“I can fix it. I can remove the Mark of Immortality.” Aislin announced, before anyone could utter a word. “And I can fix her wings. I just need some time.”
“We don’t have time,” I said. “In fact, we ran out of time quite a while ago.”
“No, we haven’t.” She sucked in a deep breath. “This is what we’re going to do.” 117
Chapter 27
(Gemma)
“ Black magic,” Alex repeated not impressed. “That’s your brilliant plan?”
“It s better than your plan,” Aislin replied, annoyed. “Which is nothing.” Her plan was pretty simple on the surface. She wanted us to go to a Black Magic store so she could collect some items that would allow her to create a spell that would steal another witch’s power. Then she’d have the power of two witches and could free me from the entrapment of the black-feathered wings.
The Mark of Immortality was going to be a little bit trickier. The first big problem was the shield spell on Stephan, but she assured us, she’d almost perfected the spell for its removal.
For the mark, she’d just tweak the spell she’d been using to remove the Mark of Malefiscus.
Big problem, though. That meant getting close to Stephan. When I pointed this out, she said one step at a time, which meant she didn’t have an answer.
“Black Magic’s dangerous,” Alex warned. “You’ve told me that a thousand times.”
“Life’s dangerous.” She gestured at me, at Laylen, then at Alex. “I mean, look at us. We’re neck deep in danger all the time. It’s who we are and I think it’s time we start embracing it.” Personally I liked her speech, but Alex rolled his eyes. “So what? We just enter the Black Magic store and order these witches, who are evil, to give us the stuff so you can take away the power of another witch. Because I’m thinking witches might not be so excited about that.” He pointed at her hand. “Or that.”
“I’ll wear gloves,” she said, covering the X. “And I’ll take Gemma with me.” I pointed at myself, not wanting to go anywhere looking like this. “Why me?” 118
“An Angel from hell.” She grinned. “They’ll eat you up.”
Was that a good thing?
“So what? You two want to wander off to a witch store alone?” He let out a sharp laugh.
“Because last time you two decided to do that, things didn’t work out too well for you.”
“We made it out,” she argued, straightening up her shoulders. “And yeah, that’s what we’re doing. And you two can go find mom.”
“So we can just fix everything at once,” I said. “Sounds good to me.” Obviously, Alex wasn’t on board with this. “You know, the last time I checked, you two weren’t in charge.”
“And neither were you,” I said. He gave me a look that was mixed with frustration and a little bit of desire. “I think we should vote.”
He folded his arms. “No way. I already know where everyone’s vote lies.” He glanced at Laylen, sitting by the dirt wall.
“Sorry, but I’m with them on this one,” Laylen said, flicking a lighter on and off.
Alex shook his head, but then let out a huff. “Fine.” He punched the wall to make a point that he was angry. “But hurry. You’re going to start fading away and turn into a snarling Hell Angel.”
“Meet you back here, then?” I asked, getting to my feet, the flame of the candle flickering with the sway of my wings.
“Hold on,” Laylen said. “You guys are forgetting something.” We stared at him uncomprehendingly.
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“Aleesa.” He nodded his head at her.
She was still lying on the floor, drooling away, and I hoped I hadn’t done any permanent damage to her when I’d knocked her out.
Aislin sighed. “I think it might be time to take her to the faerie realm.”
“But I thought she was a forbidden breed,” I said. “Wouldn’t they like hurt her or something?”
“They won’t hurt her,” Aislin said. “But they won’t be too welcoming either. It’s probably the safest place for her though, at least for the time being.”
“Is it safe?” I asked. “Because the faeries here are marked.”
“I’ve heard that some of the faeries have gone into hiding there.” Alex stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked at the dirt. “So I’m sure it s safe.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” Before anyone could take their next breath, Aislin vanished with Aleesa.
“She’s letting this power thing get to her head,” Alex muttered.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine.” I sat down on the ground by Laylen, crossing my legs.
Alex let out a snort as he dropped down on the floor. “The last time she ran off by herself, she was chased down by a mob of witches.”
“She’ll be fine,” Laylen assured him. Or maybe he was assuring himself. He flicked his lighter open, burning a string hanging from his black jeans.
“So what happened back in Iceland?” I asked Alex, inching away from him and the fiery static.
“Did you figure out if the Banshee was your mother?”
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Laylen pulled a face. “What the heck were you two doing in Iceland, with a Banshee?” I slumped against the wall, poking each of them with the tip of a wing. “Trying to save the world.”
“The Banshee was a dead end,” Alex said, digging into the dirt with his knife. “We’re going to have to find another way to find my mom.”
We all sighed simultaneously and the candle flickered.
“What a bummer.” Laylen frowned, scratching as his Mark of Immortality. Then suddenly his eyes lit up. “If Aislin can remove Stephan’s mark…”
“You want her to remove yours?” I touched the symbols on his forearm. “You want to be mortal?”
“I want to be normal.” He winced. “And that might be as close as I can get.” When Aislin returned, we all jumped at her sudden appearance. Her hair was like a wild jungle animal, her breath heavy, her eyes wide.
“Faeries are mean,” she breathed, fixing her hair. “Like really, really mean.”
“You didn’t know that?” Alex and I said at the same time.
“What happened?” Alex asked. “Did they take Aleesa in?”
Aislin stared at the vacant spot beside her. “Does it look like she’s here?” Alex glared. “Obviously, but there wasn’t any problems?”
“Oh, there are problems.” She picked a leaf out of her hair and flicked it to the floor. “I now owe Luna a magic spell that will free her to this world.”
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