I appeared on a beach, but it was empty. Clearly I’d gotten the wrong one. I scanned all the beaches in the area until I finally spotted a boat bobbing on the waves in the distance.

Standing next to it was a tall dark figure. Kiev. But Lilith was nowhere in sight. She must’ve bade her final goodbye to him already and left to begin preparation for the ritual.

I hurried toward Kiev and whispered, “She’s gone?” just to be sure.

“Yes,” Kiev replied, looking in my direction.

I manifested myself again so that Kiev could see me. Relief spread across his face. We motioned to embrace each other, only to find that there was some kind of invisible barrier between us.

Frustration surfaced within me. All I wanted to do was hold him. Still, it was a good thing that he was so… contact-proof.

“Now what?” Kiev asked.

“We need to hurry back to the graveyard to gather the others,” I said.

Since the black witches had already broken through The Sanctuary’s boundary, and it seemed that the white witches had not yet put it back up, we had no problem re-entering the city. We raced together to the graveyard and as we did, we began discussing what our next step had to be.

Our next, and hopefully final, step.

Chapter 27: Mona

When we reappeared in the graveyard, it was evident immediately that the struggle with the black witches had ended. There was no shouting, and no sign of any curses being hurled about. White witches were milling around the tombstones.

“Mona,” Derek called behind us.

“They’ve gone?” I asked.

He nodded. “They just… withdrew.”

As the ocean withdraws before a tsunami…

“We need to gather everyone around,” I said. Kiev and I had already worked out exactly what we needed to do now. The run had been useful. We had been able to clear our heads and discuss the situation without distraction.

A few minutes later, all of our companions were surrounding us. Kiev and I were bombarded with questions about what had happened, but we were able to go into detail on only the things that were essential to know.

“We need to reach the black witches’ castle in the supernatural realm,” I said. “That is most likely where they are carrying out the ritual.”

“Will we even be able to enter?” Erik asked.

“Let’s just see what happens when we get there,” I said.

Corrine and Ibrahim didn’t know where the island was. Only I knew. I recalled making this journey when I was younger, from The Sanctuary to their small island, when I had been banished.

“Wait… How will I travel there?” Kiev asked.

I frowned at him. “By magic, of course—”

My voice trailed off as I realized I couldn’t touch him. I looked around the graveyard, my eyes settling on a nearby tree. I walked over to it, snapped off a branch, and then placed it on the ground at Kiev’s feet.

“Pick it up,” I told him.

He reached down and picked it up.

“Now try to touch me with it,” I said.

He extended an arm and was able to touch me with the end of the branch.

“Okay,” I said, relieved. “Keep the stick against me. This should work.”

I made sure everyone else was touching before transporting everyone to the black witches’ island. Thankfully, Kiev wasn’t left behind. Arriving, we found ourselves standing in a cluster of giant black rocks, the ocean lapping close to our feet. Yes, there was a boundary keeping us out. I realized that this boundary I would not be able to penetrate. I decided not to think about how we were going to enter for now. First we needed to locate where they were holding the ritual.

I knew enough about the witches’ habits to guess that the ritual would be held outside. There was no room inside the castle that would have been large enough to hold all the witches as well as all of the blood that they would need.

“I smell blood. Lots of blood,” Caleb whispered.

The other vampires murmured in agreement, as did Micah.

“Which direction is it coming from?” I asked.

Aiden pointed to our right, further along the rocky shore. We made our way toward the smell until it was so strong that all the vampires and Micah stopped at once.

“We are right next to it,” Matteo said.

We then moved as close to the barrier as we could before we hit up against it. But we were still too low down to see anything from this angle. Corrine, Ibrahim and I lifted ourselves into the dark night and hovered above the boulders to get a view of what was happening.

My eyes widened at the scene beneath us. A massive vat that looked more like a lake was filled with deep red liquid. Blood. Lining its edges were piles of humans. Mostly young females and clearly alive, they were hogtied with ropes. Crowds of black witches stood around them, holding ceremonial knives. I spotted Isolde, Julisse, Rhys and some other familiar faces, but couldn’t see Lilith yet. Somewhat of a good sign. At least it meant that they had not yet started. Still, it was clear from the scene that it wouldn’t be long now.

When I lowered myself again, I was shocked to see that Kiev had managed to cross the boundary.

Could that be the effect of Lilith’s spell on him?

“Kiev,” I whispered. He stepped back through it and approached me. “Okay. We’ll wait out here for you. But stay with us until Lilith arrives—I’ll give you the signal.”

Levitating myself in the air again, I looked back down at the scene to see how it had progressed. Lilith still hadn’t emerged. I wondered what was keeping her. I found myself glancing from the area, then back down to Kiev, afraid that he might suddenly turn back into himself. He had shown no signs of it yet, and since I’d taken one of Magnus’ head hairs—as we had learned from experience when Sofia had been stuck in the form of Derek for more than a day—it was more potent and it should last a long time. I just hoped I hadn’t brewed the spell any differently than before.