“If I’m right, what I am about to do will not be pretty, but it needs to be done.”
“What are you talking about?” He pushed back against the bars, but I couldn’t hesitate any longer. I cut into the skin on the back of his hand, peeling it back as I went. He went crazy. Screaming, howling and pulling back his hand, but with the two of us holding on, my dad couldn’t beat us. “Amy?” Ronnie’s voice wavered as I continued to cut the skin away.
“He will heal. I need to get this off of him.” I strained as I finished cutting around the sigil. Then I scraped the skin away from the muscle and bones underneath.
Ronnie gagged as I worked, but I couldn’t think of it. I couldn’t think that this was my father, and I was peeling his skin off. This was saving him. That was all I could focus on. “Amy.” He gagged again. My father used his feet pressed against a few bars, trying to rip his hand from our grasp. He pushed and screamed, fighting harder, nearly dislocating his arm in his fight to get away from us.
“I’m almost done.” I finished and ripped the skin from his hand as Ronnie lost the fight and his arm slipped back into the cell. I fell to the ground, clutching the flesh in my hand.
“Amy, what the fuck is going on?” Ronnie looked down at the blood that covered him and nearly emptied his stomach again.
“Magic.” I stood and walked back over to the bars. I watched as the skin regrew over my father’s wounds and I breathed out in a sigh of relief. I turned to face Ronnie and checked, but the sigil was truly gone. I moved the chunk I had in my hand and sure enough, the pink sigil still burned there. “I got what I needed. Stay here with him. I’m going to finish this. I will call you once it’s done.”
“Amy, are you sure?”
“Yes.” I went to pat his shoulder, but he dodged my bloodied hand. “I’m sure. Let me out of here.” Ronnie walked me up the stairs and released me. I ran the entire way back to the house and up to my safe. I grabbed the book of shadows and ran back to the clearing. Once there, I called to my grandmother.
I looked around, dropping to the ground and waiting, but even after five minutes, I was left alone. I flipped the book open and went page by page until I found the one I needed. The reversal of the infatuation spell.
I called out one more time before I realized she wasn’t coming. It was up to me to save my father from this. I felt the panic bubble inside of me, but both Megan and Nix came closer to the surface, lending me their strength.
We are here. You can do this.Nix’s smoky voice comforted me and I nodded.
“It says I need a fire.” I stood and ran back into the forest, searching for dead wood and twigs, anything that I could use to build a fire. “I have to make it hot enough to destroy both the necklace and the skin.”
Heat won’t be an issue, keeping it going long enough will be. Gather a lot of wood.Megan’s voice cut in and I nodded to myself. I made multiple trips, gathering enough wood to burn all night. Then I grabbed stones I found to create a barrier from the remaining grass. I didn’t want this to get out of hand.
“Okay. I think I’m ready.” I barely took a breath as I arranged the stones and placed the dead wood and twigs. I felt my wolves pull back, and I took a deep breath before I linked myself to my power, gripping the white pot that just budded. And I flipped to a different page.
“Alsh firmate alite.” The fire ball flew from my hands and exploded against the dry wood. It caught, and soon the fire was burning through the wood quickly. I fed more wood, bigger pieces into the fire, and waited for them to catch too. I wanted to be sure that this was going to burn for a while before I moved on to the next step.
Once I was sure that the fire was good, I flipped back to the page I needed.
I read the entire page twice before I put the book back on the ground. I pulled my mother’s necklace out of my pocket and my father’s skin. I prayed to the Moon Goddess that I was right before I tossed both in.
“Ista nox luva sit nu.” I slowly repeated the word three times, and I watched as the fire flared and turned pink. I sat back on my heels, and hoped I was right before. Now I just had to wait.
I stoked the fire and watched as the necklace slowly melted away, and nearly gagged from the smell as the small bit of myfather went with it. I let the fire go until I saw everything turn to ash, then I let the fire burn away.
I took a deep breath before I did the thing I was most scared of. I took out my phone and called Ronnie. “It’s done. How is he?” I closed my eyes and held my breath, waiting to hear his screams.
“He’s perfectly fine.” I could hear the relief in his voice.
“Are you sure? He isn’t playing you?” I wanted so badly to believe what he said, but I was afraid.
“Yeah. Amy, you did good.” Ronnie’s voice trailed off.
“Pup?” My father’s ragged voice was on the line and I felt like I could cry.
“Dad?” My voice wavered.
“I’m so sorry, pup. I don’t believe you are an imposter. You are one hundred percent mine. And I am so sorry for hurting you. Loki and Ronnie filled me in. Are you okay?”
I lost the fight, and tears fell. “Yeah Dad. I’m okay.” I let out the breath I was holding. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“I know. But we made it out, thanks to you. And now we have things that need to be handled. Can you meet us in my office?”
“Of course I can.” He said he loved me and then I was left listening to a dial tone. I wiped my face and gathered the book. I turned around to head back and I found my grandmother sitting on the stump, beaming. “You came?”
