Witches on Parole: Unlocked

Chapter 25
Jennie watched the clock in her darkroom tick over to 2 a.m., impatient to pull the first print out of the tray. Some photographers developed a kind of Zen in the dark, suspended free of time and the care of its passing. She’d never been one of them.

And the pictures of this day had her heart yearning to see.

The timer inside her head finally went off and she reached for the first tray, already smiling. Elsie’s first leap, no trapeze in sight yet. Just wide-open spaces and a singular act of bravery from the girl who had never jumped off the dock or let go at the top of a swing’s arc.

Caro, Nat, and Helga, dancing a wild jig of glee. She was pretty sure that shot had come just after Elsie had let go of the trapeze for the first time, her maiden flight complete.

Lizard, face full of portent, as she dared her roommate to fly. And then Lizard again, a prayer in her eyes, watching somewhere far over her head. Jennie smiled to herself. Her students had gotten a rather big taste of what it was to be a WitchLight guide. Good. She suspected that some day far in the future, pendants would come calling for both of them.

It was only fair.

The photos from the bar were more atmospheric than the warehouse, but no less laden with emotion.

Gently fierce Freddie, clapping Lizard up onto the stage. The biggest part of that man was the heart beating inside his chest.

Their fairy poet, the moment before her first words came. Terror had fled from her eyes—and in its place sat conviction. And just the smallest glint of a woman who had finally felt hints of her own genius.

Lauren, eyes haunted, somewhere in the middle of Lizard’s poem, feeling the full weight of stupid in her heart. None of them had really, truly known what it was to live believing you were that worthless. Except for maybe Freddie.

Elsie, head burrowed in Vero’s chest, peeking out between her fingers, tortured by what she’d asked of a friend.

And a picture Jennie had almost missed. One young and handsome man, sitting in a quiet, dark corner, lost in thought, his eyes glued to Lizard. She’d felt his mind—that story wasn’t anywhere near done yet.

She was nearing the end of her line, and as usual, she’d saved the most important two for last.

Elsie, her face a study in concentration, the moment before her hands connected with Elliot’s. Bold freedom, married to a knowledge of the destination. Elsie needed a life with goals—and now she was ready to seek them.

And Lizard, a ferocious light in her eyes, a heartbeat before she demoted stupid back to just a word. A fighter—aware, finally, that the biggest battlefield lay in her own brain. Every kind of success awaited Lizard. Perhaps now, she was ready to let it get near enough to have a chance.

Two students, unlocked and unfettered. And now to see who they would become without the chains. Witches in flight.