So are we.
I whipped my head around to see who spoke. No one stood there. Eden and Prudence were monitoring the action outside the sliding glass door and busying themselves in the kitchen. Raven wasn’t in sight, which meant she wasn’t in the kitchen area. Slowly, and deliberately, I lowered my head and rubbed my hands on my belly.
Okay, was that one of you in there?
Yes, mommy.
I gripped the edge of the sofa and tried not to appear in the middle of a heart attack. Everyone else in the room seemed far to preoccupied with what was going on outside anyway.
Okay, I should have asked you this before…how? You’re not even born yet.
Sorry mommy. We’re warlocks. We’re different than most babies. We’re evolved.
Okay, that’s an understatement. I should have figured warlock babies would be completely different than regular babies.
It’s not a bad thing, mommy.
Hey! Nothing about you two is ever going to be a bad thing. I love you both, you got that? You are the best thing I ever did, along with falling in love with your daddy. If you’re warlocks, whatever, so what? I’m a witch, move on. One thing I can tell you, your parents are going to love you more than any other parents in the world.
We love you too, Mommy. We are excited to meet you!
Yeah, well, don’t get all jacked up about that. I’m a little freaked out myself.
It’ll be okay, Mommy. We know it already.
Really?
Yes, mommy. You’ll be great. I smiled, lost in the thoughts of my unborn sons.
“Jade? Are you okay?” I jerked around to see Serena standing above me. I hadn’t realized it, but my private conversation with my unborn twins had caused me to curl myself up on the little sofa and turn away into the arm, as though I were trying to bury myself into the cushions. I un-pretzled myself and straightened out in a hurry.
“I’m fine. Just practicing some calming birthing techniques we learned in class.” Serena looked completely doubtful, so I closed my eyes and gave her a couple deep breaths and some panting. Peeking through slitted eyes, it appeared she bought the story.
“Well, we have to get outside to see Logan and Skylar, so Eden and I just wanted to make sure you’ll be okay here. I promise you, we’ll get to Sully. We will.”
I grabbed her arm. “Serena, listen to me.” She stopped and stared right at me. I knew I had her attention. “I know you and the coven sisters always do whatever you have to, but you have to fight doubly hard today, for me. Sully may not be a warlock or have powers or anything, but Serena, he’s my husband.” I stumbled over my words, not sure if I could convey to her how much that man meant to me. “Without him, I’m just Jade, Logan’s sister and Lily’s daughter and your friend, right? But with him, I’m his wife, and I’ll be the mother of his twins, and—they’ll be the most amazing boys, Serena, you can’t even imagine it.” I smiled, knowing my boys could hear me. “With Sully, Serena, I’m everything I can be and more. Because of him. He makes me more than I am. Please, save him. Okay?”
Serena brought up both her hands and cupped my head in them. Gazing down at me, she said only one word. “Okay.”
Just like that, I knew she would protect Sully with the same intensity and fierceness that she protected Logan. And in that moment she stopped being just a sister-in-law to be, and she became a sister.
She and the rest of my coven sisters left through the sliding glass door, leaving Sage to stand guard for me behind them. Watching after them, I could hear my boys through my tears.
Good luck Auntie!
Chapter Forty-four
LOGAN
The patio door opened and I whipped my head around to see Serena and Eden standing in the opening. Something had changed. I could see it in Serena’s eyes. Something had happened since she’d told me Jade had gone into in labor and left me. And it sure had nothing to do with babies.
With barely a nod in their direction, the coven sisters seemed to feel it too. No words were spoken, yet they moved quickly to form their coven circle again. All eleven of them, missing only Jade, and my mother and Elizabeth, who were still in the clutches of the freaky green trolls, grabbed each other’s hands and raised them high into the sky. Once again, I’d been taken with the incredible beauty of the witches, all different shapes and sizes, their hair hanging long and loose down their backs, their colorful clothes beginning to whip around in the increasing wind.
