Spell of Shattering

by Anna Abner

  “Let’s go.” He packed a couple things into a backpack. “Are you sure about this? You can stay here, and I’ll keep you posted.”

  She pointed a finger at his nose. “Don’t say that to me again. Esmeralda’s my friend. Let’s go.”

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later, dressed in galoshes and raincoats, they threw a makeshift emergency kit along with the lantern into the BMW and drove into town. Esmeralda had been right. Though the rain was coming down hard and the wind was strong enough to down tree branches, the roads were still drivable.

  “Are we really doing this?” Derek demanded, yanking open the door to Sparky’s and letting the volatile weather in along with leaves and a discarded soda can. The diner was lit by candles and full of casters, their shadows deep and flickering along the walls.

  Jessa ducked around him, shaking off water like a dog after a bath.

  “Here.” Rebecca approached with clean towels. “Dry off. There’s no heat. Sorry.”

  “Yes,” Willow said in answer to his question. “We really are doing this. The cabal is meeting and we need a plan before driving over there. We all remember what happened last time.”

  Yes, he did. Willow’s coven beaten and bloodied. Their spirit companions sucked dry. Jessa possessed.

  “You need some kind of shield,” Derek advised. “Individual or larger, but you can’t go in unprotected.”

  Cole appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. “Good,” he said. “You’re here. I was about to say, there’s a way to destroy the Chaos Gate.”

  Derek waited, uneasy. A spell big enough to destroy a gate between realms, a gate requiring two possessions and a murder just to open, was going to cost a lot of power and probably blood.

  “I hope by destroy you mean close forever,” Willow interjected.

  “Yes.” Cole cleared his throat, and then continued. “It’s called a shattering spell. It will require a circle of five necromancers, which luckily we have, to fuel a sixth caster who will channel all their power into the gate.”

  Derek voiced the question hanging in the air. “What’s the catch?”

  “The focus of our power will sacrifice their supernatural abilities.” Cole studied the floor. “Permanently.”

  “What does that mean?” Daniela asked, horrified.

  “He or she will no longer be a necromancer,” Cole said.

  Silence.

  Derek had heard of spells costing a caster’s power, but had never taken them seriously. Firstly, what kind of fool necromancer would cast a spell that stripped him of his ability to cast spells?

  There must be another answer.

  “I’ll do it.” Holden stepped forward. “I’ll be the focus of the spell.”

  Cole shook his head. “I can’t ask anyone to volunteer. I’m happy to do it to save the world.”

  Holden laughed. “Listen, I was never supposed to be this creature, and being normal again won’t bother me. You, though,” he gave Cole a telling look, “need to keep your power. You’re important.”

  “Thank you, Holden,” Willow spoke up, accepting his sacrifice.

  “Thank you,” Daniela said.

  Several more quiet thank you’s echoed in the room. Derek clenched his jaws tight. He could never reconcile the hero they all saw in Holden with the man Derek remembered from the night Holden had taken his memories away. It didn’t matter that Holden had restored them later, not when he was the man who’d stolen them in the first place.

  But they were all happy.

  The Chaos Gate would close, Holden would lose his supernatural gifts, and the world would be safe for Jessa again.

  Willow coughed into her fist, silencing the chorus of appreciation. “Derek, find the Dark Caster and kill him. We don’t need you for the shattering spell, but we’re counting on you to end the Dark Caster, once and for all.”

  He tried to behave as if her words didn’t wound his pride because it sounded an awful lot like she was sending him off on a fool’s errand while the big kids did all the cool stuff.

  “Fine,” he replied.

  “What about my friend?” Jessa asked. “They have Esmeralda.”

  “Let me see the proof,” Willow said, gesturing for the phone. Jessa turned it on and handed it to her. After a quick look, she passed it to Sasha. “Are you positive it’s your friend and not a trick?”

  “I’m sure,” Jessa said.

  “Are you sure,” she asked Derek, “it was taken at your house?”

