by Sarra Cannon
The news brought a smile to Jackson's face. He looked up, our eyes meeting. "The diary is real," he said. "It's really going to work."
"What is?" Angela asked.
Jackson stood, his eyes gleaming with hope. "The spell that will free my brother."
A Magical Battery
"The diary says that in order to reverse the magic that binds a prima to her demon, you must perform the original initiation spell backwards, using all of the original ritual items," I explained. I listed them using my fingers. "The cup. The ring. The necklace. The ritual dagger. And the master stone. If this works and we really are able to free Aerden, then Peachville is only the beginning."
"The first step will be finding the original items from the rituals," Jackson said. "Since these items are still used in the initiation ceremonies, I imagine they're guarded by the primas in each demon gate town."
Angela nodded. "Peachville's ritual items were always kept with Lydia Ashworth," she said. "When she was taken prisoner, the Order transferred them all to the Harris family."
Brooke. If Priestess Winter had succeeded in killing me several months ago, Brooke would be the prima futura right now.
"What about my necklace?" I asked, reaching to my throat. I'd had that necklace since I was a little girl, and I wanted it back. "They took it from me in that last ceremony."
Angela pressed her lips together and grimaced. "The Harris family got that too," she said. "I've seen Brooke wear it to school a couple times."
Anger rolled through me like a wave. The image of her prancing around wearing my necklace as if she were already Prima, made me sick to my stomach.
"What does the ritual involve?" Zara asked. "I've never seen a demon gate being opened for the first time. It's rarely done anymore."
"Why not?" I asked.
"I'm not certain," she said. "I think it might have something to do with the way the gates work. They have to be placed in areas where the magical barrier between the shadow world and the human world is weak. The two worlds must be close enough for the barrier to be brought down and the demons to pass through. I would guess the rituals have slowed because all the magical locations have already been used."
I nodded, bringing a hand to my mouth in thought. It made sense. "The ritual itself is pretty simple," I said. "Once we have the items we need, it's mostly just a matter of reciting the right words in the right order. We'll need five woman from the town to stand on the five points of the star. We'll also need someone to act as priestess."
I looked to Zara and she brought her hands to her lap.
"I can do it," she said. "Who are the five women, though? Mary Anne, Angela and you. That's only three."
"I was thinking Lark and Courtney," I said. "We'll have to bring them up here and explain the ritual first, but I'm sure they'll help us. We might even be able to get a few others like Lark's mom to help just in case."
"What else do we need?" Mary Anne asked.
"We'll need people to stand guard in case Priestess Winter or other members of the Order show up to try and stop us," Jackson said. "I'll be in charge of leading that group."
Essex stood. "I will join you in this fight."
Jackson nodded. "Thank you. I'm hoping I can find my other shadow demon friends who are still here in the human world. Joost, Mordecai and the others," he said. "If anyone else has some ideas of who else we can ask for help, we'll need all the bodies we can get."
"What about the ritual items?" Angela asked. "The cup, the necklace and the dagger are with the Harris family, but what about the ring and the master stone?"
I patted my pocket. "I have the ring."
Angela gasped. "You do? I've never even seen a ring used in the rituals here. Where did you get it?"
"It was in the shadow world," I said. "The ring is part of the magic that allowed the Order to open multiple gates of the same color gemstone. The ring was placed in a special area of great power for the corresponding colored stone. They call it an anchor. When I found the blue ring and took it out of that area, all the blue gates became inactive."
"All except one," Zara said, her eyebrow raised. "The original blue gate at Winterhaven is still active."
"Yes," I said. "I thought that might be how it worked. The ring kept the additional gates open, but the original gate would be unaffected."
"What is the master stone?" Angela asked.
"We wondered that too," I said, looking at Jackson. "We decided it has to be the portal stone, right? It's the largest stone and all of the other ritual items have a chip of the portal stone inside them."
"Yes, it makes sense," Zara said.
It was reassuring to hear her agree with us on that. I had never specifically seen or heard the portal stone referred to as a master stone, so it made me nervous. I didn't like making assumptions about something like this since we'd likely only have one good shot at the ritual reversal. After that, the ritual room would be guarded and closed off at all times.
"I'd like to see if we can find more information on the master stone, just to be sure," I said. "Zara, maybe you could help with that?"
"Of course," she said.
"The first step is to get the three ritual items from the Harris house," I said. "Any ideas?"
"Why don't we just break in and take them?" Mary Anne asked. "There are six of us and we're pretty powerful. Brooke's older sisters have already graduated and left home, haven't they? So it would probably just be her and her mom there."
"The problem is we don't want anyone to suspect what we're planning," I said. "Right now, our main advantage is that Priestess Winter has no idea we have the diary or that we're planning to try to free Aerden. If she finds out we are gathering the ritual items, she'll guard the portal stone with an army. We'll have to wait until no one is home to take the items."
"That might be a problem," Angela said, cringing. "I know from our weekly meetings that after the items were moved to the Harris house, they had a security system installed in the house. Video surveillance cameras on the main doors. If you go inside, they'll see you. They'll know you were there and when they see the items are gone, they'll be able to guess what you're up to."
