Chapter 32 This is Where We Rise #3
"Margaret, I didn't know," she looked for help from the others. This was the first time she looked nothing like the solid general in control.
"You didn't know that I would be here to see what you and your," she looked Esther and Beatrice up and down with an unimpressed look, "sidekicks were up to?" Her tone held annoyance.
"We're doing our job. My job," she corrected.
"Oh?" Margaret took three graceful, but powerful, steps toward her.
They watched with rapt attention as Astra became rigid, and yet exuded insecurity.
Tilly soaked it up, feeling hydrogen peroxide bubbles inside of her at the woman's fear and discomfort.
"And when did you decide that your job was to use dark magic? "
A nervous laugh broke out of Astra's mouth. "I do not dare to touch dark magic. You know that."
Tilly didn't just feel Astra's lies this time, she tasted them. Pennies and blood.
Margaret's eyes hardened. It happened in a flash and a cold push of air shot into the group, a collective shiver waved through the crowd. Hands were shoved into pockets and some pulled on warm hats as deep autumn kissed winter.
Margaret lifted her hands and a shudder rippled in the air as trees shook and dropped their red and gold leaves to the ground.
Birds came out of nowhere, circling overhead in a thick blanket of black and iridescent green and purple.
The carefully planned and planted big-leaf hydrangeas along the main street turned from idyllic white and light blue to ink.
The croaking of toads, their throaty cries rising in the air to join the bird's notes filled the space.
Kamikazee energy that felt like it was being ripped apart and thrown around made people dance on the balls of their feet, fidget, and look around. Some had left the crowd behind Rob and now more edged their way to the far sidewalks and patches of grass until they could slip away.
"The dark magic you have so carelessly used is in the roots of this place now. Did you think I would not find it?"
Astra took a step closer to her, her voice urgent and low. "You taught me to create order, to find those who would disrupt it. And that's what I have done." Her eyes and stance no longer held insecurity. She looked proud of what she had done.
"At what cost?" Margaret asked.
"The cost does not matter!" she screamed.
Silence broke all of the sounds, all of the chatter and shifting, the animals quieted and the people left hushed.
A loud smack! sounded, slicing through the silence and the Lost Souls Coven watched in awe as Astra turned her head back slowly, a hand held to her cheek where Margaret's had left its mark.
"The cost always matters," she growled. She raised her hands as the clouds above them gathered, white cotton coming together in the sky above them, the edges turning black like they were outlined, then bled into the layers.
Dark magic was being leeched from the ground and air and trees, collecting together.
Lightning flashed inside of it creating a magnificent picture of black electricity.
Suddenly Esther and Beatrice cried out, falling to their knees, hands covering their ears as they pressed their faces into their kneeling thighs.
"What are you doing to them?" Astra didn't move toward them but watched as they lay there crumpled and unmoving with fear in her eyes.
"Cleaning up your mess."
Margaret lifted her hands again and the black cloud above them rumbled but before she could cast, Astra let out a scream as she reached up into the sky and siphoned the blackness down.
A lightning bolt of black struck her fist which she opened, the electricity filling her body, the hair not tightly wound in her bun rising up on end and her eyes going white.
The trunks of trees turned black. Houses half a mile away started pouring black water from faucets puzzling homeowners who had no idea what battle lay in the streets of Salem. Snakes came from their burrowed holes in the ground, forked tongues trying to discern the new, dark energy filling the air.
When Crystal realized what Astra meant to do, she yelled for Margaret to move, a moment too late. They watched in horror as Astra struck down the older woman, her mentor, the most powerful witch.
"Evil destroys evil," Tilly whispered. Jen looked at her in question but Eloise had heard. Cassidy's words were playing out in front of them.
Crystal was standing over Margaret's unmoving body, a stance of protection as she faced off with Astra who looked wild and ready for more fight.
"What can you do, old woman? You are just a crone. No magic, no power," she said with a twisted smile.
"Tell me, Astra," Crystal's graceful hand fluttered toward the woman who resembled nothing of the poised and icy woman they'd met weeks ago. She looked rabid, ready to bite. "Are you prepared to take on the price tag of betrayal?"
She laughed.
Tilly felt something poke her mind. It tickled and rubbed against her thoughts like someone waving at her, but inside of her head. She blinked, shaking her head but then she heard someone's voice, clear.
