Chapter Nineteen
The blood-curdling screech erupted from the gates as we descended on the compound. Stella and the rest of the vampires veered to the left, while Bella, Nova, and Ardetia moved quickly into the cliffs.
“Don't let me drop,” Twobble muttered into my back.
Everywhere I looked, midlife witches descended upon the property, swooping, veering, and circling the perimeter.
The haunting calls of wolves, orcs, and goblins echoed into the air as determination tingled in my fingertips, and I gripped the broomstick and searched for my daughter.
The compound looked even worse from above.
The walls stretched farther than I remembered, black stone twisting along the hillsides in uneven angles that made my eyes ache if I stared too long.
Dead vines crawled over portions of the outer structure.
They looked thick as ropes and pulsed faintly beneath the moonlight as if dark magic moved through them like blood through veins.
The thought of one of them getting a hold of me worried me beyond belief.
The gates below shuddered again, and another screech split the air.
Only this time, the sound changed halfway through, warping into something almost human before fading into a hiss across the courtyard stones.
“Absolutely not,” Twobble announced. “I reject whatever that was. I’m usually a very accepting goblin, but that’s a hard no for me.”
My broom dipped sharply to avoid one of the stone spires lining the outer wall, and Twobble whooped loud enough that three witches nearby glanced over.
“Sorry,” he called. “Near death makes me giddy.”
Below us, wolves burst from the tree line in flashes of gray, tan, and black fur, weaving through the lower grounds with startling speed. I spotted Caleb near the front ridge in his shifted form, enormous beneath the moonlight as he tore across the hills with several wolves flanking him.
The orcs moved more slowly but somehow felt even more intimidating because of it. They advanced in heavy lines along the western pass carrying lanterns, axes, and curved blades that glinted whenever moonlight caught their edges.
And threading through all of it like chaos wrapped in enthusiasm were the goblins.
One zipped beneath me, hanging sideways from a broomstick.
Another tossed glowing green powder across part of the courtyard wall, then cackled wildly as shadow creatures erupted from hiding spots beneath the stone.
Twobble pointed downward proudly. “That’s Cousin Merrick. He bites ankles and destabilizes morale. But he’s not my twin.”
“He’s a helpful goblin.”
Twobble squeezed harder. “He’s a specialist.”
The courtyard erupted into motion beneath us as dark shapes crawled from cracks in the stone walls and beneath the dead vines, unfolding into creatures with too many limbs and glowing white eyes. A shudder ran through me, and Twobble grunted.
“Don’t do that. Do not get scared.” His voice went up an octave. “You’re setting the example for the rest of us.”
One launched toward a witch near the north tower only for Lady Limora to sweep past on her broomstick and blast the thing backward with a burst of silver-blue magic that lit the sky like lightning.
Vivian followed directly behind her with frightening calm and drove a spell straight through another creature climbing the walls.
The shadow exploded into smoke.
“Honestly,” Stella called while steering her broom through the chaos with entirely too much elegance, “do they think this is our first rodeo?”
I hid a smile as a creature lunged toward her from one of the towers.
Without even looking fully concerned, Stella smacked it in the face with the end of her broomstick.
The thing vanished off the side of the wall with a shriek.
Skonk clung to her shoulders. “I just saw my entire life flash before my eyes.”
“You’ll survive.” She smiled.
“I’m unconvinced.”
My broom carried me lower toward the eastern side of the compound while the witches above split into smaller circles. Protection lanterns lit the sky in floating bundles, casting gold across the hillsides. Concealment charms drifted near the cliffs like fog.
For one dizzying second, the entire battle looked almost beautiful.
Terrifying.
But beautiful.
Then something slammed against the gate hard enough to shake the hillside.
The magic rippled visibly through the air.
Ardetia lifted both hands from her broomstick, and silver light burst from her fingertips toward the fractured seam before the damage could spread farther.
Bella flew near her, fox eyes glowing amber in the dark.
“They’re pushing from underground,” Bella shouted.
Nova turned sharply toward the lower cliffs. “Goblins!”
A chorus of delighted goblin screeches answered from somewhere below.
Honestly, that probably should have concerned me more than it did.
The ground near the eastern wall exploded upward in a shower of dirt and stone as three goblins burst from beneath the compound carrying glowing lanterns and what looked suspiciously like dynamite wrapped in roots.
Twobble gasped proudly. “Tunnel goblins.”
“That feels wrong.”
“Very.” He nodded.
“I guess not all goblins are on the right side of magic.”
“Who ever said they were?” He squinted as he looked ahead.
The explosion that followed shook the entire east wall hard enough to crack part of the stonework.
Shadow creatures poured from the opening instantly, and wolves met them head-on.
The sound that followed was chaos, filled with growls, magic, and stones shattering.
Orc battle horns echoed through the hills, and somewhere beneath all of it, the low groaning pulse of the compound itself.
The place was alive.
I pulled the broom higher as one of the shadow creatures lunged upward toward us. The thing had no real face, only shifting darkness stretched over something vaguely humanoid, but when it opened its mouth, dozens of pale eyes blinked inside the opening instead of teeth.
