“It has been several days, and you’ve given me nothing,” the voice roared. “Where is my witch, my shadowhunter? You disappoint me.”
Lucien tried to lift his head to look at the all-powerful entity he had pledged his soul to, but he couldn’t move against the force. “I sent your hellhound to find them. It shouldn’t be long now.”
Tammi Lee seemed to be struggling against the same weight Lucien was feeling. He saw her trembling as she tried to speak. “It would be much faster if you could tell us where to look.”
Blaise banged his massive staff into the floor. “The shadowhunter belongs to Morgan. I am unable to see or feel her. White witches are cloaked from my vision. Do you honestly think I’d be wasting my time with you three if I could handle this myself? Your incompetence is mind-boggling.”
“We’ll take care of it, Master. You have my word.” Lucien tasted the salt of his sweat coating his lips. Blaise’s power knew no bounds, and it was intoxicating. “We will not fail you.”
Blaise took a step toward him and apprehended him by the neck, lifting him off the ground. “If you fail me, your soul will be forsaken to a corner of Hell that even the most prolific poet could not dream into existence. The only thing you will be able to feel is the skin melting from your bones and demons devouring your scorched flesh.” Blaise released him and disappeared.
Lucien fell, pawing at his throat. He rolled over on his side, watching Tammi Lee and Dirk try to catch their breath. He crawled to the table and retrieved three bottles of water. He guzzled his, desperate to rid himself of the burning sensation deep in his lungs as the other two did the same.
Dirk forced himself up and leaned against one of the cabinets, wiping sweat from his forehead. “What’s the plan? I have a feeling Blaise won’t be so generous with us the next time he summons us.”
Lucien was pensively silent. He had an idea, but it meant placing Dirk in harm’s way. The father in him bristled at the thought, but the part of him who wanted to please Blaise overrode the instinct. “You’re going to reveal yourself as a dark witch.” He glanced between Dirk and Tammi Lee but saw no protest, so he continued. “This should turn their attention on trying to capture you in order to get information. If we can lure them out, we’ll be able to strike first.”
Tammi Lee squinted in his direction, seeming unconvinced. “And if we can’t?”
Dirk smashed the water bottle between his hands and tossed it over into the corner. “Then I’ll die.”
Lucien knew he should reassure Dirk but couldn’t find it in himself to do so. “Yes, then you’ll die.”
Lucien thought he might object, but when he didn’t, Lucien smiled with fatherly pride.
“My rally is at the end of the week,” Dirk said. “There will be a ton of television cameras, and I’ll make sure they get a glimpse of my tattoo. That should be enough to get them to come after me. Tammi, I need you to promote it on your podcast, say you’ll be there. They already think you and Lucien are linked; that should pique their interest enough.”
Tammi Lee tossed her empty water bottle into the same corner. “I think we should wait on the hellhound. I don’t want you to put yourself in danger.”
Lucien stood and hurried to a cloth bag sitting on a table in the corner. “There’s no time. We can’t afford any mistakes. We’ll go with Dirk’s idea.” He pulled a small necklace out of the front pouch and tossed it to Dirk. “Wear this, so I’ll be able to locate you.”
Tammi Lee put her hand on Lucien’s shoulder. “There has to be another way. Can’t I drop some sort of code on my podcast that will signify us?”
Lucien shrugged her off. “That will only work if they happen to be listening. We can’t chance it. We haven’t the luxury of time. This plan will yield the fastest results.”
“But Dirk—”
Lucien stopped her mid-sentence. “Dirk is a grown man, and he will do as he pleases. Need I remind you we are here to serve Blaise?”
Tammi Lee crossed her arms and shook her head.
“Then I don’t want to hear anything else about it.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing.” She shoved Dirk ahead of her and marched him out of the room.
Chapter Fourteen
Sarah stood in the courtyard behind Morgan’s house, studying the gray, cottony substance dangling from the tree canopying the yard. Spanish moss, they called it, but to her, it resembled untidy clumps of dust and seemed a more fitting adornment for the lair of a fiend. She couldn’t keep her limbs still, anticipating the lesson in harnessing their white witch powers set to begin momentarily.
