The Bitterwine Oath Read online

  But I didn’t say that. I said, “No. We know what we’re doing. Go to the church.”

  He sighed. “I’m sorry I had to do this.”

  “Do wha—?” I started to ask, but something rustled along the side of the porch. Before I could reflexively extract my revolvers, a firm grip had seized my arm and twisted it behind my back, submitting me to one knee. Pain scorched across my lacerations as Lindsey tied my hands behind my back.

  “We couldn’t let you do this,” she said, the corners of a long black cloak rippling around me as she yanked me to my feet. “I can’t believe you were willing to drag Emmy down with you.”

  I looked up at Emmy through loose strands of my sweaty, pale hair. Heather was there, in a cloak, too, tying Emmy’s wrists more gently than Lindsey had mine. Just as I expected, Kate figured out exactly what we were doing as soon as she realized Emmy wasn’t where she was supposed to be.

  Emmy looked baffled, lost, scared. Had I taken advantage of her naïveté to use her for my selfish purposes? I’d thought there was enough strength inside her to finish this. But I didn’t see that strength now.

  Heather led Emmy toward the road, but Levi said, “I got it,” and put his arm around his sister’s shoulder.

  Lindsey nudged me forward. What choice did I have but to fall in line?

  With each step, the reality of what I’d face at the church sank in. Twelve victims. Twelve Woodwalkers. Fervent incantations whispered in the candlelight. Herbed wine that was supposed to protect but would only leave a bitter taste on the tongues of the victims slated for death. Fear in the eyes of two people I loved. At best, their deaths. At worst, that and the Claiming of their bodies for creatures that didn’t deserve them.

  The more I thought about it, the more my desperation compounded. I had to do something.

  I tangled my foot between Lindsey’s legs to trip her. If Emmy could and would follow my lead, we could break our bonds once we reached safety.

  I ran into the forest, but I didn’t make it far before Lindsey tackled me. I felt the cuts bleeding afresh as I writhed in the grass.

  “Stop, she’s hurt!” Emmy yelled from the road, and I saw Levi wince empathetically as he forced her to duck into the car.

  Lindsey hauled me to my feet. “I’m sorry, Nat.” And she sounded it.

  We hiked back to the road and crossed over the gate. I glared at her in the light of the open car door.

  “We need to get to the church.” She tapped the hood. I yanked out of her grip but succumbed, squishing in next to Emmy.

  Levi took his keys back and followed us down the deserted road.

  As we drove, I turned to look at the cabin in the glade. The conviction that we would at long last break the century-old curse faded into the distance.

  THIRTY-ONE

  Restless tourists and locals alike loitered around the church. Police officers and security guards wearing flat expressions posted up around the building. Candlelight danced against the dusk. The town was holding vigil.

  There were no obvious signs of activity inside the building. The stained-glass windows of the sanctuary were dark, the doors clearly locked for the evening. Even so, it felt like my secrets were somehow laid bare for the whole world to see.

  “Jesus,” Heather said. “More people showed up for this than Sunday service.”

  “Is my dad here?” I asked. The Wardens must have ushered the victims inside before dark. Even with the beguilement spell, I doubted they would have made it through the current mayhem undetected.

  “He’s in the sanctuary,” Lindsey said. “Maggie told him they needed volunteers to help set up for the vigil, so he came willingly.”

  My stomach turned. My dad didn’t scare easily, but I knew he was probably feeling apprehensive by now.

  “How will we get inside?” Emmy asked.

  “Charmed cloaks,” Heather said. “A reinforcement to the beguilement.”

  She handed one to each of us. Lindsey arranged mine gently over my shoulders before nudging me out. Levi met us and accepted his cloak, donning it behind Lindsey’s car. We entered through the side door to the church offices.

  Kate was waiting for us. Despite her best efforts, the door groaned like a banshee as she pulled it shut. A nearby security guard cocked his head and marched over to investigate.

  Kate locked the deadbolt. With a sweep of her arm, Heather guided the rest of us through the open doorway to the pastor’s office.

