‘Shut up.’ Alice was shaking with rage.

‘Apparently she was crying and screaming, begging like a common peasant. She was stripped of her powers so all she could do was plead for her life from the lowly witches that I sent to kill her. She wept, relentlessly: she cried for me, for what we’d had before she betrayed me. She even cried for her precious daughter that she knew she’d never see grow up. Well,’ she paused, looking Alice up and down, ignoring the tears that were flowing down the girl’s cheeks like blood from a wound. ‘How disappointed she’d be that this is all you’ve amounted to in your seventeen years.’

‘You’re lying!’ Alice’s rage boiled over and she screamed, every single cell in her body howling with fury, her arms flung out wide. She felt something snap inside her chest and light flowed from her; she was a flaming star, burning, exploding, filling the room with a brilliant blood-red glow. She dropped to her knees and the scream turned to a cry. She collapsed, curling herself into a ball, trying to become tiny, invisible.

What just happened? Panicked thoughts ripped through her mind in confusing, scattered patterns.

She couldn’t bear to understand. She couldn’t bear to remember her mother, her mother’s face, her mother’s heartbreak. All she knew was the pain, the feeling of the flames licking at her arms, her legs, her face, her heart. Every single part of her was ablaze and scorched with the power that had been dormant all her life.

The priestess was clapping, deranged in her excitement, unharmed by the burst of magic that had poured from Alice. ‘Brilliant, brilliant!’ She laughed, ecstatic. ‘That will do for today.’ She gestured for two hooded women to remove Alice. ‘She needs rest. We want more control from her tomorrow and she will need to have regained her strength before then. Take her away. Inform Rafferty she’s to take her some food and watch over her tonight.’ She paused. ‘In fact, it’s best if she’s kept under constant surveillance at this stage. Take her to Rafferty’s room.’ They lifted Alice up and dragged her from the room. She lost consciousness with the agonising, hair-raising sound of the priestess’ maniacal laughter reverberating in her ears.

Chapter Thirty

The next morning, the sun rose, bright and low. The days were getting shorter and shorter. They were running out of time. As Lily entered the kitchen, everyone was busying themselves to distract from the silence that sat in the room like a phantom.

‘Morning, all!’ She skipped over to the stove and poured some hot water into a mug from the kettle that sat on top. She refused to be a part of the negative energy. That didn’t mean the others would join her in her positivity though, and it was only Jem who looked up from his book and sent a solemn nod in her general direction. ‘Since you all seem to be in a wonderful mood, I have a plan that requires help from every single one of you today and it is of incredibly high importance. So,’ she paused for dramatic effect, hoping that they were all listening and not just ignoring her, ‘if you all don’t mind, I’d appreciate it if you stopped being so moody and paid attention.’ She looked up and saw a smirk tug at the corner of Jem’s mouth, which she took as a good sign. Everyone else remained silent and unmoved. Lily felt frustrated. She hated being ignored.