As dusk spread its amber glow over New Orleans, Hazel practiced something called yoga, stretching off to the side along the fence, but Sarah’s eyes kept drifting back to Ayotunde, who was lovingly studying a monarch butterfly perched on her fingers. Her outfit, consisting of tight violet workout pants and an equally clingy T-shirt, emphasized the beautifully curvaceous body Sarah never knew she’d possessed, as it had always been ensconced under a dowdy frock. After a while, Sarah forced her eyes away, feeling the sting of shame at the way her body was responding to such a breathtaking sight.
Their instructor, a statuesque brunette with luminous green eyes, and curiously dressed in a breastplate of armor, was arranging crystals around a sculpted wooden owl on a table, her attention clearly engrossed in her task. Her graceful movements told of boundless assurance and physical strength, and she had an air of magnetism that seemed to draw in all of the energy around her.
Sipping a mint julep, Morgan sashayed through the curtains blowing around the open French doors and joined them outside. “Gather ’round, my sister necromancers. My dear friend Athena is now ready to commence your education.”
Hazel’s face lit up. “Athena, as in the Greek goddess of war strategy?”
Morgan and Athena exchanged condescending grins.
“I prefer the moniker Goddess of Wisdom, but what’s in a name, huh?” As Athena smiled, her triceps seemingly flexed of their own accord. “My talents are most often called upon to counsel in the avoidance of war. However, when war becomes inevitable, as it is in this case, I always assist the forces of good, like when I aided the Greeks in their thrashing of the Trojans.” She smiled reminiscently. “Good times.”
“It pays to have friends in high places,” Morgan said, chewing her straw. “Get it? High places?” She waited. “Mount Olympus? C’mon, nothing?”
Sarah shrugged, completely unaware of the reference.
Hazel smiled respectfully at Morgan. “Forgive me, but I’m a little slow on the uptake when standing before a mythological immortal hero I learned about in high school.” She turned to Athena. “But you’re not a witch. How would you know about our powers?”
“I’m freakin’ Zeus’s daughter,” Athena replied with a cocked eyebrow.
“Trust us, Hazel,” Morgan said. “We know what we’re doing. We each have centuries of combined experience in battle, not to mention a brief personal history.” She shot Athena a lusty grin that Athena happily returned.
“Oh, right. Okay. Sorry.” Hazel stood in place, shaking out her hands and feet. “I’m just a little nervous.”
“You should be more than a little nervous given what you’re all up against,” Morgan said. “Athena, I now leave my ingénues in your capable hands. Do with them as you wish.” She walked over to a swinging love seat and sprawled.
“All right,” Athena said as she marched in front of them making eye contact like a stern task master. “Hazel, Sarah, and Ayotunde, you each possess untapped capabilities that will enable you to become more powerful than you’ve ever imagined, agents of change in a world that, at present, is changing but not for the better. So tonight, we’re gonna tap them.” At that point, an owl flew onto her outstretched arm. “From what Morgan tells me, the entire realm of the white witch is in jeopardy right now, and if you fail at your mission, evil will win, and Earth will be locked in its stronghold for eternity. Hazel, I’m sure you’ve al
ready noticed the shift over the last couple of years.”
Hazel nodded with a frown.
“Sarah and Ayotunde, not to call you out or anything, but it was your scheme to save Sarah from the hangman’s noose that set all this in motion. Those insolent demons had been salivating for the chance to slip through a portal, and Sarah, you gave it to them.”
Hazel stepped forward. “Uh, my aunt is painfully aware of her role in this. There’s no need to time travel shame anyone here.”
Athena turned toward her with a mildly irritated look, and in sync with the slow rise of Athena’s hand, Hazel’s body levitated off the ground and floated back to her place in line.
Sarah placed a protective hand around Hazel’s shoulder and looked at Athena. “Aye, your grace. The fault indeed be mine, but I meant not to wreak such havoc upon my fellow man. And pray, please blame not Ayotunde. She, too, knew not of the consequences our scheme hath wrought.”
“I didn’t even know I could do it,” Ayotunde added. “I recited the incantations me mother taught me and then, na wa o! Poof! She be gone.”
“’Tis true,” Sarah said. “One moment I be withering in a cell, and the next, I wake on a bench in modern day Salem.” She finished with a shrug.
