Wicked Ends (Serpentine Academy #3)

Chapter 1

One

Rose

You know that scene in horror movies where the final girl opens the door, and the killer is just standing there, waiting? Yeah.

Helena Wickersly stands there, her red hair slicked back, lips parted in a smile that does nothing to make her look less evil. Directly behind her are six disloyal members of the Blood Moon Coven.

So much for my quickly running to warn Ash.

Ash, my tormentor, my jailer, my something I can’t and don’t want to examine too closely. I can tell myself that I was only going to warn him because the thought of Helena holding my leash instead of Ash was the worse of two evils, as mind-boggling as that is. Sure, I can tell myself anything.

But I wouldn’t believe me either.

It takes everything in me not to just slam the door in her face and pray for a tornado to solve my problems, or a house to drop on her head. Instead, I put on a fake smile. “Wow. Hello to you, too. Is this like a surprise intervention?”

Helena laughs meanly, and the expression in her eyes is the same as a cat before it takes off your face with all ten claws. “It’s time you learned who is in charge, Rose.”

I consider my options.

run

punch

sarcasm

Too bad none of those work if you’re outnumbered seven to one, and the leader is an uber-powerful old witch.

I take a step back into my room, heartbeat in my ears.

Helena’s smile doesn’t change. It’s creepy, the mismatch between what her mouth is doing and the menace in her eyes.

She gestures, and her backup fans out, blocking the hallway in both directions.

I catch a flash of movement behind them and see Ollie, hunched and shuffling, eyes glued to the carpet.

He looks as if he’d rather be anywhere else.

I know the feeling.

Except as the witches close in, Ollie edges sideways, not toward me, but toward the stairwell. He moves fast for a shuffler kind of guy. No one notices him, and I look away for half a second, and when I look back he’s gone.

Maybe someone up there likes me after all. If Ollie can get to Ash, he can warn him about Helena and put this bitch down once and for all.

Helena steps forward. “We’re going for a walk.”

I glance at the window. Not much of a drop, even if I could get to it and get past the warding, but I’m not exactly dressed for parkour in the dead of winter. Also, if I break an ankle, Lucien’s going to say, “I told you so,” until the end of time.

I stall. “Can I at least put on real pants? Or is this a pajama party kind of thing?”

The nearest coven witch growls like a rabid raccoon. “You’re not funny.”

“Disagree.” I edge back another step, trying to keep all of them in my sightline. “But you’re entitled to your wrong opinion.”

Helena sighs and taps her foot, then without warning the room is filled with invisible pressure. I can feel her magic pressing down on my bones.

I try to reach for my own power. I picture it like a river or a current, but it’s not flowing. I try harder, reaching for a switch to flip.

Nothing. Nada. Not even a spark.

Because my magic isn’t mine. Ash owns it, courtesy of the blood contract, and he’s not in the mood to share.

I bite down on panic. “Is this about Ash? Because if you want to murder him, you’ll have to get in line.”

Helena’s eyes narrow. “You’re very brave, Rose. Or very stupid.”

“Why not both?” I shoot back.

She flicks her wrist. I slam back against the wall, hard enough to knock the air out of my lungs. The witches close in around me, their faces pinched with excitement. Bloodthirsty d-bags.

Helena leans in. “Like I said, Rose, you’re not going anywhere.”

I try again to grab my magic, desperate this time. Still nothing. Goddamn Ash. He’s gonna feel really stupid when he realizes I was trying to save his ass.

“Let me guess,” I choke out, playing for time. “We’re skipping straight to the torture part of the show?”

She smiles. “You’re going to help me, Rose. Whether you want to or not.”

I glance over her shoulder, searching for Ollie. He’s gone. Maybe there’s hope after all.

But right now, it’s just me and six traitorous witches who want me dead so they can have all of my power, and the woman who’s about to make that happen.

Screaming for help is tempting, but ultimately pointless. No one is getting past Helena, no one except Ash, and he’s not here.

I go limp, sliding down the wall until I’m sitting on the floor. If I’m going down, I’m going down on my own terms. They’ll have to drag me.

Which is exactly what they do.

Helena gestures for her minions to pick me up. Two of them grab my arms, yanking me to my feet. One gets a nice elbow in the ribs for her trouble.

They drag me into the hallway. Helena leads, and the others fall into a tight formation around me, paraded down the hall for all to see.

I glance at every door we pass, hoping for a rescue.

But the hallway is empty. Either everyone’s hiding, or Helena’s got this whole floor under lockdown.

They take me to the faculty wing.

I dig in my heels.

Helena ignores me. Her minions do not. One of them shoves me forward so hard I almost faceplant.

“Careful,” I say. “Wouldn’t want to bruise the merchandise.”

Helena smiles at that. “Don’t worry. Once I have what I want, you’re expendable.”

We can file that under Things I Already Knew but it still makes my stomach lurch.

As we reach the end of the hallway. Helena stops in front of a door and turns to me. “Inside.”

I glance at the witches holding me. “Them first.”

“Enough.” Helena points, and an invisible force shoves me through the doorway. I stumble, catch myself on the edge of a table, and look around.

Not quite the dungeon I was expecting. There are no manacles, no chains.

It’s a conference room. Big, full of leather chairs and a huge table. The windows are shuttered, but the room is lit by the recessed pot lights in the ceiling.

Helena enters, the others right behind her. They close the door, lock it, and fan out to stand guard.

I’m trapped. Outnumbered, outgunned, and out-magicked.

Helena takes a seat at the head of the table, steeples her fingers, and studies me. “You’re valuable, Rose. You have more power than you know.”

“Please say, ‘Together we could rule the galaxy’. Please.”

Helena leans forward. “Once I’m the head of the Blood Moon Coven instead of Ash, I will have the Accord. I will control the blood contract.”

“Good luck with that. Ash put you down once already. Or did you forget?” Reminding Helena of her humiliation in the dining hall is probably a bad idea. But I still need to stall, to give Ollie enough time to get to Ash.

She shrugs. “He won’t have a choice.”

It’s then that I realize I haven’t felt anything from the mark on my arm.

It’s been still this whole time. And since Ash can apparently feel what I feel, I’m certain he would know what’s going on, or at least that I’m in trouble.

He’d be here already, wouldn’t he? Maybe he doesn’t care.

Maybe he’s running to save himself. But Ash doesn’t strike me as the kind who runs.

I force myself to look casual. “What are you going to do? Or did you already do it?”

Helena’s smile is deadly sweet, like white oleander. “Something like that.”