The Witch's Gamma

Chapter 1

Eight Years Ago

Allie

Panic raced through Allie’s blood, causing her to feel as if her veins were icing over. “You must run. Stay in front of me. Just keep running. Don't stop no matter what you see and keep to this side of the tree line.” Allie hissed to the group of seven children she gathered from the small practice field at the edge of their village.

There'd been news of rogue wolf attacks up and down the Oregon coast, but everyone in Erstwhile thought they were safe. They were a small witch and warlock commune and stayed out of werewolf business. But apparently that wasn't enough. As she was teaching introductory illusion magic to the children, just starting to use magic, screams and sounds of violence ripped through the air.

One glance told her what was happening, and she knew the kids were her responsibility. Bryce, her big brother, had run straight towards the village to join the fray, his attack magic being much stronger than most. Illusion and healing were Allie’s main skills. She would be of no use to her village outside of protecting these children.

So as Bryce ran off, Allie corralled the children down the side of the village, skirting the outer ring of buildings, towards the heavy wooded area to the south. If she could just get them somewhere safe, somewhere hidden, they could wait out this attack. Several kids were crying and all of them were wide-eyed. Adrenaline flooding her 18-year-old body. She couldn't let the kids know she was panicking, too. She definitely couldn’t let the rogues get to them.

"You have to keep quiet, you have to keep quiet." She kept repeating in a hushed tone as they reached the forest line. Hushing as they passed the trees closest to the outer buildings, not knowing how good the werewolf hearing was.

She looked back and put her fist to her mouth as she watched a rogue rip his claws across their village baker's throat. Quickly, she positioned herself to block the children's view of the c*****e behind them. It didn't look like the village was winning.

Her eyes pricked with tears as she kept herding them, sometimes having to yank them when they didn't want to run anymore. She knew a quarter mile into the forest there was a large hollow tree. She knew a spell that if she could get the children situated in there, she could keep them safe and hidden with her illusion magic. It took longer to get there than her screaming body wanted. Her body told her to run as fast as she could. She fought her instincts to corral the frightened children, who just barely listened to her.

Finally, after more than ten minutes, they made it to the hollow tree, and she started ushering them inside, shoving a bit harder than she needed to. She bent down to the narrow space and realized there wouldn't be room for her in there with them.

"I need all of you to remain as silent as you can. I'm going to put an illusion over the tree so no one can find you. Stay quiet. I know you're scared, but I need you to be brave. Wait until I or your parents come for you, okay? Just stay in here and don't go past the opening of the tree, you understand? Don’t come out for anyone else!"

She looked at each of their faces and slowly they all nodded. All she could do was pray for them to keep their word.

She took a step back and spelled the tree, adding a little extra magic to her spell, so even if one of the wolves touched the tree, they wouldn't be able to tell there was a child inside, let alone seven. As her hands dropped, Allie heard voices and more panic coursed through her with a vengeance. She took several steps away and ran noisily in the opposite direction of the village, hoping that whoever was traipsing around in the woods would come after her and not head towards the tree where she had hidden the children.