Christophe seemed to take notice of the change, too. Furious at the synchronized motion of the coven witches, he seemed determined not to be beaten again. He scrambled for his own response to the supernatural sirens. Raising his own arms heavenward, he shook his fists at the clouds and in answer, hundreds of shards of lightning showered down from the patches of haze headed straight for the back yard. In an instant, the strung lights and candles extinguished and the patio plunged into darkness.
This seemed to please Christophe. Even in the dark, I could see him puff up, taking perverse pleasure in his stupid parlor trick.
Didn’t he remember who he dealt with? In the blink of an eye, Serena knew what to do and she chose her weapon well, giving a nod in Gypsy’s direction.
Skylar’s girlfriend unleashed her considerable talents on Christophe’s puny little fireworks. Gypsy dropped hands with her sisters and moved into the center of the circle. She bowed her head and appeared to be muttering. With startling suddenness, she whipped her head up and her hair flew back, flinging sparks into the air! Each spark traveled up and met the end of every single lightning slice released by Christophe and singed it until it fizzled to the ground in a pathetic pile of ash.
But Christophe threw another huge fireball in our direction, only when it exploded, not far from the protected witches’ circle, dozens of snakes slithered out, writhing and wrapping their bodies around the feet and legs of the coven sisters. To their credit, the coven never broke the circle, and most never even looked down. Several fat snakes made their way to where I stood with Skylar and Declan and my dad.
Immediately, we started stomping their bodies, managing to get some of them. But, it became bloody, messy work. And Serena knew a better way.
“Raven! Sister, call your friends!”
Without hesitation, Raven stepped forward, more than prepared to do her part to defeat the beast. Standing in the center of the circle, she began to hum, then she raised her hands, encouraging her sisters to do the same. Soon, a tremendous song rose up from the women, heard above even the howling winds. There could then be heard a rustling in the trees that previously held only the colorful strung lights for a baby shower.
With a great shudder, the trees spewed forth hundreds upon hundreds of birds. They chattered and screamed as they descended upon the patio and swooped down, attacking the snakes , scooping them up, stripping them off of the coven sisters’ legs and ankles, and carrying them away into the night, wriggling and writhing, but never breaking free of the tight grip of a clamped beak.
A growing thumping sound to our right caught our attention next. We could see coming from the shadows a dark shape without form or texture. Pitter patter sounds that grew in volume had me perplexed as to the origin until the shape came into focus. Rats. Dozens of them. At first I was afraid Christophe had called for more of the nasty rodents like the kind that fell from the sky or that might burst into a bunch of sick evil followers. Then I noticed that they were snapping their sharp little teeth down on the remaining hissing serpents still winding around the tiles and realized Raven was commanding them.
“Awesome!” I couldn’t help myself. These witches were that good!
Skylar stood next to me with his mouth open. “Seriously? They don’t need us at all, do they?”
My dad didn’t agree. “I think they do. The best way to infiltrate the enemy is with the element of surprise, right? Well, I have a plan. Listen.”
My dad, Declan and Skylar and I huddled together, football-style. After I heard what my dad had been thinking, I ha
d to admit, it had the makings of a pretty good plan. And we only needed the help of one of the coven sisters. I got Cordelia’s attention, told her the plan and she knew exactly what we wanted her to do.
It would unfold quickly. The rodents and snakes were almost gone and I knew Christophe would get tired of the magic show and get serious with Elizabeth and my mom soon. We had to act fast.
I gave Cordelia the signal and she began. She stepped to the side of the circle and with the other women as her cover, she shape-shifted into one of the green trolls Christophe brought with him. At the same time, Skylar, my dad and I rushed the one that had a hold of Sully. We grappled with it, hard. The slimy freak did have incredible strength, but it proved no match for the three of us, plus Sully. When we had overcome it, Declan reached over us and snapped its neck. It was a harsh, final sound, but I recovered fast. In a flash Cordelia disguised herself as the troll, stepped in and took its place and I cloaked the dead body and flung it to the side.
