But Veronica’s face brightened with understanding. “Yes, of course. The circumstance triggered the magic in you. I should have… well, never mind. That is easily remedied.”
And before either Nova or I could do more than yelp, Veronica had lunged forward and caught Nova by the arm, simultaneously pulling a small handgun from her coat pocket. She cocked the hammer and put the gun against Nova’s temple.
“No, stop, stop!” I cried out, raising my arms over my head like she was pointing the gun at me. “What are you… leave her out of this, okay? Nova has nothing to do with this. You should be pointing that gun at me, okay?” My voice was shaking so badly I could barely understand my own words.
“Oh, no, I’m afraid that won’t work, Wren,” Veronica said, pulling Nova slightly closer to her. “You know I can’t kill you. I need you. But I don’t need her.”
“So much for not being the villain,” Nova said, and though her voice was calm, her eyes were wild with fear.
“An utterly unnecessary escalation, born of your own stubbornness. I was perfectly happy to ally with you, but I willnot let you stand in my way,” Veronica hissed at Nova before turning back to me. “Now summon it, Wren.”
“I don’t… I… why don’t you do it?” I blurted out, desperately playing for time. “Your grandmother and your mother convened with the Darkness! Surely, they must have taught you how to do it!”
“Of course they did!” Veronica shrieked, the final threads of her composure snapping and startling us all. Her face contorted. “I followed their instructions to the letter. I did it over and over and over again. But my grandmother’s spell won’t work. Your protective spell is getting in the way.”
“What protective spell?” I asked, pulled up short. I dropped my hands from above my head. Nova gave a little whimper.
“The magic you used to escape the Darkness. You thought you trapped it in the sand, but you know now that that’s not true. No doubt your Conclave told you that.”
“I… how do you know all of this?” I gasped.
“Davina. I visited her shop and performed a bit of… persuasion. She doesn’t remember that she spoke to me, let alone all the details she’d given me. I know all about the night on the beach, the lightning sand, the fact that it’s empty, even the form the Darkness takes when it comes to you. It’s how I was able to make my glamour so effective—producing the very Gray Man that lured you to the ocean, twice.”
I wanted to scream. No one had suspected her, an outsider. Everyone’s guard had been down.
“Does it really matter how I know? It is enough that we understand. What you did that night was protect yourself. You created, unintentionally, it seems, a barrier between yourself and the Darkness. Haven’t you wondered why you haven’t felt its presence? Why the Gray Man hasn’t been standing under your window every night?”
Yes, I’d wondered. But I’d never thought… never stopped to consider… that I’d been protecting myself all along, without realizing it.
The play of these thoughts across my face was evidently answer enough. Veronica went on. “What your grandmother had done for you, you have unwittingly been doing for yourself. But that must end now. Your spell is standing between the Kildare coven and what we want. And that is a very, very dangerous place to stand.” She shook Nova by the arm, and her resultant whimper snapped me back to the reality of the situation we were in. To the reality of a gun against the head of my friend. Despite my best efforts, my eyes began to fill with tears.
“Veronica, I am not trying to play you. I am very, very serious when I tell you that I don’t know how to do what you’re asking me. I didn’t even know that I had cast a protection spell.”
“And yet you did it,” Veronica said, the words tight. “And so, for the sake of your friend, I suggest youtry.”
I swallowed hard. I looked at Nova, who shook her head, even as tears streamed down her face. “Don’t do it,” she whispered. “Don’t let the Darkness free.”
“Shut up!” Veronica screamed, and for the first time, her expression matched the madness of her scheme. She looked deranged and unstable—centuries of generational trauma coming to a head before my eyes.
“Okay, I’ll… I’ll try,” I gasped, raising my hands again. Veronica pressed her lips together, making a clear effort to calm herself again.
“Go on, then.”
Heart pounding in my chest, I closed my eyes, trying to reach back into my memory, to the night of the lighthouse. What had I done? How had I called my power? The details of the night swirled and blurred, spinning like an out-of-control carousel. I was panicking. I was failing Nova. I didn’t know how to…
Wren.
My eyes flew open. I knew that voice. And I had never been more grateful to hear it. But though I scanned the room eagerly, I did not see Asteria.
“What? What is it?” Veronica asked eagerly, craning her neck to look around as well.
“I… nothing. I’m just… I’m trying to focus,” I mumbled.
Wren. Listen to me.
This time, the voice came distinctly from the center of the room, from the dais itself, or at least, the space around it. And I was the only one who could hear it.
Wren, the source of the deep magic is not safe,came Asteria’s voice, urgent as a scream, yet quiet as a whisper.You must protect it.
