by Gina LaManna
“Don’t call me that.”
“It’s impossible to deny. You and I, we share DNA.”
“That’s all we’ll ever be—shared DNA,” I said, catching a glimpse of Poppy out of the corner of my eye. “That doesn’t make a family.”
He caught my glance toward Poppy and nodded in understanding. “Here’s my proposal. I’ll let them through, but you stay with me.”
“I’ll stay with you, but you’ll have to kill me before I ever agree to join you.”
We were close enough that our voices could just be heard over the roar of the wind, but neither Jonathon nor Manuel had spotted Lucian yet. They’d focused all their attention on Poppy, pulling her behind the trees.
“Here they are,” Lucian said, stepping into the shadows and out of sight from Jonathon. “I’ll let you make your choice. I will wait out of sight, so the others don’t have to see me. But if you disobey me, I will make my presence known.”
My mouth snapped shut as I watched my father melt into the shadows. At the last second, I jumped to attention and hurried to help Manuel with Poppy.
“Let’s get her through,” I said, trying to be nonchalant—hoping it’d be enough to distract the rest of the group from the shadowy figure lingering just behind the trees. “The vial’s almost out.”
Manuel nodded, clambering toward the opening in the curse. Nobody looked back; an air of excitement had hit with the thought that maybe we’d all make it out alive.
“Poppy first,” I instructed. “Manuel, you follow her.”
“But—” Manuel glanced at me.
“Go to Sophie,” I said. “Thank her for helping us.”
Jonathon leaned closer to me as Manuel climbed through just after Poppy. “That sounded like a goodbye.”
“Nope,” I said, pursing my lips. “You go next because I have to close the curse.”
He glanced over my shoulder. I tried to block his view, but it didn’t work. Jonathon looked at me in confusion as he caught sight of the shadowy figure behind the trees.
“Lily!” His eyes grew in understanding at what I’d planned to do, but it was too late.
“I’m sorry,” I said, just as I bit my lip and shoved him with all my might, sending Jonathon through the opening and beyond Wishery.
“Very good,” Lucian said, stepping out of the darkness. “Now, close the vial.”
I glanced down at the antidote, now puffing little clouds of smoke. It had less than ten seconds on it. I debated for a second, diving through the opening, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t risk it for their sakes. If Belinda had done as I’d asked, wishing upon a star, it might appear on Lizzie’s radar and the MAGIC, Inc. folks would surely rescue them.
Reaching for the cap, I picked up the vial, but before my fingers grazed it, an arm shot through the opening and yanked. I began to tumble head first, skidding into the grass on the other side as my eyes made contact with Jonathon’s.
The opening in the curse began to close, shrinking rapidly. Manuel reached for me and pulled me, dragging me away from Wishery and into the fields beyond the curse. I screamed as a spell shot through, expanding the hole for one last minute.
It hit Jonathon in the chest, and he cried out, no longer safe underneath the dome of blackness. The spell that’d both kept him captive and protected him from physical harm ceased to exist outside of Wishery.
Crumbling forward, he landed on his knees as the spell pulled him forward.
I yelled out, reaching for him as Manuel lunged, too, but we were too far away. Jonathon, eyes blank and unseeing, fell toward the rapidly closing portal, his breathing halted.
I had a snap decision to make my move. Now or never, and I choose now.
Closing my eyes, I concentrated and reached for the black magic circling the city. I’d spent so much time studying the darkness that I’d become strangely in tune with it. As I could manipulate potions, I discovered, so could I manipulate their evil counterparts.
Channeling a pillar of black smoke, I sent it spiraling past Jonathon and directly at Lucian. His eyes widened, seeing the attack, his hands too full with Jonathon to deflect it. The curse bowled into his shoulder, a neat, sharp little spiral that burned through his flesh and pulled a scream from him that shattered a piece of myself. He crumpled to his knees, too weak to fight back.
Do Good. That was my one task as the Mixologist.
No matter what Lucian had done, it didn’t matter.
