Witch's Shadow (The Hemlock Chronicles Book 1) Read online

  “I don’t remember asking you to bring friends,” she said.

  “You asked Isabel to train me,” I pointed out. “And Ivy came along… for protection. I want to request to use the forest’s magic to get back home.”

  “You wish to abandon us once more?” asked Cordelia. “And you have the audacity to ask for our help?”

  “You said yourself the magic is dormant inside me,” I said. “I should be able to learn it just as well in Edinburgh as anywhere else.”

  Not bloody likely, I added silently, but I had no intention of ever setting foot in this place after I was home.

  “Tell me your reasoning,” croaked Cordelia. “Or be prepared never to set foot in the mortal realm again until you’ve learned some humility.”

  Oh, now we’d reached the threatening stage. Wonderful.

  “There’s an assassin out there who tried to kill me,” I said. “And they got to my friend in order to do it. Aren’t you a little curious about why someone at Edinburgh’s market might know who the Hemlock witches are, much less want to kill me for it?”

  “Not enough to allow you to seek them out in person.”

  I looked her dead in the eyes. “Okay, first of all, you have no power over me. Second, you haven’t exactly looked out for my well-being in the past. And thirdly, I was attacked by a vampire today, who’s trying to get into this forest as we speak. You might want to look into that.”

  “Vampire?” hissed Cordelia. “There’s no such—”

  “You’re a witch who’s eternally stuck in a tree,” I said to her. “You’re not seriously trying to tell me you don’t believe in vampires? They can suck the life out of you with a touch, and can possess dead bodies miles away. He found me in the spirit realm, even in here.”

  There was a long pause. “Impossible,” she whispered.

  “Nope,” I said. “He doesn’t know where you are, but he’s close. He can reach anyone, anywhere, and I’ve never even met him in person. I’m certainly not strong enough to kill him as a ghost, but if I find him in the real world—”

  “And what if he kills the only heir to the Hemlock Coven?” she enquired.

  “I have the entire necromancer guild at my back,” I said. “Besides, he didn’t try to kill me before.” Probably because he needs me to find you, I didn’t add. He might be the enemy, but who needed to employ poison when you could suck out someone’s soul? Of course, if he wasn’t the poisoner, that meant there were at least two people who wanted me dead, but I’d handle that part later.

  Cordelia studied me, her eyes like pits of shadow. “I see. In that case, you are to use your resources to find this… vampire, and take care that he perishes without ever learning the location of the Hemlock Coven. Was it he who poisoned you?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know.” With the necromantic power he possessed, it would be much easier for him to use those powers to drain my soul instead—or my other soul. Hmm.

  “I can train her,” added Isabel. “It’s pretty clear there’s someone in Edinburgh plotting against the Hemlock Coven. Isn’t it more logical for us to work together to take them down rather than hiding?”

  “You make a good point,” said Cordelia. “Isabel, do see to it that she never leaves your sight. The future of our entire existence depends on it.”

  Ivy made a disparaging noise under her breath. Guess I wasn’t the only one who thought the coven needed to tone it down.

  I led the way out of the cave, returning to the forest. The resonant humming sensation of the glyphs forming webbing between the trees called to my magic, like hearing the lyrics of a semi-familiar song.

  “Jesus, talk about overdramatic,” Ivy muttered.

  “They’re drama queens,” I said. “I didn’t lie—I don’t have magic. I certainly can’t be their saviour.”

  But I knew who did.

  Nope. I’d find the first necromancer with the ability to exorcise a spirit, yank it out of my head, and send my ancestor off to deal with this herself. Simple.

  Well, okay, I’d never heard of a spirit being exorcised from a living person she’d been attached to for years before, but I couldn’t be the first. Certain spells were forbidden, but in order for them to be banned, someone must have used them and had something go horribly wrong.

  And where did vampires come into it?

  “We’ll see,” Isabel said. “I can give you some basic lessons, just to placate her. It won’t do any harm.”

  “I should go,” said Ivy. “I reckon their magical travel methods only work on witches, and I don’t want to get lost in here for hours. Isabel, text me, let me know when you’re coming home. The witches should let you use the forest to come back.”

