Seraphina's POV
The phone wouldn't stop ringing.
I grabbed it, heart pounding. Marcus's name flashed on the screen. My fiancé never called this early.
"Marcus? What's wrong?"
"Council chamber. Now." His voice was ice-cold. "They're waiting."
My stomach dropped. "Waiting for what? It's Halloween morning. The masquerade is tonight—"
"Get here. Immediately." He hung up.
I stared at my phone, hands shaking. My magic tingled under my skin—the warning kind. The kind that meant danger.
"Sera?" Bella's voice came from my laptop. My best friend's face filled the screen, her dark eyes worried. "What happened?"
"The council wants me. Right now." I pressed my hand against my racing heart. "On Halloween morning."
Bella went pale. "That's not normal. The council never meets before the masquerade."
I knew. Everyone knew. Halloween was sacred for witches. We spent mornings building our magic for tonight's celebration. Council business always waited.
Unless something was terribly wrong.
I drove to the coven estate with my mind spinning. Had vampires attacked? Was someone hurt? But why would Marcus sound so cold to me?
The council chamber doors stood wide open.
That was the first real warning. Those doors only opened when all twelve council members agreed. Unanimous decisions meant emergencies.
I walked inside and my world shattered.
Twelve witches sat in their high chairs, faces grave. But that wasn't what made my magic recoil in horror.
Marcus stood at the center of the room.
Holding my sister's hand.
Vivienne smiled at me. It wasn't a kind smile. It was the smile of a predator who'd caught her prey.
"Seraphina Ashwood." Elder Thorne's voice boomed. "You stand accused of treason against your coven."
The words felt like a slap. "What?"
"Treason." Vivienne stepped forward, still clutching Marcus. In her other hand, she held papers covered in my handwriting. "You've been secretly talking to vampires. Planning to betray us. We have proof."
My research notes. Those were my research notes about the Halloween Massacre—the night vampires killed my mother twenty years ago. I'd been studying it for years, trying to understand how they broke through our defenses. How to keep us safe.
"Those are mine," I said slowly. "That's my research to protect us—"
"Liar!" Marcus's voice cracked like a whip. He looked at me with disgust. No love. No warmth. "I gave you everything, Seraphina. And you used me to sell us out to vampires."
My magic broke inside my chest. I actually felt it shatter like glass. Pain exploded through me.
"Marcus, no. I would never—"
"We've been together for months," Vivienne announced sweetly. "Marcus came to me when he found out what you were doing. He was heartbroken. I comforted him."
She pressed against Marcus, her hand sliding up his arm. They looked comfortable together. Familiar.
Months, she'd said. They'd been sleeping together for months.
While Marcus kissed me goodnight. While he planned our wedding. While he said he loved me.
All lies.
"The evidence is clear," Elder Thorne continued. "Your research shows our defenses. Contact information for vampires. Spells that would let them past our wards."
"I was studying how they got in before!" My voice rose desperately. Magic sparked around me—purple and silver, wild and out of control. "I was trying to make us stronger, not weaker!"
"Then why hide it?" another council member demanded.
Because no one wanted to remember the massacre. Because my mother's death was a wound this coven wanted to forget.
But I couldn't say that. Not when twelve pairs of eyes looked at me like I was already guilty.
"Your position as heir to the High Priestess is revoked," Elder Thorne said. Each word hit me like a hammer. "Your engagement to Marcus Vale is dissolved. You are forbidden from practicing magic within coven grounds."
"No." The word tore from my throat. "You can't—"
"We can and we have." Elder Thorne's magic pressed down on me like a weight. "You have until sunset to remove your things. Be grateful we don't strip your magic completely."
My knees hit the floor. I was suddenly kneeling on cold stone, staring up at people I'd trusted my whole life. People who'd just destroyed me based on lies.
Vivienne crouched beside me, her lips near my ear. "You always thought you were so special," she whispered. "Mom's precious daughter. The powerful one." Her smile was vicious. "Now you're nothing."
She walked away with Marcus. My fiancé didn't look back.
The council left one by one until I was alone. Alone with my shattered magic and broken heart.
I don't know how long I sat there. Time felt strange and thick.
Finally, I pushed myself up. My legs shook. My magic flickered weakly inside me—dying embers instead of roaring flame.
I stumbled outside into sunshine that felt too bright for the worst day of my life.
My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number.
Masquerade tonight. Thornwood Manor. Come masked. What they took isn't truly lost. -L
Lucia. My mother's oldest friend. The only person who might still believe in me.
I stared at the message. In a few hours, the Blood Moon would rise. Halloween would begin. The masquerade would start.
Everyone would be there. Marcus and Vivienne, celebrating. The council who condemned me. Every witch who thought I was a traitor.
I should run. Hide. Never show my face again.
But something burned in my chest where my magic used to live strong. Not power anymore. Something darker.
Something that whispered: Make them see. Make them sorry.
I texted back: Coming.
Then my phone rang. A different number. One I didn't recognize.
I almost didn't answer. But my finger hit accept before I could think.
"Seraphina Ashwood?" The voice was male, deep, with an accent I couldn't place. Not a witch. Something else. Something that made my broken magic pulse with sudden recognition.
"Who is this?"
"Someone who knows what really happened during the Halloween Massacre." A pause. Heavy with meaning. "Someone who knows what you are. And what your sister is planning for tonight."
My blood turned to ice. "What are you talking about?"
"The masquerade is a trap. Vivienne didn't just steal your position—she's going to steal your magic. Permanently." His voice dropped to barely a whisper. "Come anyway. Wear silver. Find the man in the raven mask. He's the only one who can save you now."
"Wait—who are you? How do you know—"
"Your mother trusted me once. Before they killed her." The line went dead.
I stood frozen on the coven steps, phone trembling in my hands.
Two mysterious messages. Both telling me to go to the masquerade when every instinct screamed to run.
The sun climbed higher. Halloween waited.
Somewhere in the city, someone knew secrets about my sister. About the massacre. About my mother.
And tonight, at the masquerade, Vivienne planned to steal the last thing I had left.
My magic.
I looked at my mother's bracelet on my wrist—the only thing I had left of her. She'd worn it the night vampires killed her.
The night this mysterious caller said she'd trusted him.
I touched the bracelet and felt warmth pulse through it. Not my magic. Something older. Something that had been sleeping for twenty years.
My phone buzzed one more time. Another unknown number. Another text.
Your mother didn't die the way they told you. Come tonight. Learn the truth. The man in the raven mask knows everything.
My heart stopped.
Then started racing so fast I could barely breathe.
Everything I thought I knew—about my mother's death, about the massacre, about who I could trust—was a lie.
And tonight, wearing silver and hunting for a man in a raven mask, I'd learn the truth.
If I survived.