“That’s right,” Lilith said with a curt nod.
“Okay.” He nodded. “Let me know if you need anything! On the house!”
Jordan couldn’t help but snort at that. What could they want for fighting demons that the place would have anyway? Red Bull?
“Oh!” Freya snapped her fingers. Grayson had landed and he was popping in the door, lugging a trunk behind him. “Do you have salt actually? I’m all out. It’s essential. I don’t know how I managed to run out, only it’s so easy to find that I guess I just figured I could buy it anywhere which actually turned out to be true...”
The bodega guy hopped over the counter and grabbed a canister of Morton Salt off a shelf, neatly tossing it to her. “Here ya’ go! Hope it works!”
“Us too,” Lilith said under her breath.
Freya nodded at Isla and said, “I need your help.”
Lilith knew some spells. Or at least she seemed a lot more experienced than Jordan by his measure. But he could appreciate Freya and Isla’s expertise. Freya was the leader and Isla was her second-in-command as they poured herbs and odd ingredients like powdered bat’s blood and possum tongue into Freya’s cauldron while simultaneously muttering chants under their breath. Soon the cauldron was bubbling and the slimy-looking liquid was an iridescent shade of red as it boiled and gurgled, giving off a thick and silvery smoke.
“Ugh!” Jordan gagged, and a couple of the others snickered. It was a little embarrassing but the smell of the stuff was both acrid and like something had died and been left in the sun too long. As a wolf, he had the most sensitive nose of any of the other shifters, and he took a deep breath as his stomach turned one way and another.
“Okay,” Freya said firmly, taking Isla’s hand in hers. Her entire demeanor had changed. She was the one in charge now and she was good at it. She reached out with her other hand and Grayson took it with a firm nod. “Everyone hold hands and concentrate. You don’t have to say the words with Isla and I, just focus all the power you can feel inside you toward the brew in the cauldron. Really concentrate hard, and whatever you do...do not let go of anyone’s hand.”
It sounded easy enough to Jordan.
But he had never been a part of something like this before. He had Lilith holding his right hand and Kai holding his left as they circled the cauldron, attempting to ignore the absolute chaos raging outside. It felt counter-intuitive to everything Jordan was to stand still with his eyes closed instead of running out and fighting something, but he forced himself to focus on Lilith’s hand first. Her presence and her touch grounded him and he found himself calming, and better able to focus.
He heard Isla gasp and then Cara cried out.
“I know,” Freya said tearfully. “I see it too. It’s okay. It’s not real. Don’t let go! Keep going! I can feel it working!” They were seeing visions that Kamthis wanted them to see, Jordan realized. They must have been coming up against his magic. Which was maybe good. At least it meant they were a threat. They must be close. Freya started chanting the spell and all at once Jordan felt a much more powerful force growing inside of him and judging from the little yelps and gasps of surprise around him, they were feeling it too.
Then it started to hurt. Jordan grit his teeth and squeezed Lilith’s hand. He opened his eyes, desperate to see whatever was happening and shut them just as quickly. There were visions erupting from the cauldrons; death and destruction and demons arising from the nether dimensions.
“It’s working!” Isla cried. “I can feel it working!”
Jordan breathed in and out and then he saw a vision of his own. At first he couldn’t tell if it was his own imagination or not. He saw himself as his wolf, astral projecting from his body along with Addy and Blaise’s dragons and Grayson’s griffin.
All the shifters, Jordan thought.
But then he saw the forms of Dayen and Cara astral projecting out of their bodies too with swords in their hands. Isla and Freya remained in their bodies but Kai came with them too and finally Lilith emerged, or rather a demonic representation of her emerged from her physical form. It looked like Lilith except she was about twice her regular size and her eyes glowed with fire, her sword also aflame. All eight of them hovered over their own bodies for a moment as if composing themselves. They were spiritual forms and yet they had corporeal powers which Jordan discovered as his wolf leapt through the air and shattered the glass window as he jumped through it and into the street, the others following until Lilith took the lead in front of them all.