  “I don’t see why not,” I said. “Isabel’s the only one of us who didn’t sass them.”

  “Ha,” said Ivy. “You’re not wrong. See you around, Jas.”

  “Bye.”

  Isabel waved at her, then turned to me. “I don’t suppose you know where the path to Edinburgh is?”

  “No, but it’s part of the Hemlocks’ mystique that they never tell you about anything before dumping you headfirst into it. If we keep walking, they’ll—”

  The sky fell on top of us. Trees tumbled, and my magic flared up in alarm as the world spun like a merry-go-round.

  The next second, we lay on our backs. Not on a soft surface, either, judging by the metal slats digging into my spine.

  “And on cue…” I sat up, wincing. We’d landed on the disused rail tracks near Edinburgh’s abandoned train station. The spirit lines moved around a lot, but I hadn’t known there was one here. “I guess the witches wouldn’t have cared if they threw us into a nest of fire imps.”

  The ruins of the station were filled with wild fae despite the Mage Lords’ and the necromancer guild’s best efforts to keep it clean, so they’d fenced off the whole place. Isabel and I picked our way over the tracks, past the decaying shell of a train half-off the rails, until we found the path back to Waverley Bridge.

  “The necromancer guild is that way.” I pointed at the houses on the other side of the bridge in the direction of Edinburgh’s Old Town. “I guess you know where the mages’ guild is. I’ve only been there at the summit.”

  “What’re you going to do now?” she asked. “We can arrange a meeting point, so you can tell your friends you’re still alive and not have to answer questions about the coven. Does anyone know?”

  “My best friend, Lloyd,” I said hesitantly. “He knows… I don’t know how much of it he took in, but I told him I’m a witch, and a little about the forest and their magic. And that I’m possessed, but I think he flat-out disbelieved that part. I’m not sure how far the Hemlocks’ confidentiality agreement goes. I’m surprised I was able to tell him anything at all. With the geas they put on me, I couldn’t even tell people my full name when I moved here.”

  “Makes sense,” she said. “I have a few witches I’d like to check in with. I can ask some questions while I do that. Is there a safe place for us to meet up later, after you’ve reported to the guild?”

  “Cassandra’s Café.” I named a popular café for supernaturals. “Meet you there at six? Unless she puts me on the night shift, I should be free then. It’s fairly close to the guild.”

  “Sounds good,” she said.

  “Perfect,” I said. “I’d offer to introduce you to Lady Montgomery, but she’s probably going to flay me alive for not telling her I was alive, so… wish me luck.”

  “Good luck,” said Isabel. “I’ll be at the market.”

  “Wait. Are you sure? I’m pretty sure the person who tried to kill me came from the market.”

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “Being a coven leader comes with its own useful protective magic.”

  Interesting. So far, my coven leader status came with no benefits other than a price on my head. Unless the Hemlock witches had withheld the other benefits from me on purpose. But having protection meant having magic, and it wasn’t a surprise I was lacki
ng both.

  Let’s get this over with.

  Edinburgh’s Guild of Necromancers had been hidden before the faeries came, and now it lay in the middle of the busy tourist district between restaurants, bars and cafés. Humans didn’t generally get too close, though they liked watching us from afar. Its bricks were the same faded brown as its neighbours, but iron had been built into the walls in thick grey streaks, while the solid metal doors pretty much said ‘No Sidhe allowed in here’. Wards covered the walls, too, and my skin tingled when the glyphs flashed, as though I was suddenly weirdly attuned to every form of witchcraft possible. I’d have a job and a half explaining where I’d been for the last… however long I’d been gone. It was daytime, but when I checked my phone’s clock, it appeared to be afternoon. Time passed differently in the forest, which meant I’d been gone almost a full day.

  Nothing to do but gather my excuses as I walked to the gallows—or rather, Lady Montgomery’s office. Cloaked necromancers milled around in the entryway, and I walked past them quickly with my best ‘mission face’ on to avoid being waylaid. I didn’t see Lloyd, so I assumed he was on a mission. I climbed the stairs, strode down the corridor, and knocked on the boss’s door.

