Earlier

“You’ll thank me when I’m finished.”

“Amara, wait!!” Vee shouted. She leapt forward, eager to pull Amara back to her senses, but she was forced to stop when a wall of hellfire swallowed the exit.

Without her book, it took her nearly a minute to summon enough angelic energy to smother the flames. Once she had a path, she sprinted up the steps in hopes of finding Amara. Bursting through the front door of Lysander Hall, she looked around in a panic, desperate to find even the slightest trace of where Amara had gone.

But there was nothing.

Vee fell to her knees, choking up as she slammed her fist against the concrete. At this point, Amara could be anywhere; between her flight, her illusions, and her shapeshifting, finding her would be nearly impossible.

Why are you doing this? We were all together again! Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?!

Vee let out an angry scream. Hoping beyond hope that Amara would hear her and decide to turn back. She might have even let out a small angelic flare, but she wasn’t exactly paying attention. When the door to Lysander Hall clicked shut behind her, she reluctantly turned around to see Nick and Tessa looking back at her.

“No sign, I take it?” Nick asked.

“…No.” With a heavy sigh, she rose to her feet and walked over to her friends. She wanted to say more, but instead she jumped at Nick, wrapping her arms around her and burying her face in his shoulder.

Nick hugged her back. “We’ll figure this out; she’s not gone yet.”

“We were so close! We’d just gotten Chloé back!” Vee paused, looking around one more time. “Wait, where is she? Still downstairs?”

“No, I’m here,” Chloé said. She seemed to be floating invisibly next to Nick.

“Are you okay out of the circle?” Tessa asked.

“It’s… tiring, that’s for sure, but I’m trying to take it easy. No being visible, no physical touch, just a little bit of hearing and the occasional spoken word.” Chloé paused for a moment, and without a face to read, Vee had no idea if she was planning on continuing her thought. “I want to help find her. She’s done so much for me, it’s time to return the favor.”

“Are you sure?” Vee asked. “We have no idea what’s going to happen, we might end up fighting Tessa’s Coven, and we don’t understand your condition. What if their magic can—”

Chloé cut her off. “Vee. I’m done waiting on the sidelines.”

Vee nodded, her heart aching with joy that Chloé was back. “Okay. First things first, we need to find Amara. Either she’s not strong enough to take on the Coven, and she’s putting herself in danger, or she is, and she does something she can’t take back. I’m going to run home and grab my Enochian Texts, hopefully that will give me a way to track her.”

“You should prepare some kind of binding spell, just to be safe,” Tessa muttered solemnly, causing Vee to glare at her. “What? She’s out of control, Vee! We already know you can’t take her in a fight, we might need to start accepting that… that she’s too far gone.”

“Too far gone?!” Vee said, aghast. “You’re ready to just give up on her? After everything she’s done for us?”

“I don’t want to, Vee, but look how she’s acting!” Tessa pointed vaguely behind her, towards the basement Amara had just stormed out of. “Demons are powerful on a level that’s hard to comprehend, and she’s been letting that power go to her head for weeks! You’re the last person I should have to explain this to, Vee.”

“I’m not giving up on her, Tessa,” Vee hissed, stepping closer. “Not now, not ever.”

Chloé manifested in between the two of them, pushing them apart. “That’s enough! Vee, run and grab your book. I’ll run home, get my phone, and then we’re all going to split up and find Amara. Okay?”

Tessa and Vee glared at each other for a moment longer before they both nodded in agreement.

“I want her back too, Vee,” Tessa muttered. “More than anything. I’m just so used to losing people to this life. If I prepare for the worst… maybe it won’t hurt as bad.”

Surprised to see Tessa being so vulnerable, Vee hesitated for a moment. She stepped closer, gently grabbing Tessa’s shoulder, then said, “Text me if you find anything. We can do this.”

Before splitting up, the four of them quickly assigned search areas to focus on. Tessa took the Coven manor just outside campus, Chloé took the skies, Nick took public gathering spaces, and Vee was free to go wherever her magic might lead her. As they searched, they continually updated each other in a new group chat that included everyone but Amara. Vee hated the exclusion, but finding Amara would be exponentially more difficult if she knew their every move.

Unfortunately, hours passed without any success. Vee occasionally caught small hints of demonic activity, but each potential lead only brought her to a distant memory.

One trail of demonic energy led to the football stadium, where Vee had tried to convince Amara to fly again. Another led to Amara’s apartment, which was predictably dripping with infernal activity. The last trail Vee followed ended atop the roof of her apartment complex.

She gripped the handle tight, hoping beyond hope to find Amara on the other side. She imagined Amara’s eyes, miraculously full of kindness once more. She would smile, scoop up Vee in her arms, then whisper, “I’m sorry, Vee. You were right. We’re stronger together.”

