Chapter 39

Bayla

The fact that I was sitting in my mother's car, on my way to a Satanic cult, instead of fleeing over the mountains of North America with the backpack I had packed yesterday was definitely not my fault. I could have punched myself in the face for listening to my goofy neighbor instead of my uncomfortable gut. If something inside me told me Bayla that wouldn't go well at all , it usually went that way.

I tried to imagine how far I would have gotten with my backpack now. Julian had probably been right, and this Amara would have tracked me down sooner or later with her superpowers... Or Emely would have found me and eaten me for dinner.

I thought of the note with the words, "I'm sorry if I frighten you. That is not my intention."

My tension gave way to a certain reflectiveness. To be honest, I didn't really know if and to what extent I could trust him. Of course, there were his words, but did they guarantee me safety? Or was it one of the next lies in this cursed city?

I was beginning to realize that I shouldn't believe anyone at all . Not this Amara, not Julie or Grace, probably not Julian either, and certainly not my mother.

Right now, I was sitting next to her and we were both silent. It better remained that way, because I couldn't guarantee anything . If only she knew how angry, disappointed, and confused I was at that moment. She had thrown my entire old life into a box and let little kids play soccer with it.

If I only had known I would move to a town full of monsters, where my mother belonged to a cult that grew plants. And not to mention her shady past in that place. Or the part where I was in her car on the way to some initiation ritual .

The events of that weekend were definitely beyond the scope. And worst of all. She had lied about having a disease such as breast cancer !

I looked over at Mum, who had just pulled over, her face glowing red from the traffic light.

I wanted to yell at her, but I wasn't like that. Instead, I punished her with my stares.

Who in the world was this woman in the driver's seat? Did I even know her?

Mum just looked at the road and pretended I didn't exist. She was really good at suppressing problems, although she seemed to run from one to the next.

Until now, I had known her as the structured scientist, as a caring mother, almost like my best friend, if there had not been Larissa.

Shit.

I hadn't responded at all to her Where are you all? Or to her Send me your address and just as little to her What's going on?

I really wasn't a great friend, even though Larissa was the only one I could still trust around here.

The last time I had seen her was a few days ago, before I had – in her eyes probably – disappeared from campus without a trace.

Mum turned into a so-called Blair Street , and something told me that it wasn't far to wherever .

The darkness didn't really allow me to recognize anything, except for isolated silhouettes of large houses that clearly had to belong to Blairville's more well-heeled residents.

At the end of the street, Mum slowed down, and I recognized a locked iron access gate in front of me, which rose very majestically and was connected to a continuing iron fence, behind it a high hedge.

But my view was not blocked for long because the door opened automatically – as usual in these noble districts – so that we could pass.

Very inviting.

The driveway led us to a paved courtyard where several cars were parked, including one very familiar to me. Vivienna's .

A few memories of Friday morning came back, when she had used her bare hands to move Emely and the guys. Of course , she also belonged to this cult. In fact, I would have believed her the most – such a witch as she was.

In the center of the courtyard was a fountain that also seemed to be active at night. A stone woman, whose aesthetic body was covered by a sheet, let the water speckle from her upstretched hands in the form of two bending fountains. All that was missing was for her knees to buckle, and she would have easily passed for a bar dancer.

A second later, I discovered the fish scales on her legs.

But it was not the beautifully decorated fountain that aroused my interest and, at the same time, made my heart race. In front of me rose a gigantic lantern-lit mansion in the Victorian architectural style with round-arched windows, a brick-built first floor and terraces typical of the architectural style as well as tower roofs.

Above the massive main entrance was a huge window, with a pointed tower above it bearing an iron sun with a crest with a raven in the center.

Whoever lived here was filthy rich, and somehow, I was sure it didn't look any worse from the inside.

And, of course, those dangerous bird beasts were circling around again.

Mum had parked, but she didn't get out. And if she didn't, I certainly wouldn't either.

Her nervousness seemed to be transferring to me. My hands were already shaking again.

