by Vicki Leigh
“Fuck you. Get out of her head.”
Kayla’s mouth made a tsk tsk sound. “Daniel, don’t you know by now that I always get what I want? If you fail me, you will watch her die. Let me give you a preview.”
Again, Kayla’s face twisted into agony, and she screamed, her nails burrowing deeper into my skin.
“Stop!” I yelled, bile rising in my throat. But Kayla’s volume increased. “All right. You have my word. Stop!”
“What?” Nolan interjected.
I shot him a glare. Shut up.
Kayla continued to thrash and shriek. Thick veins were visible through the skin on her neck and forehead. Rivulets of blood rolled down my arms from where her nails dug in.
I shook my head. “Richard, please. Sunset tomorrow. I promise. Just tell me where.” My throat burned, and my voice shook. I couldn’t lose Kayla. I couldn’t. I’d do whatever I had to.
Kayla’s cries diminished, and the lines in her face softened, a soft sheen of sweat covering her forehead. Her eyes glared into mine again. “Garnant—where it all began.”
Wales, I told Nolan.
“How do I find you?” I asked Richard.
A devilish grin split her face. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
Her eyes rolled into her head, and a violent seizure overtook her body.
“Richard, let her go!” By now, I stared at her through blurred eyes. Her lids snapped closed, and her body stilled.
My heart stopped.
I pressed my fingers to her neck. No pulse. “No, no, no. Kayla, baby, please, come back to me.”
“Jesus,” Nolan whispered.
I looked at him, barely able to breathe. This couldn’t be happening. He wasn’t supposed to kill her; I’d agreed to his terms.
Kayla gasped and sat up with a shout, swinging her arms as if she were batting away an attacker.
I grabbed her wrists and let out a loud breath. “Hey, it’s me, love. You’re safe.”
Her irises turned to their beautiful shade of hazel as her pupils widened, locking on me. She exploded into tears. “Oh my God,” she said between cries. “Daniel, you’re alive. But I thought… I thought—”
I gathered her in my arms. “It was a nightmare. Just a nightmare.”
Nolan sat back on his bum, dropping his face into his palms.
I rocked Kayla, arms tight around her, trying to calm her trembling. I squeezed my eyes closed. I’d been so close to losing her. Would Richard really have killed her if I’d kept saying no? I dropped my face into her hair, afraid to let go.
For a couple minutes, the three of us sat there. I shut my thoughts off and focused on the sound of her breathing, my pulse slowing to normal as her sobs waned.
“Where are we?” she asked, pushing herself gently out of my hold. I flinched at the chill her absence left.
“The cabin’s down the mountain a little way,” I replied. “We’re safe.”
Her face scrunched. “But, how—”
“You were sleepwalking,” Nolan answered, and Kayla jumped. I rubbed her arm as the last bits of tension left her shoulders.
“Sleepwalkers don’t dream. Weavers can’t usually follow them around,” I corrected Nolan.
“Okay, Mr. Smarty Pants, but she was dreaming and walking.”
“She was in a trance.”
“Wait, what?” she interrupted us.
Bollocks. I was going to tell her the truth with a little more tact.
I sighed. “You weren’t just having a nightmare. Your dad sort of… possessed you.”
Kayla’s face took on a new shade of pale. “What did he say?” Her voice wasn’t much louder than a whisper.
I swallowed. My mouth opened to speak, but nothing came out. How could I tell Kayla I’d agreed to hand her over? Tonight, I’d saved her life, but if I didn’t show up with her tomorrow, what would happen? I’d responded before thinking it through, and though I would never let her go, I didn’t know what to do.
It was Nolan who finally answered. “He told us where to find him. He wants you. Bad.” He smirked. “But I know how he thinks. And I’ve got a plan.”
t’s wakey time,” Nolan said at the top of his lungs when we burst through the cabin’s door. “Everybody up! Rise and shine.”
Groans filled the living space, and Ivan swore from inside the bedroom when Nolan pounded the door.
“¿Qué demonios? Ni siquiera por la mañana,” Vinny said.
“No idea what you said, but uppy. We have good news,” Nolan replied.
