‘My name is Hecate Winter, and it is I who invited you here, and it is I who will train you to be one of the most powerful witches this mortal world has ever seen.’

Alice shook her hand, feeling every ounce of courage and defiance slip away. Hecate then turned her back on Alice and walked away, which Alice took as a dismissal and she turned to leave. Hecate paused and then turned back to her. ‘Follow Blayne to your living quarters and be ready to start training first thing tomorrow. Do not let me down.’

Blayne, the toad-faced woman from earlier, waddled over to Alice, grasped her by the wrist and dragged her from the room. After even more confusing serpentine passages, they finally reached Alice’s living quarters, which were at the end of a long corridor. Before leaving her, Blayne squawked, ‘Your dinner will be brought up soon. Don’t leave this room until morning. You’ve been warned.’ And then she spun on her heels and disappeared, slamming the door behind her.

Alice gazed around the room in awe. It was the complete opposite of the cell she had just left. There was a fire in the grate, furs covering the bed, a wardrobe stocked full of beautiful, hand-embroidered dresses and a shelf overflowing with books. She was relieved to find her travelling bag and her cloak were on a chair underneath the window. It was a cosy and comfortable living space, but there was still a tiny voice in the back of her head wondering, why did they capture me, tie me up, and leave me to rot in a dungeon, only to bring me here and make me comfortable?

What was it that Grace had said? If they thought I was worth spending time on, I wouldn’t have to return to the cells. Spending time on? Time doing what?

Alice flopped backwards onto the fur-covered bed and closed her eyes, trying to contain the well of emotions that was threatening to overflow. She was confused and she still didn’t know what fate awaited her in the morning. She kept seeing Lily’s panicked, hurt face as if it were permanently etched on the backs of her eyelids. Her thoughts also strayed to Grace’s courage, and Alice tried to focus on that image, rather than on the one of her in a crumpled unconscious heap in a dingy cell. She secretly hoped that Grace would return in the morning, and with that hope in her mind, she drifted into a lifeless sleep, her exhaustion finally catching up with her.

Chapter Twenty

Lily’s eyes filled with tears.

The lighthouse, Jem, the accident, Morrigan. It was all so overwhelming. She didn’t know whether she was angry or grieving, or both. But here was a boy who actually seemed to want to help her. She didn’t have to face this fight alone anymore. The weight that perched in her chest with claws clinging to her heart flapped its wings slightly, making space for a little hope.