by Bonnie Lamer
The Witch spirit can see the driveway from where she is hovering. “Oh my god,” she whispers. “It’s Fatin.”
I move so that I can see as well. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Xandra still struggling with her magic. She pushes up onto her side, only to belly flop back into the snow. Meanwhile, the Witch in front of us speaks.
“Quillian, Athear, you know what needs to be done,” he says. “Please don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”
I can tell from here that he is an egotistical moron. No wonder he can only use his magic against ghosts.
“Stay here,” the Angel says quietly to Mom and Dad. Xandra’s mother looks like she’s about to refuse until she glances over at her husband. Then she nods. Her face is filled with fear – I’m assuming at the thought of him being exorcised. It is just the Angel and me who walk forward to greet the unwanted company.
Chapter 16
“This is the Fairy I’ve heard so much about? He is a tall one, isn’t he?” Fatin says. Turning to the Angel, he says, “Athear, you know how this is going to play out. I’m going to threaten your daughter and her husband, and then you and the Fairy are going to try to stop me, and things are going to get tedious from there. I was hoping to avoid all of this, which is why I haven’t made my presence known until now. But, alas, here I am, and we both know, Athear, the Witan never loses. Are you willing to lose both the daughter you have mourned for the last eighteen years as well as this sin against nature we seek?” I know he thinks he is being formidable, but his singsong voice makes him more comical than scary. I stopped listening after the first couple of sentences, knowing he was only spouting hot air.
The Angel, on the other, was paying attention. “The only sins against nature are you lot who have abused your power over the years. Xandra has committed no crime. You have no business here and as queen, I demand that you leave.” Her voice is even but there is definitely an underlying threat in it.
“You haven’t really served as our queen for these past eighteen years, now have you, Athear. Nor are you a member of the Witan, so you don’t actually get a vote. You may offer your opinion, which you have done on several occasions, and it was taken into consideration. Then we voted to disregard it.”
What an ass. I am going back to not listening to him. The Angel continues to engage him until another car pulls into the driveway. I wonder how things are going with Xandra and her magic.
“Ah, finally,” Fatin says. “I knew they couldn’t be too far behind.”
The Angel gasps as her grandson and his aunt exit the new car. They are obviously under a binding spell. Great.
“Surprised, Athear? It was a simple matter for Beren and Davina to find them and compel them to give themselves up.”
“Have you hurt them?” I ask evenly. I do not believe they have, but I want to keep them talking until Xandra has a chance to do whatever she ends up doing with all that magic. I have an idea what I would like to do with it.
“We have no wish to harm them,” Fatin says. “We simply want to offer a trade.”
And they believe themselves to be superior to Cowans? “Trade one death for another, how sporting of you.”
Zac and his aunt are beginning to struggle against the binding spell now that they are in familiar territory. That is what makes Xandra’s parents come rushing forward. Come on, Xandra, hurry up.
“Ah, Quillian, how lovely to see you again,” Fatin purrs. If he uses that voice to try to charm women, he must sit home alone a lot.
“Let our son and my sister go,” Xandra’s father demands.
A walking corpse answers. “We would like nothing better.” Xandra was right, this guy is freaky looking. I am pretty sure some vital cartilage and bone is missing from various parts of his face.
Xandra’s grandfather is also with this new group. “Sveargith, you know this is wrong. You’re the king, you can make this stop,” the Angel pleads. Where is her pride? He is not going to listen to her pleas now if he has not for the last eighteen years.
“The Witan has made a ruling. King Sveargith is unable to change it on his own,” a plain looking woman says. “Your pleas will do no good, Athear.” Her displeasure in seeing the Angel pours out of her mouth like vomit. I am guessing she is the Seductress. Her magic is not working on me at all. I am guessing my love for Xandra is the culprit behind that.
The Witch King is beginning to look uncertain. “Athear, you have to understand.”
