The song rose slowly, a soft call and answer that whispered from the corners of the room, from the rafters, from the hidden spaces.
As more and more voices joined the call, as more and more voices joined the answer, the song became wind, the rustle of green and leaf, the twining of root and soil. Magic rose, humming in struck chords, gathering thick, strong, whole.
Silver moonlight met that magic and paled into neon pastel, a web woven upon light and song. The spell spread across the circle, shifting subtly, threads of light and sound pulling and knotting into an intricate spider’s web above them.
The web lifted to the ceiling and hovered there, becoming heavy with moonlight that dripped like dew drops down each thread to the witches below.
Lula, next to me, was just as mesmerized at the show of magic. I reached for her, my hand extended palm down.
She, without looking, without seeing me, extended her hand, palm up.
We had done this for years. Me, invisible, her, unseeing. We had always known when the other was there. When the other was reaching out.
We clasped hands, and she looked over at me. I nodded, and together, we strode out into the night.
Franny was outside, wearing clothes that looked like she was ready to hike the badlands.
Abbi and Variance stood by an SUV with its engine running.
“Don’t worry about Lorde,” Franny said, as she opened the doors of the SUV. “Pru’s going to look after her. She’s wonderful with dogs.”
“Thank you,” Lu said.
“Shotgun!” Abbi called.
“No,” I said. “Adults in the front seat.”
I moved toward the front door, but Variance was already there, sliding into the seat and slamming the door behind him.
I scowled, but Lula tapped my arm. We took the center set of seats, and Abbi hopped into the seat in the back.
The car was spacious, modern, and aggressively cooled by the AC.
“How fast can you get us there?” I asked.
“Twenty minutes.”
“I could get there faster on my feet,” Variance said.
“Yes, but you aren’t doing this on your own,” Franny said, sounding every inch like an auntie who was not going to take any shit. “Because if you think you can dump the Moon Rabbit, or the Gauges, or me, Variance McClellan, you have another think coming to you.”
Variance pulled his shoulders back.
Franny made an intricate sort of waggle of her fingers and a wave of exhaustion closed around me. It took everything I had to keep my eyes open.
“Enough,” Variance growled.
Franny snapped her fingers, and the overwhelming fatigue was gone.
I was excruciatingly awake, as if I’d just downed a couple extra strong cups of coffee.
“I hate when you do that, Auntie,” Variance said.
“Well, then. Stay in the car. Stay withus, Vari. It’s going to take all of us to save her.”
He didn’t say anything more, so Franny adjusted the mirrors, revved the engine, and took off like a bat out of hell.
The cityof Amarillo had a population of just over two hundred thousand people. I didn’t know how many monsters were in that town, but I did know Dominick’s ranch could house dozens of vampires.