"I'm sorry I brought you here. If I had the chance to undo it, I would."

Wow . She had had countless opportunities to get in that car and just leave town.

"You lied to me, multiple times, and faked an illness that killed other people because you knew I would do anything for you if you weren't well."

Mum was silent. And that made me even angrier.

"Why did you put us in danger like that?"

"I'm sorry, Bay..."

"If you're sorry, then come home with me now ."

I couldn't accept her apology because words were just words. Her actions were what mattered.

Mum took a deep breath.

"You have to get through this."

Of course, her words were worth nothing . Didn't she care that much about me?

Mum continued to ignore me.

"No matter what happens now, don't speak unless you're told to. Do as you're told, and don't be afraid, especially of Amara. If you get nauseous, don't stop, or it will get worse. And if they ask weird questions, let me answer for you, okay?"

If she had wanted to calm me down with that, she had achieved exactly the opposite.

Why the hell would I get nauseous? What was waiting for me there? Did I even want to know?

She put her hand on my forearm, and I suppressed the urge to slap it away.

"We're late, come on."

And then she got out, leaving me with all my questions and anger.

Close your eyes and get through it, Bay. You're going to show them now that all of this is a mistake, and you don't belong to the Garden Wizards, or whatever they call themselves.

I got out and briskly followed my mother across the cobbled courtyard, up the stairs, where she rang a bell as raven cries tore through the gloomy full moon night.

My heart slipped again as the door opened on its own with no one there.

Mum entered just like that.

"Diana, good to see you again."

A short, petite woman with a dark ponytail, maybe ten years younger than Mum, smiled kindly at her before turning to me.

"You must be Bayla. Welcome to Moenia."

Where the hell?

I eyed her suspiciously. Only now did I notice her floor-length black robe.

Great . Here one ran around like Gandalf .... What came next? Unicorns? Flying broomsticks? Witches' hats?

"I'm Margot." The young woman held out her hand to me, and I shook it out of reflex. Then she held out robes to me and Mum as well, her a black one, which Mum slipped on without hesitation, and me a white one.

I hesitantly accepted the thing before I did the same as both of her and Mum and I followed this Margot through the extensive hallway of the building toward a wide staircase that led down to another floor.

Somehow, the house seemed much larger from the inside, especially considering that the basement alone seemed to make up two levels.

This basement was mostly a hallway with old antiques and paintings from other centuries on the dark red wallpaper.

We passed dozens of bookshelves, and I was tempted to decipher the titles, but either they were faded or we walked past them too quickly without even a chance to run my finger, tingling with curiosity, over the book spines.

Yellowish lamps alternated with candlesticks mounted in wall brackets to light our way.

We came to the end of one of the countless corridors, where a meter-high golden globe waited for us.

There was no further to go.

Well, at least that's what I thought until Margot put her hands on the globe and whispered, "Revelare" . The cities on the globe began to glow golden like little stars in the sky, and the globe slowly rotated until – how could it be otherwise? – a spiral staircase that wound around the globe to the next floor came into view.

In what extended version of Harry Potter had I landed here?

"Follow me, we're the last ones. The others are waiting for you."

The others?

Great . There was probably a whole armada of Gandalfs . And the fact that they were all waiting for me didn't make anything better.

Margot went down without another word and the candlesticks on the brick walls went on by themselves.

I didn't question it anymore, because I had realized by now that I was in a magical house where everything seemed to have a life of its own, even if a large part of me didn't want to believe it.

Instead, I just hoped I could climb those stairs a second time, namely upwards.

"Put your hoods on."

I obeyed Margot and pulled on my white hood, which fell deep into my vision.

Downstairs was a masonry of stone with two double doors of dark oak, framed by stone women. The statues wore noble robes, as at the fountain outside, this time, however, without water, but with real plants that they carried on their hands like something sacred. And their legs seemed to be normal.