Athena stood with her mouth agape. “Some days I can totally empathize with my father for wanting to smite the whole lot of you,” she mumbled. “As I was saying, it is up to you and Morgan’s shadowhunter to banish these scourges, and the only way that’s happening is by you three understanding and mastering your powers. Ayotunde, please come hither.”
“Aye, ma’am.” She stepped forward, her head bowed, her toned arms glistening in the twilight.
“Look at me, Ayotunde,” Athena demanded. “The first thing you must learn is that you are a superior being. You are marked to become a voodoo high priestess, and you will bow down before no one ever again, mortal or otherwise.”
“Aye,” Ayotunde answered with a confidence Sarah had never before witnessed in her.
Sarah’s heart melted with pride to see Ayotunde’s posture grow erect and her head held high.
“You held a butterfly’s rapt attention earlier,” Athena said. “That creature hadn’t left your hand until your will freed it when Morgan called you all over. You have the power to charm, to compel things to your will.”
“Aye,” Sarah whispered to Ayotunde. “Your dancing poppets.”
“I never thought it be sorcery,” Ayotunde said. “I thought it be a trick my mother learned me.”
“Sorcery, trick, or voodoo, as they like to call it down here in the bayou,” Athena said. “Call it what you will, but it is an awesome power that you possess. You see my owl sitting upon the edge of the bird feeder?” Everyone’s head turned.
“I want you to compel Hazel to throw a rock at it.”
“What?” Hazel said. “I will not. That’s cruel.”
“Sarah, put a rock in Hazel’s hand,” Athena said.
“But I…” Sarah hesitated, disturbed by the direction this was taking.
“Do as I say, Sarah,” Athena said. She held Sarah back when she motioned toward the garden. “Not with your hand. Use your mind.”
Sarah stared at the rock, immobilized by fear and confusion. How was she to honor Athena’s command when she hadn’t the foggiest idea as to how to begin? “Your Excellency, I know not how to rein these powers you speak of. I am but a humble Christian.”
“Sarah, how did you invoke your powers at the arena?” Hazel said.
Sarah shook her head, agitated. “’Twas an impulse. There be no time for forethought when danger arose.”
“It’s within you, Sarah,” Athena said. “You must envision your will and then concentrate. You have to believe your will alone is as powerful as your physical body and is capable of moving that rock.”
Overwhelmed nearly to tears, Sarah focused on a rock the size of her fist in the garden. She stared at it until it was almost a blur and then imagined it lifting from the soil into the air and floating over to Hazel’s open hand.
“Oh my God,” Hazel whispered as it landed in her palm.
“Ayotunde,” Athena said. “Now compel Hazel to throw it at the owl; aim it right at the bird.”
Clearly upset by the command, Ayotunde looked between Athena and Hazel.
“Do it!” Athena shouted.
Ayotunde closed her eyes and acted out the motion of her arm winding up.
Hazel was visibly shaken. “Look. I know what you’re trying to illustrate here, but I categorically refuse to hurt…” Before she could complete her thought, she sent the stone rocketing toward the bird. It narrowly missed and pelted the feeder’s pedestal instead. “This is insane,” Hazel said, clearly astonished.
A smile crept across Athena’s face. “Excellent.”
Sarah stared at her own hands as if the answers she sought would somehow spring from her palms.
“As you all can see, Sarah’s power is telekinesis.”
Sarah shook her head in amazement. “I envisioned the rock floating toward Hazel, and thus, it floated.”
Morgan called out from the swing. “A rock is nothing, girl. You’ve already sent demons hurtling through the air.”
“I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” Hazel said. “If I didn’t already have a vague knowledge of my female ancestors, I’d swear I’d completely lost my mind.”
Athena flicked her hair off her shoulder. “That brings us to you, Hazel. Based on what Morgan’s told me, every time you’ve complained about it being too hot for October, a cool breeze kicked up; I’d say you possess the power to harness the weather.”
Sarah turned to Hazel excitedly. “The arena.”
Hazel said to Athena, “We both used these powers to fend off the demons that were attacking Raven, only we had no idea what we were doing.”
Athena opened her arms wide. “Hence, this training session. Now, Hazel, let’s see what happens when you deliberately manipulate the weather.”
