“Me neither,” Daddy said. “But the ward is fracturing.”
The foreign magic was beating a way through. That shouldn’t be possible. If it busted the ward, there would be an explosion. They could all die. Unless they dropped the ward and just let the attackers in.
“Evan!” Mama shouted over the magical noise. Terrified.
“Angie,” Daddy yelled. “Make a ward. The strongest one you can.Now!”
Angie breathed in hard, shocked. Mama and Daddy didn’t know she could do big magic.
“Do it! Use all you got. I know you can,” Daddy shouted. He blew a long, piercing note full of magic on his flute, creating a personal ward for Mama. He was red-faced and breathless. Mama was panting.
Using her hands and her power, Angie pulled the bindings off EJ, her parents’ confining magic tangling around her, sticking to her fingers. Beneath the bindings, EJ’s magic glowed a soft purple with sparkling green lights.
“Ohhh,” he said. “That feels good.”
Daddy’s music filled the room, the notes full of power. Thehedge of thornsshivered. Mama’s magic went black as a cave, so dark it sucked all light out of the air, her death magics like a cloud around her. They werewild raw magics and every time she used them she risked losing control and killing them all. Now they had two ways to die.
EJ’s eyes got big. “Sissy, I’m sca’aed.”
“Me too.” Scared because her ward would protect her and EJ, but it wouldn’t stop the thing on the hill or stop Mama from using death magics, and the ward Daddy wrapped around Mama was unfamiliar. Daddy stumbled, sweating, his magic sputtering as he started a personal ward for himself. To EJ, Angie said, “I learned how to do this in magic camp.” Which wasn’t entirely a lie. “You trust me?”
EJ threw his arms around her waist, knocking them to the floor, George under her knees. Angie reached inside and found her magic. She looped and twisted it with EJ’s. Carefully, she imagined a circle around them, over them, and under them, like being in the middle of a beach ball. Daddy said to make it strong, so she thought about thehedge of thornsand the magic of heaven. Angel magic glowed brighter than any magic anywhere. It was the strongest magic she had ever seen. Maybe she could... Angie reached out and pushed the world aside, just a little. Angel magic glowed out from the other side, blinding bright.
Thegongingwas so loud EJ screamed, his head in her middle. Tears raced down Angie’s face, burning. Daddy’s magic went louder too, as he snapped a pale yellow ward in place over himself.
Mama’s magic went pure black. It hit the new, yellow ward.
KitKit leaped, claws out, cat-screaming, for Mama.
Angie pulled the angel magic into hers and said softly, “Safe.”
—
Edmund Hartley wiped the blood off his sword with a square of chamois. The injured scion bowed and limped off the circle, into the crowd. The silence was absolute, Mithrans in the stands not breathing, not moving, not even blinking, a sign of respect. Humans in a similar situation would have been applauding and screaming, stamping their feet. Vampires were far more courteous and elegant in their appreciation. His host, Lincoln Shaddock of Clan Shaddock, inclined his head in approval at the demonstration of La Destreza, the Mithran form of swordplay.
Addressing the Mithrans in the stands, Edmund said, “The moves, in order.” He placed his feet in proper position and lifted his weapon. “Alle—”
His cell phone rang, the emergency tone.
Edmund snapped his fingers. The assistant scion raced to his side with the cell. Edmund swiped the screen and was about to sayYes, Molly, but instantly he knew this wasn’t Molly. A prescient fear sang down his spine and through his veins, as if his blood boiled. As if he was being summoned, his bond commanded. “Angelina?”
“My Dark Knight. We have troubles,” the little girl said, sounding nearly vampire formal. She took a breath that sounded full of tears. “Come save us. Hurry!” She pulled on the bond between them, a sharp twanging pain.
Edmund tossed his sword to the scion and raced from the sparring chambers with a pop of displaced air. As he passed his host, he murmured, “The Everhart-Trueblood place is under attack. Call the family.” Back into the cell, sounding calm even as he sped through the night to his car, he said, “Angelina, are you in danger?”
“No. Because EJ and me is under a strong personal ward. But Mama and Daddy’s in their bedroom and they aren’t moving.” She whispered, “I’m afraid.”
Dead? Pray God they aren’t dead.He sprinted down the drive to his vehicle, everything to his sides appearing as unmoving blurs. Dread and fear swelled inside him, as strong as the thirst for blood, but when he spoke, his voice was calm. “I’m on the way. Tell me what happened. Tell me what you see.” He leaped into his Thunderbird Maserati, the top open to the night’s chill. Roared the car to life and hit the gas. The 1957 prototype leaped off the bald mountain and down the drive, Edmund shifting gears through the icy streets toward the Everhart-Trueblood home.
“Our ward was being attacked from the hill in back of the house. Daddy said to make a smallhedge, as strong as I could, for EJ and me. I started making it. Daddy made one for Mama. Then he started one for himself. Then Mama’s magics—” Her words cut off.
Ed had access to intel on all the paranormals in the territory. Molly Everhart’s death magics were one of many secrets to which he was privy. Carefully, Ed said, “I know about the death magics, Angie. It’s okay.”
She sobbed hard, as if a weight had been taken from her. “Okay. Everything happened at once, Edmund. Mama’s death magics shot out. Daddy started his ward. I got ourhedgeup and it’s really strong. But now everything’s stopped, even the glowing thing in back of the house.”
“Explain ‘stopped.’ ” He took a turn too fast and black ice swept him into a fishtail. Wind blew through the convertible. If fear hadn’t taken up residence in his heart, it would have been exhilarating.
“Daddy’s glow got dim and the gonging on the ward stopped. Mama’s standing at the window with her arms out and her magics stopped like a cloud. KitKit’s hanging in the air in the middle of a jump. Daddy fell and his head is bleeding everywhere.”