“I do not have to understand. You are being led around like a stray dog by these Witches.” She should be careful how she says the word Witch. She might give away the fact that she is not one.
Someone resembling a ball with a head begins to whine. “Enough of this talk. Where is that girl?”
Seriously? He is trying to be tough. Perhaps I will show him how it is done. “You will have to go through me to get her.”
The Witch backs up. “I’m not afraid of you, Fairy.” Sure he is not. I believe he may have just wet himself.
“Davina, get your hands off my son.” Wow, Xandra’s mother has won the how to be scary contest. Even I want to step away from her.
While she is distracted with her son, Fatin begins to say his spell. “Spirit in unrest, soul in pain, come to me, find peace again. Leave this world of longing and woe, sorrow filled days no longer you’ll know…”
“Jim, no,” she cries.
We cannot wait for Xandra. We need to act now. Pulling magic, I push it forward as the Witches scatter. Fatin, so sure of himself a moment ago, is the first to run. My magic catches him anyway. “Focus on the Fairy!” he shouts, as my magic rips into him, bringing him to the ground.
Suddenly, I am thrown backwards as several explosions go off around us. My god, did this Witch spend all of her corporeal life in these mountains planting Witch bottles? I do not mean to complain, but she is hurting those of us who are on her side as much as the ones who are not.
I am distracted as I pull myself from the ground. “Kallen, watch out!” the Angel yells just in time for me to avoid a small missile of iron that is flying my way. I guess they did some research after all.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Zac struggling. Good boy. He is going to grow up to be as brave and strong as his sister. Reaching into my coat pocket, I pull out several small items I had taken it upon myself to whip up last night.
“He has some sort of dart!”
“Get behind the cars!”
The darts are not quite as strong as Tabitha back home can make them, but I was limited in my choice of ingredients. They might not take down a Fairy, but they are more than powerful enough to take down a Witch.
“Let Jim and Zac go! Or I swear, I will blow this entire area away,” Xandra’s mother yells. I turn towards her, trying to get an idea of where the next explosions are going to come from. “Kallen, they’re setting a trap for you, make a circle,” she shouts.
I cannot believe I let down my guard enough for this to happen. I have just let Xandra and her entire family down. I do not even care about the pain I am in. I only hope to live long enough to know that Xandra is okay.
“Mom, help!” Zac calls.
“Shut up,” Beren snarls and I hear a sickening smack. I’m pretty sure the coward just hit a little boy.
“What have you done? Zac, wake up!” his mother cries.
“The Fairy’s down, finish him off!”
I am not sure which of those sentences give her the power to break the manacles of her magic, probably both, but Xandra rounds the house. The air around her is sparking. She is on the edge of creating an imbalance. Fueled on by anger, each step brings her that much closer to being a walking fire bomb. Literally.
She takes an instant to observe the scene. Moving her head to scan for the location of all us she loves, she makes sure we are all alive, if not well. I feel her magic building to the breaking point. She has to use some of it or she will lose all control. As soon as that thought floats through my mind, a tree behind the sca
ttered Witches blows up. Tiny tooth picks that used to be a mighty oak go flying everywhere. The Witches are only paying attention to her, now. The rest of us forgotten as inconsequential.
Walking past me, she swishes her hand through the magic that is holding me in this trap and it melts away. I fall onto my hands and knees, trying to adjust to being instantly pain free. Xandra keeps walking until she is in front of her little brother. Kneeling down, she gathers him to her.
The walking skeleton thinks she is kneeling in front of him in a show of surrender. What a fool. “Say the spell,” he says and his voice is filled with the glee of someone who believes he has won. “Kill them all.”
Seven voices begin to chant. “From ancient times of rhymes and runes, these witches call upon the power of the moon to scourge the earth of magic black, and within its womb to take mercifully back, this one born in heresy and shame, and those who’ve shielded her also to blame, swallow their guilt and show us their pain. All this we ask in the goddess’s name.”