Margot approached the door in front of us and made a quick gesture with her hand. The gate opened and Margot led us into a large, pillared underground hall, lit by torches alone.

My jaw dropped.

How could such a gigantic hall fit under this house? It reminded me of the interior of a massive temple, with its columns decorated by ornaments and frescoes, the upper side windows with glass art, and an altar in the center on which various tinctures, stone bowls, and other strange things were placed.

When I caught sight of at least twenty people in black hoods, nervousness spread through me again.

It actually seemed to me like a cult that was holding its ritual tonight to summon demons. All that was missing was the sacrifice.

My heart began to race.

What if...

"Step closer," a woman's voice commanded, hidden under one of the black hoods. She stepped up to the altar, and my mother closed her gap in the circle.

I obeyed again and stepped into the charcoal circle full of runes drawn on the floor, past two hooded figures. I tried to make out their faces, but the shadows were too large, and I only saw the greenish glow of their...eyes?

Everyone here seemed to have some sort of issue with their eyes, because that was the only, and at the same time scariest, thing I could make out.

Cautiously, I continued to approach the woman at the altar until I reached her.

She took off her hood and revealed her identity.

Startled, I paused, because Amara's eyes were glowing green like the other day, even greener than the eyes of the others down here. Not as intense as Julian's and Emely's yellow irises, but the fact that they were glowing should be enough to make me throw in the towel and get the hell out of this goddamn place. I probably wouldn't even be able to find my way out of the first basement floor, as disoriented as I was.

"Welcome to the temple, sister."

I was definitely not her sister, and if she thought we would become best buddies, she could forget it right away.

Amara placed her hands on my shoulders, smiling. Then she nodded at me and put her hood back on.

With a hand on my shoulder, she escorted me to the altar. Now, I could see more exactly what was lying there.

Red blossoms, a small crystal-clear shimmering stone pendant on a golden chain, and a... dagger?

My eyes widened, and the warmth in my chest disappeared instantly, as quickly as it had come.

What on earth were they going to do to me? If I was going to die tonight, it was too late for one last hug from my mother. For a few seconds, I forgot about the resentment between us and looked at her in panic. But she was not there.

Hidden under a hood, two gray-white eyes shone at me instead, watchful and determined.

Meanwhile, Amara took the necklace from the altar and put it on my neck. Wasn't there my other pendant? But I only felt the cold, glassy stone and remembered how Mum must have taken my own necklace off my neck when I had just woken up from my faint.

Amara paced around the altar and pointed to the large stone slab.

Startled, I looked for anything in her eyes that didn't mean I should lie down there.

"Lie down."

I swallowed.

Of course, I should lie down on the sacrificial altar.

Nervously, I did as I was told and lay down on the cold stone. The hood slipped off my head, and I felt exposed.

I thought I heard a sharp intake of breath behind me and wanted to look around, but Amara was quicker and smeared something strong-smelling red on my forehead. I deeply hoped that it was not blood and knew how gullible I thought.

What was it supposed to be, Bayla? Acrylic paint?

Concerned now, I watched each of Amara's steps as she began to talk to the dagger.

" Nos sorores coniunge ."

Fiery glowing runes flared up at the dagger. Four triangles, all of which looked slightly different.

And then Amara slashed her finger and passed the dagger to the round, where everyone did the same.

I got a queasy feeling in my stomach.

Each of the members repeated the words aloud, and I thought I heard six familiar voices.

When the knife reached Amara again, she stepped up to me.

Panic made my entire body tingle, tightening my throat.

Actually, I had intended to study literature and perhaps someday bring my own book to the market. I didn't want children so soon, but I didn't want to die yet. Not here, in Blairville , on a fucking altar of sacrifice !

My pulse quickened noticeably at the now blood red glowing dagger.

Upon reaching me, Amara placed it on my palm and squeezed. Immediately, I felt a sharp pain and watched as blood dripped down my hand.

My body told her with a twitch that what she was doing was neither normal nor okay , but Amara didn't seem to care.

