Is this how my parents felt when they took from me?
I shake my head to clear away the toxic memory and focus on the grimoire open in front of me.
My veins are flush with power, and I’m ready to do some badass magic shit.
“Take of my body. My blood to break.” Now it’s my turn to cut my palm, spilling blood over my feverish skin. “A curse before me,” I say in the witch’s tongue, “break it.”
This spell work was agonizing for Ame when she cast it on her own and still painful for Broderick when he had my sister and my help.
For me though, backed by three witches, there’s almost no discomfort.
Or maybe it’s the nature of the curse we’re breaking. The other two were cast with twisted magic by a sorcerer.
This is … different.
The metal turns a scorching red, as if sitting in a furnace. The glow lights up the clearing, pulsing like a heartbeat.
Then it begins to melt, dripping off in rivulets that hit the ground with steaming hisses.
More and more molten metal spills away, revealing what was encased beneath.
Dark fur, bisected by violet scales. A body that appears to have been mashed together in odd amalgamations. A dramatically sloped spine shudders and flexes. A heavy jaw jerks.
A throat lets out a long, low snarl.
Jack returns with one of his own, but the sound is a simple warning.
The beast thrashes, and we all jerk back. All except for Jack, who steps forward, now wearing his wolfman shape. I’m not sure when he shifted, but I’m glad he took the initiative. This is the best form he has for fighting.
Turns out, a protector isn’t needed though because, the next moment, the creature topples forward, landing in a quivering heap on the ground.
Then the melting starts again, only this time fur and scales morph into skin.
In the space of ten deep breaths, a man appears.
And the tapestry of his emotions temporarily blinds me.
2
Bo
Pain.Fear. Anger. Desperation. Remorse. Panic.
Loop. All on a loop.
But also frozen. No sense of time.
In my cage, I am not exactly aware of the world around me. That is the only way my mind can fathom what happened to me. I was locked away somewhere. Aware that I am alive. Aware that I can’t move. Aware that the world goes on around me.
But I’m not awake.
I am lost in a painful fog that froze my limbs and left me cold and angry.
And scared.
I am terrified that this is all there is left.
But then the world returns in a new kind of hot agony. I gasp in a breath, realizing I haven’t inhaled in …