When Vee opened the door, she found only cold, desolate gravel. It crunched beneath her knees as she collapsed to the ground, the weight of everything threatening to overwhelm her.

Please, Amara. You’re better than this. You saved me from myself back on Halloween, but if I can’t do the same… what good am I?

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She expected a quick update from one of the girls, or maybe Nick, but when she clicked her screen, she instead saw that Amara had messaged their group chat.

Amara: Lysander Hall. Hell circle.

Vee’s heart caught in her throat as she read the message. There were no pleasantries, no hints of her intentions; just cold, unfeeling information. A cloud of dread formed in her thoughts as she read the message over and over.

What did you do, Amara?

Picking up her Enochian Texts once more, Vee raced to Lysander Hall. Despite the cold night air, sweat pooled on her brow as she ran. By sheer coincidence, she burst into the main building shortly after Tessa and Nick, who appeared to be waiting for the elevator.

“Do we know what this is about?” Vee asked.

Tessa shook her head. “No idea. That text is the only thing I’ve seen. The Coven manor seemed pretty quiet, honestly. I couldn’t find Miss Bishop, sadly.”

As the elevator opened, Vee prepared to say they should wait for Chloé, when she remembered that she might already be here. She cautiously called out, “Chloé? Are you here?”

“Yup, just got here,” Chloé said. Vee still couldn’t see her, but it sounded like she was heading towards the elevator.

Everyone piled inside the lift, then Tessa pushed the hidden button that led to the facility under the campus. The idle hum of the elevator did nothing to help Vee’s nerves, and she caught herself chewing on her nails as they sank deeper into the earth.

When the doors finally opened, Vee led the group down the narrow hallway. She was able to make out a single figure in the chamber ahead of them, but without manually enhancing her senses, she couldn’t see who it was yet. As they closed the distance, grim reminders of their fight with the cult entered Vee’s vision. She’d always meant to come down here to clean everything, but between Brandon and the Coven, there simply hadn’t been time.

Now, the myriad bloodstains and scorch marks served as haunting proof that Amara was more than capable of terrible violence. Vee hadn’t minded on the night of the ritual, as they’d only been fighting demons, but now so much more was at stake.

Once they were close enough, Vee finally got a good look at the person in front of them. She had dark skin and thick black hair, tightly braided with silver cuffs at the end. She appeared to be unconscious, slumped over in a simple chair with her hands tied behind her back. Thankfully, she seemed unharmed, but Vee knew Amara had plenty of ways to hurt people without touching them.

“Miss Tsopnang!” Tessa shouted, running past Vee. Before she could reach the Coven Head, an ominous voice called out from behind them. Tessa froze in her tracks before turning around.

“Careful, Tessa,” Amara muttered. “She’s one of them.”

Amara leaned casually against a large support column. Her eyes were completely blacked out, and her amber irises glowed unusually brightly. Wisps of hellfire occasionally jumped from the corners of her eyes, and her hair smoldered with dark embers, as if some infernal forge had been stoked and now refused to go out. Her true form was completely on display, and not only were the tips of her wings and tail also alight with flame, but her horns were larger than they’d ever been.

As terrifying as Amara looked, however, Vee was unable to shake a bone-deep sense of dread that had formed in her gut. It wasn’t just that she was scared for Amara—though she absolutely was—but there was an unnatural presence that radiated off her body. Feelings that weren’t Vee’s clung to her psyche, screaming that this creature in front of her wasn’t natural, and it took a considerable amount of strength just to take a small step closer to Amara.

“Amara, what did you do?” Vee asked nervously.

“She’s alive and well, just a bit tired. She passed out on the flight over here. Once she’s awake, we can interrogate her,” Amara said, her eyes darting between Vee and Tessa.

“What do you mean, interrogate her?!” Tessa shouted. “She hasn’t done anything wrong!!”

“Hasn’t she?” Amara’s voice echoed around the chamber, its sinister undertones lingering far longer than was natural. She kicked off the pillar, then slowly walked past everyone. “Didn’t she turn a blind eye to your abuse? Isn’t she doing everything in her power to convince us the Coven is here to help?”

“H-how did you even… Doesn’t the manor have protection wards?” Tessa, her body shaking, involuntarily stepped away from Amara as she moved.

“They did. They’re gone now,” Amara chuckled. Now behind Palesa, Amara lightly grabbed the chair she was tied to. Her claws tapped the cold metal, and the noise caused Palesa to stir.

Seconds later, as the cuffs in her hair began to clink together, Palesa raised her head and looked around.