  “Fairly sure.” Unless Paul had recreated Derek’s closet floor somewhere else, Esmeralda could only be in one place.

  Willow retrieved the phone and handed it back to Jessa. “We will do everything we can to save her, but you have to understand she may already be dead.”

  “I can’t give up hope,” Jessa answered.

  “We’ll take care of Paul while the rest of you attack the cabal,” Derek reiterated. He’d had a lot of time to consider this moment while in exile. He’d fantasized about killing his old boss and mentor in every way a man could kill another man, and relished each one. But standing there next to Jessa, he didn’t feel particularly murderous. He felt better than that. In part because Jessa had changed him.

  But the fact remained, the Dark Caster was evil incarnate, and he would target Derek and Jessa and everyone they cared about unless he was permanently stopped. Angels in heaven had gone so far as to strip him of his inborn ability to channel spirit power, and it hadn’t slowed him down. He’d just gathered a cabal to do the casting for him and moved ahead with his plans. He would keep plotting unless he was stopped for good.

  Derek would stop him. “You all get your shattering spell working and rescue Esmeralda. We’ll take out the Dark Caster. Hopefully, it will help your spell.”

  “Sure,” Willow said. “Go. We’ll text if we need help.”

  Derek held out a hand for Jessa, and she accepted it.

  “This is necessary,” he said for her ears only. “He won’t stop hurting innocent people. Ever.”

  “I know.” She squeezed his hand. “You have to do this. It doesn’t make you a bad person.”

  But that was a tricky analysis to make. Derek had never felt bad before Holden’s spell, but he’d felt it plenty afterwards. Now, he wasn’t sure.

  It didn’t matter. The Raleigh coven would close the gate, or they wouldn’t. The most important task, as far as Derek was concerned, was destroying the man who’d orchestrated the plan. The man who’d targeted Jessa. To ever feel safe again, Derek had to kill Paul.

  “Where are the angels?” one of Willow’s necromancers called out. “Where is heaven in all this?”

  “Nowhere,” Cole answered with resignation. “As far as I can tell, we’re on our own.”

  “But didn’t they close the gate once before? A long time ago?” she pressed. “Maybe we should wait and let them handle it. They’re better at this stuff, aren’t they?”

  “If we wait,” Cole explained patiently, “we could allow untold suffering to take place on earth with no guarantee heaven will ever intervene. They may consider their last assist a one-time favor, but I’ve never met an angel. Anyone else?”

  Heads shook in the negative.

  “Holden,” Cole said, “you should wait to volunteer. There’s one more thing you don’t know.”

  “Oh, God,” Rebecca cried. “It’s not enough for Holden to lose his power?”

  Cole inhaled a ragged breath. “The Chaos Gate can only be closed from the inside.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Derek gripped the steering wheel harder and harder until the bones of his fingers were ready to split his knuckles wide open.

  This was it.

  He was going to kill Paul Westfield. He was going to destroy the Dark Caster. The evil bastard he’d been afraid of for years.

  He was still afraid.

  When he’d been Paul’s right-hand caster, when he’d foolishly thought of himself as a prince, he had done ninety percent of the spells Paul a
sked for because he was afraid the older man would hurt him if he didn’t. Paul wasn’t a kind or sympathetic human being. He may not have magic, but he had other tricks. Manipulations. Blackmail. Intimidation.

  “Whatever happens,” Derek said, “stay close to me. I’m good at shields. I can protect you, but only if you’re close.”

  “I won’t leave your side,” Jessa said. “I swear it.”

  He dug out his phone and passed it to her, but he fumbled it and it landed on the floorboards. “Damn it,” he shouted.

  “What’s bothering you?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Derek. What is it? We’re in this together.”

  Never had he been part of a team before, he realized with sudden clarity. He’d been on Rebecca’s staff, but he’d lied to her and Jessa about his true motives for years. He’d been part of the dark cabal, but he’d never truly been accepted for the man he was.

  With four little words—We’re in this together—Jessa made him feel accepted. He grasped her hand and squeezed.

