drinking it the moment Dafni left for the Academy.”
Matilda’s lips curled up, her teeth on display.
“I wanted to be ready, should she need me.”
Matilda tucked her teeth away, her lips curling into a sinister smile. She turned toward Emily, her head peeking out from behind Annabel. “Did your mother ever tell you who your daddy is? The dog he was?”
Annabel looked at me with wide unblinking eyes before looking back at her sister. “Matilda—stop.” She backed away, pulling Emily along with her.