Kayla’s angry stare burned my cheeks, but I refused to meet her eyes. She’d made it very clear that she loathed the plan. But for once, Nolan and I agreed on a brilliant idea. Anxious to get this started, but letting him run point—it had been his idea after all—I stayed near the front door, leaning against the wall with my arms crossed over my chest. Kayla stormed to the other side of the room.
“What’s going on?” Samantha asked, adjusting her ponytail.
“For the first time, we know where Richard’s going to be. And we’re finally going to kill him,” Nolan said.
At that, everyone perked up. Ivan and Lian stepped out of the bedroom, their eyes wide and faces bright.
“Early this morning,” Nolan continued, “Richard paid us a visit a la Kayla, and we agreed to hand her over to him tonight at sunset in Garnant, Wales.”
“What?” Bernice shouted.
Nolan held up his hands. “Now, would you wait a minute? I didn’t say we were giving in to the dark side. Richard expects Kayla, but that doesn’t mean we have to give him the real one.”
“I don’t follow,” Ivan said.
Nolan rolled his eyes.
I sighed. “Remember what Nolan said about Richard possibly turning Adelynn or Alex into Giovanni? There’s a blood spell—a cloaking spell—that turns one person into another. Nolan is going to become Kayla, and he’s the one who’s going to return with Richard.”
“And as soon as Richard figures out it’s him, he’s going to kill him,” Kayla said, her glare icy.
“We’ve already been over this,” Nolan said. “The spell will be extra strong, considering we both share—” His face paled, stopping himself short of revealing the truth about his father.
He sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Ah, what the hell. You guys might as well know. I’ll save you the sob story, but Richard’s my dad, too.”
Gasps filled the room, and a few of my friends’ faces reddened.
I stepped forward, holding up my hands. “I’ve been given no reason to not trust Nolan. In fact, I trust him with my life. For his own reasons, he wants Richard dead as much as we do. So, I beg of you to get past this or leave. I’m sticking with his plan.”
The room quieted as stares landed on Nolan and Kayla before finding one another’s. Didn’t take a genius to know the others were speaking telepathically among themselves. But while Alice made a show of not being on board with the news, no one left. I nodded for Nolan to continue.
“Anyway, when this cloaking spell is put on, it’ll be damn near impossible to come off since Kayla and I share the same blood. Pretty much only a witch as strong as Kayla could undo it,” he said.
“Or Richard,” she added, her glare frosty.
“Yeah, but it’s really not that hard to pretend to be you, sis. I’m a fantastic actor. Probably could’ve been one of those heartthrobs in some teen movie.”
I rolled my eyes. “At sunset, I’m going to take ‘Kayla’ to Richard. Nolan will go with him, and then it won’t be long before we figure out where the bloke’s hiding.”
“How are we going to track him? Richard will remove Trishna’s binding spell immediately, amigo,” Vinny said.
“That’s where Kayla comes in,” Nolan replied. “She’ll do something called ‘dream walking.’ Any witch or warlock with a lot of Spirit ability can, with the right spell. But it’s super dangerous. You can lose yourself in limbo, or the person whose mind you’re entering can trap your
consciousness and keep you locked inside their head forever, if their magic’s stronger—which is why we’re not trying it on Richard. Kayla will dream walk with me, and I’ll tell her where Richard took me.”
“I still don’t think I’m strong enough. This is stupid! I can heal people, but I’ve never tried anything like that. I can’t do it. We have to find another way,” Kayla rambled.
“Yes, you can,” Nolan and I said simultaneously.
Before Kayla could argue, another one of the witches who’d trained with us—Ashleigh—asked, “So, what do we do?”
Nolan tipped his head toward me. Your turn.
“We wait,” I said. “As soon as Kayla figures out where Nolan and Richard are, we’ll evaporate nearby and sneak in, like we’d planned. With Nolan already on the inside, we have a shot of trapping Richard. We’ll hold off the Nightmares while you Magus help Kayla get close enough to kill him.”
Murmurs filled the room, and then Lian said over the others, “It’s a good plan, and the best chance we’ve had. I’m in.”