I’d broken my promise. I’d caused harm.
From Lucian’s perch on the ground, his eyes turned black, smoky with the curse that’d permeated his body. He lashed out one final time, sending poison green flames to lick the edges of the portal.
Manuel yelped, forced to pull back. By the time I’d unfrozen and lunged to help, the flames were too strong, the opening too small. We’d failed.
As the portal shrunk, Jonathon’s eyes met mine, a reluctant smile frozen on his face as he knelt at the feet of my father.
Then, with a final pop, the curse sealed.
Wishery had closed once again.
Chapter 33
THEY PUT ME IN A ROOM to wait.
So, I waited, hands curled into my lap for what felt like hours.
Finally, the door to the sterile conference room burst open and Ranger X appeared there, his hair a mess, his clothes more rugged in appearance than usual. His breath came out a gasp.
“Lily.”
I opened my mouth to greet him, but only a sigh escaped. With a concerned expression, he glanced over his shoulder at Ainsley, who’d opened the door for him. She nodded.
X crossed the room in three steps, pulling me from my chair and crushing me into a hug. He nuzzled his head to my neck, and I’m certain my feet left the floor as his arms crunched the wind from my lungs.
“What happened?” he demanded, as Ainsley quietly backed out of the room and closed the door. “I’m so sorry we didn’t arrive sooner; I knew something was wrong when you weren’t at the bungalow, but…”
“Lucian came to visit me,” I said, gritting my teeth. “It wasn’t the family reunion I’d dreamed of.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“I’m fine, but others aren’t. People were left behind in Wishery,” I said. “We have to go back.”
“Ainsley told me you rescued eight people.”
“Sure. But how many are still waiting?”
A glimmer of dismay flickered in X’s eyes. “You are safe. That’s what’s most important.”
A burst of fury rose inside me, and I stepped back from him, my hands balled into tight little fists. “How can you say that?! I still failed. You know it, too. If the situation were reversed, you would be saying the same thing.”
Despite the heated reaction, my stomach plummeted as I looked up into those eyes, the expression that’d shown me the meaning of falling for another, of getting lost in a gaze so deeply I didn’t care to look away.
I saw in his expression a pain there, a worry that sliced deeper through him than anything he’d felt before; I could say this with confidence because I knew, had the situation been reversed, that I would’ve felt the exact same way. It was only this knowledge that eased the fire skimming through my veins.
Subdued, I reached a hand out and rested it on his chest, over the heart that had taught me to love, to love so strongly it pained me to see him hurt. Then I stepped into the arms that’d taught me to trust, to lean on another when the world on my shoulders became too heavy to bear alone.
My cheek pressed into his chest, and his hands stroked my hair. My arms circled his back, held him close. My nails dug into his skin as I clawed at him. He didn’t say anything, not a sound, as I let a silent stream of tears wet his chest.
Everything—the adrenaline, the complications, the discoveries—was too much. I crumbled against him, every piece shattering as he carefully, gently, gathered me back together.
“Come here, sweetheart.” He sat on a black armchair in the corner of the room, and pulled me
onto his lap.
My arms looped over his neck, and I leaned my face against his forehead as I curled in close. “I’m sorry. I love you, and I’m sorry about everything else.”
“I’ve been so worried about you. I’ve been going insane trying to get you back, and nothing seemed to be working.”
“I’m back, I’m okay,” I whispered. “I promise; I’m here now.”
“What if you hadn’t come back?” He asked this with a tentative hitch in his voice, a tender turn of words. “What then, Lily? How could I have gone on without you?”
“You don’t have to,” I said, running a hand over his back. “I am fine.”
“But without you…” Ranger X’s hands came up to my shoulders, pulling me far enough back for him to study me, to drink in my features as if he’d thirsted for this moment. “I don’t know how to be without you.”
Cupping his chin in my palm, I brought his face to mine and kissed him. His lips met mine, sweet and sure, as his hands trailed over my body. My hips, my legs, my back.