Before the magic has left them, Xandra has curled herself around her brother and has thrown up a wall around the rest of us. No amount of Witch magic will be able to penetrate it. She has once again saved us all.
Chapter 17
Time stops. I do not mean that things move in slow motion. I mean, things have stopped. My eyes are open, no time seems to have passed, but somehow I can sense that something critical just happened. With a loud ringing in my ears, everything is the same, but suddenly different. The Witches are still in their places. The Angel is still in hers. The one thing that is different? Xandra has wings. Giant white wings. Angel wings. All eyes swing to her. One thing I know for certain? My life will never be dull while I am with her.
Her grandfather is the first to find his voice. “What is going on? Where did those wings come from?”
“It doesn’t matter, it’s just more proof that she’s not meant to be,” the Seductress growls. She has fear in her eyes that cannot be covered up with bravado.
“Oh, shut up,” Xandra says. I like her power to take away voices when she is not using it on me. Turning to Fatin, she says, “You will release my father.”
His confidence from earlier is shaken but he rallies pretty well. “I hold the cards here. I am seconds away from sending him to the hereafter.”
She rolls her eyes. “Really? Because I’m the only one that can release him from this plane of existence, so your threat isn’t really a threat. It’s wishful thinking on your part.” Okay, is she making that up or did she just have an epiphany?
Fatin ignores her and begins to say the exorcism spell. “Spirit in unrest, soul in pain, come to me, find peace again. Leave this world of longing and woe, sorrow filled days no longer you’ll know…”
“Xandra, make him stop!” her mother cries.
Xandra waves her off. “Mom, trust me. Nothing’s going to happen.”
Fatin finishes the spell. “…your soul I release and you shall rest in peace.”
Xandra was right, nothing happened. Her father is still floating in front of him. So, he does the logical thing and begins to say the spell again. Xandra is apparently not interested in hearing the encore, so she takes his voice, too. She is starting quite the collection.
“I demand to know where those wings came from!” her grandfather shouts.
Xandra gives him a smile as if he just said the cutest thing. “That’s nice. Thanks for sharing.” Then she turns her back on him.
Surprisingly, the person who has the most fear in her eyes is her grandmother. The reason why becomes apparent when she says, “Xandra, are you…” Her words trail off. The thought that she has passed on did not even occur to me until now. Please do not confirm that, I beg silently.
Xandra finishes her sentence. “Dead? Nope. I’m very much alive.” Relief shows in the eyes of everyone on our side. Disappointment in the rest. “And as for you?” she says to her grandmother, “You are not to do anything that will jeopardize your future.” I guess grandma’s secret is out of the bag.
“Athear, what is she talking about?” her grandfather growls. “Is she threatening you?”
Xandra laughs. “The only ones here who are threatening her are you and your disgusting menagerie of followers. Though, if we’re all going to be honest,” I she looks each member of the Witan in the eye, “you are actually the follower, not the followed. I suspect your mind hasn’t been your own for a long time.” There is some slight shuffling of discomfort among the Witan.
“What nonsense is this? I’m King; of course my mind is my own.”
Xandra shakes her head. “Think again. I bet every thought you have feels like it’s been planted by someone else.” Did her new wings come with an endless supply of epiphanies? I am impressed on many levels.
After a moment, her grandfather turns to his Witan. “Is this true?” he asks the skeleton.
“Of course not,” he says indignantly.
Xandra laughs again. She has a beautiful laugh, even when she is using it to intimidate. “As if you could be trusted to tell the truth. I doubt your twisted little mind even knows what that is anymore.”
“I’ve heard enough out of you, little girl,” the skeleton hisses. Is he part snake? Is that what is wrong with his face? “Say the spell again,” he tells the others.
“It didn’t work the first time, what makes you think it’s going to work this time?” Xandra asks, completely unconcerned.
“You are not omnipotent.” That is true, she probably should keep that in mind. “You can be brought down and we’re going to be the ones to do it.” I barely stifle a yawn at his boring threats.