Within seconds, the others agreed. Kayla fell into a chair with a hmph. I knew she’d been hoping for someone to say no.
“It’s settled, then,” Nolan said. “Tonight ‘Operation Kill the Bastard’ begins. In the meantime, who do I place an order with for a last meal?”
Kayla and Nolan spent the next several hours poring through the notes in Trishna’s spell book and practicing a few darker curses. A couple times, I had to calm her when the gold in her eyes swam, the sky darkened, and the wind rustled through the mountains like a small tornado. But by afternoon, Kayla admitted to feeling more in control of her emotions, her energy, her power.
After I handed Nolan a small dagger, he patted the top of a small bush. He let out a deep breath and passed the knife to Kayla. “Kill it.”
“What?” Kayla stepped back, her stare incredulous.
“Blood magnifies your power. That’s why dark magic is so easy to get hooked on. The more powerful the spell, the more blood you use. You’ve officially graduated from the dark spells that don’t need blood, so, let’s try. Destroying a plant is easy. Prick your finger, let your blood drip onto the leaves, and speak the spell: Ut ego te pulvis.”
Kayla’s fearful stare caught mine, and I nodded, my gaze unwavering though my stomach was in my knees. She could do this—we needed her to do this—and, as her anchor, I had to make damn sure she knew I’d always be here, that I’d always save her.
She swallowed, her chin trembling, and took the blade from her brother. Unsheathing it, she dug the tip into her finger until blood bubbled on her skin, like a tiny, ruby gemstone. Kayla passed the dagger to me and let the droplet fall onto the plant, placing both palms on the top of the bush. After a deep, shaky breath, she closed her eyes and spoke the spell.
Wind rustled the trees above us as lines formed in her forehead. Humidity stifled in the air, turning into large water droplets. The sky darkened. I locked my knees and held my breath.
“Give in to it, Kayla. Just a little more,” Nolan said. “That feeling of weightlessness—let yourself fall.”
“But what if I can’t stop? What if I can’t let go of the power?” Thunder cracked above us.
“I’m right here, love,” I said. “You can do this.”
Kayla’s posture straightened. With her chin high and her eyes still closed, her hands grasped the leaves. One strong, cold, gust of wind blew past us. I flung my arms out as I tipped. Lightning flashed in the gray sky, and thunder rolled through the air.
From where Kayla touched the bush, the leaves began to die. As if someone poured paint over the plant, blackness enveloped every leaf and branch until the color reached the ground. It spread through the grass around the bush in an almost-perfect circle. The wind picked up.
“Daniel, call her back,” Nolan said. I could barely hear him over the whoosh of the breeze.
Kayla, you did it. Time to let go. Ti amo, rosa mia.
Kayla’s grip on the leaves released, and the sky slowly brightened. When she opened her eyes, the molten gold faded from her irises. But as soon as she saw the extent of her power, her eyes filled with tears. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, I pulled her to me and kissed the side of her head.
“You did great,” I said softly.
“I killed it,” she replied.
“You did what you had to,” Nolan interjected. “Told you it wouldn’t be easy. But, hey, you’re ready to try something a little harder. You know, like a cloaking spell.” He winked.
From behind me, Samantha, carrying a paper bag, broke the tension. “Alice left, after all. Said this was a suicide mission. We’re down to our usual gang plus Vinny, Bernice, and Ashleigh. Ten people. Are we sure this is going to work?”
Nolan nodded. “You guys can count on me to trap Richard. I am pretty fabulous at being sneaky.”
“Let’s just get this over with,” Kayla said, brushing her hand across her forehead. Her cheeks were still full of color though her eyes remained glassy.
Frowning, I asked Samantha, “Did you get the clothes?”
She nodded and handed me the sack she’d been holding. “All black, just like you asked.”
Letting go of Kayla, I lifted black trousers and a long-sleeved black top from the satchel. They were perfect. “Here.” I held them out to her. “Put these on and give your clothes to Nolan. Can’t have him showing up in a man’s outfit.”