If any of the people present had blood infections, chances were high that I now had it too. But I couldn't go on thinking about this terrifying thought because things happened too fast.

Suddenly, Amara threw up her hands.

"Eam ad nos !"

The others repeated the words in chorus, and my body instantly began to shake. Or was it the entire temple?

An uncomfortable trembling, almost as if I were freezing, settled over me. But I was not freezing. Instead, a bead of sweat ran down my forehead.

Only now did I realize that my body had detached itself from the stone slab and was floating in the air.

With a jolt, I felt nauseous.

What the...

I wanted to choke, but it didn't work. And as if that wasn't enough, my old familiar headache set in. The pain continued to travel down my neck, across my chest, down my back, and it increased. The feeling became more and more unbearable.

Under the stinging pull, I began to cry, as if Amara's goddamn dagger had pierced me all over, dragging its gaping wounds across my thin skin like a fountain pen on the wafer-thin pages of a Bible. The pain seemed to grow stronger, engulfing my body.

Jesus.

A loud scream escaped my throat. Then, my entire body bent.

"Amara! Stop it! She's in pain!"

Distantly, I became aware of my mother.

"Stay there, Diana. She has to get through this!"

"You don't understand! Please !"

I screamed again under all the pain as if something was tearing me apart inside until my back cracked.

"Amara! Diana is right. Stop the ritual!" another woman shouted.

Then everything went black.

I startled up with a scream.

"She's back," Margot called loudly, and then I saw my mother rushing to me.

"Thank God, how are you?"

How I was doing was one thing. Namely, like shit . My skull was humming, my back hurt like a truck had rolled over me, and when I looked down at my burning hand, I was slightly frightened by the slash of dried blood crust. Very appetizing.

The other thing was: What in God's name had I just witnessed? I had never felt so close to death in my life as I had just down there on the altar.

There were actually worse things than girls turning into wild wolves. And these were women, like Amara, with a magic dagger and a Latin vocabulary from ancient times.

When said appeared behind my mother in a doorway, I reflexively slid back.

Speaking of the devil.

But there also stood two other faces that looked very familiar.

Julie and Grace.

I had forgotten that they had also been in the – shall we say – conflict at the university and were part of these Satanists .

Despite the pain, I was wide awake again, but my head was in chaos, and I just wanted to go home. And I didn't mean Mum's vacation home.

"She seems paralyzed. Grace, the herbs."

Grace disappeared on Amara's instructions, leaving Julie alone in the doorway. The latter smiled cautiously at me, but I could only look at her, dumbfounded.

"How are you, my darling?"

Mum squatted in front of the dark leather sofa where I sat curled up in a dark burgundy blanket, looking at me with concern. It was that concern I had seen countless times before.

"I don't know," I confessed tonelessly, my gaze on Amara, who was now approaching, and just like that, without any warning, reached into my cleavage.

Hello?!

Her fingers encircled the milky white stone that had taken on my body temperature.

"Nothing," was all she said before she stepped back again and began to march thoughtfully around the room. Back and forth.

Thankfully, no one was wearing the black robe anymore, and we were in a very different place as well. It was a kind of drawing room with burgundy wallpaper. The ceilings were dark wood and decorated with those recurring floral ornaments. The tiny bulbs of the chandelier shone in a warm glow above us. The arched windows told me that we were no longer underground.

Grace came out of nowhere with a glass bottle full of green stuff. She knelt beside my mother and took my hand.

I hesitated at first, but it was still Grace. The outgoing girl from campus with the brown corkscrew curls and all the crystals. One of them…

She gave me a pitying look before just dumping the stuff on my hand.

I groaned and twisted my face in pain.

"Press it together, and your pain will lessen."

Then she stood up and disappeared back through the doorway.

"How is it possible that her powers cannot be activated?" came a voice from the hallway just before a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and ice-blue eyes entered the room, dressed in a dark blue business dress. She looked very pretty, and somehow, she also looked familiar, but I had certainly never seen her before.

