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trying to ease the restlessness gnawing at her insides. She wanted this over with.
    “So,” she said, turning back to face them, “let’s find out what we know. Who’s going first?” Shayla rose to her feet. “This is what we’ve pieced together from the information we have. After you...” She trailed off.
    Well, this was a good start. Cass hoped to hell they weren’t going to pussyfoot around her like she was easily offended or something. Was she so intimidating? “After I what?” Cass prompted.
    “Just say it.” Shayla shrugged. “After you did your spell all those years ago and nearly destroyed Arroway, the Goddess intervened. She managed to stop the destruction, but she must have been weakened.
    Malachai placed her in the chamber in the tower at the Keep.”
    “Did he plan all this then?” Callum asked. “Was it his intention from the start to imprison the Goddess?”
    “We don’t think so. He couldn’t have known what Casterix would do. We think he meant to keep the Goddess safe until she recovered her strength, but as time went on and he implemented the Laws of Segregation things got a little complicated for him.”
    “I’ll bet they did,” Cass said. “He must have known she wouldn’t support him.”
    “Exactly. So he kept her in an enchanted sleep, using the magic he stole from the witches.”
    “Bastard,” Cass snarled.
    “It’s good to see your language hasn’t improved with age,” Jarrod said.
    “Piss off.” He laughed.
    “When we were escaping from the Keep,” Freya continued, “I saw her in the North tower. The enchantment is failing and she woke briefly. She told me Arroway is dying.”
    “Well, tell us something we don’t know.”
    “Cass?” Jarrod said.
    “What?”
    “Stop interrupting.” She clamped her lips together.
    “The goddess also told me I must bring together the three witches with the mark in order to free her. Then she gave me back the magic stolen from me at birth.” Freya raised her hand briefly to touch the mark on her cheek.
    “She came to me in a vision,” Shayla added, “while I was stuck in Callum’s half world, and told me the same. I must bring together the three witches or Arroway would die.”
    “Well, it’s done. Here we are all together,” Cass said. “So what happens next?”
    “We all go back to Arroway, of course.”
    “I don’t think so.” Shayla shifted to stand in front of Cass, hands on her hips, brows drawn together. “We have no choice.” Of course, they had a choice. There was always a choice; they just had to find out what their choices were. “You could go in, get her, bring her back, and we can do the three-witches-with-themark bit here.”
    “You know that won’t work. We have no magic here. We must all return to Arroway and stand before the Goddess together.” Cass shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans and tried to stare the young witch down. Shayla didn’t even flinch and Cass tried a different approach. “Have you any clue what happened last time I stood on Arroway? The whole fucking world nearly came to an end—that’s what happened.”
    “We get that you’re scared, Cass,” Jarrod said.
    “I’m not scared,” she bit out through clenched teeth.
    “Then why not go back?” Callum’s question was softly spoken. “Don’t you want to go home?” She allowed herself a quick peek in his direction, and a wild longing rose up inside her for the way things had been. She turned away and paced the room. She’d believed she would never go back. Without a warlock’s help, she didn’t have the power to return and it had always seemed impossible. But now she had three of the most powerful warlocks ever to come out of Arroway.
    There was nothing to stop her returning except her own fears.
    All those years ago, Arroway had rejected her. The land was hardly likely to welcome her back now. Or could this be a means of redemption? Was this what she had to do to gain forgiveness for her actions? Trouble