by Nicole Maggi
“No, it’s not that.” I sighed. “He’s great. We’ve known him forever. Maybe that’s what makes it so weird.”
“Perhaps it would be weird with anyone,” Papa said, “besides your father.”
I rolled my eyes. “I know, I know.”
“Alessia, no one blames you for being upset,” Nonna said. “But be patient with your mother. Being a widow is lonely.”
As angry as I’d been at Lidia, the instant I’d seen her holding that gun at Pratt, I’d known just exactly how far she’d go to protect me. How far her love for me expanded—into infinity. Mr. Salter wasn’t going to steal her away from me, and he wasn’t going to replace my dad. No one could. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll try.”
Nerina strode into the kitchen, her high heels heavy on the terra-cotta floor. “It’s time to go.”
I got to my feet and bent over to hug Nonna. “Thank you,” I whispered in her ear. “For having us here, for everything.”
“Nonsense.” Nonna planted a kiss just above my ear. “This is your home.”
Tears stung my eyes as I pulled away from her. She was right. I may not have been here in fifteen years, but this house, this town, felt as much my home as Twin Willows. And more than that, it felt like a refuge. As I moved to leave, Nonna called after me. “Be safe, cara. In bocca al lupo.”
I smiled at her and Papa, sitting so calmly at the kitchen table, their hands entwined as if they were teenage lovers. “Grazie. In bocca al lupo.” May the wolf hold you in its mouth.
“Crepi il lupo,” Nonna said.
I froze. My blood went cold in my veins. I turned. “What did you say?”
“Crepi il lupo,” Nonna repeated. “It’s the traditional response when someone says in bocca al lupo. Didn’t you know?”
No, I had never known that. I had never heard the entire exchange; my mother had never taught it to me. Finding my feet again, I followed Nerina out into the chilly night. I mouthed the phrase as we passed under dim streetlights. Crepi il lupo.
May the wolf die.
Chapter Twenty-four
Did Anyone Order an Abbess?
Bree
I barely had time to get out of the shower when Nerina poked her head into the room. “Are you ready to go?”
“Do I look ready?” I spread my arms wide, showing off my towel-wrapped body. “Give me five minutes.”
“Meet us outside.”
The night was pitch-black, no moon, just a smattering of stars, and no city lights to soften the darkness. It was like Twin Willows, but the air here was warmer and gentler. Spring would arrive here a hell of a lot sooner than it would be in Maine.
Nerina and Alessia were already transformed, their auras lighting up the dark like lanterns. I followed them over the hill behind the house. We crested a small ridge, and my breath left my body.
The five members of the Benandanti Clan fanned out in the shallow valley below, and the six other members of the Concilio Celeste surrounded them. Nerina lifted into the air and flew down to join them. Alessia kept pace with me, hovering just above my head. This is a little nerve-racking, she said. Meeting them for the first time.
They won’t bite, I said. They’re probably pretty happy you’re here to help.
Or mad I had to come because I got found out.
That would be a little hypocritical of them, considering everyone in this town knows about the Benandanti.
I know, right? Alessia did a fancy loop-the-loop. It’s just like the Italians to make up rules for everyone else that they themselves break.
We reached the valley basin. Adamo the Phoenix and Cecilia the Pegasus circled in the air with Nerina. On the land were Magdalena the She-Wolf and two huge White Tigers that Nerina introduced as the brothers Gio and Sal. And there, hovering over them all, was . . .
“Jesus,” I breathed.
No, just Dario, he answered.
Well, hey . . . the head of the Concilio had a sense of humor. I had thought the Malandante Dragon was impressive (and scary as all hell), but Dario blew him out of the water. His scales shimmered red and gold in the darkness, so that he looked like he was on fire. His wings stretched out at least fifteen feet across. He turned his massive head and breathed out a lick of fire. It burst into a ball as bright as the sun, spun for a moment, then extinguished.
Yeah. Good luck to the Malandanti who came up against that.
There will be no element of surprise tonight, Dario said. I am sure they know we are coming. We can only hope that you—he flicked his tail in my direction—are all the surprise we need.
