The Coven

Two months after this meeting, Willow Madizza and her little brother, Ash, attend the funeral of their mother, Flora. As usual, Willow remains alert for a possible attack. Flora and Willow kept the truth of the family’s magic from Ash in order to keep him safe, and he still doesn’t know about it. Willow chafes at the sight of the casket but knows that her father, Samuel, will dig it up tonight, lay Flora’s body on top, and then rebury her so that she will have peace. Willow pulls the amulet from her mother’s neck, and she and Ash leave. Flora prepared Willow with a specific mission that would take place after Flora’s death, and now Willow must do it. Due to her father’s line, Willow has one amber eye and one violet eye. She tells Ash to get his things because they cannot stay in their Vermont home. Their mother was not supposed to have another child after Willow, and now Ash must live with his father rather than staying with Willow. Ash’s father is human and loving, while Willow’s witch father has cruelly molded her “into the perfect instrument for revenge through whatever means necessary” (11) and does not show paternal affection. She is a means to an end for Samuel.

Thorne, who goes by Gray, visits the Covenant and Tribunal again. George informs Gray that he will have to collect one additional student. They have recruited two White witches, who work with crystals; two Purples, the cosmic witches; two Grays, who channel the air; two Blues, who channel water; two Reds, the sex witches; two Yellows, who work with fire; and one Green witch, who works with nature. The Green witch was recruited from House Bray because the Madizza line is believed to have died out. House Hecate, the only Black witches, are necromancers, and they went extinct in the “massacre” that took place at the school half a century ago. Susannah explains the existence of Willow Madizza, now 20, whose mother faked her own death and hid her daughter. Gray doesn’t understand how Willow remained hidden for so long; he is unafraid to question the Covenant, because he has “existed since the dawn of time, since the creation of the earth itself” (14). The Covenant sends him to retrieve Willow at any cost, and he reflects on the fact that they manipulate circumstances to gain witches’ consent when it comes to activities like breeding and feeding.

Samuel, Willow’s father, calls her, angrily scolding her for not sending Ash away. Willow shares Samuel’s reddish black hair, but her hair has ends that look like they have been dipped in blood. Samuel explains that his revenge is also hers; she is meant to avenge her aunt Loralei, who gave everything to protect him when the Coven killed her 50 years earlier. Because of Loralei, he was not forced to choose between having children and keeping his magic. Now, Willow is supposed to find Loralei’s bones and those of the other Black witches who came before; this will allow her to “Unmake” the Vessels and obliterate the Covenant, thereby achieving Samuel’s revenge. Though Flora was a Green witch, Samuel—of whose existence the Coven remains unaware—is a Black witch. Black witches draw power from their ancestors’ bones, and Loralei’s bones are in Crystal Hollow. Samuel cannot feel them, but Willow can, and he intends her to be his “sacrificial lamb.”

The doorbell rings, and Gray stands on Willow’s porch. He is beautiful, flawless, ethereal, and unnatural. Ash hides in the kitchen while Willow deals with Gray, who introduces himself as Hollow’s Grove’s headmaster. His gaze lingers on her figure, and he strikes her as the incarnation of sin. He invites her to the school, and she declines.

Furious, Gray registers his attraction to Willow. She is very cynical at only 20. Gray sees Ash and promises Willow not to tell the Coven about the boy if she comes with him. Willow jabs at his neck, kicks him in the groin, and shoves him back. The other Vessels, Juliet and Kairos, chuckle at Gray’s underestimation of Willow.

Willow takes Ash into the hidden basement beneath their home, among the tree roots. She cuts slices into her hand and offers her blood to the tree in exchange for safe passage. Her Green magic pulses through her, and the roots shift to reveal a tunnel. Ash is desperate to understand what is happening, and Willow explains that he, just like their mother, is a Green witch. She tells him that he will have access to his power when he grows older. She explains that his father is human and that Ash must go to live with him. Willow says that Gray is a Vessel who works with the Coven, but she doesn’t explain that Vessels were created to contain the “things inside them” (34). Willow and Ash emerge from a cave some distance from the house, and Willow tells Ash to run to the bus station, where he’ll meet his father. Ash obeys, but when the Vessels notice them, Willow asks the forest for help. The earth surges in a wave, and the trees block the Vessels’ passage. When one tree wraps itself around Gray, Willow runs.

Juliet hacks through the branches binding Gray, and they follow Kairos. Gray tells Juliet to follow Ash while he pursues Willow through the forest.

Willow cuts a branch and shapes it into a stake. Gray moves quickly, surrounded by a vortex of bats. It is hard to kill a Vessel—only a necromancer can destroy one—but a stake can work. Willow attacks, but Gray easily outmaneuvers her. He presses against her windpipe, pins her down, and bites. His toxin travels through her, and though he could ease the pain, he doesn’t. When he releases her, she rubs dirt into the wounds, healing them. Willow hears Ash scream, and the Vessels surround him.

Willow can see the bus station in the distance. She begs Gray to spare Ash, and he reminds her that Vessels don’t have hearts. She pities him for not knowing love—even though, as Gray says, this emotion “weakens” her. He releases Ash, but Ash doesn’t want to leave without Willow; Gray uses “the magic of his compulsion” (49) to make the boy run to his father. Gray says that Willow owes him.

Now en route to Salem, Massachusetts, Willow sees her ancestors’ home for the first time. She knows that her disloyalty to the Coven will not protect her from Gray once he discovers that she is the one who can “Unmake” him and send him back to Hell. According to Samuel, Willow is supposed to seduce Gray, learn his secrets, and find her ancestor Loralei’s bones, but Willow cannot imagine being able to seduce someone so attractive. She reflects that the Coven is so corrupt that, to Flora, committing murder to procure a body to fake her death seemed better than joining them. 

The sexual tension between Willow and Gray is so palpable that Juliet comments on it. Willow runs her hands over Kairos, and when Kairos lifts her wrist to his nose, Gray growls. Willow vows never to be intimate with Gray, but when he anticipates the eventuality of their hate-fueled sex, the idea both arouses and infuriates her. She notices the mist and the ominous trees, and Gray remarks that creatures worse than witches live here. When she sees the school, she thinks of Charlotte Hecate, her ancestor, who made a deal with the devil and became the first witch in Crystal Hollow. Only Charlotte’s descendants can wield power over the dead, and Willow therefore holds this power. A granite slab commemorates the witches that were lost in the massacre, and Willow finds the name of her aunt, Loralei Hecate. For now, the Coven doesn’t know of Samuel’s existence, nor are they aware of Willow’s dual lineages as a Green witch and a Black witch; they believe that Charlotte Hecate’s line died with Loralei.

Gray promises to procure appropriate clothes and send them to Willow’s room. A young male named Iban arrives to escort her. Gray accompanies them to see the Tribunal. The chairs for Houses Madizza and Hecate sit empty. Willow acknowledges the threat posed by the male witch from House Bray, the other Green family. During the meeting, Susannah notes that Willow looks nothing like her mother and tells Gray that Willow is off-limits. However, Willow already knows that her plan to seduce him must remain secret because the Coven forbids relationships between Vessels and witches. Susannah claims that Flora didn’t understand the honor of saving the Madizza lineage, and this is why she rejected an “advantageous match” made by the Coven. Willow suggests that such a match would have served the Covenant’s goals rather than her mother’s.