These Lying Eyes (26 page)

“What’s happening?” Mina let her voice shake, tremulous and weak.

“I know.” Grace said. “We can’t let her out until she can touch her magic. Until the sprites smell only Mina.”

Mina shrieked. She pounded against the wall of light. It rose from the circle surrounding the pentagram. She ran at the part that was just the herbs and salt. She would kick it out of the way, but it blew her back, slamming her against the other side of the circle. The wall of light held her for a moment, and it burned her wherever it touched. Slowly it released her, and she slid slow-motion to the ground.

A hum rose from Zizi and Poppy. Hitch joined in. Penny and Grace added their voices. The dragon’s low rumbly purr accompanied them next. Her four friends from earlier. Mina hissed at them, but one idly coughed fire at her.

Mina shrieked. Like an eagle, angry and high. Like a bear, deep and angry. She screamed, twisting until her face was pressed against the cool ground. She kicked at the wall, but there was no give.

“I guess she wasn’t wrong about the spell,” Jocelyn said.

Mina turned, her black, black eyes focused on him, and she growled loud and angry, flashing her teeth. If she could get through this light, she’d pick him up, pick him up and feel his spine between her fingers. She’d press it to her lips, dripping in blood, and lick it clean.

“The way her veins are black and against the surface of her skin is interesting.”

Hitch spit at Jocelyn.

“Enough.” Penny ordered. “Mina is not a science project.”

“The spell, however, is,” Jocelyn countered. “Assuming you want to break more than this episode of it.”

“How long did it take you with Sarah?” Grace asked the sprites, wiping a tear from her face and pressing her hand against the wall of light.

“Hourz.” Hitch answered flatly, immediately humming again. Letting his voice rise and fall.

Zizi dropped to the ground and walked around the circle, as she walked she told stories. Mina could remember them. She could remember being a bird with Max in the trees. She could remember swimming with the Water Fae. She could remember a S’mores marathon with the sprites and Hailey. She could remember dancing in the moonlight with Zizi and Poppy.

The memories burned in Mina’s head, and she just needed to take Zizi and pull off her wings and shove them down her throat. If Mina could do that, then maybe she could think.

She growled, a low constant rumble.

Hitch took over as Zizi’s voice faded. Reminding her of other memories. After a while, he read to her. But she didn’t feel like herself until Zizi said,

“Oh son of a…” She disappeared and came back with a thin orange volume. “On the 15
th
of May, in the jungle of Nool.”

The sounds of the jungle appeared as Zizi read, and Mina watched the shadows act out the story. Zizi read it once.

“Again.” Mina growled, slobber rolled down her face, but she no longer wanted to pull off Zizi’s wings. Mina gagged, staring at her Zizi’s thick orange mane, her delicate wings—the idea of her being hurt…it made Mina hurt in her chest.

Zizi told her the story again. The illusions intensified until a see-through Horton walked through the pentagram with Mina. Again. Again with the angry monkeys.

Once more, and Mina could feel the rumble of Horton’s voice along her skin. And finally, Mina stood, holding her hands out before her. The nails she could remember trying to dig into Hitch’s back were gone.

The memory even of the burning was gone. The urgency had passed, and she was shaky with the relief of it. Mina pressed her hands against the light. Pressed her forehead into it, letting it fill her, burn away the touch of the other that had possessed her.

“Is it gone?” Mina asked.

Grace and Penny looked to the sprites.

“I believe that there is still a hint in the air. Perhaps we could air the room out?”

Penny nodded. She spoke a word, and the skylights opened. Wind rushed in, flooding the room, caressing Mina, and she reached for her magic. She found the Air first, pulled it in, and swept it through her body pushing the few traces of darkness out. Fire was next, and Mina set herself alight. Burning, burning, burning the dark. Killing it. Leaving no room for anything but Mina, her self, her magic, and her love.

“It’z gone.” Hitch said.