Watch where you point that thing, I said.
I am itching for the Concilio Argento to be on the other end of it, he retorted.
I grinned. A Benandante who wasn’t afraid to show a little bloodlust. I think I liked him.
Welcome to our visiting Falcon from Twin Willows. Dario dropped lower. We are honored to have you join us. He swished his tale, leaving a stream of blue light in its wake. Let us delay no longer. In bocca al lupo! In his voice, the words were a battle cry instead of a blessing.
As one unit, we flooded the valley. I was dying to see this Olive Grove that was the “source of all things,” as Nerina was so fond of calling it. Dario circled back and hovered over me as I ran alongside the Clan.
Now that I was so close to the site, I could feel my magic opening inside me, and I could feel the Rabbit was there. I could feel that little weasel’s presence. My skin itched to meet him in battle again. He was going to pay for what he’d done to my father. I wasn’t going to lower myself to his level, but somehow, in some horrible, unspeakable way, he’d pay.
Don’t. You are better than that.
I jerked my head up. Dario pumped his wings to climb the air. I was pretty sure I’d had my mind closed . . . but maybe Dario was so anciently powerful that there weren’t any barriers he couldn’t get through.
I will tell you a secret, Bree, maybe something that Nerina has never told you during your training. What brought down all the previous mages—what proved to be their ruin—was revenge. Dario swished his tail. Their need for that became greater than their need to protect the seven sites. Do not fall into the same trap. He flew ahead, catching up with Nerina, their two brilliant halos meshing together as one.
He was right, Nerina hadn’t told me that in my training. And it might’ve been handy to know. Yet another thing to put on the list of Things Nerina Should’ve Shared.
The Benandanti auras in front of me brightened as the night deepened around us. It was like the freaking circus coming to town. There was no way the Malandanti wouldn’t see us coming. I jogged to keep up, my breath coming in little white puffs just beyond my nose. Dario’s words swam in my head. I could see his point, but it was also really hard to not want revenge on the asshole who made me kill my dad.
Silver lightning fractured the sky, searing the ground in front of us. The Malandanti burst into view, surrounding us. Up close, their Concilio was a scary-ass army of demonic creatures, a mix of Hellhounds that was like a comic book nerd’s worst nightmare. I pulled myself out of time and space, popped from inside the circle of Malandanti to outside, and found myself in the shadow of olive trees. These weren’t the sacred ones—that site was deeper into the grove—but these at least provided some cover while I assessed what to do.
Dario and the Malandante Dragon screamed at each other, their fire meeting in the air like swords. I whirled out of the way just before a jet of flames blew past me. My eyes watered. I dodged behind a tree, trying to get a good vantage point. There were twelve of them plus the Rabbit, wherever he was, and there were fourteen of us. Plus me. No way were we losing this today. Not on my watch.
As the Benandanti fanned out on the offensive, the Malandanti broke ranks and their circle collapsed. The Harpy tore through the air, heading straight for Nerina. I raised my hands to blast her away, but out of thin air, with the faintest pop, Alessia appeared right in her path. Ha! I congratulated myself on finally teaching Ales
sia that trick.
Before the Harpy could even turn, Alessia latched onto her haunches with her talons. The Harpy yelled, trying to pull away, but Alessia held fast. The Harpy snapped her long beak at Alessia, so close I thought she’d get bitten in half.
Bree! What are you doing? Nerina flashed by me, her claws outstretched as she galloped right for the Harpy. This isn’t a show!
Oh, right. I was here to do a job, not watch everyone else do theirs.
Making sure I was cloaked in shadows, I stepped out from behind the tree. I couldn’t see the Rabbit, but I knew he was there; I could sense him like a bloodhound senses a fox. He and I were locked by some weird, twisted connection, and it would only break when one of us was dead.
I moved through the battle, unseen by the warriors. Something inside me had risen above the fray, and the magic moved through me by instinct. I had come to the place where I no longer had to work at it. The magic was just there, always inside me, always ready.
