Page 80 of The Nowhere Witch

But there wouldn’t be any walking away, not today. While I’d been so preoccupied letting him have his say, they’d been laying a trap for me. Now it was too late.

I could already feel the pull of magic before I spotted them. Raydam appeared first, then Belinda, then four other nameless faces I’d seen sneering at me. They came from each side, all with their palms up, and I could feel the magical fence forming around me.

I’d have said anything not to have to dredge through the black hole of emotions that might have been at the heart of the problem.

I was here, all by myself and doomed to fail, just the way Gregor knew I would, because I’d so stupidly confided in him that I was lousy at protecting myself. So what had they done? The same thing I would’ve—waited until I was alone.

I looked back at Gregor.

“How could you?”

“We’re both doing what we think is right. If you’re not here, this wall will eventually fail. There was no choice but to use you.”

“You would say that, wouldn’t you?” I let out a little huff of breath. Why was it that weak people always blamed their victims? I’d walked away from him too soon. I should’ve punched him in the face first.

Gregor’s cheeks turned red. “I told them I could turn you to our side. Iprotectedyou. Why do you think no one touched you? Because ofme. I’m the strong one. But you just won’t stop. No matter how horrible he is. He stole your home, he kicked you out of Xest, and you still helped him.”

“You’re wrong. I’m not doing this for him. I’m doing this for me, because whatever lies beyond my wall? It’s evil. And that you can’t feel it?” I shook my head.

“They were right. You can’t be saved.”

I was surrounded, but they’d been smart. They’d only brought enough people to ensure a win. If half of Xest disappeared, that might tip people off that something was up.

I turned to Belinda. If this was going down, I wasn’t holding anything back. I was laying it all out there before I died.

“You’ve been waiting a long time to get me, haven’t you? Just couldn’t stand that he didn’t want you. That he’d rather keep me around and didn’t give a shit about how you felt. You were nothing to him.”

She lunged at me, but Raydam grabbed her arm. “No. We do this together. She’ll get the end she deserves.”

They circled. And then I realized Gregor was inside the circle with me, but he was looking at his companions as if he weren’t supposed to be there.

“What are you doing?” he asked. He tried to approach Raydam but got stopped short by whatever magic had formed.

“We need an anchor,” Raydam said.

“What are you talking about? Not me. I helped you. I’m one of you.” Gregor pounded on the invisible barricade.

“If you truly believe in this cause, you’d be willing to give your life for it. You took the vow.”

“Raydam, don’t do this to me, please,” Gregor said, getting to his knees.

No one responded as they began chanting. A molten red haze began to form around us, slowly growing brighter and hotter. They were going to cook us alive.

“They’re going to kill us,” Gregor said, looking at me stunned. “Can you do something?”

“Oh, yeah, sure. Now we’re a team? I guess when it was just me it wasn’t such a problem.” Sarcasm probably wasn’t the best use of my energy right now, but sometimes it felt unavoidable.

Still, he was right. We were going to die. When I’d been in a similar situation with Zab, my instincts had taken over. I looked to Gregor, who was definitely going to die with me, and there was no bubbling magic building within, ready to take on the bad guys. I was as flat as I’d accused Hawk of being.

None of the charms and lower-level stuff I’d been practicing with Zab was going to work. None of my newfound skills from Bautere were going to get us out of this magic roaster they were constructing.

Gregor was circling, frenzied and useless.

“Give me something to work with. Tell me you need to live or something,” I said, scrambling for some tingle of magic to take over me.

“I do. I want to live. I have to live. I’m too young,” he said, falling on his knees in front of me now.

It did nothing, not even a hiccup.