They carried me through the woods without touching me.

I just sort of… floated upright over the surface of the ground. If I came to a boulder or a log or something, I floated over it rather than hitting it.

It had to be a dream.

Of course! I was dreaming. That was all there was to it. I was back in my crummy little hotel, sleeping on the world’s hardest mattress, dreaming all of this up. Because things like this didn’t happen in real life.

Yes, that was a reassuring thought. I felt a whole lot better when I looked at it that way. More likely that it was a hallucination. Or maybe I did die, for real, and this was all an afterlife thing. It would explain why I couldn’t control my body anymore, and how I could float.

It’s funny how the brain goes crazy, trying to make sense of the nonsensical.

My four captors, whoever they were—witches, badass warrior chicks, I had no idea—walked in front of me. They didn’t even have to watch to make sure I didn’t hit a tree or anything. If I were them, I would’ve at least made sure the girl I had frozen in place and caused to float around the woods didn’t smack a tree, but that was just me.

“Should we have kept her eyes open?” the inked-up redhead asked as she threw me a look over her shoulder.

“It does not matter,” the leader said. “It isn’t as though she’ll be allowed to leave. And if she tried, she would only become hopelessly lost.”

I wouldn’t be allowed to leave. Terrific. They planned on either killing me or holding me hostage for the rest of my life. I wasn’t sure which of the two sounded better.

We arrived at what looked like a cave entrance, though it was pretty much all covered over with vines and crisscrossing branches. Like nobody—nothing—had been in or out in forever.

Until the leader lifted a hand and poof! The overgrowth parted like two curtains, and we continued through to the inside of the cave. All I could do was take this in as I floated behind them. There was no looking around or behind me to see what happened once we were inside. Though I would have bet my life that the curtains closed behind us and everything went back to looking the way it had before.

Along the wall was a row of what looked like wooden clubs, though I could only see them out of the corner of my eye, so the details were a little sketchy. The four of them each took one, and one by one the clubs burst into flame. Torches. Not clubs. Who knew?

Burst into flame. By themselves. Just like that.

It was a miracle I hadn’t peed myself yet.

The craziest part was the nonchalance. They didn’t seem to think there was anything, I don’t know, strange about the fact that they were capable of setting torches on fire with nothing but the force of their minds. Or the way they rendered me speechless and motionless.

This was just another day to them.

Who the hell had I run into?

The torches lit up the cave, which was really nothing more or less than I would’ve expected. Rock walls, dripping with moisture in some spots, craggy and jagged. I wondered how far up they reached but couldn’t look.

All I could see was the blackness in front of us. My heart beat like a drum, to the point where I couldn’t hear anything but the pounding in my ears. Where were we going? What would we find?

And were they right about my getting hopelessly lost in the woods if I ever tried to escape? Because there was no way I was staying in this damp, cold, dark place.

Only it wasn’t so dark anymore. The further we went, the lighter it became. I realized soon that there was more torchlight up ahead, points and points of it. More witches, if that was who had taken control of me? It might have been, I thought. And feared.

Up to this point, I wasn’t exactly a fan of the women who had taken me hostage.

The cave tunnel widened, turned into a room. At least, it looked that way from where I floated. There were torches along the walls, which was what I had seen as we approached. They glowed just as brightly as the ones the women carried, but I noticed there didn’t seem to be any heat coming from them.

“I’m sure she knows we’ve returned by now,” the leader muttered once we reached the middle of the room.

I saw a few more narrow tunnels leading from it, all going in different directions, and from them came even more women in the same black dresses, the same inked skin.

The same hostile looks on their faces.

I counted ten of them in all, including my captors, and they were all just as beautiful and fierce looking as the women who had taken me hostage. What did they have against me? What did I ever do to them?

I couldn’t ask, of course, since they still wouldn’t allow me to speak. Not that I thought they would tell me, since they hadn’t yet.