With one wave of my hand, I blasted two of the Malandanti out of time and space. The Dragon shot fire at me as I passed beneath him, but I turned it to water with a flick of my fingers. The water poured down on another Malandante with enough force to knock it out. The Dragon chased me down but Dario blocked his path, beating the black Dragon back with his own fire.
I had never felt this powerful. The Olive Grove, the birthplace of the Benandanti, was feeding me. It was like that Tudor house inside me had opened up and become the whole world. I raised my hand, staring in wonder at my white fingers. Jesus, I was magnificent.
An ungodly shriek made me turn. Nerina and Alessia had brought the Harpy down and had her on the ground. One of her wings tilted at an odd angle. I drifted away. They didn’t need my help. Who did? I closed my eyes and sensed fear just to the right of me. Without even opening my eyes, I sent a blast of Pakistani magic. When I looked, I saw one of the Benandanti racing away toward the heart of the Grove.
I followed, drawn to the deep root of the power that surged through me, pulled by the fraught, electric thread that connected the Rabbit and me. That was where he was, I was sure of it. Glancing back at the battle, I saw that the Benandanti had the upper hand. Four of the Concilio Argento were still fighting, and the rest of the Malandanti Friuli Clan was nowhere to be seen.
Friuli Clan, follow me, I ordered. They were the only ones I needed for the spell to work, to reclaim the site. We fled through the trees, pounding the earth with our need to get to the center of this entire war, to the place where it had all begun. I felt that source of ancient magic flow up through the ground and into my veins. My breath slowed even though I was running. God, it was too powerful, it was taking me over. I couldn’t contain it . . . I was going to break apart.
“Holy shit,” I breathed, and then I was something else, something beyond me, something a hundred million times better than Bree.
The silvery bubble of the Malandanti’s magic loomed around the site in front of us. My Clan fanned out around its perimeter, facing off against the two Malandanti who were inside, crouched at the base of the twisted trunk. I knew they wouldn’t leave willingly; I was going to have to bring down the barrier in order for us to get inside. And there, through the murky gray magic, I spied the Rabbit. He was waiting for us. For me.
My lip curled. “Come and get me,” I whispered.
I was standing on ancient ground, the roots of the trees far deeper than grass and dirt. It ran into the soul of the earth. I could feel its power creep up from beneath my feet and twine itself into my bones. I was one with this magic. I was this magic.
From across the barrier, I saw the Rabbit raise his arms. The magic inside me reached out in all directions. I knew what he was going to do before he did it, maybe even before he knew he was going to do it. With one exhalation, I breathed his spell away. He threw spell after spell at me as I moved toward him, but each one I flicked off as though it were a fly I was shooing away.
Behind me, the rest of the Benandanti were fighting off the other Malandanti who had come to join their Clanmates inside the barrier. I rolled a wave of my power into them, surging their auras with a blast that sent the Malandanti reeling. Each spell I cast seemed to feed me, rather than drain me like it usually had. God, I felt like I could fly, like all I had to do was lift my arms to the sky and I would fly . . .
The Rabbit rushed at me, his feet stumbling over one another. And I realized the magic wasn’t flowing through him like it was through me. For whatever reason—maybe because he was a total asshole—he couldn’t access it like I could. My mouth broke into a full-on grin. Oh, yeah. I was going to make him my bitch and get the Malandanti the hell out of our Olive Grove.
I pushed my hand through the air, pushed my magic toward him, and with a loud pop, a little green halo appeared above his head. Get on your knees, I thought, and he obeyed. I didn’t even need to speak; my power broke down any taboos that might have been left between the Malandanti and us. Kiss the ground, I told him, and he bent forward until his forehead touched the ground. Stay there.
With the Rabbit out of the way, I turned my focus to the barrier surrounding the Grove. Their magic was strong; I could feel its pulse deeper and deeper the closer I got. I reached out to touch the glowing silvery dome, and it shocked me even before my fingers met it.
Okay, so it wouldn’t go down easy. But neither would I.
Snarls and growls and yelps filled the air as the two Friuli Clans battled each other, but I tuned it all out. I pulled out every strand of magic from each of the sites, weaving them together to create a weapon powerful enough to break through the barrier. The sounds of the battle around me grew louder and louder, sharpened to a point where I could no longer ignore it. A Benandante Wolf flashed past me, blood streaming down its mottled brown coat, a Malandante Cougar hot on its tail. If I didn’t destroy their magic soon, we would lose.
