Finola suddenly appeared beside us. I forgot she had the power of invisibility. She must have been all over the barn without anyone from the Council monitoring her movement. Maybe she had something to tell us. She did. And she wasn’t alone. She had been cloaking Prudence with her. Prudence had had another vision and needed to speak with us. I wasn’t sure I could take much more.
She had to shout over the shrill screams of the dying demons we had already battled.
“Logan. Serena. It’s about Skylar. Christophe knows he’s been communicating with you, Serena. He’s been punished. If we don’t rescue him tonight, Christophe will surely kill him.”
Serena grabbed me, pure horror on her face.
“Logan, you have to do something!”
I pleaded with Finola.
“But what can we do? I haven’t even seen him!” And I hadn’t. Serena had scanned every face earlier, anxious to spot him, but he never revealed himself.
“He can’t. Christophe cast a spell on him. He forced him into a disguise and he can’t reveal himself until Christophe ceases to be.” She gestured around helplessly at the destruction of the barn.
“He’s here somewhere.”
Serena spun on Prudence.
“Can’t you foretell where he is, Pru? You can find him, can’t you? I won’t leave here without my twin brother! I won’t!” I studied Serena’s face and I knew she meant business. And I knew that in spite of everything else going on, that one conviction of hers might be the one that killed us all.
Chapter Thirty-‐‑Two
SERENA
I knew Logan thought I might be crazy, but I wasn’t; I was serious. I would not leave here without Skylar. He had put his trust in me and if I was correct, and I knew I would be, I might be the only person he had ever trusted in his life. I would not let him down. I knew this would not be the first time I had asked Logan to give me his blind faith and chances were, it would not be the last. I searched his face for a glimpse of doubt or reservation, about me, our way of life, about anything I had asked of him. There wasn’t even a hint of it.
“We’re not leaving without him, Serena. No way.” Logan put his hand on my arm and I knew; he would do whatever it took.
I met his eyes and told him without words that he meant more to me than anything in my world. He tightened his grip on my arm and I knew he understood me.
“Let’s go get your brother and my sister. These freaks are ticking me off.”
We held hands and joined Raven, Elizabeth, Eden and Eve.
We formed a circle with the six of us and raised our hands to the sky. Cordelia shape-‐‑shifted back to her witch form and joined us.
Finola and Prudence came to the circle as well. Each time one of us joined our circle I could feel our powers increasing tenfold. I released Logan’s hands and went to stand in the center of our circle, with Logan and Raven rejoining hands and closing the circle behind me. I turned my direction to the demons that had control of Jade and Sully.
I caught the eyes of both Aisling and Echo and telepathically outlined my intent. They nodded and got into position. When they were ready, they signaled me and I called for the next element.
“Fire!” I screamed and raised my arms to the heavens. From her position aboard Libby’s broom with Libby, Aisling reached into her satchel and spread more of the sparkling sand into the air. This time, as the sand granules hit the barn floor, each grain became a spark and each spark became a flame. Echo did the same with Rochelle on her broom. As each were on either side of where Christophe’s two lead demons were holding Jade and Sully, soon a wall of flames had risen, engulfing all four of them in a sheet of raging fire.
“Jade, hold on!” hollered Echo.
“It won’t be long!” rhymed Aisling.
The two demons reacted fiercely to the fire. Rearing back away from it, they released their grasp on Jade and Sully. Quickly, I mindspoke my plan to Jade and she responded right away.
Okay, Serena! I think I can do that! Just tell me when!
I whirled around and nodded to the witch twins and Libby and Rochelle gently landed in front of me in the center of the coven circle and dropped Aisling and Libby from their brooms.
“Okay, you guys. Just like we rehearsed. Ready?” Aisling and Echo nodded and we clasped hands in a smaller circle of three.
I hollered, “Fire, arise!” The wall of flames began to lift from the bottom like a curtain and with this signal, Jade and Sully scrambled underneath it, rolling toward us like demonstrators at a Stop, Drop and Roll fire drill. When I knew they were clear, I gave the new command.