Hazel looked around the courtyard with a puzzled expression. “Uh, hmm, okay. How about a little thunder and lightning?”
“Have at it,” Athena replied and took a step back.
Hazel closed her eyes, and her hands started to shake at her sides. A low rumble of thunder hummed in the distance.
“Make it stronger,” Athena said. “Louder.”
Hazel’s hands shook harder and began to slowly rise above her head. The sky above them sounded as though it had cracked wide open. Sarah and the others looked heavenward in amazement. Hazel then swung her arm down, and a bolt of lightning zapped a tree in the far end of Morgan’s courtyard, and it burst into flames.
Hazel’s jaw fell open, and she turned to Athena. “I can make lightning bolts just like your father.”
“You sure can,” she replied. “Except he can do it without setting a whole city on fire. You better drop some rain on that.”
“Oh crap. Okay.” Hazel waved her arms in a crisscross and the sky opened in a downpour over all of them.
“Just the tree, you boob,” Morgan called out from the swing.
“Ugh. I’m never gonna get this right,” Hazel said.
Sarah approached her with a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Your abilities do leave me in awe, Hazel. Destiny hath forged in you a most formidable witch. You need only hone your skill.”
Hazel smiled warmly at her. “Thank you, Aunt Sarah. Coming from you, that means a lot.”
“Good work, ladies,” Athena said. “Now that you understand your abilities, you must cultivate them, gain complete command of them to avoid any accidents that can occur when novices get overconfident. You think I was ready to roll that wooden horse full of Greeks into Troy the instant I popped out of Daddy’s head? Even I wasn’t that arrogant.”
“Amen to that,” Morgan said as she approached the group. “Hazel, I don’t think I have to remind you about that hurricane we had down here in aught-five. A young upstart I was training named Katrina got a little too cocky
for her corset, and before I knew it, voilà, the entire Ninth Ward was under water.”
“These powers are to be taken seriously,” Athena said. “They’re weapons intended to be used only to redress wrongs and defend the good. You must exercise the utmost wisdom and caution when you summon them, and for the goddesses’ sakes, do not unleash their full potential until you’ve sufficiently practiced and mastered wielding them.” She flashed Hazel a warning glare.
“How long will that take?” Hazel said. “It’s not like we have time on our side.”
“After we’re done here, take a walk over to Bourbon Street and engage in some field exercises with the drunks,” Athena said. “You can mess with them, and they won’t remember a thing. It worked like a talisman for Dionysus.”
“And, Sarah,” Morgan said gravely, “if anyone takes out a cell phone and tries to record any of you, you must divest them of it at once. We can’t get sloppy and end up all over the internet. This is a covert operation.”
Hazel exhaled deeply as she glanced at Sarah and Ayotunde. “Ready to do this?”
“Aye,” Sarah said and tried not to make too much of the look of apprehension on Hazel’s face. “May God be with us.”
As they exited the gate to the street, Sarah took Ayotunde’s hand, and they both seemed to relax as their fingers folded around each other’s.
* * *
With the rising full moon behind them, Hazel, Sarah, and Ayotunde walked down Canal Street headed toward Bourbon with Hazel taking the lead through the city. It was a noble attempt to shield poor Sarah and Ayotunde from the debauchery they would likely witness once they’d reached their destination, having barely recovered from learning the depth and implications of their powers and that Athena was a goddess in existence longer than the God. That way, she’d have a chance to warn them if a topless, intoxicated reveler came screeching toward them with strings of multicolored beads bouncing off her breasts.
As they walked, Hazel couldn’t help turning around and stealing glances at them since she’d noticed their connection during the training. It was obvious they were into each other and so adorable the way they looked at each other: the awe, the pride, and the yearning. Now they were walking so close together, they could’ve been inside the same pair of pants. Hazel had so many questions. She knew Sarah had a husband, but all that meant was their attraction to each other was more dangerously complex. Had their love affair dated back to the colonial days, or was it only blossoming now? If it was the former, it certainly explained their desire to escape to an era in which they would be free to love each other. Whatever the case, their bond filled Hazel’s heart with warmth and feeling for Raven, whom she was currently missing to an alarming degree.
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