Free Trial by Fire (Covencraft Book 1) by Margarita Gakis

that?” Callie piped from the back seat.
    “I said,” Paris said in what Jade was now internally calling his ‘I’m not happy about this’ tone, “next time I’m leaving you at the Coven.”
    “Promises, promises,” Callie replied, waving her hand dismissively.
    “Are we there yet, English?” Jade asked with a bored tone.
    “Almost. Another twenty minutes.”
    Paris made good on his word and almost exactly twenty minutes later, Jade saw the sign proclaiming the Coven was a couple kilometers ahead. She knew from what she’d read online that it was quite a touristy thing to check out what was called the Covenstead - the main coven building where the majority of the Coven would gather for events or for learning and practicing magic. There had been some pictures online of other covensteads, but Jade hadn’t been able to find a pic for the one she was heading to now.
    Jade wasn’t sure what to make of that fact - did that mean that no one had cared enough to get a picture? Did it mean that the Coven was small and didn’t have a notable covenstead? Or maybe the Coven was so large it had enough resources to keep photos of their covenstead from being published. At any rate, she had no idea what to expect.
    The city, from what she’d seen out her window, resembled most others she’d visited: buildings, coffee shops, parks, people milling about doing their everyday business. They drove past the downtown and more populated areas and pulled up to a set of wrought iron gates that appeared to have nothing behind them but trees and a wide open expanse. Paris leaned out his window and punched a code into a security box. The gates swung open slowly with a loud creak and they drove slowly past the entry and then down a long, winding driveway. Finally, the trees broke and Jade was speechless.
    The building they approached was postcard worthy. It was three stories high, made out of dark gray stone - weather-beaten and worn, but gothically imposing and impressive to behold. Windows lined each floor and statuary adorned the areas between the glass panes. As the car rolled up, Jade could feel the building, as if it had a presence, a personality of its own. It reminded her of buildings she’d seen only in movies or on TV. It stood as a monolith in front of her. Massive, dark, almost foreboding.
    “Is this yours?” she asked quietly, afraid the building would hear her.
    “Yes,” Paris said with a hint of pride as he pulled up the long stone driveway to the double doors of the building. “This is our Covenstead. Built when the Coven first moved here, it was once our home. Back then, all the witches in the Coven would have lived in the one building. We now use the old bedrooms for our offices.”
    “The library takes up the entire cellar and former dungeon,” Callie said, her tone equally prideful. They weren’t arrogant about it, Jade thought. Both of them just seemed discreetly pleased, sitting up slightly straighter, proud of their covenstead.
    “Dungeon?” Jade queried, unsure of herself for the millionth time that day.
    “Well, it was built five hundred years ago,” Callie explained. “They had use of a dungeon back then. There is also a great hall, a ball room, dining hall and a greenhouse.”
    “How many witches are in your coven?” she asked carefully.
    “About two hundred.”
    “Holy shit.” Jade breathed the curse; it was all she could manage.
    Paris slowed the car to a stop and he and Callie stepped out. Jade was stuck frozen in her seat, wondering again what she was getting into. It was the sight of the building in front of her - solid and palpable, coupled with everything leading up to her arriving that had her thinking, this is very real now . The building made it tangible.
    Jade looked up at Paris and Callie waiting patiently for her. She snapped off her seat belt and stepped slowly out of the car. She felt out of place, gauche. She smoothed her hands over her jeans and tried to shake off the feeling