“Okay. Go ahead then.” Xandra says with a wave of her hand.
He looks surprised. “What?”
Xandra speaks much slower this time. Enunciating each word carefully. There is no holding back a snicker now. “O. Kay. Go. A. Head. Then.”
The Witch’s eyes narrow into slits. I wonder if he has two sets of eyelids like some amphibians. “A pair of demon wings doesn’t scare us.”
Xandra turns to me in curiosity. “Do demons have wings?”
I shake my head. “No, they do not.” They are actually Angels who have been stripped of their wings.
“That’s what I thought.” Turning back to Louhi, she says, “Could you please keep your insults to things that really exist instead of making crap up?” I laugh out loud at that.
Wow, he’s really pissed now. Between gritted teeth, he says to the others, “Say the spell again.”
“Now hold up one minute,” Xandra says in mock concern. “I want to give you guys a sporting chance.” What the hell?
“We have all the advantage we need.”
“Oh, it’s so cute how you get so mean and tough when you’re angry.” She looks like she actually wants to pinch his cheek like she would a baby. If she does, she is not touching me with that hand until she sterilizes it.
“Xandra, be careful,” her mother warns. I forgot her parents have not seen her in all out magic mode. There is no stopping her when she is on a roll like this.
To my surprise, she says, “Fine.” To the Witan, she says, “Tell you what. I’m going to make this fair. It’ll just be me and the eight of you. I won’t ask for help from anyone else.” Okay, now even I think she is going too far.
“Why would you do such a thing?” the Seductress asks.
She shrugs. “It’s not them that you want, it’s me. I don’t want them to get hurt in the crossfire.”
Her magic is affecting her brain now. “Xandra, I will not leave you to fight them alone.”
Her response is a smile. A genuine smile, at least. “I know it’ll be hard for you, but it’s for the best. I need to do this alone.”
“Xandra, this is suicide,” her mother cries. “We are all going to fight right along next to you.”
“Mom, please.” It is more of a statement than it is a plea. I have a bad feeling about this.
“No, we are staying right here with you
.”
As soon as Xandra closes her eyes and begins to pull magic, I know what she is thinking. I do not even get her name out before I am being forcibly compelled back to the house. Along with her mother, her father, her aunt, her brother, and her grandmother.
“Xandra, don’t do this. You don’t have to do this alone.” This is a plea, not a statement. I need to try to protect her.
“But I do,” she whispers. In less than a minute, we are all back inside the house. Which is now surrounded by a magical cinderblock wall. We can throw as much magic as we want at it, but I know in my heart that we will not be able to break through it. All we can do is watch as Xandra takes on all of the Witches at once. Just like her mother and I warned her would happen the first morning I woke up here.
Chapter 18
It is driving all of us insane that we cannot hear what is going on. Right now, it appears all they are doing is talking. Out of pure frustration, I start throwing magic at Xandra’s wall. Maybe if I annoy her enough, she will take it down. I know. I am kidding myself. When her mind is set to something, she is going to do it that way, and everyone else’s opinions be damned. If I did not love her so much, I would hate her right now. I start pacing the room, thinking of ways to get back at her for this. Providing she survives. No, I have more faith in her than that. She will win this battle. Still pisses me off that I am not at her side, though.
A gasp draws my attention back to the window. “She is taking off her amulets and charms,” her mother says.
I sigh. “If it makes you feel better, she does not need them.”
She turns to me. “How do you know that?”
“Her magic is too powerful for them to work on her. Remember the Fairy repellent necklace you gave her? The one that she could wear without any harm to herself?” She nods slowly. “All of the amulets, talismans and charms you made for her were for your peace of mind, not her safety.”
“She knew this when we were making them?”
I shrug. And then sigh. “No, I do not believe so. But, I did. I would have told you but it only would have made you worry more.” She wants to hate me at the moment, I can tell.
