Betrayal by Gillian Shields Read Free Book Online

Sebastian’s still in this world and he’s alone. I’m sure thecoven doesn’t know where he is.” I sprang to my feet and faced my friends. “I’ve got to do something, now, before it’s too late. Look, I’ve got something that they want—the Talisman. The Dark Sisters believe that the Talisman holds the key to immortality. If it’s really that powerful, why be so afraid of them? Can’t I use it myself to fight them? If I can work out how to use the Talisman, I can reach Agnes’s powers—I’ll wield the sacred fire, like she did. With such power I could stop Sebastian from fading, or reverse time…or…or…Oh, I don’t know, but I’ve got to find a way out of this. I can’t let him fade into some kind of demon, I just can’t!”
    “We know you can’t,” said Sarah softly. “And we can’t let you face this alone. You don’t have to ask for our help. We’ll go anywhere you go, and do anything you need us to.”
    “Sarah’s right,” Helen said, her clear eyes gleaming in the candlelight. “It will be dangerous to try to help Sebastian, but it’s just as dangerous to do nothing and wait for the coven to attack. I’m with you, Evie. When do we start?”
    I hugged them both, unable to speak. “You’re the best friends I could ever have,” I mumbled incoherently.
    “Friends?” Sarah smiled. “I thought we were sisters?”
    I laughed suddenly, as though nothing could crush the feeling of strength and life that was rushing though me.We were united. As we hugged and laughed and cried, an echo of Agnes’s voice rang around the cave: My sisters…my sisters…
    Four sisters, four elements, one purpose. And there was hope burning inside me, like a pure white flame.

Ten
    S o where do you want to begin?” asked Helen.
    “I’ve been trying to understand my powers better,” I said eagerly. “I don’t know all the answers yet, but I spent hours at home in the holidays trying new things, up on the cliffs before anyone was around, or in my room late at night. I’m learning more; I want to show you. Look at this.”
    I held my hands out in front of me and closed my eyes. I went into myself, deeper and deeper. Everything fell silent around me, yet I could hear, as though a long way off, the sound of the waves crashing on the shore at home. My body began to tingle and I was aware of the blood rushing through my veins. The water of life…the blood of my veins…awaken in me…. I felt an invisible waveof energy flooding over me. I opened my eyes and knelt down to trail my fingers in the stream that gurgled around the base of the statue. The next second I heard the crack of ice. The stream had frozen, as still as the statue that stood above it. I clicked my fingers and the stream flowed once more.
    “That’s fantastic, Evie,” said Sarah. We looked at each other and grinned excitedly, still totally awed by this new world we were discovering.
    “What about you?” I asked her. “Have you done anything new?” Last term I had seen Sarah use her earth powers to make a seed spring into life before my eyes and to make the ground shake under our feet.
    “Yes, I think so,” she answered shyly. “Yes, I have.” She searched around in the dim cave, then stooped to pick up a small chunk of rock that lay on the bed of the stream. Holding it cupped in the palm of her hand, Sarah covered the rock with her other hand and frowned with concentration. When she drew her hand away the rock had crumbled into dust.
    “Wow! This proves that last term wasn’t a fluke. Helen, let’s see if we can awaken the Talisman. Let’s do it now, straightaway,” I begged. “At home I tried calling to it and chanting over it and anything else I could think of,but nothing happened. But here in Wyldcliffe, in Agnes’s home, it might respond, if we all work together.”
    “I’ve got a feeling you have to do this on your own, Evie,” Helen replied. “Didn’t Lady Agnes say in her journal that she was leaving the Talisman