  “Come in.”

  I took in a deep breath, then entered.

  “Jas,” said Lady Montgomery. “So nice of you to join us again.”

  “Hi.” I closed the door and swiftly walked over to her desk. “I’m sorry I disappeared. I… got summoned by my blood coven. Long story. They saved my life.”

  “Really, now,” she said. “Who exactly tried to kill my assistant?”

  I shook my head. “Haven’t a clue, but they sold poisoned hot chocolate. To Lloyd. Wait, you haven’t punished him, have you?”

  “No. He’s been filling in for you in the archives while you’ve been gone. He told me this morning that you called him.”

  I’d bet he’d been ‘accidentally’ added to the rota. “He thought I was dead. I guess everyone else did, too.”

  “Considering being poisoned with hemlock has a low survival rate… yes,” she said. “I’m glad you made it back, Jas. I was concerned when you were removed from the summit with no warning.”

  Well, well. Maybe I was more than a useful assistant after all. After dealing with Lady Harper for so long, I had trouble trusting supernatural authority figures to have my best interests at heart, and part of me had expected to come back to find I’d been kicked out, permanently.

  “Now, where have you been all day?” she asked. “I was perturbed at how difficult it was for the guild to track down who took you.”

  “Um, they came from a local coven. I was unconscious for a while.” I’d never met anyone from the Briar Coven, though hopefully Isabel would be able to find out more. “I’m a witch, so… they helped me.” A faint humming sensation permeated my words. That’d be the geas at work. The most I could tell anyone was that I was a witch and belonged to a coven. As soon as I tried to say more, I’d find myself changing the subject whether I wanted to or not. Lady Montgomery wouldn’t be pleased if I started telling blatant lies, so I added, “Anyway, I should find Lloyd. He was seriously worried about me.”

  “Tell him he can leave the archives early,” she said. “And do decide if you’d like to tell me how you survived being poisoned and pronounced dead.”

  Ah. “Sorry. It wasn’t planned, believe me.”

  What was I supposed to say? If I so much as hinted that there was a shade inside my head, I’d be booted from the supernatural world at large and locked in a cell for the rest of my life. Possession wasn’t legal, while letting a dangerous supernatural take up real estate in one’s head fell into the category of ‘highly forbidden necromancy’, even more than blood magic. And that was assuming I could tell her at all. I didn’t know how I’d managed to tell Lloyd, but every word the coven spoke to me was supposed to be kept secret on pain of death. I hoped I hadn’t put his life in any more danger by confiding in him.

  I made my way to the archives, rehearsing a dozen conversations in my head. It wasn’t fair of me to keep the boss in the dark, especially about my vampire stalker, but the guild could only help me protect myself from the dead, not the living.

  Lloyd sat at the desk in the archives, his head resting against the back of the seat and his eyes closed.

  “Napping on duty again?” I asked.

  His eyes snapped open, and he jumped up and tackle-hugged me. Unprepared, I caught the desk with the edge of my hand before I fell over.

  “You’re alive! I’ve spent the last few hours thinking a ghost called me on the phone and pretended to be Jas.”

  “Have you ever seen a ghost use a phone?” I retrieved my cloak from where I’d dropped it. “No, it’s really me. I’m alive. I made it back.”

  He pushed a dreadlock out of his face. “You mean all that shit about a magical forest and creepy witch assassins was a joke?”

  “Do you seriously think I’d lie about something like that? I used the forest to get back here, on the condition that I find the bastard who tried to kill me. Can you remember what they looked like?”

  His mouth turned down at the corners. “No. Sorry, Jas. He kept his hood up and it was dark.”

  “It’s okay. You wouldn’t have known to look out for sneaky witch assassins.” What worried me was that the killer knew we were friends. Maybe that ghost we’d dealt with the same day had told everyone he knew… but faerie ghosts weren’t friends with the witches. Half-faeries in general didn’t tend to mingle with other supernaturals, and he’d seemed too freaked out at being dead to be capable of sharing my deepest secrets.

  No… there was one person who’d known I was a Hemlock witch—not to mention a shade—and he was likely hiding somewhere within this city. Maybe behind another undead-like host. Creepy bastard.

