Page 8 of The Powerless Witch
“Come on, come on!” I hissed, reaching deeper into the earth. Whoever had caught up with me was strong, maybe too strong for me. If I had to face the Head Witch…it’d be better to plead than to fight. But this didn’t feel like her magic. This power didn’t taste like death.
“It’s pointless, Estia,” my pursuer spoke, and even before I saw them stepping from behind one of the trees, I recognized the voice. A gasp escaped my lips as I watched my former best friend draw near, her hands hanging by her side. Her familiar face was twisted in a wicked expression that turned my insides to ice. She was holding something—a stick no longer than her forearm—that shimmered with magic, her magic. Just what was she…?
Medina pointed the stick toward the tree on my right, flicking her wrist. The ground shook as the whole thing tore itself from the earth, roots snapping and branches breaking from the force. Then it swung toward me, smashing into my ward and shattering it like it was made of glass.
I threw myself aside, avoiding being hit even as earth and bark rained over me. The tree slammed into another, both of them tilting and crashing to the ground. I rolled away and pushed myself to my feet while Medina took a step closer. My eyes darted to the strange wood and as I drew more of my magic, I could feel its power pulsing through the air like it was an extension of her.
“You like it? I worked really hard to create it.” She smiled, genuinely this time, turning the stick in her hand. “I’m not so weak now, am I? I’ll make sure to show that to your mother too, once I am done with you.”
I stepped back, shaking my head.
“Why, Medina? Why are you doing this?” My eyes darted to the earth, willing it to come to my aid, begging for the dead to answer my call. Nothing happened. “We are friends. We…”
“We were never friends!” she shouted, and I flinched, bitterness clogging my throat. “How can we be friends when we were never truly equal? You were always the prettier, the stronger, the wilder one between us. You had your parents fawning over you while I…” Her voice broke, and she gave me a sneer that made me shudder. “My father hated witches, hated his own child, and my mother saw you more as her daughter than she did me! She gave her life for you—she wouldn’t have done that for me! And then Noah…you knew I wanted him even before you met him. You knew, and you still sought to steal him from me! You had everything, Estia, and you still kept taking more and more until I had nothing left! And the worst part is, you didn’t even care! You didn’t even notice! It was always about you! Well, I’m going to take everything I deserve now!”
My vision blurred as tears rolled down my cheeks. I took a hesitant step toward her, toward my friend, who was shaking with pain and frustration.
“I didn’t know that’s…how you felt,” I whispered, my voice breaking in the end. “Medina, I never wanted this. I wanted you to be happy. I’ll give up Noah, you can have him. I don’t want a man to—”
Medina threw her head back, letting out a cold, wicked laugh that caused goosebumps to crawl over my skin. When she looked at me again, her eyes were cruel, full of disdain, the likes of which I had never felt before.
“Oh, how I hate that arrogance of yours! You think it’s up to you? You think you need to allow me to have something? But what can I expect from a pampered little girl who was raised to think she was better than everyone else? You and your mother are the worst! Andyour sister…it’s too bad we’ll lose that gift of hers, but wiping out your entire bloodline will be for the best.”
My heart dropped at the sight of the wild determination in her eyes. She didn’t want to hurt me. She wanted to kill me, kill my entire family. Staring at the person I had loved for over twenty years, I couldn’t recognize the face looking back.
“No,” I whispered, the voice barely audible to my own ears. “I won’t let you hurt them.” I didn’t care if she tried to kill me, but I wouldn’t let her touch my parents or Sybil. I wouldn’t…
“You still think it’s up to you? Pathetic.”
Her hand shot up, the wooden stick now pointed at my chest. Her spell crashed against me before I could gather my magic, sending me back with such force that I was sure I was done for. When I crashed into the first tree that got in the way, I felt something crack. Pain exploded everywhere, flooding my vision with dancing blotches of white, but even as my arms and legs trembled, I pushed myself up.
The earth wrapped around my hands, sticks and stones digging in. I felt it then, the push and pull of the soil, the movement. Medina came into view with slow, unhurried steps, her hand ready for another attack. I gathered my magic tightly around me, hoping it would be enough against her damn contraption. Just before she hurled another spell at me, something shot out from the earth beneath her, grabbing her leg. She lost her balance and screamed in surprise as a bony hand yanked her ankle. Another one broke through the dirt, this one positively not human, and gripped her other leg.
I stared with wide eyes as the two skeletons pushed themselves up through the fallen leaves. Medina snarled, her fear turning into frustration. She waved her branch at the undead, the power behind it grinding them to dust. Once free, she looked around to find the forest coming awake with the sound of rustling and clacking; the earth rose in heaps and more bodies pushed to answer my call.
Her eyes snapped back to me and I could see her surprise mirroring mine. Then came the realization—the only way to stop the dead would be to stop me. As long as I had my blood and magic, they would keep coming for her.
By the time she hurled another spell my way, I was running. If I could get away from her, the undead would eventually either overwhelm her or exhaust her. Whatever she had done to that branch, it fed off her magic, so sooner or later, she’d be spent. Then I could take her down. Then I would…
Something exploded behind me and heated earth and burning leaves rained upon my head. I covered it with my arms without stopping, listening to her follow deeper into thewoods. The sound of bones clanking, trees groaning, and her cursing was barely audible in my ears while my heart beat so loud, it swallowed the world. I wasn’t sure if it was pure hate or something else that pushed her forward, but I had never seen her so desperate, so determined.
Or maybe she hid this from me. Who knew how long she had been concealing this resentment, this jealousy, this secret? I felt stupid for not seeing it in the way she sometimes reacted, for not hearing it in the biting comments and cruel jokes, for not feeling it in the way she looked at me when I told her any good news.
I was a fool, and I deserved my fate, but my family didn’t. My child didn’t.
“Estia!” I dug my feet into the ground, turning around in search of the familiar voice. “Estia!”
My heart leaped when I caught the sight of the man trekking through the woods. Hope and relief washed through me as I staggered toward him. He was here, looking for me. If what Medina said about wanting him was true, he could get through to her. As much as I hated the idea of hiding behind a man—behind any human—this might be the only way to stop her without killing her. And to prove that she was a liar. Noah was surely going to deny being the father and if the others heard she lied about that, they wouldn’t believe anything else she said.
“Noah!” I shouted, and his head snapped in my direction. Relief smoothened his features, but it lasted only until he noticed the state I was in. He grabbed my shoulders, keeping me at arm’s length while he examined me. “Tell me it isn’t true! Please, tell me she lied! She lied about everything, didn’t she?”
He gave me a confused look, but then his attention switched to something behind me.
“What is going on?” he muttered, his grip on my shoulders tightening. “I was coming to your house to talk to your mother when I heard you screaming. What is…” His mouth fell open, and I looked over my shoulder to find out Medina had caught up, fighting off a wolf skeleton as it tried to bite her leg. She had to pause to face it, slamming her branch onto its head. The undead shook, then shattered into a million pieces that shot through the air. Noah pulled me toward him, wrapping me in his arms.
He protected me. He wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t love me. I was right, Medina had lied. Now we just needed to expose her.
“Noah?” Surprise crept into Medina’s voice and her step faltered. “What are you doing?”