Twobble screamed directly into my ear.
I reacted before thinking and flung a burst of hedge magic toward it.
Vines exploded outward from the broomstick handle itself, wrapping around the creature midair and hurling it backward into one of the towers. I hadn’t intended to fight. My goal was to find Celeste. But the creature scared me beyond words.
The stone cracked on impact.
Twobble stared at me. “Well, that was horrifyingly impressive.”
“What is that thing?”
“That’s a nightmare shadow,” Twobble muttered. “It’s dark magic, usually peers into someone’s mind and transforms into our deepest nightmares.”
“I’ve never imagined a creature like that, even in my worst nightmares,” I told him, shaking my head.
“Well, who said it was your nightmare? Welcome to my world.”
Below us, Caleb barked orders toward the wolves near the western pass. One of the orcs lifted a wounded shifter over his shoulder without slowing, while another smashed straight through part of the compound’s outer fence.
The Priestess clearly hadn’t expected this.
Not fully.
But seeing one of ours wounded hurt me deeply.
Nonetheless, her creatures were reacting too slowly. The defenses were uneven. Shadow hounds darted through the grounds, trying to contain multiple breaches at once, while witches swooped overhead, casting protection spells toward the teams below.
And through all of it, my eyes searched desperately.
Every balcony.
Every tower.
Every flicker of movement near the windows.
Under the shrubs.
Celeste.
The pendant at my throat pulsed hard, heating the stone with every throb.
I gasped and grabbed it instinctively.
Twobble immediately noticed. “What happened?”
“I think…” My breath caught. “I think she’s close.”
The moonstone burned warmer against my skin as the broom jerked sharply toward the northern side of the compound.
It wasn’t my choice, but the broom’s.
The broom shot lower through the air, and wind tore through my hair as we narrowly missed one of the compound’s upper towers.
“She was here,” I whispered. I could feel it.
The broom hovered as Twobble leaned sideways just enough to see it. “That’s a very good sign. A mom’s instinct is always a good thing. In the goblin world, we take what we can get in times like these.”
Honestly, the goblin had a point. I clutched the broom a little harder just as a scream echoed from somewhere inside the compound.
Human.
Every muscle in my body tightened.
Another scream followed from farther away.
And another.
The sound bounced strangely through the halls and courtyards, distorted by the compound’s magic until it became impossible to tell where anyone actually was.
“They’re trying to confuse us,” Nova called from somewhere above as a wave of silver light from her swept over the northern side of the compound, briefly clearing some of the shadow fog hanging near the stairwells.
And that was when I saw them.
People.
Not creatures.
Prisoners.
Figures crowded behind barred lower windows beneath the compound, their pale faces barely visible through the dark glass.
My stomach turned.
The Priestess hadn’t just been collecting power.
She’d been collecting magical folk.
A goblin slammed both hands desperately against the inside of a window as witches descended toward the lower courtyard.
Bella landed first near the stairwell with impossible fox-like grace while two shifters immediately moved to guard her flanks.
“Maeve!” Bella shouted upward. “The lower level extends beneath the cliffs!”
Of course it did.
Nothing around the Priestess could ever simply exist in a reasonable layout.
My broom swung lower again, almost impatient now, as the pendant burned hotter.
Below us, the battle spread wider through the compound grounds.
Protection spells burst through the air in arcs of gold and blue while shadow creatures shrieked from rooftops and broken walls.
Orcs pushed steadily through the western entrance, forcing the compound’s shadows inward toward the central structure.
And through the chaos, the witches kept moving together.
Helping one another.
Protecting one another.
One older witch nearly lost control of her broom near the south tower, only for another to grab her wrist midair and steady her before they both burst into shaky laughter.
A goblin landed directly on top of a shadow hound and began hitting it repeatedly with a frying pan.
Twobble pointed proudly downward again. “Ground support is thriving.”
The compound groaned as the entire hill shifted beneath us.
It didn’t collapse, it moved.
Stone cracked along the northern ridge while black magic spread through the walls in jagged lines. The windows flickered violently as something deep beneath the compound seemed to wake further.
Ardetia went pale.
“Maeve!” Nova shouted.
I turned just in time to see the upper towers begin twisting.
The shape of the compound blurred for half a second, rearranging corridors and stairwells beneath shadow magic.
The Priestess was changing the structure itself.
“She’s trying to separate us,” Nova warned.
The broom lurched again beneath me, toward the central tower, the highest point of the compound.
The pendant pulsed so hard against my chest that I could barely breathe around it.
When I thought it couldn’t get worse, every light in the compound went out at once.
Darkness swallowed the hills, but the battle sounds below continued.
The moon disappeared behind clouds, and for one long heartbeat, everything held perfectly still.
No wolves.
No screams.
No magic.
Only silence.
The kind that crawled beneath your skin, but before I could blink again, blue fire ignited in the highest tower window.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
The light spilled outward across the stone walls below, pale and cold and wrong in a way I could feel deep in my bones.
A figure stepped into view behind the glass.
Tall.
Still.
Watching us.
The Priestess.