“Lily,” he said. “I’ve been thinking, and—”
At that moment, Ainsley re-opened the door, studied our position—too close for innocence—and apologized. “I’m really sorry, Lily,” she said. “But someone’s here to see you.”
“I’m sorry,” I said to X. “Can we finish this later?”
Struggling to get ahold of his expression, he gave a nod that wasn’t entirely convincing.
Neither of us had a choice to continue the conversation, however, because at that moment, a thump against the floor signaled Gus’s arrival. “I thought you said ten minutes would be long enough,” he groaned, his face turning red as he stepped through the door. “They’re still going at it.”
“Give them some space,” Hettie whispered to Gus, as if we couldn’t hear them in the doorway to the conference room. “We’ll come back when you’re ready.”
“Come in,” I said on a sigh. “Consider the moment ruined.”
Hettie shuffled in first, her gray hair showing hints of teal today. The purple tracksuit was back, and her shimmering sequins made a tittering sound as they brushed against Gus’s cane when she pushed into the room.
“It’s great to see you, Lily,” my grandmother said, sounding proud. “I knew you’d get out of there; that’s the West Isle Witch blood in you working its magic. And stubbornness. But why on earth are you dressed like that?”
“How do I put this…” I squinted. “Imagine if Cinderella lost both of her shoes, confronted a curse, and spent the night running through an abandoned town. That’s why I’m dressed like this.”
Behind Gus came Ainsley, and then Harpin. I surveyed the crowd with confusion, then turned a questioning glance on X. “Why is everyone here?” I asked. “I don’t understand.”
Hettie spoke first. “I called a meeting of The Core once you’d been confirmed missing.”
“After the way I left things?” I frowned. “I didn’t exactly leave the last meeting on a positive note.”
“You had a reason for storming out,” Hettie continued. “We were acting irresponsible and selfish, and for that, we’re sorry.”
Gus nodded in agreement.
“But,” Hettie continued. “We’d never let one of our own disappear without fighting to bring him or her back.”
“By the time we’d formulated any sort of plan,” Ainsley said, “Lizzie had received a Wish Alert asking from help at Wishery’s borders. Seems you broke free without us.”
Hettie offered a grin. “That’s my granddaughter.”
“Yet you’re still here,” I said, sensing there was something they’d still not told me. I glanced around the group, none of them offering an explanation. Finally, it dawned on me. “You want to go back.”
Hettie raised a finger. “We know you want to go back, and we’re not letting you go at it alone.”
“But—”
“We’re a team,” Hettie said, sounding more stern than usual. “And it’s useless to argue. If you go back, we all go back.”
Ranger X grimaced. “I don’t like this idea. I don’t think we should put Lily back in harm’s way when she’s just escaped. It’s too risky.”
“I’m sorry,” Ainsley said, sounding truly apologetic. “But there’s no other way. We need Lily to break the magic surrounding the castle. Gus, did you bring everything she’ll need?”
Gus nodded. “The ingredients are being held in the lab.”
“All the supplies?” I asked, then listed them off one by one. “Especially the silver?”
“All of it,” Gus confirmed. “It’s prepped and ready to be Mixed, which you can do on location.”
“At least give her some time to recover,” X argued, cinching me closer to his side. “She hasn’t even caught her breath.”
“I’m fine,” I said. “The others, the ones still trapped in Wishery, are far worse off than me.”
“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t of the utmost importance,” Ainsley said, almost pleading as she focused her attention on X. “But the clock is ticking. We need to disperse the magic if we have any hopes of catching Lucian and his crew in the act.”
“And Liam,” I said.
Ranger X frowned, then faced me. “Liam?”
“He was at the gala,” I whispered. “He seemed to be friends with my father.”
Ranger X digested this, but eventually shook his head. “Impossible.”
“I thought so too, but he was there and surprised to see me.”
“Liam?!” Hettie crossed her arms. “What else have we missed?”
I took a brief moment to give the group a condensed version of my stay at the castle. I included everything, including Poppy’s lack of memory. “Peter’s still there,” I added. “And Jonathon.”
