Witch's Bell Book One

like a cloak.
    'You have resisted your duty,' another witch said. But this time Ebony knew the voice completely. It was her mother, and the words she spoke had a pitch of emotion the rest of the Coven didn't share. 'And you have been careless.'
    Ebony took another steadying breath, this time simply incapable of controlling how it shook through her chest. It came out in little nervous puffs, like someone was at Ebony's throat, trying to find out what was inside by shaking it to and fro.
    'You have breached a sacred rule, you have revealed your identity to a mundane,' the witch with long silver hair remained still, but her voice grew louder as if she'd walked straight up to Ebony's ear.
    Ebony's eyes widened. What, what, she though desperately. They were bringing her to charge for revealing that she was a witch to mundane? Surely, there were mitigating circumstances! She’d just saved that woman’s life.
    'There are mitigating circumstances,' one of the witches conceded, 'which we have already taken into account.'
    Ebony let out a sudden tortured sigh that punctuated the air like a bullet in a library. She couldn't believe this, she just couldn't believe it. She'd done everything she could in that crypt, everything possible. How was Ebony to know that the idiot would have attracted other creatures, that using magic would have become dangerous? More to the point, how was she to know that he'd kidnapped someone?
    Yes, she may have broken the rules. But she didn't do it based on a whim, she did to protect-
    'But the fact remains,' a witch with a much more crackly voice said, 'that you unwittingly revealed your true nature to a non-magical human.'
    'Such an event is unacceptable,' her mother spoke again, her voice still a pitch above everyone else's. If Ebony was any expert, and she was when it came to her mother, then Avery Bell was viciously angry.
    Why wouldn't she be, Ebony thought glumly, her hand still pressed over her bleeding shoulder, for whatever it was worth. Her mother's own daughter had been brought up before the Coven for punishment – one of the greatest insults a witch could receive. And though the blame would rest squarely on Ebony's shoulders, that wouldn't stop her mother from blaming herself. It was the mother’s role, after all, to teach her little witch the ways of magic.
    Ebony closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the power of her pain, shame, and fear well up like a balloon inside her. It pressed out at her skin like prisoners trying to escape a jail – and she simply didn't know how much longer she could hold onto the emotion before she broke down on her knees in wracking sobs.
    But she couldn't do that, not yet, not here. The last thing her mother would want to see is Ebony crack even further under the pressure.
    'You have flaunted a rule, and must pay the price,' the gray-haired witch declared.
    Ebony stopped herself from screaming back that this wasn't fair. The rule was there to stop witches from strutting down the street and blowing rubbish bins up in front of old ladies. They were there to keep magic hidden. But when the circumstances determined it, a witch could reveal her true nature, if lives were at stack. And lives had been at stake. Ebony hadn't done anything wrong, none of this was fair!
    'We have decided you are punishable for this deed. And our decision will stand,' the crackly-voiced witch seemed to grate through her words like rusted-iron smashing together in a strong wind.
    Ebony bit hard into her lips, half to chase away the pain in her arm, and half to stop herself from speaking. She knew the rules of the Coven, but that didn't stop her from desperately desiring to defend herself.
    None of this made any sense. Ebony hadn't done anything wrong. Yes, technically she'd announced to the man that she was a witch, but she'd then gone on to stop him from completing his rite, and saved his hostage. If anything, Ebony should be rewarded for exemplary behavior.
    Ebony clutched at her bleeding arm tighter, feeling her head become lighter with every beat of her heart. Magic was forbidden in the presence of the Coven, so Ebony would simply have to hold on to her wound until she was allowed to leave. If she was allowed to leave, that was.
    Ebony shuddered, sharp nausea starting to blast through her. She tipped backwards slightly, but managed to keep her balance.
    If the other witches had noticed Ebony's rapidly deteriorating state, they weren't letting on. They weren't about to speed up