I smiled up at him, wishing I could tell him everything I was feeling.
He said he’d stay. That was all I could ask for. The rest of it, well—we’d figure it out. But he wasn’t going to leave.
That was the reassurance I’d needed to really let myself fall, wasn’t it? To accept the feelings that had been growing from that first night.
“We’re ready to begin,” Cait said, looking up at the moon high in the sky. Sure enough, the circle was complete, thirteen candles levitating and the other ingredients for the spell in the middle. Each member of the coven was evenly spread around the clearing—Cait, Gretchen, Tammy, Tally, Sophie, Olive, Iris, Constance, Celeste, Rina, Wendy, and me.
We each took a step forward in front of one of the candles, reaching our hands out to the witch next to us. Barrett took my hand, taking Willow’s spot, though she remained close by, and I knew she’d still be filtering her magic into him and the spell.
Cait began chanting the spell we’d all memorized, a mixture of latin and the old language that had long ago lost its meaning. I closed my eyes as I poured all of my energy into our purpose, visualizing breaking the magical barrier, allowing the wards to come down so we could build them anew.
Barrett was right—the magic we were tearing down felt like poison, and a slimy feeling crept down my spine. The candles flickered out, and then we were plunged into darkness, only lit by the light of the moon.
“This would be a great time for Luna to show up with her weird moon powers,” I heard Willow murmur to Damien behind us.
The air grew cold, and I shivered, feeling the magic cracking and scattering.
A bolt of lightning hit the direct center of where our circle had been, and we all stepped back, dropping our hands and breaking the circle.
“Did it work?” I asked, unable to detect that faint buzz of magic where it had been before.
Cait’s face was pale. “I think so. But I…”
Something shrieked in the woods, a noise that sounded like nails on a chalkboard, and everyone froze.
“What was that?” Wendy’s eyes were wide.
“The wraith,” Ezra answered. “We’ve angered it. You stole it’s energy source.” He inspected his nails, like he couldn’t be bothered.
Barrett let out a snarl—a noise I’d never heard from him before, more wolf-like than anything else, and leapt forward, changing in an instant from man to beast. He took off in a flash, disappearing into the trees in a blur of paws and red fur.
“What’s happening?” I asked the vampire next to me.
He flashed his fangs. “Now, we hunt.”
I shivered again—I didn’t like the sound of that.
Not one bit.
After escorting us back to my house and making sure all of us were okay—plus that Willow was tucked onto my couch and off her feet—Damien disappeared back into the darkness, his eyes flashing a deeper red than I’d ever seen him.
He seemed even bigger than normal, if that was possible, like his powers were about to burst out of him.
“I should be out there,” I said, staring out the sliding glass door. I had Nutmeg cuddled into my shoulder, and even with her cuddling against me, I still couldn’t help my anxiety.
My heart hadn’t stopped beating rapidly since Barrett had shifted and lunged after whatever had been in the woods.
“You know he wouldn’t want you to risk yourself, babe,” Wendy said, coming behind me and wrapping her arms around me.
Rina squeezed my free shoulder. “Wendy’s right. You could get hurt.”
“Don’t you remember what that thing did to Barrett? How I found him?” My eyes welled with tears. “I can’t lose him again, you guys. I just can’t. And I hate that we’re here just…hopeless.We didn’t even get a new barrier up.”
The fact that we were so vulnerable right now, that any human could walk into a town full of witches and discover the secret we’d been guarding for more than three hundred years was terrifying, but not as terrifying as the idea that something would happen to Barrett.
I’d never even gotten to tell him how I felt.
“You love him, don’t you?” Wendy whispered.
