by Aidy Award
Holy Sara-la-Kali, save them all. Tia nodded.
“Good. Don’t forget it.”
The ship rattled and lifted off from the ground, but they didn’t stay air born for long enough for Tia to even get her bearings, much less consider what the witch had threatened her with.
She’d never even considered the witch had been anywhere but Earth. Were the soul stealers some kind of aliens?
The Red Witch grabbed Tia’s arm and dragged her out of an open hatch. “Pay attention and follow my lead. Remember your promise.”
Oh no. They were at the edge of Magic. That churning in Tia’s stomach when she’d seen the troops of soldiers and their spectrals turned into a full-on bubble-bubble, toil and trouble cauldron of pain in her gut.
They were the last out of the ship and some sort of battle had already begun. But the soul stealers had come up against a golden dome of magic protecting the town. They screeched and screamed and attacked.
“Damn.” The Red Witch assessed the situation and looked over at Tia. “Put a ward on all of us and those troops that haven’t been hit with her magic yet. I don’t want it affecting them.”
Simple enough. Tia drew the ward and the protection spell seeped into the troops and Omega agents. If that’s all she was required to do, she might be able to live with herself after this.
“Follow me but stay out of sight until I signal you.” The witch swore even more in a language Tia didn’t understand and said something under her breath Tia didn’t think she was supposed to hear. “She’s learned a lot about her powers in the last forty-eight hours. I wish she hadn’t.”
As they approached the golden dome, Tia’s heart sped up. Half the town was in a park, looking like they were having a party. They were all frozen in time. Except her sister, Ashmiza.
This was her magic protecting the town.
“You can’t save them now. It’s too late. I should know.” The Red Witch yelled, at Ashmiza.
Tia hid behind the wall of men in black, who hadn’t been frozen in time. Her spell had protected them. But she had been able to protect Magic.
Tia reached out with her senses and couldn’t penetrate the bubble Ash had formed around the town. She knew she needed to communicate with her sister and convince her to do what the witch wanted if they were going to survive.
When her senses didn’t work, she threw out another spell. Ash’s magic was strong. Even as the soul stealers attacked, hurting her sister, she didn’t flinch.
If only Tia’d had that much courage.
“You can’t hold your spell forever, Ashmiza. But, the spectrals do not tire. When you fall, they will take the town and everyone in it. Nothing can stop that now. You should have finished the weapon when I needed you to.”
That didn’t to make any sense. Why would the Red Witch want a weapon against her own army?
Ash yelled back, her voice so pure and perfect. “What you wanted me to make was never going to work. I understand now that science alone can’t stop the spectrals.”
The Red Witch approached the shield, not quite penetrating the veil of magic, but got close enough to study Ash. “Have you and the Elite Star Rangers found another way to stop them?”
“Yes.”
Gods. She was telling the truth.
Tia’s soul sang with the joy. Her own sister knew how to stop the soul stealers.
Four: Her Lion
The Red Witch studied Ash searching for lies. “Then prove it.”
She called one of the Omega agents with a spectral hanging above from the ranks. A woman, dressed in the same uniform as the rest of the men in black, approached. Tia couldn’t see her eyes because of the dark sunglasses, but she knew they would be empty and blank.
The woman’s spectral screeched and dove for Ash. She closed her eyes and pulled magic that was not her own, but Tia recognized it as Kady’s, and surrounding the spectral with a different kind of shield.
The Red Witch did not look impressed. “We’ve seen this before from Kaden. It only traps them. What am I supposed to do with trapped warriors? Eventually they will figure out how to break free.”
There must have been a battle with Kady when Tia had felt her power.
“Why have you brought the spectrals here to destroy Magic, if what you really want is to get rid of them?”
Yeah. Tia would like to know that too. She had a lot of new questions. How could this witch be working both for and against them?
“That is irrelevant.” Anger or pain, or both created a mask on the witch’s face. She called up two more men and their spectral soul stealers. They hovered just outside of Ash’s field of magic. One approached the magic and smashed into the edge of it. Ash did something and the soul stealer recoiled, only a part of it pulling away. The man below it stumbled and gripped his chest, finding it hard to breath.
A scratch appeared on Ash’s arm. She was sacrificing her own safety to battle the soul stealers. So much braver than Tia had ever been.
The Red Witch looked up at the spectral, over to the fallen man, and then to Ash.
“I see,” Red said. “I suspect you don’t fully know how to use that power yet or you wouldn’t have thrown up a shield. Come with me. We have people who will train you.”
A shudder took Tia’s body and shook it hard. The practitioners of dark arts who had raised Tia and trained her own magic were who the witch meant no doubt. They would do more than train Ash. They would torture her into using her magic.
Tia didn’t want to see that happen, but she didn’t know what else to do.
“And you’ll call off the spectral warriors, leave Magic alone?”
“I can’t do that. We all have masters, Ashmiza. Mine want Magic and the threat its people represent wiped off the face of the Earth. But together you and I might be able to stop them from destroying the rest of the galaxy.”
“I can’t do that.” Ash mirrored the words back to the witch. “If they go, I go. The rest of the galaxy never did a thing for me, so you can all be damned as far as I’m concerned.”