"So we have two problems," Mary Anne said. "We have to find a way to trick the video cameras, and we need to get the items in such a way no one knows they're gone until it's too late." Mary Anne asked.
"Exactly," I said.
Essex had been silent throughout most of the discussion, but he sat up now and cleared his throat. "I would like to make a suggestion, if I may," he said. "What if we were to make copies of the ritual items? Something that looks identical to the ones you will steal? Then we could switch them out and no one would know they were gone."
Jackson straightened. "That's a great idea," he said. "How do we do that, though? They'd have to be perfect copies for it to work."
"We can use glamours," I said, my heart racing. It felt good to be coming up with a real plan. The idea of finally being free of the Order's power was exhilarating. It was all beginning to feel so real.
"We can't glamour them indefinitely," Jackson said. "They'll lose the illusion the minute someone stops concentrating on them. I don't think we can afford to have someone hanging out there at Brooke's house all the time to keep up that one spell."
"I can create a glamour that will last many days even without concentration," Essex said.
Jackson furrowed his brow and stood up to pace the length of the table. "How?"
"By using the stones," he said. "Like the elders."
"You mean like a magical battery?" Jackson asked.
"Yes, this is what I mean." Essex looked around the table.
"Wait, I'm lost. Can you explain it?" I asked. "What kind of battery?"
Jackson came to stand behind his chair and placed his hands on the back of the seat. "You remember the soul stone Mary Anne's ancestor used to stay alive?"
How could I forget? I nodded, thinking of the crow witch and how she had been alive almost a hundred
and twenty years through the use of a soul stone.
"The soul stone would draw a witch's essence and power from her body," he explained. "Then the crow witch used the stolen power as a type of battery to keep herself alive. Well, that was just a perverted version of the elder's magic Essex is talking about. In our culture, our elders choose when it's their time to move on to the Afterworld. Usually this happens when their child is ready to have a child of their own. During their passing, the elder pours a portion of their power and essence willingly into a stone similar to a soul stone. It's a type of voluntary sacrifice, representing love and a promise to future generations."
"And the stone?" Zara asked. "What happens to it?"
"It can be used for anything that takes power," Jackson said. "It's the elder's way of giving back to our world. Sometimes a stone can be used to power a certain spell for decades. The lights in a city, for example, or a protection spell around a home. Usually it's up to the family how to use the stone's power."
I listened carefully, trying to wrap my head around it. I turned to Essex. "So you're saying you can make a glamour last longer by using one of these stones to power it?"
"Yes," he said. "Except no one will have to pass away in order to make this magic work. If we all allow the stones to absorb even a very tiny portion of our power, it should be enough to run a simple glamour spell for at least a week."
Excitement rushed through me. "Where would we get the stones we need?"
Essex reached into his backpack. He pulled out a handful of different colored stones from the shadow world. I wanted to kiss him, I was so happy.
"This is awesome," I said.
"That solves the issue of the Order knowing we took the items," Jackson said. "We still have to figure out how we're going to get in there to switch them for the real items without being noticed by the cameras."
I had an idea, but I knew Jackson wasn't going to like it.
"I'm going to just walk in and get them," I said, my heart pounding.
Jackson groaned. "Of course you are."
"How do you plan on pulling that off?" Mary Anne asked.
I smiled. "I'm going to become Brooke Harris."
No One Will Even Know It's Me
"It's too risky," Jackson said. "You don't need to leave the crow village until it's time to perform the ritual."
I shook my head. "No one will even know it's me," I said. "Glamours are practically second nature to me now. All I have to do is copy Brooke's look."
Jackson stood and pushed his chair in toward the table. "I don't like it, Harper. I thought we decided you would stay here no matter what," he said. "If anything goes wrong and they find out it's you-"
"They won't," I said.
"What if Brooke comes home while you're there?" he said. "I think they'll notice if there are two Brookes walking around."
"I can help," Mary Anne said. "I'll use my crow form and watch out for Brooke. If I see her car drive up, I can warn Harper."
"And I can disappear if that happens," I said. "As long as I have an exit strategy, it shouldn't be too hard. We just need to spend some time watching her routine and make sure we know when she'll be gone."
"She's at school every morning by seven forty-five," Angela said. "Before I was taken, Brooke would always come to my office and say hello in the mornings."
"Great. What about the rest of her family? What are their routines?"
"Her older sisters have already moved out, so you won't have to worry about them," she said. "her dad works at the bank, and they open at eight. He probably leaves earlier than Brooke in the mornings. It's her mom you might have to worry about."
I cringed. If my glamour was off even the tiniest bit, her mother would spot it in a heartbeat if she got a clear look at me.
"She's a stay-at-home mom?" Mary Anne asked.
Angela nodded. "I don't know if she has any set schedule, really."
"That could be a problem," Jackson said. "You can't go in there if her mom is home. If she sees you taking the ritual items, it's all over."
