by Wendy Knight
Destiny followed. Her mother lay silent in a hospital bed. Machines around her blipped and beeped and her chest rose and fell with each noise. Her dark, dark hair spread out around her head, her lashes black against her pale cheeks. “Mama,” she whispered.
The cauldron slipped from her hands and she was at her mother’s side, laying her head against her chest. Tears soaked her temple, her hair, the thin blanket covering Alina. “Mama,” she whimpered again.
Fate was there, too. She held Destiny’s hand, but she didn’t cry. “We can save her, Destiny. But we have to hurry.”
I don’t want to hurry. I want to stay here where it’s safe. But it wasn’t, not really. Alina needed her to be strong, so strong she would be. Destiny nodded and stood, scrubbing the tears from her cheeks. “Okay. Where’s the spell?”
“What?” Fate asked, blinking.
Dread coiled in her stomach and Destiny swallowed hard. “Please tell me you brought the spell book and that it’s not twelve hours away in our living room.”
Fate’s eyes welled with tears. “It’s not in the living room,” she whispered. “It’s in the kitchen.”
Destiny held up a hand. “Okay. It’s okay. There’s gotta be spell books here, right? We’ll just borrow theirs.”
Luca cleared his throat. He held Alina’s hand in his shaking one. “There are spell books here. They’re housed in the tallest building, on the top five floors. There are thousands upon thousands. We don’t have time to look through them all.”
Fate covered her face in her hands and sank to the floor, sobbing while Destiny stared at her, horrified mind only realizing that for the first time ever, it was Fate crying and not her, and she couldn’t understand why.
Because you know how to fix this and she doesn’t.
Destiny blinked, her eyebrows lowering in confusion. She had no idea where that voice came from, and she had no idea how she could possibly know something Fate didn’t. They were the same. Their brains were the same. Their hearts and souls were the same and they were the same powerful. All this crap about Destiny saving the day was just that— crap. They would do this together.
“I just— if we didn’t live so far away. If we could just live near here, we could go home and get the book—” Fate was mumbling through her cries.
Destiny frowned, an idea washing over her like the rising sun, slowly and not at all bright at first. “We don’t,” she said slowly. “But Ms. Kearsty does!” And there it was, flooding her mind. She knew because she had to go to the office to pay for cross country. Fate never had.
She dug her phone out of her pocket and dialed with shaking fingers. The school phone rang twice before Ms. Kearsty answered.
“Hi. This is Destiny. I’m a witch and I know you are too and we need your help.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
QUIN FOUND ALINA’S HOSPITAL ROOM JUST in time to hear Destiny saying, “We don’t keep a key to the house. Can you just do a spell to unlock the lock?” She paced the small room, biting on her lip while Fate busied herself setting up the cauldron over a portable stove in the empty room across the hall. She snapped out orders to the several witches waiting nearby, sending them in search of ingredients, and they stumbled all over themselves because the warlocks were close and everyone knew these two girls were the only ones who could save them. The warrior witches here were too few in number to fight the whole force of the warlock clan at their gates.
It was a battle they would lose spectacularly, and they knew it.
Fate looked up and smiled when Quin walked in. “Half this stuff I’m sending them for I don’t even know if I’ll need.”
Damien snorted. “This is her way of revenge.”
At Quin’s raised eyebrow, she shrugged, giggling.
“Yeah. Okay, the spell book is brown and super old.” Destiny walked up behind them, wrinkled her nose at Fate, and paced back the way she came. “The pages are yellowed.”
“Tell her it should be on the kitchen counter, sitting open to ‘Waking One’s Mother’ or something like that,” Fate called.
Destiny rolled her eyes. “Fate said it’s on the kitchen counter. I don’t know the name of the spell, though.”
Fate stuck her tongue out but Destiny had turned her back.
“Yes! That’s it. Can you send me pictures of the pages?”
“What about the love spell?” Quin asked. “Don’t you need the spell for that, too?”
Fate grinned. “Oh no. We’ve got that one down.”
