Content Note: This backstory contains violence, death, alcohol use, mentions of gambling, drug use, and graphic language.

Spring Arbor Farms, MA

Six Years Ago

The Next Day

Steel-blue storm clouds gathered in the late afternoon sky, swallowing the last remnants of sunlight. Thunder rumbled, its low growl rattling the glass-encased room along with Marissa’s nerves. She didn’t want her brother poking around inside the darkest depths of her mind, unearthing secrets that were meant to stay hidden. But she didn’t have a choice. Every single memory spell and potion had failed. And she couldn’t bear the unknown—needed answers to the endless questions cycling incessantly through her mind. Nick was her last resort, and one of the few people who had the power to unlock her memories without frying her brain.

“You don’t have to do this.” Nick shifted, angling his body towards her. “We already know you didn’t kill that asshole.”

It was true, she hadn’t roasted Oliver to a crisp. The spells they’d performed on her ex’s corpse confirmed the magical signature didn’t match hers, but they still didn’t know who it belonged to.

“I do.” Marissa tugged at the hem of her frilly black tank top. “I’m the only one who knows what happened out there. I need to know. I have to know—”

“Okay. I get it.” Nick squeezed her hand. “But the second you start hurting, I’m stopping. Deal?”

“Deal,” she blurted. And as much as she wanted to argue—wanted to tell him she could handle the pain—she didn’t. They didn’t have time for a verbal tennis match, one that she would likely lose.

Nick’s dark gaze narrowed with suspicion as he studied her, and she thought he was gonna renege on the mind-dive.

But after a few long beats of tense silence, he said, “Good. Now, I need you to close your eyes and relax.” His deep voice was cool and comforting, reminding her of a tranquil summer breeze. “I can’t tap into your mind when you’re wound up this tight.”

Marissa closed her eyes and took a couple of calming breaths, relaxing her muscles and opening her mind to Nick’s magic. As Nick’s warm palm connected with her temple, a pinprick of pain shot through her frontal lobe. Her brain was a maze of pathways, flooded with hazy darkness, and everything would remain that way until her brother unlocked a memory. Click. Pop. A flash of light blinded her, and she was transported into Oliver’s kitchen.

Sunlight streamed through the windows, highlighting Oli’s short chestnut brown hair. “Fifty grand is nothing.” His hazel eyes gleamed with annoyance. “It’s not like you’re hard up for cash.”

“Maybe not. But I am not your ATM.” She jerked her chin up at him. “I am done bailing you out, and I am done with you.” Marissa spun on her heel, but before she could take a single step, Oliver snagged her wrist and pulled her to a stop.

“Like hell you are,” he snarled.

 Marissa wheeled around and yanked her arm out of his grip, nailing him with a glare. “Touch me again, and it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”

The kitchen flickered, fading out of existence. And with a quick snap of a second, she was trudging through the parched pasture, swatting away at a bunch of blood-thirsty mosquitoes.

“Oliver!” Marissa shielded her eyes, scanning the vast meadow for that cheating douche canoe. “Where the hell are you?”

 A thick fog swept over the landscape, cresting like a tsunami of doom and death, devouring everything in its path. Riss tried to run, but her feet were glued to the ground. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Panic threatened to consume her as the shimmery mist circled her, taunting her with its malignant power.

Oh, fuck no. She wasn’t gonna die. Not like this, not out in the middle of fucking nowhere. She gathered her strength, her magic surging in her veins. “You wanna play?” Flames shot out of her fingertips, the twin fireballs engulfing her hands. “Let’s fucking play.”

The veil parted, and Oliver’s horrified gaze flashed before her. A skeletal hand with long coffin-shaped nails punched through his ribcage as his anguished scream pierced the putrid air. Electric pain shot through her mind, and the field exploded, enveloping her in a brilliant light.

Marissa blinked, and she was back on the sofa. Her brother’s worried expression came into focus, concern flickering in his midnight blue depths as he pressed a tissue under her nose. “Easy,” he said. “You’re bleeding.”

She frowned. “What happened?”

“We got evicted.” He leaned her forward, pinching her nose. Nick’s healing magic flowed through her, wrapping her up in a soft blanket filled with luminous warmth.

“What?” She grabbed the tissues, dabbing at the rest of the blood. “Why?”

“Your subconscious wanted us out,” he replied. “My guess is that it’s protecting you from whatever you witnessed out in that field.”

“I don’t need protecting.” She pitched the tissues into the small wastebasket. “I’m fine.”

“Your subconscious says otherwise.” He threw his arm up on the headrest of the sofa. “Look, you might’ve hated the asshat, but you witnessed his murder, and that kind of shit is traumatizing. Forcing your memories will only do more harm at this point. You’ve gotta let them come back naturally.”

“Hey.” Ash strolled in, clutching a grimoire to her chest. “You two have a minute?”

“Yeah, Ash. What’s up?” Nick shifted his attention to her best friend, just as Riss replied, “Sure.”

“I think I know who killed Oliver.” Ash’s eager gaze bounced between her and Nick.

“Were you able to trace the signature?” Nick asked.