  “Want to grab something to eat?” Lloyd asked.

  “Brilliant idea. I asked Isabel to meet me at the café—she’s kind of my new mentor.”

  His eyes bulged. “You disappeared for a day and came back with a mentor and an extra soul. I have questions.”

  “Keep it down,” I hissed. “Not a word to anyone else. Yes, that includes Ilsa and Morgan Lynn, and the boss’s son. I know they have a basket of secrets of their own, but this is different.”

  He blinked. “Wait, you haven’t even told the boss?”

  “Not all of it,” I said. “Think faerie vow levels of secrecy. Can’t say a word. Not sure why I managed to tell you about the extra person hitching a ride in my head, but maybe that’s not a coven secret.”

  That, or the witches didn’t mind other people finding out I wasn’t alone in my own mind. I had my sincere doubts. The sooner I figured out how to get that spirit out of me, the better.

  7

  Lloyd and I picked a table outside Cassandra’s Café despite the cold, in order to avoid anyone overhearing our conversation. I’d ditched my cloak and changed into jeans and a plain jacket to hide that I was a necromancer, but even being around other supernaturals made me edgy. I wished I’d picked a human café instead, though the food here was to die for. I’d worked up an appetite during my brush with death, and chewed my way through half a double cheeseburger before coming up for air.

  “Is your friend coming here?” Lloyd asked, biting into his own burger.

  “Any minute now.” I wiped grease from my fingers on a napkin. “So we can get to work on tracking down the person who tried to bump me off.”

  “Didn’t you say she was your mentor?”

  “Kind of. She has her own reasons for being here, but she had to tell the Hemlocks she’d train me, otherwise they wouldn’t have let me come back. She’s a powerful coven leader in her own right, which qualifies her to train the Hemlocks’ heir.”

  “That’s bonkers,” he said. “You mean to say that because you’re a Hemlock witch, you have to work for them? I thought working for a coven was voluntary.”

  “The Hemlocks aren’t what you’d call conventi
onal.” I chewed another mouthful of burger. “I have to learn their magic, which means playing nice with the witch whose soul they bound to mine. Isabel’s here to help with that, but what she’s really here for is to help me track down that vampire.”

  He blinked. “Vampire? They don’t—”

  “Yes, they do.” I summarised the encounter with the dead man in Isabel’s house. By the time I’d finished, Lloyd’s jaw was on the floor and he’d forgotten all about the food. “You’re being stalked by a vampire. Holy shit. I don’t think even Lady Montgomery has enough necromantic power to possess people that far away.”

  I put down the remains of my burger. “She might, but she’s definitely not given to using the recently-dead as puppets. Anyway, he tried to suck out my soul and force me to take him to the forest. Isabel saved my life.”

  “You weren’t doing such a bad job yourself,” Isabel herself said from behind my seat. Lloyd jumped.

  “Hi,” he said. “Er, when she said coven leader, I thought she meant someone Lady Montgomery’s age.”

  “Age is no guarantee of wisdom,” I said, as Isabel pulled out a chair next to me. “Look at my ancestors. Stuck in a forest for thirty-odd years and they think they’re justified in shackling their descendants to a lifetime of service. This is Lloyd, by the way. Lloyd, Isabel.”

  “Hey,” said Isabel. “Nice to meet you. Jas and I just met, but she seems to think you’re trustworthy enough to let in on her secret.”

  “I am absolutely trustworthy,” said Lloyd in a mock-solemn voice. “No, really. Jas’s secrets are mine, too. Let’s face it, we all knew she was a bit off.”

  I elbowed him in the ribs under the table. “Cut the crap, Lloyd. This is serious.”

  “You’re damn right it’s serious. Someone tried to murder you, someone else tried to kidnap you—and did we skip the part where the assassin knew we were friends?”

  “I’m trying to work out why that is,” I said, glancing at Isabel. “I’ve definitely never ticked anyone off lately… except the ghosts. That’s where it started. After we banished that half-faerie spirit, someone in the spirit realm whispered hemlock at me. Not sure if it was the same guy I ran into afterwards, but…”