“Believe me. They’ve got it memorized,” Damien sighed, leaning back on the hospital bed. He winked at Fate.
“I got it,” Destiny announced as she bounced back into the room, waving her phone. “Where are the witches who are supposed to get us our supplies?”
Fate’s grin died. “I… uh… sent them to get ingredients.”
Destiny shook her head and spun on her heel. “Eldest! Where can I find this?” By the time Quin made it to the door, Destiny was sprinting around the corner, Eldest still pointing the way.
“This is why she’s going to save the day,” Fate said quietly.
Witches started arriving then, before Quin or Damien could think of anything to say. Seconds later, so did Destiny, breathing hard. “You knew what we needed.”
“What?” Fate’s downcast gaze flew up to meet Destiny. “I knew what now?”
Destiny grinned, kissing her on the cheek as she danced around her. “This is why you’re going to save the day.”
Before Fate could respond, Destiny started barking out orders. “Apple seed first. Root of bean plant. Tear it in half. Crushed cocoa bean, sprinkle it in an arc, like this.” She took the cocoa bean and dashed it across the cauldron.
Quin stood back and watched. It was like chemistry class all over again, but with two of them now. They had never done this spell before — he knew that because the prime ingredient was an extinct root. But they were so confident. And then Fate started humming. After Destiny was done ordering people around, she joined her. Their humming became a song, most of it with words he didn’t understand, a language long since dead. He didn’t even know if they knew it, but they both sang it flawlessly.
The potion steamed and hissed. Destiny paused, grinning at Fate.
“Cauldron bubble.”
Fate grinned back.
“A wand, Ms. Destiny,” a witch said, handing over a smooth, pearl handled stick practically glowing in the light.
Destiny wrinkled her nose. “That’s not mine.”
Fate took it, smiling. “Hers will be black and pull the shadows toward it.” She took her pristine wand and dropped the end into the potion, stirring and chanting under her breath.
Destiny continued adding ingredients. It took Quin several seconds to realize that Destiny added things to the beat of Fate’s chants. It was all interconnected, their movements and sounds. Fate’s eyes never left the potion, and Destiny’s hands had started to shake by the time she held up the Koka Cookei root. “Last one,” she breathed.
Fate didn’t pause in her stirring as Destiny dropped the ancient root into the cauldron.
Just as another witch brought what must have been Destiny’s wand in, the potion imploded, shaking the entire room.
“Bring me two vials,” Fate commanded, stepping back from the cauldron. She was trembling.
Destiny took her wand, turning it over and over in her hand. “I never thought I’d have need of you,” she murmured.
“Quin, come here.” Fate motioned him absently. He left his post at the door and came closer to the cauldron.
It was empty.
“What the— where did it go? How do we— Destiny, what happened?” His heart fell. Not just fell, but collapsed and shattered. How would they wake their mothers now?
“It’s here,” Destiny said quietly, reverently. She took one of the vials from Fate and lowered it into the cauldron. There, in the very bottom of the cauldron, were five drops. Destiny scooped one into the vial and carefully, care
fully handed it to Quin. “Just a drop is all it takes.”
As he turned to go, her hand shot out, catching his arm. “Don’t miss.”
He nodded and left, not daring to take his eyes from the vial. What if he dropped it? What if his hand jerked and he missed getting it into his mother’s throat? What if he ran into the wall and shattered the vial?
“I got it.” Destiny took the vial from him. He hadn’t even heard her approach. “You almost ran into the wall.”
He swallowed hard, gratefully relinquishing the potion to Destiny’s now-steady hand. “What about your mom?”
Destiny didn’t look at him, focused entirely on the hallway they walked. “She’s got Luca and Fate, and Fate is bottling up the remaining three drops for the archives. I’ll be back in time.”
Quin nodded. “This way.”
He led her to his mother’s room. His dad sat on in the chair next to her bed, his head in his hands. Her wounds had healed, and she looked to be sleeping peacefully. But until this very moment, Quin had doubted he would ever see her awake again.
“Hi,” Destiny smiled when his dad looked up. “I’m just going to drop this in her throat.”