  My balance was off since my hands were tied behind my back. I stumbled against Levi. Instinctively, he steadied me, but quickly let go.

  The lock on the outside door jiggled. “Come on, kids,” the security guard said. “This isn’t a good night to be messing around.”

  Another guard joined him at the door. “How’d anyone get inside? All the doors are locked.”

  “I don’t know. See if someone can lend us a key.”

  A set of footsteps faded, but the first guard hung around and knocked again, harder this time. The deadbolt would prevent them from passing through with a simple key, but if they grew more determined…I could only hope the enchantments surrounding this place would hold.

  As Emmy tied the neck of her cloak, Kate said, “Don’t speak to any of the victims until Maggie gives you permission. Follow me.”

  My heart thudded at the sound of Jason’s voice from outside. “This is the sheriff, and I can promise you that this ain’t worth the trouble, my friends. I’m going to need you to open the door.”

  We took our chances with the cloaks and hurried down the corridor toward the sanctuary, but Kate caught me by the arm and pulled me into the empty fellowship hall.

  “I know everything is at stake for you and you’re feeling desperate. But your plan isn’t the answer. You’re looking for an escape hatch, and there isn’t one.”

  “Kate, you know me,” I said. “I jumped into battle the day after I took the Oath. I’m not looking for an escape hatch. I’m facing the truth when no one else will.”

  “I admire that you want to pay a debt of loyalty to Nora’s family,” she whispered. “But your theory can’t be tested without risking too much. We can’t just hand ourselves over to the enemy, especially not you. You would make them so much stronger than they already are. Now, Grandma Maggie’s in rare form,” she said, pointing me across the foyer to the sanctuary. “Don’t provoke her.”

  I bit my lip to keep from arguing and followed the others. At this point, I had no choice but to let the battle play out.

  The room was lit only by candlelight. The Wardens were posted at intervals around the perimeter, wearing charmed cloaks and standing dreadfully still. Eleven victims sat scattered across the front two pews, their hands and feet tied together.

  They looked up at the sound of our entrance. I noticed timid amusement on some of their faces, including my dad’s. It was easier in this day and age to believe this was an elaborate joke.

  He didn’t recognize me under the charmed hood. I averted my eyes and scanned the other faces. Ryan, who had been Shadowed the longest, didn’t look surprised to be here, but a few of the other boys were quaking with fear. One of them was no older than eleven or twelve.

  Maggie, Cynthia, and Sofia stood around the Communion table, fervently chanting over the wine chalice and brandishing smoke-cleansing bundles. Kate flashed me a warning look before picking up a bowl of blood and painting the Malachian mark in giant strokes on the tablecloth. The energy in the room shifted, and a few of the victims squirmed in their seats.

  Lindsey shut and locked the sanctuary door behind us. I heard the metallic sound of one of her knives emerging from its sheath as she prepared to cut the ropes around my wrists.

  “Wait,” Maggie said to her, abruptly cutting off the chant.

  Lindsey paused, no longer my friend or even my ally—just a cog in the machine chugging its way toward a cliff.

  Maggie approached me, drawing too close for comfort, sizing me up.

  “Here she is. The one with al
l the bright ideas.” She raised her chin. “You know, I thought you had it in you. I thought you were stronger than your grandmother. That you were a no-nonsense kind of woman. But you have about as much sense as a broken piggy bank, and you’re arrogant to boot.”

  “Bite me.”

  “You do not have permission to speak. You wasted our time, risked Emmy’s life, and nearly sabotaged our efforts.”

  I glanced around, wondering what would happen if I struck back like a cornered snake. Vanessa was glaring at the back of Maggie’s head, and Kate’s eyes were downcast, but no one came to my defense.

  The old woman had preached her sermon well: divisiveness is akin to weakness, and we couldn’t afford to be weak.

  “Let her go, but keep an eye on her,” Maggie said to Lindsey.

  Lindsey stepped forward and cut the ropes away. I reached underneath my cloak to tenderly touch the bandages covering the deep cuts that striped my back. My fingertips came away with fresh blood.

