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The scariest words in all of witchcraft ritten there: the One Beneath

Mateo craned his head to look "What does that ," Nadia whispered "No natural or ical means would save him So she swore herself to the One Beneath"

"Who is that? The devil?"

"Maybe you could call him that I don’t kno ancient he is, where he coic The one who rules over the world of demons, which can never--and I mean, never, ever, ever--cross over with ours He has no name, no laws, no limits No witch can swear herself to hi inhu … beyond evil"

Obviously Mateo had so that in Nadia had always tended to think of the One Beneath as so she had to worry about Yet here he oven into the history of Captive’s Sound

And maybe not just the history Maybe he was part of the skin over the sky The rus underfoot Maybe the One Beneath held doood reason," Mateo said "Elizabeth’s ancestor--she was just trying to save her husband"

Nadia shook her head "There’s no good reason to swear yourself to the One Beneath Whatever love or kindness or decency you had in you when you made the deal--he takes it He hollows you out Only the worst of you will be left behind"

Mateo didn’t look convinced, but he nodded toward the Book of Shadows "So what happened to the first Elizabeth Pike?"

"Her husband survived, but he became afraid of her He wouldn’t live with her, and she didn’t see, and despite the nearness of the fire, a chill ran through her "Then--over the years--she began to change Her hair became less silver--her back unbent--and very slowly she becaraphs they’d seen on Verlaine’s computer suddenly flickered in front of her eyes like film on an old-style projector They weren’t several worowing younger, instead of older, with the years--with the centuries

Could a spell er, ever so slowly, going on backward through the centuries?

It was impossible But it was also true

Elizabeth Pike was four hundred years old Elizabeth orn to the One Beneath She would be the erous witch Nadia had ever heard of--erous one there could ever be She was a Sorceress