  “He’s stronger than I am,” Derek said. “I don’t know if I can protect myself, let alone protect you.”

  Her soft fingers threaded between his. “Everything’s going to work out,” she promised.

  “He’s a despicable person,” Derek said. “He’ll do terrible things—say terrible things—to get to us. I’m just trying to psych myself out.” He was trying to bring a little of the old Derek to the forefront, just in case.

  “You’re not evil,” she said, as if reading his mind. “Nothing he says can change that.”

  “I hope you’re right.” He smiled half-heartedly. “Will you text Dani? Ask her to start a locator spell for the mayor. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

  Jessa typed the message, and they waited as Derek headed north to Auburn’s office complex.

  “She sent a reply. ‘Don’t you think I’ve already tried?’” Jessa glanced up. “She’s kind of a smart ass, isn’t she?”

  “I guess.” He chuckled. “Did she say anything else?”

  “Yeah,” Jessa said. “‘Try the obvious places. We’re almost at your house.’”

  All he could muster was a moan of disappointment.

  “Okay, so what are the obvious places?” she asked.

  “His office first,” Derek said as he pulled into a parking lot. “Then his house.” He nodded at the glass-walled building before them.

  “I don’t want to go in there,” Jessa murmured. “It gives me a bad feeling.”

  “Jolie?” Derek called. “Keep me full. I don’t know what we might be walking into.”

  “You got it.” Her distinctive, wild power churned through his veins.

  “And Jessa?” He met her gaze. “Stay with me. Even if it gets ugly.”

  The sky was a swirl of gray-black clouds, what could be seen of it past torrents of fat raindrops and leaves whipping through the air. Derek didn’t even waste time opening an umbrella. It would have been a futile endeavor. Instead, he opened the car door for Jessa and then, hand in hand, they ran into the vaulting foyer of the Auburn City business complex.

  The doors closed and the sound of the wind faded to a roar.

  Derek sensed magic. “Tego,” he mouthed.

  Magic swelled, and the marks in his flesh burned as if freshly branded. His hand spasmed around Jessa’s, but the pain was worth it when a strong shield enveloped them both in protective forces.

  “You okay?” she asked from the corner of her mouth.

  “Yeah.” He attempted a smile, but only managed a grimace.

  They left muddy footprints across the marble floor as they approached a reception desk.

  “Oh, great,” the secretary complained, spotting them inside. She hastily stuffed a tablet and a sack lunch into a purse, and then shrugged into a heavy raincoat. “I meant to lock those doors. I’m the last one to leave.” She gave them an unfriendly look. “You need to go home. It’s not safe to be out right now.”

  “We want to speak to Mayor Westfield,” Derek said, placing both palms on the high desk between them.

  “Didn’t you hear me?” she snapped. “There’s no one here but me.” She pointed at the pitch-black hallway behind her. “Does it look like anyone’s there?”

  He slammed a fist upon the desk and spun on Jessa. “We’ll keep looking.”

  “Only if you’re suicidal,” the receptionist said. “If you get hurt or stranded in this storm, no one’s coming to help you for hours.” She reached the outer doors first, opened one, and the storm exploded into the foyer, bringing stinging rain, debris, and cold wind. “Go!” she screamed.

  Derek and Jessa ran for it, fighting through the storm to the BMW and shutting themselves inside.

  Jessa asked, “Where to now?”

  “I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “But if they really are finishing the spell today, he’ll be too excited to work. Finding him here was a long shot. Let’s check his home.”

  “I’ll try to call him.” She dialed a number, a robotic female voice invited them to leave a message, but Jessa hung up without doing so. “It was worth a shot,” she said, putting away her phone.

  Derek turned the key, but the noise of the engine was drowned out by what sounded like a rockslide pounding the roof and sides of the car. He really should have bought her something four-wheel drive.

  The roads were quickly devolving into rivers, but with care, he was able to steer to the raised medians. He turned onto River Road and tall, three-story colonials glared down at them through the storm. With no streetlights and no starlight, Derek drove even slower than he normally would and parked at the top of Paul’s winding driveway.

