Everspell (26 page)

“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 had 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 seeing 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!”

Serena and the others began to chant with the twins, screaming the last two lines of the spell into the night. My dad and Declan picked up the words easily, as did Skylar and I, and soon every one of us were shouting the spell at the top of our lungs. As we did, I wasn’t prepared for what happened next. The ground in the center of the circle began to rumble and crack and a great divide began to gape open. At the same time, the coven sisters and the men and I began to levitate!

We continued chanting as the ground fractured down the center and the edges crumbled away forming a huge, gaping hole. I turned back toward the trolls who only minutes before had been rushing us, gnashing their nasty teeth, and now was shocked to find them strolling toward us now,
leisurely
, with no apparent ill intent. As I watched, every last one of them strode underneath the levitated circle and clasped hands we still maintained and marched straight into the bottomless pit created by Aisling and Echo’s spell!

“Not again! This will not happen again! You forget I have something you want!” Christophe moved swiftly to the troll he thought was still
his
troll. Right then he realized the “troll” didn’t have hold of the two witches he kidnapped. Elizabeth and my mother were safely out of harm’s way. Cordelia chose this moment to shape-shift back into her normal self and Christophe went almost apoplectic. Our chanting got so loud I could hardly hear my own voice screaming out the last lines of the spell in my head. But I could still hear Christophe holler.

That’s when we put the final phase of our plan into action.

With the final signal from Serena and Eden, my dad and Declan joined me, and together we ran into the center of the circle and crouched low. Serena and her coven sisters dropped back down to the earth and when they were all touching the ground again, they began to feed us their collective powers. Skylar, Declan, my dad and I then stood, as a quartet, our backs to one another, elbows linked and facing the witches. They remained in their circle, hands still clasped, only now Aisling and Echo, having rejoined the ring, began a new chant.

“Spirit of the Coven, Powers we harness,
Heed our call now, in the hour of our darkness.
Come to our aid, as we now come together,
And combine our power as one, to provide to our Brothers.

Spirits of the elements, we command you unite,
Fire
and earth,
wind and water, let your powers ignite!”

As each coven sister took up the chant, she dropped her hands and pointed them, palms up toward us as we waited. A bright light shot out from the tips of Serena’s fingers and struck me in the chest. If it had been anyone but Serena doing it, I would have thought myself a goner. Instead, I felt this strange surge of power and strength race through me. I glanced to the left and right of me and noticed the same thing happening to both Skylar and my dad. Declan was hidden from my view, so I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was experiencing it, too. It thought it couldn’t be possible, but I had the feeling I could crack Christophe in half. By myself. From the squirming going on beside me, Skylar felt the same way. I needed to know.