Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Dafni
It had started off so promising. My feet had been light. They only got heavier as the adrenaline wore off. My mind became heavier, too, filled with flashbacks of the last time I’d been in these woods, on my way to the Coven.
A witch was hard to kill. Almost impossible. You needed poison. That, of course, I didn’t have. But this time, I had something I hadn’t come here with.
Friends.
This time, I wasn’t alone.
I led the way, each of us taking turns pulling Emily along for the better part of an hour. Gideon held my hand as we walked, Luke’s wet nose brushing against our calves as he passed us, scouting ahead before doubling back to report.
It was funny how things never seemed to go to plan, especially when you didn’t have a plan to begin with.
I’d been a fool to enter the Academy, expecting everything to just work out.
It was only because of the friendships I’d made and the confidence I had in myself that I’d succeeded.
This wasn’t a fairy tale. I wasn’t a princess who got her prince and the castle at the end of the story.
Instead, I got a male witch and a coven full of homeless witches.
The air element witches kept a breeze on our backs, pushing us forward.
The earth element witches cleared a path, willing the vines they grew with their magic to pull back the long grasses and young saplings.
Water elements pulled ingredients from the woods for their potions as we walked, the pockets of their knit sweaters stretched to their limits.
Luke barked in the distance and then howled. We all froze for a moment before running toward him.
His tan wolf sat on his haunches, his nose to the sky next to a wall—a stone wall, the rocks uneven, the mortar holding them together jagged and patchy.
My eyes followed the wall up, up to the top.
A building, a house loomed behind the wall, standing higher than the wall, higher than the trees in the woods.
The packhouse.
I was back.
Although this time, I wasn’t anyone’s kitten.
Well, except maybe Gideon’s.