It felt somehow like reality and also like a visceral dream to Jordan, who could feel his physical form back in the bodega even as his wolf charged forward with the others, flying through the air to attack the tentacles. The building looked worse than it had when he and Lilith had first arrived. It was like some decaying version of itself and it was howling in anger. Jordan suspected that was because the pure demons inside it were feeling their tether to Kamthis break down as he fought the girls.
Jordan’s wolf, like Lilith, was much bigger than it usually was in this form. He felt a bit like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Balloon as he hovered over the street and then, as a tentacle whipped in front of his face, took it in his huge jaws. Just that made the demons scream and his body back in the bodega spasmed. Then it was a full-on attack, the eight spiritual warriors attacking each tentacle until they were all demolished by sword or tooth or dragon’s fire while the screams echoed over the entire city.
It was the strangest battle Jordan had ever been a part of but one by one they defeated each tentacle. With Isla and Freya tethering their bodies to the ground and the power of the magic supporting them, their spiritual forms could not be injured and it gave them quite an advantage as they flew around, slicing the tentacles up bit by bit. Jordan was grateful that he could bite through the muscular, veiny flesh without actually tasting it. Meanwhile, Lilith was doing the brunt of the work alongside the dragons, casting demonic fire. He’d had no idea she was quite that powerful.
Finally, each tentacle had been butchered from its root. The building was limbless at last.
Jordan felt a terrible pressure in his chest as if a vacuum cleaner had attached itself to him and he was being sucked away. But then he saw the other others nodding in understanding at each other as they hovered over the street. The magic was calling them back. They had done their jobs.
Jordan came back into his body with a jolt. He felt a sudden rush of weakness and almost crumpled to the floor and he saw the others react similarly, but their physical bodies managed to keep their hands clasped as they looked around the room, dazed and reeling.
Isla and Freya were still chanting. Their eyes were whited out, their voices a low monotone as they sat perfectly still, the cauldron still bubbling and smoking until finally from out of it sprang a screaming writhing mass of horror that Jordan could not have described. It was the tentacles and it was teeth and bone and blood and smoke all at once and then it was his father, the murderer whose actions had led to Jordan’s curse, leering at him. He shouted and nearly dropped Lilith’s hand but she held it fast. She was gritting her teeth as tears slid down her face. She was clearly seeing a fear of her own.
“Keep going!” Isla cried. Kamthis was in the cauldron. They were forcing him to come and he was fighting it, taunting them with their own fears somehow. There was a sound like screaming thunder and everything made of glass in the bodega shattered all at once until the mass in the cauldron finally turned into...a regular-looking man standing on the floor in front of them. It was not Kamthis’s true form. Jordan recognized the man as one of the victims of the goblin massacre.
But he leered like Kamthis had from the clouds.
Jordan expected some great mano a mano drawn-out battle and considering how weak he already felt, he was not looking forward to it. What he didn’t expect was to feel the strength of all ten of them drawing through them all, the power making them glow as it flowed around the circle...and headed straight for Lilith. It seemed coordinated
by Freya and Isla, they were directing all the strength between them to her and Jordan watched her mouth drop open next to him as it hit her and when she’d absorbed it all, she finally dropped Jordan’s hold on her hand and Cara’s next to her. She was as big as she had been in her spiritual form suddenly, a supersized Lilith.
Kamthis was gritting his teeth and summoning power from the totem; although Jordan didn’t see it anywhere, even he could sense its presence. But Lilith was faster.
She drew her sword and with one clean slice, she chopped off Kamthis’s head.
Just like that, it was over. When the head was split from the body and the demon died, its true form returned. It was not unlike what the Empire State Building had nearly turned into; veiny, tentacled and gooey. The head had two huge horns curving over its forehead. Now the head was on the floor, its giant black tongue sticking out.