“Cross-dressing. I like.” He grinned as Kayla took the new outfit from my hand.
“You would,” she said, sneaking behind a tree to change.
An image of her curvy, naked body flashed in my mind, and I turned my back to where Kayla stripped, heat rising in my cheeks. The last thing I needed was to get worked up in front of Nolan and Samantha.
I handed my understudy the now-empty paper bag. “Have everyone dress. We’ll be right in.”
Samantha nodded and left as Kayla emerged from behind the tree. She tossed her former outfit at her brother. He held up her shirt.
“What do you think? Will this make me look fat?” Nolan joked.
“You’re hilarious,” I said. “So, how do we do this?”
Kayla took the blade from me, and Nolan grabbed Trishna’s spell book, flipping through the pages until he reached the cloaking spell. “We already know your blood needs to come in contact with my skin,” he said, “forehead preferably. But it says that an object of significance may also be coated in blood and worn by the person whose identity is to be changed. In fact, it looks like if you combine the two, the spell will be almost unbreakable, except by the blood of the person who cast it.”
“Okay, let’s do both.” She unclasped the chain from around her neck, the rose pendant I’d bought her in Rome leaving her skin for the first time. Kayla closed it around Nolan’s neck. “Just… don’t lose this.”
He crossed his chest with his fingers. “Scout’s honor.” Nolan turned the book in his hands, holding it facing out so Kayla could read the words. “You ready? This is going to take a bit more blood.”
She swallowed and nodded, biting her bottom lip. Kayla took a deep breath, and dug the point into her hand. “Celare, ne abscondas,” she said, gripping the rose pendant in her bleeding palm. Blood trickled down her wrist as she placed her hand on Nolan’s forehead. “Me tibi. Da mihi te putas.”
Kayla’s eyes glowed, and her hair flew behind her. Yellow light shone from beneath her palm. With a shout, Nolan fell to his knees, dropping the book.
“Celare, ne abscondas!” Kayla shouted once more, her palm still pressed against her brother’s forehead.
As if being pushed by some invisible force, she toppled backward with a shriek. I caught her just before she hit the ground. Kayla squeezed my arm, gripping her head as she groaned in pain. Out of the corner of my eye, Nolan transformed into Kayla, like he was clay an invisible giant molded. He growled as his body shrunk and formed hips and breasts, and when he was an exact replica, he fell forward onto his hands and kn
ees, catching his breath.
Kayla’s eyes opened, their normal shade of hazel. “Did it work?”
“You could say that,” I replied, helping her stand.
Her mouth gaped.
“Dude. Awesome.” Nolan chuckled. “I have boobs.” He jiggled them.
My eyes bugged out. I didn’t know what was worse: hearing him say those words in Kayla’s voice or watching him play with his chest.
“You do realize you pretty much fondled your sister, yeah?” I said.
“And I enjoyed every perverted second of it.” He grinned like a child.
“Oh my God,” Kayla said, covering her red face with her hands.
I shook my head, picking up Kayla’s old clothes and throwing them in his face—which now looked like Kayla’s. This was not weird at all.
Standing, he tore his shirt over his head. Wearing no bra, his chest was exposed.
“Blimey, Nolan! Did you forget you look just like her? I don’t want everyone seeing my naked girlfriend.” I grabbed his shoulders and shuffled him behind the same tree where Kayla’d changed earlier.
He ran a finger down my chest. “Oh, come on. You know I turn you on.”
I smacked his head into the tree before storming away, his laughter following me. “Come join the rest of us when you’re clothed. Bloody idiot.”
Kayla’s face was Christmas red as she picked the spell book off the ground. “Do I really look like that?”
Any answer to that question was sure to backfire. After stuffing my knife back into its sheath, I grabbed her hand and hurried into the cabin.
n hour before sunset, we went over final plans. Garnant was a small village with maybe two-thousand citizens—and that was if it hadn’t been bulldozed like Bern and the majority of the world. We’d lucked out with the hospitals in Burgdorf, Worb, and Murten, given they were smaller villages, but from what I’d seen on the news, most people were receiving medical treatment in city streets and random crisis centers.