Way to blame it all on me, sis. Then again, she wasn’t wrong.
“It was an accident, but I get it. I was afraid to even tell you.” I made twice as much potion as last time. I might need to slow the onlookers down too, so they didn’t get too close to the faeries.
“I’m glad you did.” She strapped her sword to her back and attached two daggers to her thighs before gripping my arm. “Hey. You know you can tell me anything, right?”
“I know.” I forced a smile, and she let me go. I’d always been closer to Cinder. Ember and I got along just fine, but when I had a secret to share, I went to Cinder. Em was trying to fill that void for me. The least I could do was give back a little.
“You know what’s weird? I’m not scared of Chaos. You’d think being possessed would be the most frightening thing ever, but it’s not. I think he kinda likes me.”
His deep chuckle reverberated through me. “I can think of worse witches to be trapped inside.”
She scrunched her nose. “You’re right. That is weird.”
See why I always confided in Cinder? I dropped the spearmint oil into the mixture, activating it, and poured the granules into my hand. “I hope Shade is close. I don’t know how long this spell lasts.”
“He was ten minutes out.”
I nodded and climbed out of the van. My boots crunched on the fallen leaves as I marched toward the faeries and shouted, “Hey! Your main course is here.”
Did I mention they loved witch blood even more than human?
The swarm flew toward me, and the onlookers gasped. One of the little suckers broke free from the brood and nipped at my neck, taking a chunk of skin with it. That was a lucky shot; it wouldn’t happen again. Did I also mention how much I hated faeries?
I bent down, pretending to scoop a handful of dirt, and threw it into the fray. Their velocity slowed until they appeared to be flying through invisible mud, their little brown wings flapping in slow motion.
“What in the world?” a man asked, and people gathered around, a new swarm, just as dangerous as the first, descending on me.
Glad I made a double spell. I whispered the incantation, putting as much of my vim into it as I dared before tossing the granules in a circular motion, making a ring around the area. It didn’t fill all eight acres—how could it?—but hopefully it slowed their thoughts down too or the humans would have a slew of conspiracy theories when this was through.
Now if Shade would get his ass here, we could hide this from the rest of the town, I could locate the rift and close it, and we could be on our way. I dropped my spell bag on the ground and squatted next to it before preparing the perimeter location potion. Thankfully, I still had all the ingredients for this one. Restocking would be at the top of my to-do list as soon as we got home.
Along with reading Cinder’s journal, finding Chaos’s skull, exorcizing him, finding Cinder… I was giving myself anxiety just thinking about the length of that list.
I crushed the herbs in the bowl, and the energy around me shifted. Everything took on a grayish tinge, like I was looking through fog.
“It’s about damn time.” I glanced up at Shade before continuing my potion. He’d brought Ginger and Miles along too. “They’re just a few fae. You didn’t have to bring the calvary.” I dropped in the final ingredient, and the mixture smoked before turning to fine powder.
Shade stepped toward the swarm and poked a faery. Its mouth opened slowly as if it were trying to snap at his finger. “What the hell kind of magic is this? I’ve never seen this spell before.”
“It’s experimental. I made it on the fly when we fought the demon, and it worked for that.” I stood and poured the powdered spell into my palm.
He curled his lip. “Would have been more efficient to freeze them.”
I fisted my hand around the powder, fighting the urge to test the hardness of his jaw with my knuckles. “I didn’t have the right ingredients, or I would have.”
He clicked his tongue. “Some girl scout you are, running into a fight unprepared. If I were you, I’d have premixed binding and perimeter locators on hand.” He swept his gaze across the Common. “Where’s the rift? I suppose you need me to seal it too?”
Who was worse? The fae or Shade? I wasn’t sure. Would it be awful of me to shove him through the rift once I found it? Maybe a little.
“The only reason I couldn’t close it before was because I had fought a demon. When was the last time you battled a creature from Hell?” I brushed past him, said the incantation, and blew the powder into the air. Like last time, it turned to fog and rolled through the grounds until it met the rift.
Ember stood next to me, facing the others. “Round up the little buggers and shove them through. Ash and I will seal it.”
Chaos growled in my head. “I don’t like the way he talks to you.”
I turned and walked with her toward the rift. “Shade is an ass.”
“I heard that!” He plucked a faery from the bunch and examined it.
“Good,” I shouted back without turning around.
“Your High Priestess should protect you from him.”
I laughed and lowered my voice. “I don’t need protection from Shade. He’s all bark and no bite.”
Ember shot me a warning look. “Where’s your earbud?”
“Sorry. I’ll be quiet.” I slipped my bag off my shoulder and rummaged through it while Ginger shoved an armful of fae through the rift.
“Here.” Miles held a vial toward me, his gray eyes shifting as he spoke. “Shade asked me to make a few to keep on hand in case it happened again.”
I pressed my lips together, wanting ever so badly to refuse his offer for the simple fact that Shade had commissioned the potion. I was loath to use my vim with his intentions, but it would speed things along.
“Thanks.” I accepted it, but I want it noted how reluctant I was. Also, Miles was the new guy. Sure, he was great at spells, but why would Shade have commissioned them from him? Probably to turn him against me. The dipshit.
“How do these creatures survive in a realm infested with demons and ghouls?” Shade asked as he sent an armful through the tear. “Seems like they’d be easy pickings.”
“The other realm has multiple layers, like this one. Much like spirits can linger here undetected in a separate plane, the fae exist in their own level of the realm. Demons have their own space, but they can freely cross the layers.”