"Wait," Angela said, raising her eyebrows. "Laura goes running every morning. She's mentioned it several times. It used to annoy me, because she was always bragging about running no matter what the weather was like outside."
"Any idea what time in the morning?" I asked.
"I'm not sure," she said. "I just know she usually doesn't come in to the school on Fridays until about nine because she runs and then showers."
"Since the Harris' house is out in the country, we can go tomorrow morning and hide in the field across from her house. We'll keep a close eye on the three of them and wait until they've all left the house."
"Then what?" Jackson asked.
I shrugged. "Then I walk back into the house and switch out the ritual items."
"And what if Brooke's mom comes home while you're still there?"
"I'll just say I forgot something I needed for school. A book or something. Brooke carries a backpack to school right?"
Angela thought for a second, then nodded. "Yes, she has a blue messenger bag she carries."
"Perfect," I said. "Do you think you can describe it to Essex? If he could make a similar bag tonight, I can take that and glamour it to look like Brooke's tomorrow when she walks out to her car. I should be able to get a good enough look at her to copy her. I can hide the ritual items inside."
"I still don't like this," Jackson said. He gripped the back of his chair. "It's too quick. I think we should take a few days to scope it out and make sure of their routines and maybe find out where they're keeping the items in the house. What if you go in there and you can't find them? If her mom sees you, she's going to wonder what you're looking for."
"I can say I lost my shoe or something," I said. "If I can't find them within fifteen minutes or if she comes home, I can just leave. I don't want to put this off any longer. Every day we hide out here in the crow village is another day Priestess Winter is out looking for us. We have to move as fast as we can if we're going to have any chance of saving Aerden."
Jackson drew his hand through his hair and sighed. "Okay, but I'm coming with you."
I shook my head. "No, you have to stay here," I said. "If something does go wrong, I'll need you to come save me."
He tensed his jaw and took several deep breaths in and out. "If there's even the slightest hint that something is off. I mean, even just a feeling in your gut or Brooke's mom comes in and looks at you funny. Anything. You promise me you'll get the hell out of there, okay?"
I nodded and saluted. "Promise."
He smiled and rolled his eyes. "You're lucky you're so cute."
I stood and hugged him tight, grateful for every moment we had together. "I'm lucky for a lot of reasons."
Leap Of Faith
After breakfast, everyone separated to work on various jobs. Essex and Mary Anne began on the ritual item replicas and the messenger bag. Zara sat alone at the big table writing out as much information as she could remember about her family tree. Jackson, Angela and I gathered in the living room of the large gray house where Jackson and I were staying.
"What can I do?" Angela asked. "Is there anything else we can do now to prepare for the ritual? Besides the items from Brooke's house, what else do we need?"
I went through a mental checklist of what we might need. I could only think of one other thing we'd need besides the ritual items, and I knew it wouldn't be an easy task. "People," I said.
"People?" Angela asked, sitting down on the leather couch at the center of the room.
"We need an army," I said. "The day we go to perform the ritual, I want to have as many people there protecting us as possible. That way if Priestess Winter shows up, she'll have to get through an army before she can stop us."
"The problem is, how do we know who we can trust?" Jackson asked. He sat down in a recliner near the fireplace.
I grabbed a notebook and pencil and chose a spot on the floor, using the coffee table as a desk. "Yeah, that's
the hard part. After what Lydia Ashworth told me, I'm scared there's really no way to know what's real and what isn't." I tapped the pencil on the surface of the wood table. "It's already hard enough to tell who is good and who is evil in this town. Now that we know people have been trading favors in exchange for permanent spells and glamours, it's just going to be harder to know who's even really who they say they are."
Angela sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I still can't believe she did that to her own sister," she said. "She betrayed everyone when you think about it."
My heart ached. My mother was dead because of Lydia Ashworth. Someone she trusted and loved as a friend. I shuddered. Trust was a tricky thing. You never really knew if someone could be trusted until you found out they'd already betrayed you.
"The best we can do is go with our gut," I said. "We need to make a list of everyone we think will truly stand by our side when it comes to fighting against Priestess Winter. Some names will be easy to add."
"You can put Joost, Mordecai, Erick, and Cristo on the list," Jackson said. "I know we can trust them and they'll stand by us through the fight."
"Do you know how to get in touch with them?" I asked. "They could be anywhere in the world right now."
"They used to leave me messages in the barn at Shadowford," he said. "I can leave something there just in case they are checking it from time to time. There are no guarantees, but it's worth a shot."
I wrote the names at the top of the list. "Courtney, Lark and her mom are on our side too," I said. "Who else?"
Angela named six women in the Peachville Order she said would stand against Priestess Winter.
"What about the Sullivans?" I asked.
"Who?" Jackson asked.
"The prima family from Cypress?" I asked. "After the ordeal with Caroline, Eloise said she thought of me as one of her own daughters. There's also a piece of their demon inside me. I want to trust them, but to ask them to join us puts them in a tough position."
"And if they die in an attack, the entire town of Cypress would die too," Angela said. "It's risky."
