“But we are missing something now, perhaps,” Nana croaks, and then goes into a coughing fit.
I force myself to look at Gwen again, searching my mind for anything that might fix this. We can’t raise the dead—or rather, the sacrifice is too heinous to even consider it. And there isn’t time anyway. I can feel his magic pressing in all around us, hungry and excited for the pain he’ll soon inflict.
“I’m so sorry, Gwen.” I take her hand, trying to pretend that she’s still here. “I don’t know what to do. I just wanted to give you magic. I never thought . . .”
I gasp when I feel it. Magic is leaving my body, being drained like when Levi sucked it out of me. I jump up, scared that he found a way to Curse me, but the feeling disappears as quickly as it came. I search the room for the threat, but I see nothing. No Shadows.
“Josephine?” Tessa says, as if I’m on the doorstep to insanity. “Are you okay?”
“I thought I felt—”
Gwen’s finger twitches.
I put my hand over my mouth. Of course! Rushing back to her, I grasp her hand and push my magic into her. If I feel bad without magic for even a few minutes, how awful would it be for a body to suddenly need it and not know what to do? They’re empty. New.
Her hand tightens around mine, and I let out a joyful squeak. “Pru, take Kat’s hand and give her some magic.”
Her eyebrow raises. “What?”
“They’re not dead! They’re empty.”
“Ohhh.” She grabs Kat’s hand and gets to work. “C’mon, sweetheart, time to wake up.”
Gwen moans. Her eyes flutter open and fix on mine. “Did I die? I have a feeling I died.”
“You did.” I can barely breathe as I look at her, a strange and unreal recognition rushing through me. My blood . . . it’s in her now. I can feel her power. She is definitely a witch, and more than that, she is a Hemlock. Not just in name, but in blood.
She’s my sister.
Gwen pulls herself up, rubbing her eyes. “And now I’m back?”
“I think you were . . . reborn.”
Kat groans as she comes to, and I feel it again. Sisterhood. True, perfect sisterhood. “You said we wouldn’t die, liar.”
“I didn’t know!”
“Whoa.” Kat puts her hand to her head. “Is this magic? That tingling in the air?”
“Yeah. Can you breathe it in? Hold it inside you?” I’m terrified waiting for their answer. What if I made them like Levi? What if they have to feed off us for magic? That would be worse than death, to have turned them into monsters.
They both close their eyes, and after a few deep breaths they smile.
“That’s . . . fantastic,” Gwen says. “I feel like I can conquer the world if I wanted to.”
I let out a relieved sigh. They’re real witches. There are more Hemlocks in the world, and having four in one room makes me realize why the Blacks want us gone. We are powerful, and we can stop this. I tackle them both into a hug, relishing all the family surrounding me.
“We don’t do that whole world-domination thing, Gwen.” Maggie bounces over to us. “But maybe we should tell you the rules after we kick the shit out of that Shadow.”
“Margaret!” Tessa says.
She rolls her eyes. “C’mon, Mom, I know you want to. And now it’s six on one! We just have to go out and get him.”
“No,” I say, the happy moment already gone. “We’re not going out there—he has the advantage.”
Maggie tilts her head. “Huh?”
“He has a massive amount of magic. Hundreds of times what we can store.” I stand, pacing the room as I think. “If we leave our property, we only have what we can hold. That’s not enough. We have to do this on our turf. Here, on this land. We have an infinite well of magic if we stay here. All he has is what he’s stolen.”
“He won’t get any more from me. I refuse to take it in,” Nana says, her voice so weak it hurts my soul.
I offer a sad smile. “Strong to the bitter end, aren’t you?”
“Of course, dear. I will do what I can.”
Prudence makes a disapproving face. “But take down the barrier? Let him on this land? He would taint it with all that perverse magic.”
“No, he can use up his magic trying to get it down. It’ll give us a little time to—”
A deafening crack shudders through the house, and we cover our heads as the jars and bottles rattle against the cabinet doors. Once everything is still, I rush to the window.
At the gate stands an older version of Levi, his eyes as wild as his smile. And yet his suit is crisp, as if he’s here to talk realty. Which, in a sick way, he kind of is.
When his eyes find me, my entire body goes cold under his cruel gaze. I can’t help but feel terror—Jeff is so much worse than I expected. A million times worse than Levi. I’m not even sure one could call him by his human name—he is that Consumed by the darkness. I recognize the feeling immediately—it’s exactly what I felt when I cleansed my dad.
He wants to take everything I have.
He will enjoy slowly destroying me.
He puts his finger to the gate’s latch, and even though no one uninvited can enter, it opens.
FORTY-SEVEN
“Looks like our planning session is over.” I head for Nana’s desk, where the lion-jaw dagger sits on its stand. I pick it up, the bone smooth and cool against my sweaty palm. It’s not much, but I’m taking anything that may even remotely help. “Where are the charms?”
“Here.” Tessa holds up an arm’s length of necklaces. “Three for each of us.”
“I wish I had time to discuss my plan in detail,” I say as Tessa passes around our meager protection.
“Kill him before he kills us?” Maggie asks.
I shake my head, my need for vengeance suddenly broiling. “No, I want him alive . . . and in pain. Basically, we need to restrain him. Then you guys need to form a pentagram around him and tap into the spell I cast to make it stronger.”
Kat frowns. “Do Gwen and I know how to do that?”
“You’ll know,” all the Crafts say at the same time. Tessa places the last of the charms over Kat’s head. “It’s intrinsic. You will feel Jo’s energy and power—all you have to do is match it.”
Kat and Gwen nod.
Taking a deep breath, I look out the window again. He’s standing inside the gate, smiling as if he knows what we’re planning, as if it’s futile, as if he’s already won. Ugh, so that’s where Levi got all that ego. Before I head for the door, I whisper in Nana’s ear, “Take it all the second you can.”
Her eyes go wide. “Okay.”
I turn to my family, my friends, their eyes set with determination. My hand automatically goes to Mom’s pendant, and I hold my head up high. No matter what happens, she would be proud of me for doing all I can. She would have expected nothing less. “For Carmina.”
“For Carmina,” everyone says.
And Stacia. I don’t say it out loud, but I ache for Levi’s mother. I’m grateful for what she tried to do for us. She deserves to be remembered and avenged as well.
I head for the door, footsteps clomping behind me like a death march. As I unlock the dead bolt, the house of ivy’s black door seems more fitting than ever. Its creaking sounds more like a growl today, like it, too, despises the suffocating darkness this monster brought with him.
Everything is drenched in shadow, and not because it’s almost night. His aura has transformed our entire yard—the grass, the trees, the ivy, and even the house—into inky gloom. We spread out, surrounding him without a word. He doesn’t move, all the time his eyes trained on me.
But then he startles, his gaze flicking between Gwen and Kat. His laugh is quiet, but the insanity still comes through. “Josephine, you sweetheart. You didn’t have to make me more treats.”