I ran over to my best friend and hissed in his ear. “Sully, this is Cordelia. Play along!” Thank heaven, being around so many witches for so long, he didn’t ask any questions. He stopped fighting. Now, for the second part of the plan. Declan, my dad and I bunched up together behind Cordelia and Sully and cloaked ourselves. We could only hope no one watched. I mindjumped Serena and told her the plan.
Oh my spells, Logan. It’s so risky! Are you sure it will work?
It has to work. Besides, we’ve already started. There’s no turning back now. Have I ever let you down before?
I marveled over how confident I sounded. I had no idea at all if this would work the way I envisioned it, the way I thought my dad and Declan saw it going down. I sounded so sure of myself, even cocky about it. As long as I breathed air, Christophe would never be a threat to anyone I loved again, not my sister, my mother, not these coven sisters of mine, and never again to the girl I loved, this woman-witch I would marry. I scanned the patio, searching the destroyed back yard to find the love of my life. My gaze settled upon her, commanding the head of her powerful magic circle. I locked eyes with her and spoke to her in my head.
It’s party time, Baby.
Chapter Forty-five
LOGAN
Partially hidden by the shape-shifted form of Cordelia restraining a compliant, but pretending-to-be-struggling Sully, Declan, my dad and I were obscured as Cordelia stealthily inched closer to the troll that held the inert forms of my mom and Elizabeth. As we closed the distance, the coven sisters began to create the disturbance that would redirect Christophe’s attention away from us.
On cue, Gypsy broke from the circle and began to rub her hands together. An orange glow emanated from her fingers and as she thrust her arms in the air, small round fireballs danced from the tips and started to zoom around the sky just above Christophe and the trolls. As if being controlled by Gypsy, the fiery lights dipped and dived like whirling fireflies, causing Christophe and his half-pint minions to bat at them, annoying him and beginning the diversion we had hoped for.
At the same time, Raven stepped out of the circle and clapped her hands, six times, loudly. From the grounds near the trees and shrubs came a syncopated croaking sound and in seconds the patio, the tile floor, and the yard was covered with the nubby brown bodies of warty toads, all singing a croaky symphony, heard even above the rising winds and whooshing flames of the fireballs.
I looked out from behind my position hidden behind Cordelia and Sully to see how Christophe could be taking in all of this additional disturbance. Did we have him off balance yet? With frogs and firebombs, it appeared Christophe didn’t know where to look next. And the amazing coven sisters weren’t done yet. Aisling and Echo danced forward into the circle.
The twin witches reached into their pockets and brought out their magic dust. They sprinkled it into the air, spreading it over the witches circle and covering them in a glittering, pinkish hue. When it came into contact with Gypsy’s fire circles, rather than extinguish them, each time the dust passed through the flame, a great blaze emitted and sparked like a firecracker. The dark sky repeatedly lit up like a fourth of July picnic. Christophe and the troll’s attentions were completely diverted away from the troll that had a firm grip on Elizabeth and my mom. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
Cordelia covered the final steps between her and the other troll and we inched forward with her, safely covered up by the cloaking device. With Christophe still preoccupied, Declan struck. He reached behind the real troll and with a swift and brutal wrench, snapped his neck as neatly as he had the other one. Sully lunged forward and scooped Mom and Elizabeth out of his arms before the troll dropped them and whisked them away to the safety of the circle. Before I could blink, the coven sisters clasped hands once again and enclosed both of them in their protective ring.
“No!” Christophe’s thunderous voice could be heard well above the noise of the wind and the amphibians and everything else. He twirled around, his cape whipping and billowing in the wind, his anger and rage evident on his reddening face. With a roar born from deep within his fury, he clenched his hands into fists and thrust them into the sides of his own head. With an inhuman shriek, he dropped to his knees and fixed his gaze off into the distance, far beyond the witches circle. I communicated rapidly with Serena.
What’s he doing?
I don’t know. I can’t get a read on him. He’s blocking.