It was immediately obvious that she must be Vivienna's mother, because they were the spitting image of each other.

When our eyes met, she paused for a moment and unease spread through me.

Her thoughtful look gave way to suspicion, then she looked back at Amara.

"Could you please give me an explanation of what happened there last night?"

Last night? What time was it, exactly?

"I don't know, Amanda." Amara ran a hand through her hair. "What are you even doing here at this hour?"

The woman addressed propped both hands at her sides.

"I'm worried about our Circle," she snorted in disdain.

"That's news to me," Margot laughed, earning a stern look from Vivienna's mother. I was pretty sure it had to be her mother.

"She's possibly an ungifted one. Extremely rare, but yet it has happened many times in history."

An ungifted one? Amara could have just said ordinary mortal or human . But in the end, it came out the same, and that was that I didn't have any freaky gifts.

I cleared my throat audibly.

"Listen, whatever you all are and can do here. I don't. And no matter what my mother has to do with this, I'm just a normal person and I don't want anything to do with any of this."

"Impossible," the woman in blue hissed without giving me another look. "Ungifted Quatura don't cause reactions like that, Amara."

Amara looked at my mother.

"Where's the father?"

"Doesn't matter anymore," Mum said quickly, but swallowed, because I knew it had very much mattered in her life.

To my surprise, Amara just nodded knowingly, as if that answer was enough for her. Suddenly the suspicion sprouted in me that perhaps he had also been one of them. But would I really be ungifted then, as this cult – or rather their cult leader – claimed?

"Whether she is ungifted or not, the Councils are unsettled by what took place yesterday, and the Councils demand an answer."

The Councils?

"What does Gloria want now?" Amara asked suspiciously and stopped.

" Order and stability , Amara," Amanda said and then pointed an outstretched finger at me. I blushed. " Whoever she is, she means chaos ."

Thank you . That was an accurate adjective for my life.

"So, what do you suggest?" Amara asked.

How about this: let me finally go home, and everything will fall into place. When would they realize that I didn't belong here, let alone that I didn't want to be here at all.

"I want to go home," I sighed softly so that only Mum should hear it.

She looked at me regretfully and stroked those of my hands that hadn't been mutilated by a dagger.

Couldn't she just take me and leave? Just get out of this witch's house.

As if Mum had read my mind, she grabbed my arm to pull me up.

"You're right, this place isn't good for you right now."

But apparently, Amanda objected. "She's staying here until we sort this out."

" No , we're leaving now , Bayla has to go to university in a couple of hours, and she's had a rough night," Mum insisted firmly, pulling me past the little salon table.

"You're still as you were in the old days!" Amanda murmured, striding to the salon doorway.

"And you're still interfering in matters that are none of your business." Mum looked challengingly at the woman. "Bayla is my daughter, and if I have to, I'll use my word against Gloria."

Julie's eyes widened, and Grace sucked in a sharp breath while Vivienna's mother pressed her lips together.

Wow , what a dynamic. And apparently, it had its origins in Mum's mysterious past, too.

"You'd better not do that, Diana," Amara now interfered again. "You know yourself that she can't be convinced. And besides, Amanda is right."

Named raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"What does Gloria want?" Amara asked, turning to Amanda with a sigh.

"The ritual is to be repeated. In a month."

My heartbeat stopped.

Not again would I throw myself on that altar down there for the vultures to eat.

"If nothing happens..." The woman looked pityingly at Mum. "...She'll have to forget."

Mum swallowed nervously and stared motionlessly at Amanda for three seconds. I looked questioningly at Amara, but she ignored me. Then I looked at Julie, who was still leaning against the doorway and seemed to be eyeing me as pityingly as Amanda was eyeing my mother.

What had been meant by forgetting? Did they want me to forget all of this? If so, what was so bad about it? Wasn't it better, if I just forgot? Would I even be able to convince Mum to move away from here?

Just the idea raised hope in me that there was still an escape from this nightmare here.