There was a murmuring from them, and they parted to let one last woman through. Instead of black, she wore white, and I could’ve sworn she literally glowed. Maybe she did. That wouldn’t be the strangest thing I had seen all day.

Her silver hair hung in a thick braid down to her waist, slung over one shoulder, her skin was smooth and clear, her eyes sparkled like sapphires. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

The leader of the little band I met in the woods stepped forward. “Selene, we—”

Selene held up one hand, and there was silence. I didn’t think it was forced silence, like the silence forced on me. No, the woman was afraid, and Selene had enough clout that all she needed to do was hold up a hand to shut up everybody else in the room.

“You needn’t explain yourself, Iris,” Selene announced in a clear, sweet voice. “I have seen it all. I’ve felt your frustration, stronger all the time as you approached our home. You did not find the one for whom you searched.”

Iris cleared her throat. “No. This is not the one. We could not leave her in the woods.”

“Naturally.” Selene’s eyes never left my face, searching me like she was searching for some truth.

If she could read feelings or whatever, she had to be able to read mine. My confusion, my general terror, and more than just a little bit of curiosity. Because these women were strange, to say the least, and Selene had referred to the cave as their home.

If I were a witch, I’d live someplace a little nicer. Like on a beach or something.

“Hecate, release the human from silence,” Selene commanded.

The curly-haired blonde nodded, and just like that, I could move my mouth again. I swallowed, licked my lips, and told myself I’d never take speech for granted again.

Selene nodded to the redhead. “Fetch a glass of water, please, Electra.”

Silly me, thinking she would leave the room for that. Instead, a glass of water appeared in Electra’s hand, which she offered me. I was almost afraid to drink, but I was more afraid not to drink. The last thing I needed was to offend a witch.

It actually tasted like water. Really good water, in fact.

“Who are you?” Selene asked when I handed the glass back to Electra, tilting her head to one side. “Let us begin there. From where have you come? To what purpose?”

I had about a million questions for Selene but realized this wasn’t the time to ask them. Better to be honest and clear and get it over with. “My name is Emelie. I’m from America. New York. I came here to look for a friend of mine, somebody who traveled to this area weeks ago. I haven’t heard from her in a while and was afraid for her.”

The women murmured to each other like I’d said something wrong, but whatever phased them didn’t seem to phase Selene. She only nodded. “What is it you do in New York? Your profession?”

I swallowed. She’d probably know if I lied, wouldn’t she? Either way, there was no sense in taking chances. “Computers. Networks. Clients need information, files, I retrieve them.”

“A hacker, then.” She gave me a knowing smile. “It is the word which keeps coming to mind when I look at you. You’re thinking it very strongly.”

“I don’t like to think of myself that way,” I admitted, “though others do.”

“Which is likely the reason the word is at the forefront of your mind. That which we want the least, we tend to focus our energy on.”

“This is going nowhere,” Iris whispered.

Hecate shot her a look of surprise, as did several of the others.

“You seem to have forgotten that I am the one who makes such determinations,” Selene warned her. For the first time since, she turned from me to look at Hecate. “I merely wish to learn more about our guest.”

“Guest?” I couldn’t help but blurt it out. It was too ridiculous. “I was brought here against my will. I was made mute, I couldn’t move. If that’s how you treat your guests, I can’t imagine that you’d have many of them.”

The women gasped, muttered, whispered.

I didn’t care what they did.

I cared what Selene did. Something told me she was powerful enough to take my head off without touching me. Or to set me on fire with that magical, cool flame they used on their torches.

Maybe I should’ve kept quiet when I had the chance.

Her face didn’t move for a long time. Not so much as a muscle twitch.

Until she smiled.

It was dazzling, like everything else about her.

“My apologies,” she said. “But I’m certain you understand the need for caution in situations such as this. The woman we search for is of particular importance to our coven.”

So, she admitted it. They were witches.

I was mixed up with a bunch of witches.

Kiera, what did you get me into this time?