  “Welcome,” Maggie said, turning a soft expression to Emmy. Someone had already untied her wrists. The Wardens could see what I had seen on her face at the cabin: she wasn’t a threat to their mission anymore. Maggie held out a length of rope and nodded at Levi. “For protection from himself,” she said.

  Emmy shot a glance at me from under her hood as she took the ropes. Levi didn’t resist as his sister tied his hands and ankles with quivering fingers. His stoic calm, his refusal to look me in the eye, made my heart clench like an indignant fist.

  “It’s going to be okay,” he said to Emmy, his voice a soothing murmur. Part of me yearned to be the target of that tenderness again, but the rest of me fumed with anger.

  “Are you going to tell us what the hell is going on?” one of the victims demanded, a boy I didn’t recognize who looked about Emmy’s age. “My mom said someone at the church needed help setting up for a vigil, but this looks like some kind of corny-ass reenactment.”

  Maggie slipped off her hood, and every single one of the victims gasped. I supposed there was no point in hiding ourselves now that we were locked safely inside with the victims. If we saved them, they would know that we’d saved them, and we could use the forgetting spell to clean things up afterward. If not…well, there’d be no one left to accuse us.

  “All you need to know is that there is an evil out there that wants to hurt you tonight, but we want to protect you,” she said. “Our goal is to keep you safe here. We have a better chance of succeeding if you suspend your disbelief and cooperate.”

  Cool gray-blue eyes calculating, I could see my dad considering the possibility that this wasn’t a joke. The minute his calm broke would be the very minute I’d stop being able to hold myself together.

  The youngest boy sucked in a deep, unsteady breath. “Hey, buddy, it’s all right,” Dad said from nearby. “I won’t let anything happen to you, okay?”

  The boy nodded. Tears filled my eyes. I knew I couldn’t let them drop, or I would give myself over to every emotion, from sorrow to fury to ones I didn’t have names for, tightening inside me like a coiled spring.

  Kate wiped the blood off her fingers with a white towel and spoke quietly to the Triad. I was just close enough to hear. “A guard noticed them come in. He didn’t see who we were, but he heard the door shut behind us—”

  “Have two of the girls go outside,” Cynthia said. “Tell them to make it look like it’s all in good fun. They can outrun the guards and circle back while everyone’s distracted. They’ll think the trespassers are gone.” She looked at me, sizing me up for the job, her eyes full of accusation. I’d gotten us into this mess. But I’d have a hard time outrunning the guards in my state, and the Triad didn’t trust me not to escape.

  They chose Lindsey and her cousin Gabby, who hurried off to do their bidding.

  “Help!” the frightened boy called when they opened the door, hoping someone outside could hear him. “Somebody, please help!”

  Maggie, Cynthia, and Sofia ignored him and resumed their chanting. A few more of the Shadowed victims joined the boy. They realized the futility of their efforts by the time Lindsey and Gabby returned. Lindsey nodded at the Triad to let them know they’d been successful. The police would probably lose interest and focus on keeping other people out, which worked to our advantage.

  When the doors were closed and locked again, Maggie said, “You can reveal your faces now.”

  I noticed my dad watching me. Maybe he’d already made the connection to my recent absences, to Ranger’s attack, to my urgency earlier today. Maybe the cloak could only hide so much.

  If he knew I’d been wounded, held captive, and lured into a secret society, he would see me as the victim.

  After the others had done so, I slipped off my hood. Dad blinked at me. “What’s going on?” he asked, strangely calm as I approached him. “Was that you that Maggie had tied up over there?”

  I sat down beside him. “I—”

  “She’s a danger to herself, Kurt,” Maggie cut in.

  “You know I was just trying to end this,” I said through clenched teeth.

  “End what?” he asked. “I can’t help you until you tell me, Natty.”

  “There’s no point. You won’t believe it.”

  “I always believe you.”

  “You have all night,” Maggie said. “But if either of you tries to escape, we’ll tie her up again. Her impulsiveness has put everyone at risk.”

  “We won’t,” Dad said with a gesture of surrender, like he was negotiating a hostage situation. Maybe he thought he was.