The Red Witch shook her head, then straightened and touched her ear, listening to something. “We’re out of time. Last chance.”
Several more spectrals flew forward, slamming into the barrier and recoiling. Their human counterparts fell, and Ash cried out, new scratches that looked and felt as though she’d scraped her own fingernails into her skin deep enough to draw blood had formed.
Tia found her voice and borrowed a smidgen of courage from Ashmiza. She understood what she needed to say to the Red Witch to protect her sister and Magic. She only hoped that Ash would forgive her. Her words came out quietly at first, so only the witch could hear. “Each of our powers alone will do nothing but delay the inevitable. The sum of our magic is stronger than each individual.” As the words came out, Tia gained confidence in what she was doing and was ready for everyone to hear. “If you kill her now, all hope of defeating the soul stealers dies with her.”
Red spun on her heel and stared through the MIBs. “Then make her join us.”
She pushed her way through the army and stood before the witch. So tired, but for the first time since she’d seen her lion, she felt renewed. “Only if we leave Magic.”
Red threw her hands in the air. “Fine. But, do it quickly.”
Tia approached Ash and stood just outside the barrier. She glanced around the town and saw two men, frozen with their eyes focused solely on Ash. Tia recognized their bear forms trying to get out and protect... their mate.
Ash had found her soul mates, just as their mother had, in the soul of a bear. Or in Ash’s case, bears.
Ash would sacrifice everything to save her mates. It was the fate of Romani witches who found love in the Ayi.
Tia hoped it never happened to her.
She stepped in front the Red Witch and spoke only to her sister, willing her to understand. “You have no choice Ashmiza. If you do not come with us now, she will destroy the town, and your mates. You will survive. Trust me, I
know.”
“But Russet and Dunn will come after me.”
Make her join us. “And if they do, she will destroy them, to keep you.”
Ash nodded, and Tia walked to the Red Witch’s side, her soul dying for what she had made Ash do. “It will be done.”
Ash slowly turned, the tears already streaming down her face. She froze them in time too, leaving only streaks over the scrapes and cuts.
Her last words to her mates came in shattered tears. “I only needed you to help me find my magic so that I could help Omega. I don’t love you, I never have.”
She removed a necklace, almost identical to the one their mother had worn. She dropped it on the ground at the feet of the woman in black and released the her attached spectral from above. It streaked down as if to attack and Ash held out her hand shooting her last bit of her own magic and when she couldn’t hold it, Kady’s magic too.
A spark she’d thought she lost fired in Tia’s soul. She couldn’t stand by and do nothing. It wasn’t nothing. She was doing the bidding of the Red Witch.
No more.
Tia knew who the woman in black was. Her features were blank, and the spirit of her bear was trapped in the anger and sadness of the spectral, but it was so clear, she was related to Ash’s mates.
It was the tiniest act of rebellion, but more than she’d ever had the courage for before. Tia wasn’t totally sure what would happen. She might not have the bravery of her sister, and she hated the choices she felt forced to make, but in this one small moment she did something she hadn’t done since she was six-years old. One of the small lessons her mother had taught her about harnessing the magic within her was to ask the Universe for help.
She’d been sure any higher power had forsaken her long ago. Maybe she was the one who’d forsaken it.
Dear sweet Universe, please help me restore this one small good to the world.
She shot a bolt of her own magic at the spectral to combine with Ash’s and Kady’s, knowing the consequences from the Red Witch would be harsh and accepting them for what they would be.
A detonation of light and magic and boomed, throwing them all away from the edge of the shield around Magic.
The hair on Tia’s body stood up and goosebumps covered her skin. The spectral had disappeared and the woman’s body lay on the ground. She was unmoving, but alive. Her spirit restored.
Tia pretended she’d seen nothing so as not to draw any attention to that woman. Let anyone on this side of the shield think the woman was another casualty of war.
When they were back on their feet, the witch slapped Tia across the face, then glared at Ash. That was a consequence Tia could accept. Watching her sister walk away from the fallen body and to the Red Witch’s other side was harder.
Within a few minutes they were back at the Omega compound. Soldiers, not MIBs, escorted them off the ship.
“I will deal with the two of you later. Maybe in the meantime you can work on defending yourself from the spectrals.” Red handed the nearest soldier a tablet. “Take them to this holding area and do not let them out until I say so. I have to go explain why that damn town hasn’t been wiped out.”
The soldier grabbed them both and dragged them toward the nearest entrance to the compound.
Ash’s courage hadn’t yet faltered, and she jerked her arm away. “Let go, dickhead.”
Tia felt wisps of magic Ash’s magic go out, but nothing happened. “Don’t bother. One of the first things she had me do was cast a ward around her team that negates any magic.”
Tia took a cue from her sister and did manage to pull her arm away from the soldier too.
“Who is she?” Sadness and frustration settled in Ash’s eyes.
Tia wanted to soothe her sister, tell her everything was going to be okay. But it wasn’t.
The soldier had enough of them and shoved at their arms. “Shut up, both of you.”
Ash stuck her tongue out at him but didn’t try anything else. Tia had never had the guts to do even that small act of defiance. Until today.