Grace blew, and the salt, sage, and apple blossoms were swept away. The wall of light winked out, and Mina stepped over the circle, dropped to her knees in front of the sprites, and lifted each one, carefully, gently hugging them close.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“For forgetting you were a witch too?” Poppy asked. Her dark chocolate face had faded and aged. “For not potioning you.”

“For saving me.”

Chapter 23

M
ina woke early. Her cell phone was on the bed next to her, and several texts appeared on the screen. With a relieved grin, Mina and the sprites hurried to potion her family, get dressed, and escape to meet Grace before school. Her friend needed locks of hair, freely given, from her siblings.

And Mina needed the spell to be done. Grace thought a few weeks would give her and Jocelyn time to track the maker of the spell, destroy its effect on her family, and set up new protection spells. So close. So close, and it would be over.

Mina traded chocolate for hair with the triplets and simply asked Sarah who’d shrugged, and cut Mina three pale chunks.

It was Erik who was trouble. She made her way to his basement bedroom, stood at the door, and considered. She wanted to just have one of the sprites take hair, but it had to be freely given.

She took a deep breath and knocked. Grace hadn’t said Mina couldn’t lie.

“Hey, I need some hair from my siblings for a science project,” she said as she entered.

“What for?”

Mina paused; she hadn’t thought that far. She glanced around his room, with its nearly knee-high mounds of foul clothes mixed with trash.

“To look at through a microscope.” Zizi prompted.

The walls were cement, the floor was covered in dirty area rugs, and there were dishes everywhere. She must have let her disgust show on her face because he flicked an old tissue towards her.

Mina stepped back as she said, “It’s for microscope stuff.”

“That sounds like BS.” Erik loaded his book bag with sports gear and a couple textbooks.

“Why would I lie?”

“Why would I give it to you?”

Mina scowled before reminding herself that even though he was a jerk he was her brother, “What do I have to do for it?”

“Twenty bucks and clean my room.”

“Are you insane?” Mina glanced around the room again. The high windows were covered in filth; it stank in here. The room made her feel dirty just standing there.

“Do you want my hair or not?”

“It is his life on the line.” Zizi said as she examined the mess of the room, face disgusted.

Mina stared at her brother, hoping that guilt would hit him.

It didn’t.

“You’re a jerk.”

“Now you’ll need to do my laundry.”

“Why would I do that for hair?”

“Why would you want my hair?” Erik scoffed. “I heard you getting it from the Ams and Annie.”

“So you’re going to extort it from me?”

“You’ll feel guilty for the rest of your life if something happenz to him.” Poppy’s husky voice was furious. “Not that he doesn’t deserve it.”

“Oh, he deserves something.” Zizi landed gingerly next to a stack of dishes. Her face was horrified, but she said, “But he does not deserve to be drained for being a foul, revolting, idiot.”

“Haven’t seen any sign that the spell haz been on him.” Hitch landed on Mina’s shoulder as he spoke, and his hand provided an anchor to keep Mina from screeching at her brother.

She took a deep breath and handed Erik a twenty without a word. He sat down in front of her, and she pulled out the scissors.

“I shouldn’t let you have it before you clean my room.”

“Did you want me to stab you? And there is no way I will ever clean your room without that hair.”

“Give me those.” Erik snipped three small locks of hair for Mina, rubbed his fist against the top of her head, and jogged out of the stairs leaving a trail of wicked laughter.

“We’re doing something mean to him,” Mina said, kicking at his dirty clothes.

“Probably should wait until it isn’t obviouz it’z you.” Poppy huffed.

“But we
are
doing something mean to him.” Zizi agreed.

* * *

“What will this do?” Mina pulled six envelopes from her bag. Each was printed with a name and each held three locks of hair.

Grace opened an envelope; Mina felt a flare of magic, and she stared at the librarian waiting for some sign. The sun reached out, caressing her, and the warmth of the rare fall light seemed to be a gift from the universe.

“Tonight, I’ll make you a special charm. It’ll give us a way to find any of them should they disappear. Sarah wouldn’t be losing time and wandering if whoever placed this spell wasn’t trying to get her somewhere else. And I’ll make one for me to find you—just in case.”

