In desperation, Tara kept trying to escape, begging Esmeralda to let her go. However, the woman was much stronger than she expected. Her craziness seemed to be helping the witch, Tara mused sourly.
Once in the tapestry room, another figure stepped out from the corner.
Sorsha seemed uncertain. "Madame Esmeralda, what're you doing with Tara?"
"What must be done," Esmeralda held out a hand. "Help me tie her down, quickly!"
Tara was in trouble. She couldn't take on both the vigour of Sorsha and Esmeralda's brutal strength.
She was tied down, spread-eagled on the ground. Rope was attached to a hexagonal frame that had been attached to the floor. Struggling, Tara screamed. "LET ME GO!" she kept on yelling.
In exasperation, Esmeralda gagged her.
"MM!" she muttered empathically. "Mm!"
Sorsha seemed nervous. "We won't kill her." she stated. "Murder is not an option."
"Sacrifice is," Esmeralda countered. "Tara is the source, and she must be brought to justice. The athame, now."
Sorsha clutched the blade, and Tara was terrified. She met the other girl's eyes and tried to plead with her.
"Give it to me!" Esmeralda demanded.
Sorsha pulled back. "No," she said haltingly. "Bridget would never have sacrificed a girl. Neither would the previous leaders."
"Bridget is dead!" The woman spat. "Did they have to face the threat of May's Shadow?! Being leader means making hard choices, Sorsha. Now who are you loyal to? The Everine sisterhood, or this tramp?"
The girl seemed caught with indecision, her beautiful face deep in thought.
"Blood for blood!" Esmeralda screamed desperately. "Our sisters will die unless we do this!"
Sorsha slowly backed away. "No," she insisted again. "If our sisters were here, they would agree with me."
Esmeralda suddenly lunged at the girl. They engaged in a struggle, wrestling over the dagger.
"Fool!" the old woman was saying. "Traitor!"
"As Everines, we are honourable!" Sorsha retorted, her calm voice raised in alarm. "Not killers!"
Continually going back and forth, Tara knew her fate was in their hands. Her powers weren't helpful in this situation. However…
Tugging at the string on her left ankle, she realized the rope was unraveling, just a little. She kept pulling gently, coaxing her appendage out of the noose. Trying to bend it to her will like golden thread, Tara felt a slight response.
"No!" Sorsha yelled, breaking Tara's concentration.
Esmeralda had the knife, her hair askew. She lunged for Tara, the athame aimed towards her…

The door burst open.
"Stop!" Seb lunged and pushed the knife away from Tara. The edge caught her cheek, leaving a shallow cut.
Ryder and Miranda dragged Esmeralda to the side as Bella and Seb worked on the knots. Pulling her to her feet, Bella gasped.
"Your face!" she gasped.
What seemed like a great deal of blood was dripping down her chin. Bella gave her a face towel to begin putting pressure on the cut.
"It's okay," Tara replied. "It's a flesh wound. Thanks for stopping that lunatic!"
"No kidding!" Seb stared at her with respect. "She's mad!"
Sorsha had stayed quiet, and now moved forward to pick up the ceremonial blade.
That caught his attention. "Sorsha?"
She didn't look at him. "This athame was to be used in our darkest of times to save Evermoor," she replied, her voice trembling. "It required a sacrifice. I did not think…I had no idea…"
Now she raised her eyes. "I'm sorry Tara. Forgive me."
Sorsha quickly exited the room, her light footsteps fading.
"She was going to gut you like a fish!" Bella looked ready to pounce on her.
"Sorsha saved me," Tara admitted. "She's the reason you didn't find me with a knife in my shoulder."
Seb interrupted. "Actually, it was an athame," he reasoned. "Used by witches for black magic sacrifice."
The trio's little conversation stopped as Miranda yelled.
"Hello! We could use a little help!"
Esmeralda was struggling like a beast. She'd nearly broken away from Miranda and Ryder, twice, and they were starting to look haggard. In the end, it took all five teens' combined strength to pin her down.
"Relax, Granny," Bella gasped. She was dressed trendy but had no objection to holding on her grasping hand with all her strength. "These clothes are brand new!"
As they rolled and struggled, unbeknownst to them, a dark shadow began to emerge.
Suddenly, Tara was still.
"What is that?" her horrified whisper somehow struck everyone in the room.
A shadow person with claw like finger nails stepped closer. As wisps of darkness pulled away from it, its hands grew solid. "No! No!" Esmeralda screamed. "It can't be!"
The other kids leaped to their feet, backing away. Faster than light, the shadow held Esmeralda by the throat, its eyes made of fire.
Lifted into the air, they could do nothing but watch as one hand placed a glowing purple stamp on her forehead. Radiant violet sparks burst, and the shadow vanished.
Esmeralda fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. She was covered in bluish dots.
A scream radiated from outside.
"Sorsha!" Seb ran from the room, the others close behind. Bella was on her cell phone.
"Yes, Esmeralda at the manor, we need a stretcher right away," she spoke authoritatively. "And..oh no."
Seb was cradling Sorsha's prone body on their lawn. She was covered in spots, and her face was pale.
The boy looked tortured. Miranda seemed like she'd been punched in the gut.
"Make that two," Bella hung up. "They're on their way, Seb."
Her brother didn't act if she had spoken. "Sorsha, wake up, please."
Miranda turned away with a clearly pained expression, and left.