His dad stood, alarmed, which was understandable because this was a girl he didn’t know, burned, bloody, bruised and broken in torn, dirty clothes.
“It’s okay, Dad.” Quin said quickly. “Nice, Destiny.”
She blushed.
“This is the night. From Ancient’s riddle. It’s okay.”
Slowly, his dad sat back down, but kept one hand protectively on Cass’s arm. Destiny removed the mask over Cass’s mouth and ever so carefully tipped the vial against her lips. The single drop slid from the bottom of the tube and took its sweet time making it to the edge, where it clung. Destiny tapped the end with her fingernail. The precious droplet let go and disappeared past Cass’s teeth. “Wake now, the night has come. Arise now, your slumber done,” Destiny whispered, leaning close to Cass.
Quin held his breath. His dad, too, refused to breathe, both hanging so tightly to hope that breathing was forgotten.
Nothing happened.
Quin looked at Destiny, who held her forehead to Cass’s, eyes closed. He checked the vial, but the droplet was indeed gone. He finally met his dad’s eyes, the hopelessness there nearly destroying him. She had been their last hope.
Destiny straightened, opening her eyes. As she did, Cass’s eyes fluttered, as well.
Destiny smiled, squeezing Quin’s hand as she brushed past him. “Tell her thank you for letting me fight by her side.”
“Mom?” Quin’s voice broke, and he didn’t care. As Cass smiled slowly, reaching a hand for him, he broke, and he didn’t care who saw his shattered heart heal.
****
DESTINY LEFT QUIN’S ROOM reverently, hands clasped in front of her, feet silent. She slid into the shadows so as to disrupt them as little as possible.
But once she hit that door, all that was gone. She bolted, her shoes squeaking on the laminate as she sprinted down the hall, skidding around corners and knocking random people out of her way. Every thudding heartbeat seemed to repeat mama over and over. She’d seen the potion work. She knew its power, had felt it bring Cass back to them. At this point, hope was winning against fear, but it hadn’t crushed it completely. Not until she raced into Alina’s room, breathless and already crying, did hope win completely.
“Destiny!” Alina cried, reaching for her. Fate clung to Alina’s other hand, and Destiny’s big, tough sister had tears soaking her cheeks, her lip trembling and her eyes shining.
“Mama!” Destiny sobbed, launching herself across the room and into her mother’s waiting arms. “How are you? I’m so sorry. I should never have let you take my pain in the first place. This is all my fault—”
Alina raised a perfect eyebrow. “I can’t think of the last time I needed your permission to do anything, Destiny.”
Destiny laughed through her tears. Fate grinned, too, reaching for Destiny with the hand not clinging to their mother.
“Mom, we have so much to tell you. Dad—Luca—he helped save us. He helped save you. And he almost died—”
“Maybe don’t open with that part,” Destiny said when Alina’s eyes shot open.
“Dad? Saved you? Almost died?” she sputtered.
Fate bit her lip. “It’s a long story.”
“Right now, we need your help, Mama. We have to make a love potion. But it’s gotta be the strongest one we’ve ever made, and that means we need you to help us.”
Alina’s dark eyes narrowed. “What school are you trying to get kicked out of now?”
“It’s not for a school,” Fate said quickly.
“It’s for the warlocks.”
“What?” Alina asked. She looked as though she might be regretting her decision to wake up.
Destiny tipped her head, drying her tears while she watched her mom through the corner of her eye. “We’re the witches from the prophecy. But you knew that already, didn’t you? And now it’s time to end the war.”
Sudden screaming shattered the quiet in the room, up and down the halls, and from outside in the street. A siren blared, and the witches who had been watching from the doorway spun away, racing for their broomsticks.
“The warlocks are attacking,” Fate gasped.
Luca, who had been standing by the window, pushed open the blinds. In the distance, dark flames raged higher and higher through the sky, seeming to light the ominous black cloud. “They’re burning the gates.”
Alina shoved the blankets off her, ripping the needles from her arm and pulling the stickers from her skin. “Let’s go.”
