For the first time since we’d met, he looked guilty. Gone was the cocky confidence and sexy smirk I’d come to associate with him. Now he looked more like a deer caught in headlights. I was tempted to let him know there was nowhere he could run to escape my wrath, but it was too loud around us with everyone asking questions and threatening Emory and Asher for me to respond. And truthfully, I didn’t trust my voice just yet.
Movement to my right diverted my attention just in time for me to see Jasmine and Peter grab hold of Emory. Right away she began to struggle, but they just held on tighter. I’d never seen Jasmine as angry as she looked now and I was thankful that I wasn’t in Emory’s position.
“Let me go!”
My head whipped around at the sound of Asher’s outburst. Fallon had followed Jasmine and Peter’s lead and he and a few of his buddies had surrounded Asher and were holding him in place. As I watched—drained by the spell and stunned by the results—they forced him off the porch and onto his knees. A fresh pang shot through my gut as I watched him struggle.
“Hadley! Hadley, look at me,” Asher pleaded, his eyes sincere. “You know me. I never wanted to do any of this, you have to believe me.”
“Actually, I don’t, Asher,” I said, the hurt coming out like hate. I turned to the rest of my coven members. The ones who hadn’t betrayed me. “Don’t let them go.”
I walked down the porch steps to where Emory and Asher were now kneeling side by side, both being held down tightly by the others. When I stopped in front of them, I refused to look at Asher. I was afraid that if I did, I wouldn’t be able to handle the emotions that would flood my soul. So I kept my attention on Emory.
But the girl in front of me now wasn’t the same person I’d come to feel close to over the past few weeks. Her calm, quiet, sensitive demeanor was gone. Sure, she was still dressed like she was on her way to church, but her face had transformed into something hard and ugly. Her lips had formed a perma-snarl and her eyes were so dark now that the whites were barely showing. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen the evil in her before.
“Why are you here and what do you want?” I asked her.
She gave me a smug smile but didn’t respond.
“Okay, let’s try this again,” I said, my patience depleted. “What the hell are you doing here and what do you want?” This time I put all my powers of persuasion behind the questions, calling on all my will to force her to answer me. Apparently, my strong emotions helped to make the spell more powerful, because Emory’s lips shook briefly as she fought against telling me what I wanted to know.
“What do you think I’m doing here?” she spat. “My leader sent me to gather information on the Cleri.”
“Why did Samuel send you? And why does he even care about us? We’re no threat to him!”
Emory snorted. “No threat? Are you kidding? Please tell me you’re kidding,” she said, shaking her head. “You want to know why Reverend Parris cares about you so much?”
“Yeah, I do,” I said, placing my hands on my hips.
“Because you’re the only one who matters.”
We all looked at each other, confused, wondering whether that had been Emory’s goal all along: to manipulate us into turning against each other so it would be easier to get to me. I still had no idea why I was so important to them, though. I was just a twitch, with really great hair and a natural talent for casting. Since when did that equal formidable foe? And if this was the case, then was I just putting everyone else back in danger by sticking around?
When I didn’t say anything right away, Emory got bored and grunted before continuing. “How could you be so incredibly clueless? I swear, it’s infuriating how talent is wasted on people like you,” she began to rant. “If I had even an ounce of the power you have—”
“You can communicate with the dead! How much more power do you need?” Jasmine asked incredulously.
“I don’t really see dead people, you daft twit,” Emory bit back. “It’s called lying. Look it up.” Jasmine looked like she was about to pummel her, but I gestured for her to stop. She settled back into her spot next to Emory, still breathing heavily with anger. I couldn’t have her knocking Emory out before I had a chance to find out what the Parrishables’ plan was. Emory went on.
“I thought if you believed I could talk to your dead parents, I might be able to get you to do what I wanted. And by telling each of you that there was a traitor in the group, I figured you’d lose trust in each other and self-destruct. But, apparently, you guys will trust anyone.” She glanced sideways at Asher, to which he began to shake his head emphatically. I ignored him.
“Why am I the only one who matters?” I asked.
I was still forcing Emory’s will, and based on experience, I knew that she’d continue to tell me things even if she didn’t necessarily want to. This particular power of mine was really coming in handy today, and I passed up a silent thank-you to my dad for having great witch genes. Emory might not spill all her secrets, but knowing even a little bit of the Parrishables’ plan would put us in better shape than we were in now. And even better was that I hadn’t divulged this part about myself yet. I’d been holding on to it like a secret weapon.
“Because you have power. Same reason we’ve hunted down your relatives. The magic that runs through your lineage rivals any other in the world. But you… you are the only one that Samuel has been able to find in all the world whose power rivals that of Bridget Bishop,” she said. “So why do you matter? Because he wants you, Hadley. Either you can join him on our quest for magical dominance or you can die. We know which one Bridget chose. Personally, I’d love for you to join her.”
“Why murder the others, then, if you only wanted me?” I asked, my voice a whisper. The last thing I wanted to do was cry in front of this hypocrite, but I could feel my emotions beginning to rage out of control.
“Samuel wanted them out of the way so it would be easier when we came for you,” she said, shrugging. “If the elders had known you were our target, they would have rallied around you, making everything so much more complicated and annoying. So, we took the army out first to get to its queen.” There was no remorse in her eyes. In fact, I’m sure she fully believed that the end justified the means. How could someone be so incredibly unfeeling? These were our parents they’d killed.
Our parents. Meaning, her parents should’ve been at the meeting in the warehouse too. How was she being so cavalier about this? “How could you do something like that to your own parents? Don’t you care about anyone other than yourself?”
“Samuel turned my parents rogue a long time ago,” she said, snickering. “They weren’t in the warehouse that night. They were standing with me, outside, watching it burn to the ground.”
This time I started to lunge for her myself, but Fallon was behind me in a second, pulling me back so I couldn’t scratch Emory’s eyes out.
“Let me go, Fallon!” I yelled, reaching for her. But he wouldn’t do it. He probably knew I could have killed her, which would definitely have started the war sooner than we intended. And deep down, we both knew I wasn’t a killer. I drew a controlled breath and forced myself to relax slightly under Fallon’s hands.
“Let. Me. Go,” I instructed Fallon, without taking my eyes off Emory.
It wasn’t my intention to use my powers of persuasion on him, but the words had barely come out of my mouth when Fallon loosened his grip. He stayed close, though, in case he needed to swoop back in. But by now I’d gotten my emotions under control. Not that I wasn’t still mad, but I wasn’t planning to strangle anyone to death anymore.