The bodega cashier rose from behind his counter, looking down at the demon’s severed head, and promptly passed out.
Jordan was about to ask where the damn totem was when the remainder of the demon’s body that lay on the floor melted into a thin and putrid-smelling goo, all except for a small statue made of shiny orange rock. The totem. It had been inside Kamthis, which Jordan found fairly disgusting.
Lilith had done all the work. Handling this small gross task was the least he could do. He stepped forward and knelt, grimacing at the awful stench steaming from the hot pile of goo as he picked up the totem.
“You did it,” he said. He held up the statue, a primitive figure of a person on fire.
“We did it,” Lilith said firmly, and finally took a breath.
Jordan was about to speak when he felt a warm and euphoric feeling wash through him, as if a great weight were suddenly lifted from his shoulders, and he smiled to himself.
The curse was broken.
Epilogue
Lilith
“This afternoon,” Ms. Friar said, “we celebrate the culmination of seven years of hard work. The graduates that you see before you represent the very best that our world has to offer. They’ve proven themselves with their accomplishments at Brunswick and with the success of the missions they were presented with. They are, if I may be so bold, the finest graduates I have ever had the pleasure of educating in my time as a professor. Ladies and gentlemen...your Brunswick graduates.”
Benjamin the Oracle stood on the stage next to Friar and Cargenburg and he whooped and hollered, looking only faintly dressed up for the occasion. He was wearing a tie and a vest over a t-shirt.
Lilith had to bite down very hard on her tongue in order not to cry. She wore a white silk dress just like the other girls as they all stood in a line on the stage out in the rose garden behind Brunswick on the fifth day of September. Except that unlike their exiting ceremony at the beginning of the summer, this was a proper graduation and all their parents were there as well as their mates who sat all in a line near the front of the stage, beaming at their five accomplished loves.
The ceremony felt almost endless to Lilith. Each of them had to give a short speech about their mission and about what they’d learned at Brunswick and despite herself, Lilith had choked up then too, squeezing Jordan’s hand as she sat next to him.
Introducing Jordan to her parents had been nerve-wracking but it had all worked out. They loved him. She knew they would and that the nerves were natural. They did not look down their noses at Jordan for being self-taught, instead they were impressed by the breadth of his knowledge, considering he was on his own. Lilith’s father had taken Jordan’s hand between his own and pumped it up and down, promising to show his future son-in-law the best books in his private library and Jordan looked proud, beaming like Lilith rarely saw him beam. She’d felt proud of him too.
That’s my mate, she thought to herself.
Everyone seemed to be having similar experiences. Even Freya’s parents who Lilith had heard could be very disapproving and, at best, quite stiff seemed pleased with Grayson the griffin shifter. Apparently they were impressed by his devotion to philanthropy. But then, Lilith had also heard that Freya’s parents had been blown away by her exploits and her talent as a witch. They had always been hard to please. For once, Freya had managed to surprise them into shutting up. And even if they continued to be difficult, Freya would be moving down to North Carolina to live with Grayson. Her parents couldn’t breathe down her neck anymore.
Kai had invited his surrogate father, Quinn, to the graduation and he’d acted just the same as any of the other proud papas in attendance. The biggest posse brought along though was the throng of fae royalty from the realm that attended for Cara. She was going to marry Prince Dayen soon and he would be crowned. Then she would be a queen.
One of my best friends will be a queen, Lilith had thought to herself. It still felt strange.
Ms. Friar read all the names out loud and each girl stepped out of line on the stage and walked up to receive their diplomas. When Lilith took hers from Mrs. Cargenburg, she felt a thrill flow through her whole body.
I did it, she thought. She felt a sense of triumph greater even than when she’d defeated Kamthis. And when she looked at her friends, grinning from ear to ear, decked out in white silk and clutching the proof of seven years at the most prestigious magic academy in the world, she knew they felt the same way too.