“No.” Ash shook her head. “But I traced the MO, and I’m pretty sure we’re dealing with a Południca.”

“Fuck my life,” Nick groaned, dragging a hand down his face.

“What’s that?” Riss asked, getting the notion it had something to do with the spirit she saw yesterday.

“Lady Midday,” Nick replied. “She’s a wraith that only comes around during the summer, usually between noon and four in the afternoon, meaning we’ve got a narrow window of time to vanquish her before she kills again.”

“Wonderful,” Marissa muttered. Could her life possibly get any worse?

An hour and some-much needed food later, they all congregated in the sunroom, their grimoires and laptops and drinks scattered on the various whitewood tables. Rain pelted the windows and rooftop as the storm continued pummeling the small town.

“So, let me get this straight.” Marissa popped the cap off her beer. “This psychotic bitch is murdering people because she never got married?”

“Yeah.” Ash took a sip of her lemonade cocktail. “According to records, a woman named Nadia was supposed to get married on this property five years ago, but she never made it down the aisle. Her mutilated body was found in the field on the morning of her wedding.”

“Let me guess,” Riss drawled. “Her cheating fiancé murdered her.”

“Nope. Her older sister, Lena, killed her. Guess Lena was jealous of Nadia or something. But anyway, when Nadia’s fiancé, William, discovered the truth, he murdered Lena a week later. He stabbed her and chopped her up into pieces, scattering her remains all over the meadow.” Ash relaxed back in the armchair, her aqua eyes twinkling with excitement. She loved gossip. The juicier, the better. “William disappeared the next day. No one’s seen or heard from him since.”

“I was not expecting that,” Marissa mumbled.

“Right?” Luke arched a dark blond brow. “But the story tracks. The summer after Nadia’s murder, the humans started finding dead bodies around the property. One the first year, and three in each of the subsequent years. The official cause of death was listed as heatstroke for all the victims.”

“What about the charred hearts?” Nick asked. “How did they explain that?”

“There’s no mention of them,” Luke replied. “Either they omitted it from their reports, or it never happened. But then, Oliver was the first witch she killed.”

“Oliver was descended from a powerful bloodline,” Nick said. “Witches are a fuckton harder to kill than humans.”

Antsy and tired of all the chatter, Marissa blurted, “Okay, so let’s barbecue this bitch and we can all be on our merry way.”

“We can’t roast her.” Ash snagged her grimoire off the end table. “Fire fuels her magic. We wouldn’t kill her; we’d supercharge her powers.”

“Oh, shit.” Marissa winced, remembering the twin fireballs she had conjured yesterday. She traded glances with Nick. “I didn’t know.”

“No, but it explains why you were drained.” Nick’s expression was as grim as his tone. “You got lucky.”

“Yeah,” she muttered, hating that Nick was right. Not that she was surprised. Nick was the logical one, the one who always came up with a plan, thinking before rushing into death and danger. Unlike her impulsive ass, who was constantly getting into trouble. “Lucky me.”

“How do we kill her?” Nick turned to Ash.

“According to this, we need an enchanted weapon made of pure ice,” Ash replied, flipping through the withered pages of the old spellbook.

“Ice?” Marissa’s brows shot up. “We’re supposed to kill this psycho bitch with some magically enchanted ice? In the middle of summer?” she scoffed. “I’ve got some popsicles in the freezer. We can enchant those and lob them at her head. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

“Actually, you have to stab her in the heart,” Ash replied.

“Of course, we fucking do.” Riss rolled her eyes. “Why make things easy?”

“I’ll call Daniel.” Nick shot to his feet and whipped out his phone. “He’ll be able to forge us a weapon that’ll sustain the heat.” He swung his gaze over to the rest of them. “See what else you can learn about this wraith. The more we know, the better our advantage.”

The sun’s blistering rays beat down on Marissa’s head as she traipsed through the pasture with a quiver of enchanted arrows secured against her back. Daniel had pulled through, arriving late last night with a cooler full of frozen weapons and Ryan in tow. They’d spent most of the night enchanting a variety of daggers, blades, and arrows.

And now here she was, sleep-deprived and cranky as fuck, playing both the hunter and the prey. Not that she minded being the bait. She’d volunteered for it, and rightfully so. This was her fight. Riss didn’t want anyone else fighting her battles, though it was nice having a little help from her friends.

As she wandered around, scoping out her surroundings, she could feel the Coven’s watchful eyes tracking her. She couldn’t see or hear them, courtesy of the veiling spells they’d cloaked themselves with, but she could feel their power. Their magic was a part of her, just like hers was a part of them. And hell, it felt good knowing they all had her back.

Marissa did another visual sweep of the field, catching movement from her periphery as a familiar, sugary-sweet voice called out. “Oliver? It’s Jodi. My mom baked some blueberry muffins this morning.”

Fuck my life.

Marissa spun, biting back a groan, as Oliver’s twenty-year-old neighbor strolled through the meadow carrying a basket in her hands. Gods, she did not have the time or patience to deal with the cheery brunette right now. Talk about shitty timing. She needed to get the human away from there. Like now.

