I bristle at his voice, too gentle to be anything but deadly.
“You wish,” Gwen says. Her magic is surprisingly powerful already, and her anger makes the air sizzle with electricity.
He takes a step toward me, and my fingers tighten around the dagger. His eyes are beyond wild, as if I’m looking into the depths of magic itself. “You are the spitting image of your mother, you know. Except you might be prettier.”
Prudence’s anger flares. “Why you—”
I hold up my hand. His eyes scare the hell out of me, but I force myself to look right into them. I will not give him the pleasure of seeing my fear.
“So quiet.” He smirks. “You don’t strike me as the silent type.”
“You don’t deserve words.” My voice is flat, and my palms are full of magic. I point the dagger at him and release everything I have.
My lightning is red as it crackles through the shadows, magnified in strength and purity by the lion jaw. He holds out his hands, and a barrier blocks my spell. His grin is clearly unhinged, and I can tell he enjoys this though he struggles to fight it off. I breathe in more magic, letting it flow and flow. Maybe he can fight me off, but he has to use up magic to do it. That’s just as good a result.
Gwen and Kat stay at my side, obviously shell-shocked, but I can tell they’re trying to help with my spell. It could be so much stronger, but I’m proud they’re doing as well as they are, being witches for a whole five minutes or so.
Thankfully, Prudence picks up on my diversionary tactic and comes at him from behind. She grabs both of his arms, and his eyes go wide. My spell is inches from his face when he holds out a hand to Tessa, and she screams in agony. All her fingernail beds run bloody as he catches her nails midair.
Prudence cracks at her sister’s pain, and he uses the moment to get her by the neck with Tessa’s bloody nails. “Nice try.”
I drop the spell, my mind blanking as I watch the nails dig into Pru’s pale skin. He won’t hesitate to kill her; this I know for sure. Her eyes plead with me, and her lips mouth something I can’t quite catch. Something that starts with a B.
She tries again.
Braid!
I hold out my dagger, telling the magic to cut Pru’s hair. It frees itself from her, writhing in the air. It springs for his neck, wrapping around like a noose. I let it squeeze hard, hard enough that the nails fall from Pru’s skin. He drops to his knees, and her impossibly long hair coils around his arms and torso, binding him in place.
Phase one complete. I can hardly believe . . .
He laughs, the sound strangled and disturbing. I try to go on with the next spell, but he seems too happy about being bound. That can’t be good.
The air grows cold, so cold that I can see my breath.
His image blurs, the shadows around him flaring and pulsing as they leave his body. My fear becomes a crippling force that leaves me numb with panic. A black Shadow man—the same as when we freed my dad—forms next to Prudence. It smiles at her, and its wanting pours out everywhere.
“Eenie.” He points to Gwen. “Meenie.” To Kat. “Miney.” To me. “Moe.” The shadow turns to face Maggie, whose hands are frozen by her side. He pounces, and she’s too far out of reach for me to stab the shadow and take the Curse instead.
FORTY-EIGHT
Tessa screams as she runs for Maggie, her horror overcoming the pain of lost fingernails. For a moment I’m back under the willow, watching Nana come to my rescue. Except Tessa isn’t fast enough, and none of us can stop it. Even if we could, it still wouldn’t help. He’ll have another magic well to use when we are finally chipping away at his enormous store of power.
In a last-ditch effort, I chuck the dagger at the shadow. It sticks in the grass, barely missing. Maggie tries to make a barrier with a handful of orchid petals, but it only provides a second’s worth of defense.
It’s just as Levi said—he’ll Curse us one by one until we’re all drained.
As much as I want to, I can’t do this alone.
Maggie braces herself for the Curse, but right before the shadow touches her, a figure tackles it to the ground. I can hardly believe my eyes. Another shadow. They struggle in a mess of black smoke, and there’s only one explanation.
“Better hurry.” Levi’s voice comes from behind, and I turn to find him on our porch, sitting there like I should have noticed him sooner. His smile is blinding against all the darkness. “I can’t hold him off for long.”
“Right.” I focus on Jeff’s other body, the one still trapped by Pru’s hair. His glare is fierce, but it’s not directed at me. It’s Levi he’s furious with.
“Traitor,” he croaks.
“Murderer,” Levi says back.
“Everyone, circle up!” I put my hand over my heart, determined to give what needs to be given. I have no idea what it’ll do to me, but it’s the only thing strong enough that I can think of. Closing my eyes, I dig into the earth’s magic. I pull it toward me. I command it to listen.
Come, it hisses. Ours.
No, you are mine, but I will offer you a piece of me in exchange for a spell.
The magic simmers with excitement. A piece of soul. I imagine witches don’t often give such a valuable payment. For a piece, you may bend us to your will.
“Josephine,” Pru says in a warning voice.
“It must be done. I won’t lose myself.” A deal it is. I search deep down, to the dark place I found before, the place Astrid gave over to magic entirely. I section out the smallest portion I can and force it to leave me. It rips through my body, and I can’t control my screams. It feels as if a knife cuts me from the inside out. I want to stop, to keep this small piece of my soul, but I push forward.
This is a worthy sacrifice.
My hands instantly warm when it emerges. The sliver is like a white firefly fluttering in my palms, beautiful and vibrant and much purer than I ever thought my soul would be. Magic surges into it, turning it red. I pour more in, telling the spell what it must do to earn this shred of my soul. I can feel my sisters add to it, intensifying and hastening its creation until my soul shard brims with power.
“Do it now!” Levi’s voice is strained, and one glance at the battling shadows makes it clear he’s losing ground fast.
I step forward so that I stand directly over Jeff. He glares, but I can see the fear in his eyes. I like it far more than I should. Slowly, I set the glowing red spell on his forehead, and it seeps into his skin until I can’t see it anymore. But I can feel what it did, and I smile.
He laughs. “Nice try, but it seems even your soul can’t kill me.”
“I didn’t ask it to kill you.”
His eyebrow raises.
“She asked for something better.” Nana stands at the porch, her tiny frame rattling.
“Better?” he says.
She nods as she holds out her hand. He screams when he feels what’s happening. I can’t hide how much I enjoy my success, watching him suffer like he made my mom suffer. His magic drains and drains. Nana takes back every ounce she can hold. Then she throws it away, gives it back to the place it belongs.
The ivy turns green again.
The house smiles.
The air sighs happily.
Nana stands taller, already looking better. “She reversed your Curse. Now I can take from you. And if you touch another witch, you better bet we’ll do this again.”
He collapses to the ground, gasping in panic. He’s so empty of magic the shadows are gone, and without them he doesn’t look so scary. Just a man. A weak, helpless man ravaged by Consumption. “Kill me.”