The combination of all their magics had done something Tia hadn’t expected. She didn’t even quite believe it yet. No one else that had witnessed the explosion seemed to have noticed.
The woman whose spectral soul that had been hit with their magic... No. Tia was afraid to even think it around anyone from Omega.
Later, when things had quieted down, and she and Ash were safely tucked away in the cell, then she would figure out the implications of this new revelation
The soldier threw the both of them into the cold, dark room and bolted the door. Tia waited only until they were out of sight before she worked a spell, turning the room into a cozy sitting room complete with easy chairs, a fireplace, and two cups of tea. She hoped the replica of their parent’s home would help Ash feel a little less lost and lonely.
Tia plonked down into one of the chairs and stirred sugar into one of the cups. She needed anything familiar to quiet the jitters inside. “Tea?”
Ash took the cup and sat in the other chair looking as empty as the husks of those who had lost their souls. “Must be nice to know how to use your magic so easily.”
Tia shrugged barely moving her shoulders. She didn’t know what to say to Ash. One more life she’d ruined with her powers. “Not really. I’d rather I didn’t have it at all.”
Yeah. That was the way to reconnect. Gods she was dumb. Tia covered her nervousness by taking a sip from her cup and searched for what else she could say to the sister she hadn’t seen in twenty years. Everything she thought of sounded so stupid. “Not likely with our genes though. We never had a shot.”
Because that didn’t sound super lame.
Ash stared at Tia like she had something on her face. Had Kelebek landed on her forehead and she hadn’t noticed?
“We’re related, aren’t we?”
Tia just about choked on her tea. Holy Saint Sarah. Ash didn’t know her. “It’s me, Tia.”
“Okay.” Ash said the word like Tia’s name meant nothing to her.
“Tiaret Ayininruhu.”
The tiniest bit of life came back into Ash’s eyes. “Are you speaking English?”
“Ashmiza.” She said Ash’s name with both frustration and surprise. “You and Kaden are my sisters.”
The tea cup rattled in Ash’s hand. “What in the Stephen Hawking are you talking about?”
Had Topper not told Ash about her? A deep sadness tugged Tia’s heart from her chest and into her throat. She couldn’t breathe.
No, she really couldn’t breathe. In exactly the same way as the first time The Red Witch had thrown her in with the soul stealers.
One was close.
More than one.
The tables, chairs, and tea disappeared in an instant and Tia looked around like she was seeing ghosts.
Something was seriously wrong. Or maybe for the first time in her life, something was right. Tia pushed her senses out and Omega was filled with the contingent of men in black, the soldiers, the witch, and... yes. Ash’s mates.
Not just them, a whole towns worth of witches, shifters, vampires, dragons, and magical beings Tia didn’t recognize the touch of were incoming. This was their chance.
Omega was about to feel the wrath of Magic, New Mexico.
“I’ll fill you in on the details later, but the gist is our parents were murdered, the four of us were separated and hidden away so no one would find us, until it was time to fulfill our destinies.”
If ever Tia was going to find her courage, this second would be a good time. She had never been able to muster it up for herself, but she already knew she could to defend her family. “Now, get on your feet because that practice defending ourselves from the spectral soul stealers is about to begin.”
Tia threw up a quick shield just as a spectral flew in through the wall and darted for her head. She shot a burst of magic at it but missed when it swerved to avoid. It screeched at her and swooped up and away.
When the spectral
swooped again, Ash hit it with a whoosh of her magic. It froze right where it was an inch or so from Tia’s face.
Tia blinked and swallowed, taking a step back. “Scarlet must be dead if they’re letting the soul stealers out.”
Her name felt strange on her lips. She hadn’t spoken it in years. She couldn’t bring herself to call her anything but the Red Witch. Maybe the name would jog Ash’s memories and she too would realize who had them imprisoned.
Ash looked around the room. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
Tia shook her head. “And go where? This place is going to be in absolute chaos. We’d be better to hide out here. This is the beginning of the end.”
“We have to warn Magic.”
Tia’s whole body tensed. Ash hadn’t felt them yet. Maybe she didn’t know how. “We can’t go back there.”
Until they knew Scarlet was dead and couldn’t threaten anyone with her dark magic anymore.
“We can, and we will. Don’t make me pull your hair.” Ash narrowed her eyes in a way so familiar it made Tia want to gather her up in a long hard hug.
Maybe Ash did remember. Older sisters were such a pain. It was one of the only relationships she did understand. She knew nothing about mates. Dare she ask? “But they’ll be mad at you, they’ll hate you for leaving them.”
“Maybe.” That glimmer of life shot full throttle back into Ash. “But even if they do, it doesn’t mean I stopped loving them. Now use that magic ass of your and get us out of here.”
Okay, then. She had a feeling she really was going to get her hair pulled if she didn’t do as her sister asked. She had to hold on to Ash’s courage, if nothing else. Tia waved her hand over the door lock and it popped open.
They snuck out into the hallway and Tia had been right. Total chaos. Spectrals everywhere, men and women looking gray with blank eyes slumped against walls and in corners.
That’s when they heard the lion roar.
“Did you hear that?” Ash asked.