“Fire, consume!” The flame-‐‑curtain dropped and began to close in on the lead demons. Before they had a chance to escape, the fire had encapsulated Cyrus and Gerard and they were engulfed in the flames. Their otherworldly screams finally died down as they died miserable deaths.
“Aaaarrgghh!” The deaths of his head demons enraged Christophe. We had killed most of them and those we hadn’t were already scrambling for a way out of the barn. We had rescued Jade and Sully. Jade had reunited with her mother and Sully had been moved to a corner where we had placed a super strong spell of protection over him. Understandably, he acted like he had just seen a ghost. For all I knew he had. But, I hadn’t found Skylar yet and Christophe himself needed to be dispatched. I needed to get serious.
“Serena! Logan! We need to get your friends out of here!”
Eden called out to us. I followed the sound of her voice and immediately could tell what was happening. She had been trying to control the flame wall we had created to rescue Jade and Sully with a spell or magic, and each time she did, Christophe would counter-‐‑
act it with one of his own. As a result, the flames were raging out of control and threatening to burn down the barn. I realized the kids we had protected earlier by covering them with a temporary spell, were now in grave danger. Now, so many places blazed uncontrolled and rampant, we had to work fast to contain it. We had only one sure way to protect the partygoers from the rising heat and intensity of the flames. I called on Cordelia to help me.
While the coven continued to ward off Christophe with the wall of blazing flames, Cordelia and I changed the still forms of the partygoers into stone. We knew we could change them back later, and that while they were in stone form, the heat and the flames could not affect them.
Christophe appeared so furious he shook as though he might burst. I turned back in time to watch him shoot straight up in the air through the flames. Before I knew what had happened, he had seized me by the hair and snatched me from my feet, with lightning quick speed. His skill had been prophesied to be unmatched, and I never felt him coming. The strength behind him pulsed frighteningly and for the first time since the attack had begun, I truly started to think, maybe I wouldn’t survive this. And yet all the while, my thoughts were not only for myself. I wondered where Elizabeth might be and if she and Tabitha were both safe. I worried how my coven sisters where faring and if they, too, were protected and unharmed. I hoped Jade and Sully were free from injury at the hands of Christophe and his demons. But most of all my thoughts were wrapped around Logan. My beautiful Logan, whose sweet face remained the object of my dreams and who I knew represented my destiny. As I lost consciousness, perhaps I feared, for the last time, I envisioned Logan’s beautiful face and I thought to myself, I can die for him. I love him that much. And then everything went black.
Chapter Thirty-‐‑Three
LOGAN
I had just finished checking on Sully when Elizabeth screamed at me from across the room.
“Logan! Oh my sweet spells! He’s got Serena!”
What? I couldn’t have heard that right. I whipped around and scanned the giant room wildly. Finally, I spotted them near where the DJ’s body lay slumped over the turntables. And man, they were near that unreal hole in the air where he and his freaky friends had crawled through earlier, when my world had been pulled inside out. I had to get to them before he took her to t
he other side and I never saw her again.
With a strength I didn’t know I possessed, I catapulted myself across the expanse of the room until I stood just a few hundred feet behind Serena and Christophe. He had her cradled in his arms, deceptively tender, yet her beautiful, long blonde hair hung down almost touching the ground as he made his way to that gash in space. Crazily, I wondered for the millionth time how would I stop the strongest demon that existed? What did I have that could be formidable enough to beat him? Suddenly, voice in my head asserted itself, as clear as if the words were being spoken right to me.
You have her love, Logan. And that’s the strongest, most powerful magic there is.
I recognized the voice as my mom’s. I silently regarded the coven that had reformed into a circle, now raising their hands to the roof, drawing magical power for me to fight Christophe.