Come take my hand.
It was Crystal's voice. In her mind. She looked at where Crystal still stood over Margaret's prone body, looking at Astra, not behind her where Tilly stood.
Tilly, come take my hand, darling.
"What is it?" Jen whispered. She could see the look on Tilly's face.
"I think Crystal is talking to me. In my head."
Her eyebrows raised. "What is she telling you?"
"To take her hand, but,"
"Go. I would not question that right now," Jen lightly pushed Tilly until she stumbled and then crept up behind Crystal.
Astra was talking about power, about their kind needing more order, and how sometimes breaking their laws to keep order was what would save them.
"You cannot create a new law and order that does not follow its own rules, Astra. You are creating a corrupt system that will only work for those in power."
"Good!" she cried. "We deserve it. You were weak, and that is how Margaret overthrew you. And she became weak. It is how it goes, the cycle."
"This cycle will kill you."
"How about I kill you first? Dark magic feeds on darkness. I know how to keep it strong and build its strength. I've been practicing for years. You all had it wrong. Dark magic is the right magic to keep everything in order."
With horror, they realized what she meant to do: kill Crystal, possibly them too. She meant to feed the darkness with more.
Take my hand.
The voice was urgent, a whisper that slightly stung Tilly's brain but she reached out grabbing onto Crystal's arm, feeling for her hand until Crystal's fingers slid around hers. The sudden warmth shot down Tilly's arm, shocking her and pulling a gasp from her.
I'm going to borrow your magic, but I need your permission.
Borrow her magic? That was possible?
She had magic?
"Stop," Astra ordered when she saw Tilly's hand in Crystal's.
Say it. Give me permission.
"Yes. Yes! I give you permission," Tilly whispered. She wasn't sure if she should say it out loud or in her head and she had no idea how any of this worked.
Astra opened her mouth to say something else but the black lightning pouring from the cloud above her abruptly cut off, pulling her eyes up.
Crystal squeezed Tilly's hand as everyone watched silently. But the power break only lasted a few seconds and then Astra pulled it back, siphoning the darkness into her with a triumphant smile.
"It's not enough," Crystal whispered.
Tilly looked behind them to where Jen was clutching Cora and Kelsea's hands. Then a jolt struck through Tilly and she gasped. Looking at Astra she was sure she'd been struck, but it hadn't been her. Crystal buckled at the knees and Tilly caught her with a grunt as the woman fell.
"Crystal!" they all screamed, rushing to her.
Astra walked forward closing the distance slowly, at a pace she could take leisurely.
"If you kill her, you will be held responsible," Tilly shouted. Crystal was alive, but barely. Her eyes were closed and the thin skin looked lined and worn.
"By who? The all-powerful Margaret?" She smiled at the woman who was now awake but bound by invisible bands, her mouth covered and muting the sounds trying to come out. Her red hair was wildly frazzled, the ends burned off.
Astra took another two, easy steps.
Ten would be ideal.
Was that Crystal's voice? It was weak. Or was it the memory of what she had said when they arrived ready to fight? Still thinking that they had a chance.
Suddenly a hand clamped down on Tilly's shoulder and she looked back to see Jen.
"Ten would be ideal," Jen said.
"Back off," Astra ordered.
But then another hand landed on Tilly and she closed her eyes feeling a surge of something hot, and also cold.
It filled her chest and wrapped around her heart and lungs until something trickled down her shoulders to arms to fingertips.
She watched Crystal's hand twitch on the ground and while Astra yelled commands and raised her hand into the wild sky above her Tilly scrabbled for whatever power was inside of her.
"I will kill all of you," Astra warned.
Hands took Jen's and Kelsea's and Eloise's and Ursula's. Bess crouched over Margaret, laying a hand on her and a hand on Tilly.
"I will enjoy this," Astra said with a wicked smile.
What does she feel?
Tilly frowned at the question in her head. The source of the voice was unclear, but still it asked again, prodding at her mind.
She reached out from her mind to where Astra stood, the power of the dark sky in her hand, and searched.
Power. Drunken love for the strength darkness was giving her. She could feel it thick in the woman's veins, but something was off. That darkness was slower than their magic, which slipped through their bodies like water.
This was viscous, sludge. She could feel her heart trying to pump it out, to fill Astra's body but it was slow and weighing her down.