Eden joined us. He’s decided upon reinforcements. This is the moment we have been training for. Serena, are you ready?
Yes, Eden. I am ready.
Sisters, this is it. Prepare yourselves.
And as I listened in, I heard every single one of the coven sisters respond to Eden, almost as though she were calling a silent roll call.
From Finola: Ready and waiting, Eden.
From Cordelia: I may look like a troll, but I am here, Eden.
From Prudence: This is just what I saw in a vision! I’m here and ready, Eden!
From Raven: The animals and I are ready, Eden.
From Aisling and Echo: Ready to fight! With all of our might!
From Eve: I’ll project wherever you need me, Eden.
From Libby and Rochelle: We can be ready to take flight when you and Serena say the word, Eden.
From Gypsy: I’ve got the fires of hell waiting for him, Eden.
Even Tabitha responded. I’ve been practicing, Eden. I can help too.
And from inside the house, we all heard my sister. Kick his butt, Sisters!
Eden hesitated. There seemed to be one more thing she wanted to do. Gentlemen, please join us in the circle. Logan, you, your father, Declan and Skylar. You all belong here as well. You have just proven you belong here. Our Yes Ma’am was unanimous.
We got into position and turned our attention to Christophe. He still knelt on the ground, with his fists ground into his temples, as if he were concentrating with great intensity. A massive tearing sound assaulted our ears, as if the very fabric of the world was being torn in half. I knew that sound. It struck a chord of fear and terror in me so deep it momentarily cemented me where I crouched.
I trained my eyes where Christophe stared, certain of what I would find. Sure enough, in the distance it seemed as though my vision blurred, but I knew better. I watched intently and suddenly what I saw came into focus; the air rippled and separated, coming apart at an invisible seam, forming a jagged edge with torn threads of atmosphere hanging loosely, like a shredded and tattered tea towel. From the gaping wound left behind poured dozens of the creepy, stubby trolls, with their scabby patches of hair, overgrown claws and green tinted skin. But they differed from the pair Christophe had brought with him, and the ones whose necks we had already snapped. These new ones, tumbling out of the gash in the air so plentiful, resembling cockroaches scurrying from the light, had pointy, sharp teeth, so sharp I could see the tips of them glinting in the night. And they were fast!
I jerked my head backward to make sure the coven sisters were see
ing the same thing as me. They had, and as they swore they would be, they were ready.
My dad grabbed my hand and I grabbed Skylar’s and we moved to join the coven. The sisters welcomed us into the circle seamlessly. My dad and Declan jumped in next to Raven and Prudence who smoothly inserted them into the ring with smiles and nods. Skylar, of course, slipped in with Gypsy. I stepped next to Eden and my amazing fiancée. Eden slipped her hand in mine and squeezed it tightly. Serena’s hand found my other one and did the same thing. She and I exchanged one final look of love and determination. I knew we were ready. I could feel the hope and strength and sheer empowerment coursing around the circle, witch to witch, sister to sister, father to son, brother to brother, traveling through the clasped hands, growing stronger and more impervious with each rotation.
Serena raised her arms up high and we followed suit. As we did the winds increased and whipped clothing and hair and created a spectacular sight. Serena shouted to be heard above the rising volume.
“Okay, twins, this is all you now!”
Aisling and Echo broke from the circle and stood at the center. They held hands and never looked more alike than they did right then. I wondered what they could have in store, and then it came to me. They were spell-casters! Just as I had this revelation, they began chanting in their eerily similar voices:
“Great Fire, Bountiful Earth, Kind Wind and Gentle Water,
Hear this call from your Spirited Daughters!
Help us, O Nature, to return to your Earth,
The evil one fleeing and asking rebirth!
With our hearts filled with wanting, our souls with desire
Rescind this dark demon to your pit gorged with fire!
Aide us, Sweet Nature, and grant us this spell,
Take back your demon, take him back to his hell!”
Spellbound 2 - Everspell Page 20