She was right. While I still couldn’t comprehend why she loved me like she did, I knew that her love made me feel like a rock star, like I could move mountains. And definitely like I could put a beat down on a slimy weasel of a demon. Christophe never could have or deserve a love like that and I wouldn’t let him hurt one blonde hair on her head.
With a renewed sense of purpose I formulated my plan. I needed Eve. I called to her in mindspeak and gave her the blueprint for what I had in mind in a split second. Could she do it? She said she would do anything for Serena. We had literally seconds before they would be gone forever on the other side. She said she would be ready.
With every ounce of my strength I tackled Christophe’s back legs. He wasn’t expecting me and he pitched forward, losing his grip on Serena. At the same time, Eve appeared from her astral projection, and caught Serena before she hit the ground. Just before Christophe became aware of them, she cloaked them both and astral projected them again away to the center of the coven’s circle and the safety of their shelter and protection. Now, I had to dispatch Christophe.
Logan, Eden addressed me in mindspeak. We’re sending you all of our strength now to fight Christophe. You have the power to do it.
Logan, you have the power of ten men.
But how can I kill him? I asked her.
His power came from controlling those around him. Now that the other demons have been destroyed, like all dictators his power has been diminished. Each blow you land, weakens him further. Don’t let up on him, Logan, and you will be the victor. Just get him to the center of our circle! I raised my fists and began to pummel Christophe on the upper back and shoulders. He whirled and responded with punches of his own. He landed on my cheek and I thought madly, yeah, that’s gonna leave a mark. Then he reached for my left arm and twisted it. I thought it snapped, I wasn’t sure. That rattled me and I took a couple steps back to gather myself. He started to raise his arms and Prudence mindscreamed at me, Logan, don’t let him
raise his arms up! Don’t let him use magic! I couldn’t think of my pain now. I brought my right hand down hard on his forearm and he howled in pain. I followed that up quickly with a quick left to the side of his head. That glancing blow left him staggering in the direction of the coven circle. Just then the dogs ran in, teeth bared and growling. Charlie sank her teeth into his left leg and Zena bit down hard into his right. Sage jumped up and took a big bite out of his arm.
Yes, Logan, perfect. Get him closer to us now.
I didn’t even know which coven sister mindspoke to me, but I wasn’t about to disappoint. While Christophe was still unbalanced, I kicked him hard in the backside and he went down.
Eden was right. The more times I struck him, the weaker he seemed to be getting. Now, he crawled straight toward the witches, who had unclasped their hands and seemed to be opening the circle to receive him. Serena wasn’t in the center of the circle any longer. In fact, the center wasn’t there either. Instead, it had become a swirling black hole that resembled a giant, gaping black hole.
The hole had the same width as the circle of sister witches. It seemed to be bottomless and had a horrific stench coming from it, the decades of decay and death. And the sound was awful. The moaning and agonized screams of who-‐‑knew-‐‑what rose like steam and vapor from the yawning gateway.
Christophe crawled on his hands and knees, but now, having sensed his fate, had attempted to change direction. He shook off the dogs and I called to them so they wouldn’t get close to that hole. But Christophe would not get away from me. Oh no, magic man, I thought, not on my watch. I walked the short distance between him and me and stretched my hands out straight toward him. Beams of light shot from the fingertips of my hands and struck him as he lay on the sawdust floor of the barn. The shaft of light from my hands surrounded Christophe and lifted him from the floor. In a split second, he transported the rest of the way to the gaping black hole and amid his bloodcurdling protests, he was unceremoniously dropped in. Chillingly, screams echoed for a long time after. Moments after his voice finally faded away, the hole slowly closed up and after I blinked once, twice, three times, it was just a floor again, with no sign of the horror that lurked beneath it.
I ran to find Serena. I found her sitting on a feedbag next to Elizabeth, who had to hold her up with her arm around her.
“What happened, Logan?” She appeared groggy, like she had just awakened from a long nap.
“He’s gone, Serena. Christophe’s gone.”
