“Did it work?” Ty asks eagerly. “How do we know?”
I swallow thickly, unsure of how to deliver the news. “Yeah. But not how we imagined.”
Aiden offers me his hand and pulls me to my feet. “What do you mean?”
To gather my thoughts, I walk around the circle and thank the elements and the Goddess, then open the salt circle. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief, and Maya helps Cora into an armchair.
Finally, I turn to face them. “The Lodge is protected. I’m sure of that, at least. But we weren’t powerful enough to reach the village with the spell. I think…” I look at my feet because I don’t want to disappoint them. “I think the spell was too rough, not focused enough, so it expended so much more energy than I thought. It’s more of a general protection than a very focused barrier spell, is what I’m saying.”
Jack walks over to me and puts his arm around my shoulders. “Hey, that’s still great, right? So the witches can’t come inside, then?”
I shake my head. “No, likely not, unless they bring a very powerful spellbreaker. And they’d have to know the spell was here in the first place to even attempt it.” I also think the sea dragon’s energy is too unusual for a witch who doesn’t know anything about them. In fact, I hope the mix of tech magic and dragon power would completely stump them. But what good does that do? “Even if we barricade the entire village in here, we can’t sustain an attack of any sort. I mean, we wouldn’t even be able to feed everyone.”
“You’re talking like you expect us to be in a siege,” Jack’s father murmurs. “Surely it won’t come to that?”
I can’t do anything but shrug in answer.
Ty slips away to the kitchen and returns carrying a pan of blueberry muffins. I take one and bite off a huge chunk, relishing the sugary treat. The spell didn’t work how I wanted it to, but hey, at least we’ve got carbs.
“What would you need to extend the spell to the village?” Juniper asks.
That’s the issue, right? I don’t know for sure. “More people would have to participate, I think. And if I could key the spell to specific villagers, that would erase a lot of the guesswork and make the spell more pointed and focused. But I have no idea how to bring everything together. I don’t know if I’m strong enough.”
“Okay,” Aiden says finally. “That’s enough for today. We gave it our best shot, and the spell is up in some capacity, which is more protection than we had before.”
It’s true, but I feel like I was trying to win the gold medal in a competition, only to get a consolation prize. I’ve never been hugely competitive, but this doesn’t feel great.
Jack’s family trickles out of the Lodge, and Miss Georgia gives me a quick hug and leaves, too. The gesture warms me up inside—at least no one got angry at me for failing to do what I’d promised them.
Aiden disappears into his office, likely to record what happened in his ledgers, and Ty announces he needs a nap before tackling dinner. Only Jack remains, steady as ever, to keep me company.
My first impulse is to grab a pint of ice cream from the freezer and wallow in misery, but I give myself a mental slap and pour a cup of coffee instead. For gods’ sake, I’m doing everything I can. I’ve never heard of such a spell. That doesn’t necessarily mean no one has ever completed it, but even as a failed witch, I’d had to learn some basic magical history. A conjuring of this magnitude would have made it into the chronicles for sure. The protection spell that Aiden heard about from the Norwegian clan is highly suspicious, especially since the witch who completed the spell died. I’m sailing in uncharted waters, and for once, the old ‘there be dragons’ warning is completely on point.
I snort into my coffee, earning myself a quizzical look from Jack, who’s watching me as though he expects me to keel over at any second.
“I’m okay,” I tell him. “I really didn’t push myself too far this time.”
He steps closer and rubs my arms with warm palms. “You did great. Everyone knows it.”
I wrap myself around him and breathe in his clean scent. “I hope it will be enough.”
Because I feel it in my bones that the witches are coming, and soon.
Nineteen
Aiden
The first screamscome in the night.
A faint female cry, carried over on the wind, and I sit upright in my bed, the covers falling off me. Disoriented, I peer through the darkness, thinking at first it might have been Skye. Did she have a nightmare?
But she’s sleeping peacefully beside me, laid out on her side, her face pressed in her pillow. Jack is on the other side of her, spooning her from behind, and Ty on my left, passed out on his back, one arm thrown above his head. It’s incredible that we all manage to fit in this bed, but somehow, it’s becoming our new normal.
I almost think I’ve imagined the scream, but then it comes again, barely audible, yet unmistakable.
Bolting out of the bed, I shake Jack and Ty awake. “Get up. Something’s wrong.”
They snap to attention immediately, pulling on winter gear and boots. We rush out of the door within a minute, and I bark an order for Skye to stay put. If the village is under attack, I don’t want her anywhere near it.