All the Everines had been taken. It was only Tara left, though no one knew it.
As long as she managed to repel it, there was a chance that the others could be saved.
Right?

The other Everines were brought in, Sorsha paler than death. Seb refused to leave her side.
Bella was spending time catching up on some online shopping in between nursing and redoing her manicure. She hadn't wanted to nurse the sick…she mostly opened doors and checked vitals.
But it gave her an excuse to stay close to Ryder. Though he insisted they couldn't be together, they had grown closer over the weeks.
But he was worried about Miranda. Though Bella had sometimes felt a stab of jealousy, she mostly quashed it with the knowledge they were like brother and sister.
Even as she called her best friend, she kept it brief, telling her all this over the phone.
"I mean, they'll leave eventually," Bella was saying. "I'll miss Ryder, but what can I do? His entire life is back in Canada!"
As she retouched her nails, Bella rolled her eyes. "Probably somewhere with proper Internet. He's not rich or trendy, no, but he cares, and maybe that's all I want in a guy."
Ryder was just outside her door, listening, when Ludo tapped his shoulder.
"She really likes you," he informed the startled teen. "Jake and I have been tapping the wires, and out of the five calls Bella's made, four of them are about you."
The boy was suspicious. "What are you tapping phones for?" Ryder asked.
Ludo smiled. "We're spies this week. See ya, lover boy."

Miranda had retreated into a corner garden and was crying. Ryder found her, holding Miranda gently.
"Well?" Ryder had a tone of protectiveness. "Did he break your heart?"
She glared. "He played me. I was the one he's been spending all this time with. Yet the moment she's in trouble, Seb runs without a second thought."
Ryder barely kept his anger in check. "You're right about that. I should hit him over the head."
Miranda laughed a little. "Yeah. But let me do it first."
Tara was traveling back to the house, drinking her bottle of Bogmoor. She heard Ryder and Miranda talking.
"I just can't believe he used me like that," She was wiping her eyes. "Seb is a jerk."
He hugged her. "I don't doubt it. But what did you expect?"
Tara shivered. "I came here for one reason, Ryder. Any…distractions will have to go."
Her dead tone sent chills down the Everine's spine.
"I will avenge my grandmother," Miranda's voice was cold. "And reclaim our family honour."

Tara needed to find out more about Miranda. Being unable to eat had left her weak and thin, but even the thought of food would make her throw up.
Heading to social media, she couldn't find a thing. Even with Miranda's full name, all her accounts were on a private setting.
With no other option, Tara found Bella.
She glared at her. "I'm busy," Bella told her stepsister. "Go away."
Pushing down an angry retort, Tara prepared. "I need your help."

Far from being a tech whiz, Bella was a social expert. Within moments, she had identified Miranda's friends, her family in Canada, and Ryder's as well.
"Anything else?" Bella tapped away. "She may be private, but her friends aren't."
Tara was amazed. Bella's true intelligence had been showing itself more and more, and it was a good thing.
"Is she who she says she is?" Tara asked.
Bella typed a little more. "Yeah. Everything on the Internet lasts forever, and it says Miranda's who she's supposed to be…as well as Ryder."
The way she said his name made Tara suspicious.
"You like him, don't you?" Tara shot.
Bella put on lip gloss. "Why do you care? You already have a boyfriend."
Feeling awkward, Tara sat. "I guess it's because you're my sister." Her tone betrayed some insincerity.
The hand holding the gloss tightened. Bella wheeled.
Her eyes were fiery, and looked edgily crazy. Tara took an unconscious step back.
"We are not related," Bella was mad. "You are a self-centred geek that happens to live with me. What I care about is my business, you nosey freak. And as for any help, from now on, get it from someone else!"
By the end she was yelling. Tara fled, speechless, for once in her life.

Seb was coming out of the washroom when someone slapped him upside the head.
"What's wrong with you?!" he blinked in pain.
"What's wrong with you?!" Ryder retorted. His arms were in defensive position, ready if Seb tried to fight back.
"Look, Ryder," Seb pleaded. "Spell it out. Proper like, okay?"
The other boy lowered his fists. "Miranda, you idiot," he finally replied. "She saw how you acted around Sorsha. You crushed her heart."
Seb suddenly was aware of a new emotion…shame. "I didn't mean…" he began.
"Course you didn't," Ryder scoffed. "You only cared about you. Miranda is a nice person. She never deserved being used like a tool."
Seb tried to speak again. "Please, I'm sorry-"
But Ryder refused to let him talk. "Since the day we arrived, Miranda thought there was something between you two. Yet the moment she…Sorsha, is it? The second Sorsha was in danger, Seb, you dropped Miranda like a hot potato."
Seb's face grew hot. "Not true."
Ryder laughed meanly. "You haven't thought about her for a minute since she's taken ill. A real piece of work you are, jerk."
The boy had no comeback, and could only watch as Ryder stomped away.