She regarded me with wonder and awe in her eyes.
“He’s gone? You saved me?”
“I didn’t save you. We all did.”
“Oh, I beg to differ, young man.” Eden came up just then.
“That’s exactly what you did, Logan. And there is someone here who wants to thank you as well.” She stepped aside and a tall, blond man came into view.
“Skylar!” Serena stood up and threw her arms around the young man. They embraced and Serena stepped in to introduce us.
“Logan. Eden. Elizabeth. This is my brother, Skylar.”
Skylar reached his hand out to me first and I shook it.
“Where’ve you been, man? We were looking everywhere for you?” I had to know how we missed him this whole time.
“Christophe disguised me in the body of a demon. As soon as you destroyed him, his spell canceled and I changed back. Eden found me.”
“Well, you’re not hard to miss. You’re the spitting image of Serena.” And he was. It couldn’t have been more obvious they were twins.
“I’ll shake your hand first, Logan, because Serena told me how important you are to her.” I shot a look at Serena. How did he know that? I asked her in mindspeak. She didn’t answer, just gave me that, I’ll Explain Later look.
I gazed around at the barn. We sure had made a mess of things. Prudence and Raven and some of the others had already begun some of the cleanup. I wanted to go and check on my mom.
Serena seemed okay with Elizabeth and Skylar, so I went to find her. I was anxious to talk to Jade. I found them standing and talking with Aisling and Echo.
“Hey, Mom. Hey Jade.”
Jade jumped into my arms.
“Logan! Oh my spells! Thank you, thank you, and thank you. I knew you would save me, big brother. I kept telling Sully, don’t worry; Logan is going to come through. I mean, after I had to tell him about the whole, we’re all witches thing, he pretty much believed anything I would tell him. And you would think as long as you and he have been best friends it would have been easy for him to believe that one, but I had to convince him you were up to it. That’s weird, right. Hey, where is Sully anyway? Oh, there he is!” I gently put my little sister down and followed where she was pointing. Sully sat slumped against the front barn door, looking a little shell-‐‑shocked. Poor guy. I couldn’t blame him. I kissed my mom on the cheek, who said, “Go check on your friend, honey, we can talk later. I’m so proud of you. So proud.”
I walked over to Sully. He seemed so dazed he didn’t even notice me. I leaned down and clapped him gently on the shoulder
“Hey, Sul. How’s it going?”
Sully looked up sluggishly.
“Oh, hey, Logan. How you?”
He seemed to stare right through me. I waited till he made the cosmic connection. It took a minute, but he came back to me. He registered me and I watched fear, horror, and disbelief march across his face. Then I watched relief finally settle in his eyes.
“Is it over, Logan?”
“Yes.”
He sat silent for another minute.
“Are you a witch too?”
“It’s called warlock if you’re a male, but the short answer is yes, I am, I guess. In training.”
“I love her, you know. Your sister?”
“So I’m told.”
“You okay with that?”
“Yeah, I think I am.”
“Okay, then.”
“Okay.”
“Can we go home now, Logan? I miss my mom.”
“Yeah. We can go home.”
And we all did.
Chapter Thirty-‐‑Four
LOGAN
It had been a beautiful day for a wedding. Serena told me she had dreamed about this day and the day in her dream matched this exactly. The garden had been in bloom and both sides of the aisles were alive with the gorgeous colors of spring flowers. The sun shined brilliantly like that first day that I met Serena and her sisters at the school. The guests were packed in the pretty white folding chairs patiently waiting for their first glimpse of the bride. I couldn’t believe how many guests were attending! The whole town had come to the wedding. The groom’s side seemed jammed as the bride’s side, although, truthfully, the groom’s side magically had more seats than the bride’s.
And speaking of the bride, here she came. She had never been more beautiful. After all the planning, the dress shopping, the countless hours spent thumbing through the millions of bridal magazines, the final candidate dress had been narrowed down and in my humble opinion, to perfect choice.
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