Destiny and Fate stared at each other, wide-eyed.
“Do you have a cauldron?”
“All clean and ready,” Damien reported from the doorway.
“Do you have the ingredients?”
They came with the cauldron. Super convenient,” Fate said over her shoulder. Alina followed them, moving stiffly and trying to smooth her tumbling curls.
Immediately, her gaze landed on the cauldron in the middle of the room and she moved toward it, as if in a trance. “This is not our cauldron. This is old,” Alina’s fingers traced the rim.
“Yeah. Funny story about that. We’ll tell you all about it sometime,” Destiny said.
Alina looked up, eyeing their wands. “So they found you, did they? Okay then. Did you bring my purse?”
Luca silently held it out.
Alina blinked at him like she hadn’t, until just that moment, realized he was even there. “Thank you,” she said quietly. She turned away, digging through it until she produced a wand, one Destiny had never in her life seen. It was onyx, like Destiny’s, with a pearl grip, like Fate’s.
“Where did you—”
“I wasn’t in exile forever,” Alina said. “Quickly now. Bring me the rose petals.”
Destiny and Fate both leapt to do her bidding. Luca cleared his throat. “Before you do this, there’s something I have to say.”
“Dad, no offense, but we’re kind of under the gun here—” Fate started, but Luca’s look silenced her.
“A dad look,” Fate whispered, giddy, in Destiny’s head.
Destiny laughed quietly.
“Before you make a love potion and have an excuse to run again, Alina, you must know. I’ve loved you since we were children. Long before any love potion could have gotten to me. I’ve loved you for years, long after a love potion would have worn off. So know that wherever you go or no matter how far you run, I won’t give up on you. I’ll keep looking, Alina. Until I find you, and I won’t give up until you’re in my arms, where you belong.”
Alina’s dark, dark eyes filled with tears. Destiny and Fate stared at each other, wide-eyed. How exactly they were supposed to rush through a love spell after that, Destiny had no idea.
“I know,” Alina whispered finally. “I’m done running. But right now—”
Luca nodded. “Right now you have to help them
save the world. Got it.” He smiled.
“Destiny! Rose petals!” Alina barked.
Destiny jumped, snatching the delicate white rose petals out of the bowl on the tray next to her. She hurried to her mom’s side and placed the rose petals in the shape of heart on the bottom of a cauldron. Fate peered over her shoulder. “That’s new.”
Destiny shrugged. “It felt right.”
“Next,” Alina motioned, but Fate was already spinning away, grabbing the apple and the knife. She slid shavings into the cauldron, eyeing her sister. “Does this have to be in a heart, too? Because that will take forever.”
Destiny shook her head.
They moved quickly, singing quietly. Destiny wasn’t sure who started it or what the words meant, but she felt the power in it. The strength in their voices grew, singing over and around the ingredients, carrying the ancient words into the potion. They often sang while they worked, but it was usually silly songs Fate made up, or rhymes Destiny invented. This was something older, more meaningful. Like the song she’d sang to call the warlocks, and the words they’d chanted to wake their mothers. Something else guided them, their hands, their hearts, and their words. The spell they’d always chanted, but changed. Changed and more powerful.
“One drop, one heart. One beat, true love. Drive hate from this soul and give back what you stole. Free what’s been taken, let the spirit awaken.”
“New spell?” Damien asked, watching from the hospital bed.
“Apparently,” Destiny said, scribbling the words down, lest she forget.
“Last one,” Fate breathed as she held the cinnamon stick over the red potion. She looked at Destiny. Destiny nodded. “Cauldron bubble.” And she dropped the cinnamon.
There was no implosion this time. No explosion, no boom. No shaking walls. Instead, little pink bubbles hummed to the surface, rose and danced across the ceiling. One popped, a tiny sound in the silence of the near-empty hospital.
Outside, the screaming stopped.
The roaring black flames died.
The smoke cleared.
The great black cloud fled.
Destiny peered out the window. The only thing she could see were witches and the sparks from their broomsticks as they flew in wide, looping circles through the sky.