I wanted nothing to do with any of this. I wanted to live a human life together with my human friend at a university full of humans.

"Agreed!" it blurted out abruptly, as if I had any choice at all.

"Bay..." Mum looked at me in shock.

I would explain to her later.

"If it doesn't work again next time, you'll erase my memories, and I'll be free. Did I understand that correctly?"

I looked at Amanda, then at Amara. The mayor of Blairville nodded in hesitation.

" Good . That's settled then," I said hurriedly and was about to pass Amanda through the doorway when she made a quick arm motion and I flew back through the air to the couch.

Stunned, I looked up at her.

Had she seriously just let me fly? Controlled me?

"You should teach your daughter some manners." Amanda looked at Mum with amusement. "And maybe teach her the rules of the game, too, so she knows where the ball is in our court." She looked at the slim silver watch on her equally slim wrist. "If you'll excuse me."

She looked at me again and shook her head as if she'd seen a ghost. Then she disappeared as frantically as she had come.

"Free."

Julie was the first to say something which I was definitely not used to from her.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"You said earlier in Moenia that you would be free after we erased your memories."

I looked dumbly ahead at her, and she stared out the passenger window.

"You don't know how much truth there is to that."

Julie sounded thoughtful, almost melancholy.

I had a month to convince this cult. Of course, that also meant another month in this town, although it wasn't even certain I'd be able to convince Mum at all. She just had to say yes if she had meant what she had said in the car last night.

"Don't be silly, Julie. Forgetting is painful, and lots of things can go wrong."

The usually talkative Grace was focused on the roadway ahead of us, where the oncoming rush hour traffic was stalling. We were on our way to campus.

What did she mean by going wrong?

Julie looked over at her seriously, as if Grace had just said something she didn't want me to know. As she did, her now elfin platinum blonde waves, pinned up with a silver pin, slipped over her shoulders.

"Wait a minute... Painful? "

Grace scratched her shoulder.

"Yeah, but don't worry, if it was that bad, I wouldn't be allowed to do it on you."

I widened my eyes in shock.

"Don't worry, Novice," Grace laughed nervously. "You'll be fine, and we may even have discovered your gift by then."

" Novice? And why would they allow you to do that to me? I thought Amara was your head witch."

And anyway, where did she get the idea, I had a gift?

Grace looked at Julie with a grin before starting up again and crossing the crowded downtown intersection.

"Amara is our Domini ."

Grace assumed I understood Latin.

"Now, in my language, please?"

"Domini means master ," Julie kindly explained. "Every Quatura Circle has a ranking system. Newcomers are called Novices . When they start lessons, they become apprentices, in other words Discipulus . When you have learned enough, you rise to Servus and serve the Circle in more complex ceremonies. If you are very talented, you can also progress to Oraculi , meaning teacher. And above this level there are only the Councils , which act as opposition to the Circle and control the Domini , the highest rank."

I blinked, overwhelmed

"Julie... That was absolutely not necessary ."

"She should know how our system works."

"And all of that means?" I asked, trying to process how that cult worked.

"It means nothing except that you must obey Amara absolutely, just like the rest of us. And we're not witches; we're Elementals ."

Great.

"But I'm not one of you, Grace. Why doesn't anyone here believe me?"

"You're just a Novice, and what works for others doesn't necessarily work for a Novice. Julie was a late bloomer, too."

I wasn't one of those. I was Bayla Adam s, who just got another headache and would have preferred to sleep for a few more hours.

It had been surprisingly cozy at the witches' until a dark-haired girl, about ten years old, had woken me up and sent me out to join Julie and Grace in the driveway.

Mum had left right after the argument with Amanda and had just left me behind on the condition that I got to campus on time and called her this afternoon.

Thankfully, my anger had subsided somewhat in the newly blossomed hope. Somewhat...

For the rest of the ride, Grace tried to explain something about crystals and memory magic to me, but my body won the battle against my consciousness and pulled me back into peaceful sleep.