  “One more time,” he said. “Stay close. Stay vigilant.”

  “I’m with you,” Jessa assured.

  “Me, too,” Jolie said.

  They hid from the gusting wind and stinging rain in the furthest recesses of the dark porch, though they were still soaked through. Derek knocked on the front door, and they waited twenty seconds. Forty seconds. He knocked again.

  As the sound was swallowed up by the storm, Derek muttered, “Where is he?”

  If Paul wasn’t at work and he wasn’t at home, then where would he spend the last day of so-called peace on earth?

  “He’s proud,” Derek said, louder. “He didn’t cast a single spell, but he made all of this possible.”

  “He wasn’t with the cabal when they finished the summoning spell,” Jessa reminded him.

  True. “But this is different,” he said. “Today is the culmination of years of hard work and struggle.”

  “You think…?”

  “He would never miss the big show,” Derek agreed. “He wants the first demon out of the gate as a prize.”

  Jessa sighed dramatically. “Crap. He’s at your house.”

  He really didn’t want to go there. Not today. All those casters were there, each capable of hurting Jessa. Or worse. But if Paul was there, then Derek had to go. He couldn’t let anyone else make the kill.

  They returned to the car, but he didn’t drive right away. He tapped on his phone, and then showed Jolie a search result for Auburn Mayor Paul Westfield. He was nothing special. A forty-something white male of average height, but with an extraordinary capacity for evil.

  “This is what Paul looks like. Check on the coven. Make sure they’re okay.”

  “I’ll find him.” With a nod, she was gone.

  * * *

  Jolie didn’t concentrate on a specific room or spot in the yard within Derek’s property. She didn’t feel safe popping into what could be a war zone. Last time she’d faced the cabal there they’d siphoned her power without her permission, leaving her practically helpless, and it had felt like a violation. As if they had reached inside her and ripped out something vital and precious. She winced at the memory. She wasn’t going to let them treat her so cruelly a second time.

  Popping in too close to the cabal could mean the same disaster today, or worse, some spell woul
d trap Jolie there, leaving her unable to warn Derek.

  Instead, she focused on a bird’s eye view of the property.

  Poof, she vanished.

  And reappeared in the sky, spread eagle, directly above the city. She was so high in the atmosphere that behind her was nothing but black space and twinkling stars.

  “Whoa,” she breathed. “Cool.”

  She zeroed in on Derek’s neighborhood of farms and pine forests and began a quick descent. At about five hundred feet off the ground, she slowed her fall and found Derek’s property. She dropped another hundred feet. Then another. Finally, she could see actual people. She dropped another hundred feet.

  “Oh, God,” she hissed, and then returned to Derek in the blink of an eye.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Jolie appeared on the hood of the BMW, and Derek nearly steered into a tree.

  He had a brief flashback of his abduction not too long ago, and his already tense stomach tightened to the point of pain. Several deep breaths and he was fairly certain he wasn’t going to throw up all over the dash.

  “What did you find?”

  “There’s a dome,” she gasped. “A big one. The whole coven is trapped inside. Spirits too.”

  “Are they okay?” Jessa asked, twisting in her seat.

  “I don’t know,” Jolie said. “Some were on the ground. Some were on their feet. It was hard to tell. I was afraid to get too close in case they trapped me.”

  “I think I can get them out,” Derek said as he made the final turn toward his house. The road was so muddy, their tires lost traction and the car slid sideways. “Or at least get us in.”

  “Is that the best idea?” Jessa asked.

  Instead of answering, he asked Jolie, “Was the mayor there?”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  Paul may not be able to cast magic, but he had other advantages. The worst was his willingness to do absolutely anything, including things Derek wouldn’t do, to open the gate.

  How was he supposed to protect Jessa from someone like that? He couldn’t help thinking as he manhandled the car around a fallen tree branch that he was doing exactly what Paul wanted him to do, that he was playing right into his hands.