  Maggie gave us some distance, but Lindsey plopped down on the pew in front of us.

  “I think I could make a break for it and get help,” Dad mouthed.

  “No, don’t. It wouldn’t make anything better.” I massaged my forehead. “This is the safest place right now.”

  My dad scooted back against the pew, settling in. After a moment, he said, “They gave us granola bars. You want one?” With a bit of a struggle, he dug one out of his pocket and offered it to me.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “They gave you granola bars?”

  “Sure. Miss Maggie is a nice captor. She even let the little guy use the bathroom.”

  I accepted the offering, relieved that he hadn’t jumped right into interrogating me. He was waiting for me to tell him of my own volition.

  “Um,” I started, “so, Grandma was part of this for most of her life. It’s a secret society that protects San Solano.”

  “From what?”

  The first bite of the granola was tough to swallow. I waited until the taste had completely washed down my throat before I began, telling him about Malachi’s curse, how the Woodwalkers came to be, the powers of the Wardens, the fact that everyone here had been chosen for the Claiming. Afterward, when I found the courage to look at him, he wore an opaque expression.

  “Is that what your guns are for?” he asked, surprising me again. No accusation of being brainwashed? His objectivity made me nervous. His clever mind was probably hatching an escape plan.

  “Yeah, but we use magic to fight them, too.”

  “Okay,” he said, like he was at least trying to believe me.

  “You’re not buying any of this, are you?”

  “Did I say that?” Dad asked. “Let’s just say I believe you enough to do what you tell me.”

  “I had another plan,” I murmured. “It was Grandma’s plan to stop the last Claiming, but she couldn’t get enough people on board.”

  Currents of guilt and anger eddied in my chest, churning into hopelessness. Even if Vanessa and Emmy were still willing to do what needed to be done, Lindsey was probably even less inclined to help than before, and no other Blood Warden had volunteered.

  I had no choice but to fight alongside the Wardens.

  I turned toward Levi. Every gorgeous detail of his profile pricked like a thorn, from the outline of his strong jaw to the crinkle above his eyebrows. I studied and stared, silently begging him to look
at me. He wouldn’t.

  Tears threatened my composure. I blinked them away.

  “You look exhausted,” Dad said. “I think you need to rest.”

  “But…” I didn’t want to say, “But I don’t have much time with you.” I didn’t even want to think it. And despite the nap at Malachi’s house, I’d pushed my battered body beyond its limits. If I was going to be of any use, I needed sleep.

  I leaned my head on his shoulder. After he’d tipped the glass of water to my lips, my eyes fluttered closed.

  By the time I opened them, I could tell that hours had passed. The roots on my scalp prickled. The night had grown dark, black and unknown like the deepest part of the ocean. I checked the time: a quarter till three—a quarter till the witching hour.

  Some of the victims slept, while others looked more alert than they’d probably ever been in their lives.

  Dad held quiet conference with Maggie on the front pew. He was most likely trying to negotiate my freedom for his captivity.

  Nice try, Dad, I thought.

  Levi leaned forward and said something, and Dad nodded. What were they talking about? Emmy had dozed off, curled up on her side near her brother.

  The conversation ended. Maggie and my Dad stood up. Levi shook Emmy awake. Around me, other Wardens began to stir.

  “I’ll make sure our audience outside has dwindled,” Heather offered.

  “You know what to do if they haven’t,” Maggie said.

  The younger boy started to cry, and Kate did her best to soothe him.

  Emmy said goodbye to Levi before Maggie directed her to take cover in the baptistery stairwell.

  “It’s about that time,” Maggie said.

  “On your knees in the aisle, everyone.” Cynthia called out. “We’ll be able to protect you best that way.”

  Most of the victims followed instructions. A few, including Ryan, put up a fight. Vanessa yanked his head back and forced the bitterwine down his throat. He spit it out, the part of him already claimed by the Woodwalker repulsed by the magical ingredients. But she patiently tried again, and held his mouth closed until he swallowed. She passed the chalice on to Kate, who was comforting the younger boy.