“I’ll be able to find her fast?” Mina tried to catch her hair, but it whipped around in the wind. “It’ll work despite whatever they’ve done?”

“It will work no matter what. If you are right about the spell, the witch has to be incredibly powerful and incredibly learned. The thing is—I’m both those things. And my expertise is obscure magic of which this spell would be. They won’t be able to trick me, and I can counter anything they try to do. I just need time to figure to correct it.”

It seemed like an hourglass was emptying in front of them. A need to pause the clock pressed on Mina as if she’d be able to protect her family if she could only have a chance to catch up. But they wouldn’t make the same mistake again. Even her parents were being potioned now. They would be careful. It would be ok.

Mina wasn’t so much worried about the spell as she was the time it would take to learn what other witches would have had a lifetime to learn. If they didn’t find who set the spell, Mina needed time to practice her magic, do her school work, keep her family calm. Only a month or two before, time had seemed to stretch out in a never ending wall between her and the future. Now it pressed against her, taunting her.

Grace placed both hands on Mina’s shoulders. “Mina, I think you are wrong about someone intending to drain Sarah.”

Mina waited for the rest. There was a ‘but’ in there.

“But the way that spell affected you last night was totally unacceptable, and you’re right. It’s evil. So we are going to act as if you are not. I think you must be. We don’t know anything about the spell. Yes, it’s malicious. Unfortunately, people do malicious things far too often and never intend to hurt anyone. You have a very large family, and it’s possible that one of the children is just making a mistake.”

Grace kissed Mina’s forehead, drawing back, looking Mina firmly in the eyes, and promised, “A mistake that I can fix. But either way, we’ll figure it out. I promise; I really am very good at magic.”

Mina pressed her lips together and then said, “She’s my sister.”

“I know. I would do the same if it were Penny. I would prepare for the worst just in case.”

Mina unzipped her bag, pulled back the flap to Grandpapa’s bag and showed Grace what she had found. She hadn’t wanted to reveal the hoard of magical supplies. It was too concrete of proof that her family knew about witchcraft, could probably see what was wrong, but still hadn’t helped her. Grace’s jaw dropped; Mina swallowed her nausea as Grace’s fingers caressed the objects at the top of the bag.

“Turns out I’m from a big line of Sevenths.” What Mina wanted didn’t matter when Sarah’s life was in question.

Grace opened her mouth, closed it and gazed past Mina’s shoulder. Mina could see her thinking. It was like when she was translating some old book.

Mina raised her brows and waited for Grace to say something.

Anything.

Mina leaned against one of the short stone pillars lining the steps of the library. She told Grace about finding the items, about the attack.

“Could be bewitched animals.” Worry was back in Grace’s eyes. All those books, all that history, that concentration of witch abilities. Mina’s family just became a lot more interesting—and dangerous.

“Does this change everything?” Mina slid down the pillar to sit next to where Grace stood. Was it better to be blind to the snares of the enemy? If you knew someone wanted to take you down, did it change anything? Either way, you were probably walking into a trap. Either way, any moment was the last before the snare closed around you.

“We’ve already established,” Grace murmured “that someone in your family is using their magic unwisely. I don’t know what you faced, but Jocelyn will be able to tell. I am still good at what I do, and I know several people who will help us figure things out.”

Mina fiddled with the zipper on her bag, but she listened.

“Jocelyn has already been a big help. I have favors I can call in. It won’t do any good for you to spend every moment worrying. We’ll have your family covered in a few hours. You’ll be carrying the charm as soon as school is over.”

Grace pulled Mina up and close to her, whispering in her ear as someone mounted the steps from the library below, “Whoever is doing this doesn’t know what we know. That’s our greatest strength. Go about your life and
trust
me.”

If she skipped another day of school, someone might call her parents. And, she needed to see the play of shadows and light on Max’s face, to take in the charm of his dimple, and feel the fire of his grin.

Chapter 24