I raised my arms, and the weapon I created lifted into the air, a multicolored arrow made of light. I drew it back, as though I had a bow to shoot it out of, but just as I was about to let go, something blasted me off my feet.
“You just don’t get it, do you, you little bitch?” The Rabbit stalked toward me, magic pouring out of his hands. “You can take down Tibet, and you can even take down this site, but the Malandanti will always win. We have power you cannot even imagine.”
Seriously? He thought knocking me on my ass was going to get him a win? Fuck this guy. I pulled myself back up to standing and stomped my foot. The earth beneath us shook, and cracks of light shot out in all directions. The Rabbit stumbled backward, his magic stunted. I came at him, my body lit from within. The power of the Olive Grove lifted me off the ground, bore me aloft on the invisible backs of all the Benandanti who had come before me. The Rabbit stared up at me as I hovered above him, his cloak of shadows gone, his weaselly little face pinched with shock. You have no idea what true power is, you fool, I thought.
The Rabbit pressed his hands over his ears; he’d heard me. There was no barrier I couldn’t cross, no taboo I couldn’t smash. I was beyond anything he’d ever encountered. I was so full of magic that my body felt like it had expanded all the way to Switzerland. But it was totally different from when I’d first felt it, that day in study hall when I’d made people bend to my will. There was so much goodness in this magic, so much strength. And I realized . . . the more good I did with this power, the more powerful I became. What the Rabbit did with the magic, wielding it for bad, weakened him.
I reached up and my fingers grazed the weapon I’d fashioned. Get ready, I told the Friuli Clan. My voice sounded like someone else’s, the voice of someone maybe one day I’d become. I arched back and, with every ounce of my being, shot the arrow into the heart of the Malandanti’s barrier.
The magic screamed in my ear as it went down. I watched it sizzle and fizz like a fire desperately trying to stay lit. One extra push of the Redwoods magic from me, and it went out with a last gasp.
The Benandanti rushed in to take down
the last remaining Malandanti. I drifted back to earth. They didn’t need me to retake the site; that spell belonged to the Clan alone. My feet hit the ground just as the sky illuminated into brilliant, beautiful Benandanti blue. It was done. The Olive Grove was ours again.
Breath found its way back into my body. The magic was still all around and inside me, yellow and green and red smoke flooding in and out of my pores like sweat. I heard dim cheers in my head . . . the Benandanti Clan and the Concilio Celeste celebrating . . . but the magic was so loud that it drowned everything else out.
“You think you’re pretty clever, don’t you?”
I blinked. The Rabbit stood over me, his cloak gone, just him and his stupid tweed jacket. Actually, yeah, I think I am.
Words were still beyond me, the magic still so strong. But the Rabbit’s jaw tightened. He’d heard me; I was sure of it.
“How the hell are you doing that?”
How are you not?
“You little cu—”
You can’t even access this magic, can you?
“Shut up!” And then he slammed his fist against my jaw.
So freaking typical, a guy resorting to violence when a woman uses words he doesn’t want to hear. Problem was, being punched in the face really hurt. I fell back, pain ricocheting across my skull. The Rabbit reached down and grabbed my sweater, dragged me up, propelled his arm back for another blow . . .
A jet of fire shot right past his ear, so close I smelled singed hair. He dropped me. I scrambled backward as a huge shadow loomed over me. Dario lowered his wings around me, opened his jaws, and breathed another lick of flames at the Rabbit. And like his stupid code name, the Rabbit turned tail and ran, disappearing into the darkness beyond the Olive Grove.
Get on, Dario said, dropping low so that I could climb onto his back.
I could’ve handled him myself.
Oh, I know that. I was just worried you’d give him something worse than fire.
I held on to the little ridge at the base of Dario’s neck and smiled. He lifted into the air, and it hit me: I was riding a freaking dragon. I wondered if I could put that under Special Skills on my future résumé.