Riss forced a smile and froze as the fine hairs on the back of her neck pricked in warning. Malevolent magic permeated the steamy air, flooding the space with the pungent scent of death. The cool breeze died. Time stopped. And a deafening silence swept over the meadow as the wraith materialized, her white ballgown billowing behind her. The wraith set her sights on Oli’s neighbor, floating over to the petite brunette, who stared at the zombified bride-to-be with a mixture of horror and awe.

And while Marissa despised most humans, she’d be damned if she was gonna let Jodi die. As Riss reached for a mystical arrow, a thick fog crashed over the brunette and the wraith, engulfing the pair in a mystical mist. She couldn’t see either of them. And she’d just lost her fucking target.

Fucking great. She tossed the arrow onto the ground.

The Coven emerged from their positions, running towards her from different directions. Nick reached her first, skidding to a stop beside her. “I’ll go in.” He nodded at the swirling vortex of doom and gloom.

“No.” Riss shook her head. “This bitch is mine.” She craned her neck up at her brother. “I know you’re trying to protect me, but I can handle this.”

“I’ll go in with you,” he replied. “You need backup.”

“If that bitch feels outnumbered, she’ll just disappear again,” Riss countered. “And we’ll be here all week.” She met his turbulent gaze. “I’ve got this. I swear.”

“Fuck.” Nick scrubbed a hand over his stubbled jaw. “Okay. You’ve got three minutes. If you’re not out by then, we’re going in.”

“Five minutes.” She patted his arm. “And I’ll be back in a jiff. Promise.”

“Be careful.”

“Always.”

Marissa traversed the short distance, edging towards the malignant fog with quick caution. She pressed her palm against the swirling mist, testing its magic. When she didn’t meet any resistance, she stepped through the cloudy whirlpool and stopped. Dead in her hot pink sneakers.

Riss blinked, her mouth flying open and then closing, as the wraith and human waltzed around the vast backyard. What the hell? Oh, wait. Ash had mentioned that some noon wraiths enjoyed dancing with their victims. Until they dropped dead.

“Get away from her!” Riss charged, shoving the wraith off balance and ripping Jodi out of her skeletal grasp. Riss planted her feet, standing in front of the human.

“Marissa?” Jodi cried.

“Run.” Riss tossed a glance at the terrified brunette. “Now!”

She turned her attention back to the psycho bride, nearly gagging from the rancid stench of decomposing flesh. The wraith’s ashen skin drooped, clinging to her bare bones in tattered pieces as she shot Riss a toothy grin.

Marissa squared her shoulders. “You like dancing?” She grabbed the bitch’s clammy hands and twirled her. “So do I.”

The bitch laughed with glee and quickly took the lead, gliding Riss around the lawn with rhythmic ease. A soft, pleasant melody drifted through the space as the wraith transformed from zombie to a stunning bride with plump, radiant skin, silvery eyes, and long coppery red hair. And she knew it was an illusion, knew the psychotic bitch was toying with her. The wraith twirled her, around and around, faster and faster, in a dizzying series of twists and turns. Marissa’s vision blurred; the azure sky and pale green grass melding together as one.

Oh, fuck, she was gonna be sick.

She needed to break free, needed to take control, and end this. Riss tried yanking her hand away, but the bitch’s grip was iron-tight. Marissa’s magic pumped through her veins, surging, and exploding out of her in a series of electrical shocks. The wraith yelped, loosening her hold.

Marissa ripped her hand free of the wraith’s grasp, but the deranged bitch wasn’t done with the dance lessons. The wraith twirled her again. Once. Riss reached for the dagger at the small of her back. Twice. Riss yanked the weapon free from its sheath and spun—using her magic to steady herself—driving the blade straight into the wraith’s heart.

Surprise flashed in the wraith’s silvery gaze as she let out an ear-piercing howl. Her form evaporated along with the mystical mist, the smoky wisps dissipating in the warm wind.

Marissa sank to her knees and closed her eyes, breathing in the fresh, summery air. “It’s over,” she whispered to herself.

“It’s over,” Nick’s deep voice rumbled next to hers.

She flipped her lids open. “Jodi?”

“She’s okay. Ryan and Ash took her home.” Nick eased her onto her feet. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Please.” She leaned against him. “And let’s never come back here again.”

Present Day

Marissa never imagined she’d come back to Spring Arbor Farms—well, now it was just Arbor Farms—strolling through the vast orchard with her family and friends. It was the perfect fall day: crisp, breezy, with a sun-soaked, clear-blue sky. A small family of witches had bought the property a year after Oliver’s death and had turned it into a flourishing apple orchard.

Riss had been hesitant to return to the place that had plagued her nightmares for years. But enough time had passed, and her wounds had healed, leaving nothing behind but a few scars and some hard lessons learned.

As they wandered through the grove of tall trees, she couldn’t believe that so much violence and darkness had taken place here. She couldn’t believe that the farm had once been the site of so many brutal murders. But a lot had changed. She had changed. And it was time to make some new memories. Good memories.

Luke clasped her hand, twining his fingers with hers. “You okay?”

“I’m perfect.” Marissa smiled up at him.

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