The ceremony went by in a blur and then everyone in the audience was applauding and Lilith followed the other girls’ lead, stepping down off the stage and running to Jordan first to give him a hug and a kiss before moving to her parents. Then there was a seemingly endless round of introductions between nearly everyone and general chatter and cocktails were served as the rest of Brunswick’s student body returned inside, all chatting about the excitement of the totem missions and telling their favorite stories.
The graduating class had become de facto heroes to all the other girls at Brunswick. If there had been action figures made of them, the younger girls would have bought them. Lilith had heard herself whispered about in excited tones just walking down the hall before the storytellers in question spotted her and blushed. A few had even asked for her autograph. She could not leave the temporary quarters she was sharing with Jordan for the graduation, without a bunch of older and more confident girls accosting her with questions and it was just the same with the other girls too. All the attention pleased her for the most part. But when a little first-year girl with the red flecked eyes of a humanoid demon asked if it was true she’d defeated Kamthis, who had nearly destroyed the world several times over, Lilith had felt very special. There weren’t many demon girls at Brunswick and it was easy to feel alone there in your first year. They’d ended up talking for a while and now they were friends on Instagram. That felt good.
Lilith took Jordan’s hand once the cocktail hour was finished and they followed the others inside for the big fancy banquet in the dining hall.
Jordan looked dashing as hell. He’d had a little extra money saved up and Lilith had tried to stop him but he’d sprung for a nice suit and if it was any different than Dayen or Grayson’s designer threads, she really couldn’t tell. His dark, perfectly-tousled hair shone in the sun and he towered over nearly everyone, he was so tall. She felt proud to be on his arm and clung to him as they walked along.
“What are you smiling at?” Jordan whispered in her ear.
“Everything,” she said softly.
They had no big immediate plans other than a vacation. She didn’t know where they would go yet but as long as she was with Jordan, she didn’t much care.
“So the food here is good, huh?” Jordan asked, swinging their hands between them as they walked across the grass. “Because I am starving.”
“Oh yeah, it’s very good. Although, I’m sorry to inform you, they will not be serving pho.”
“Well, nobody’s perfect.”
As it turned out, Jordan was more than pleased with dinner. He had never had a dinner so fancy, he told Lilith. But he told her he dreamed of taking her t
o dinner somewhere special. According to Jordan, any place with cloth napkins was special. It took her a moment to swallow a bite of shrimp because of the lump in her throat. Everything anyone seemed to say that day was making her cry. It was almost irritating but, in this case, she supposed she didn’t mind it.
Jordan was more sociable at the banquet than Lilith had ever seen him. He joked with her parents. They were getting along so well, in fact, that Lilith started to wonder if they liked him more than her. But the thought of it only made her smile. Jordan had never had a real family. When she stopped to think that her parents would obviously grow to love him like a son, it made her heart swell in her chest. She could think of nothing better.
They were sitting at a long table and everyone was talking back and forth as they slowly made their way through dinner. It had not taken Jordan very long to hit it off with her friends and especially their mates. Lilith supposed it helped that she was often there to facilitate when Jordan was feeling a little uncertain. He was confident and he was brave and strong, but he could be shy. Lilith imagined that was an after-effect of the curse that was obviously broken now. And ever so slowly, he came further and further out of his shell. He seemed to bond with Kai because Kai was an orphan and he bonded with Blaise because Blaise didn’t have money. But beyond that, in a sense, all the male mates had something much greater in common; they had fallen for Brunswick girls. And the men were in awe of them. During their stay at Brunswick, Lilith had, more than once, stumbled on the guys talking quietly in the dining hall or at a coffee cart, about how amazing their mates were and how they worshipped them. They didn’t sound so different to the superfan girls at Brunswick who followed the graduates around. Lilith thought it was sweet.
“Lilith, sweetheart?” Lilith’s mother got her attention just as dessert was winding down. Her parents sat opposite Lilith and Jordan at the table.
The Wolf's Curse (Brunswick Academy for Gifted Girls Book 5) Page 12