“And if we wait any longer,” Ainsley said, “there’s no telling what they might do. Our only hope is returning now and capitalizing on the pandemonium.”
“You would do it for your men,” I said, squeezing X’s hand. “I’m not leaving anyone behind if I can help it.”
“The only way to properly do this as a group is to vote.” Hettie stepped into the center of the room and raised a hand. “All those who think we should follow Ainsley into battle, say aye.”
“I didn’t say battle,” Ainsley said. “But aye.”
I raised a hand, as did Gus. Harpin frowned, then raised his, too.
Eventually, all eyes turned to X. He rubbed his hand over his forehead, then added his hand to the raised pile. “Aye.”
“Unanimous,” Ainsley said with a tight smile. “Fabulous. Let me find us some brooms, and we’ll be on our way.”
“You”—X reached for my arm and pulled me close— “are staying next to me. Until this is over, you’re not to leave my sight. Understood?”
“It’d be my pleasure to stand next to you,” I said, sidling up beside him. “But don’t think you get to tell me what to do.”
“That’s right,” Hettie said. “Happy wife, happy life!”
X and I stopped dead in our tracks and turned to stare at Hettie. She covered her mouth with her hand, then turned and left the room with red cheeks.
“She didn’t mean anything by it,” I said after a pause.
At that moment, Gus re-entered the room with his arms full of vials and sacks brimming with supplies and spared us from further discomfort.
“Is this everything?” Gus asked. The rest of the ingredients were tucked into a series of vials fitted tightly into a suitcase. “I tried to travel light, but these ingredients are damn heavy.”
“Looks good,” I said to Gus, still distracted.
“Here are the sticks,” Ainsley said, returning to pass out brooms. “Our plan is to fly to Wishery, set up shop so Lily can disperse the antidote, and then swoop in to free the prisoners. Anything—or anyone—else is extra.”
All of us climbed to the flight deck and perched over the brooms as we stared out beyond the ledge, looking down at the miniature civilizati
on below.
“It’s nice to be back in business,” Hettie said with a broad smile at the lineup of Core members. “I missed this group. And my broomstick. Remind me file a petition to allow these bad boys back onto The Isle.”
“And now,” Ainsley said, a grim set to her smile. “We fly.”
Chapter 34
WE LANDED SOME THIRTY minutes later outside of Wishery city limits, stopping behind a well-covered, tree-lined street belonging to the humans.
The black cloud spiraled in front of us, angrier than ever, whipping so loudly it was difficult to speak. My dress fluttered around my ankles as we reached the place where we’d take a stand.
“Ready?” X asked. “You’re up, Lily.”
Kneeling, my hands fluttered over the ingredients, gathering and Mixing them until I’d filled several beakers. The Core stood around me in a tightly wound circle.
“I’m going to Mix more as we go,” I said. “I think we should get started. This won’t destroy the curse, but it’ll dent it enough for us to get a view of what’s happening inside. By the time they realize we’re here, I’ll have punctured enough holes to make the curse a sieve.”
“I don’t think that’s the best route—” Harpin began, but was silenced by X’s glare.
“You heard her,” X said. “We’re going with Lily’s plan. Everyone ready?”
We’d carried the broomsticks with us, and one by one, we mounted them, rising into the air and keeping the circle intact. The potion had been dispersed, one vial to each person. I had more ingredients to Mix, but that would have to come later.
“It will hit the curse harder if we drop these at different locations. Harpin and Ainsley, you two take the far side. Hettie and X take the middle. Gus and I will stay here, so we can use this up and create more.”
X nodded. “After we release the potions, then what?”
“Return here, so I can distribute the next round. The first opening large enough to fly through, let the rest of us know,” I said, meeting everyone’s gaze in turn. “Nobody’s going in alone.”
“On the count of ten,” Hettie began. “Ten…”
The broomsticks began to separate as everyone spread to their posts. We each counted in our heads until the clock wound down to one.