“No!” both twins shouted.
—
Angie touched the edge of her protective shield against the outer ward. It stuck. It didn’t explode or make a light show or—
“I gotta peepee! I gotta peepee! I gottapeepee!” EJ’s voice shrilled.
Angie shoved the small shield hard against the larger one. It took both hands, her arms, body, and toes pushing. The edge pressed through and she and EJ and George followed. Nobody died. The small ward did not peel away or explode. It was too strong. Stronger than the house ward. Angie was proud but her ants looked mad. “What?”
“You disobeyed us,” Liz said.
“I been studying the wards and how the energies worked. I figured it would be okay.”
“I gotta peepee!”
Angie pulled on the yellow thread of energies and her small shield made a strange cracking noise, like bubble wrap popping. It fell in a shower of sparks. EJ jumped upright, his feet tangling in the blanket; he nearly fell. Edmund caught EJ and carried him behind a tree.
“I get to peepee on the tree? Sissy, I get to peepee on a tree!”
Edmund stepped back around the tree looking amused.
Angie brushed off her hands and said, “He is such apaaaaaain.” But magic was stirring.
In a really fast move, Miz Melodie raised her hands, broke the circle, and shot at Edmund. With a gun.
Several things happened at once. Edmund said a bad word and dove back on top of EJ. Ant Liz threw awyrdworking at Miz Melodie. Edmund popped beside George and her, picked them up, and raced behind the tree where EJ was hunkered down, moving so fast her hair flew out in a wave. Edmund looked dangerous, the way Ant Jane looked dangerous. It made her feel better, even as more gunshots rang out from Miz Melodie. Edmund plopped them on the ground, saying, “Angelina. Stay. Behind. The tree.”
“Why?” But it suddenly didn’t seem important and he was gone anyway. Angelina petted George, who was too lazy to care that they had been hidden in the dark, and then petted EJ, who snuggled up against her muttering sleepily about wanting a hamburger. Thankfully the blanket was warm and the smell of little-boy pee wasn’t too terrible. But the sounds were strange and... Angie realized that Edmund had used vampire compulsion on her. Which wassonot fair. She broke the compulsion and duck-walked around the tree to see better.
—
Edmund watched as the twins zapped, tackled, then restrained the now unconscious Melodie with plastic ties they mysteriously had on their persons. Everhart witches never ceased to delight him.
As snowflakes began to float down, Liz asked, “Why would she shoot you?”
Edmund gave a small smile. “Perhaps I was the greater threat. Take me down and then take down the less powerful witches.”
Liz gave a very unladylike snort of derision, which he quite liked. “Greater threat? I don’t think so. We were prepared, you weren’t. And what good would it do to takeusdown?”
“I assume that this particular witch is working with the humans attacking the ward,” Edmund said. “There have been tales of black ops government groups and even of private armies kidnapping witches for personal use.”
Liz glanced up at Ed as she secured the unconscious witch’s ankles. “Fangheads too. Witches for the power, bloodsuckers for the blood.”
A faint sound caught his attention and Edmund whirled. “Movement cresting the hillside. The two back there may have backup.”
“Melodie’s gunfire alerted them,” Liz said. “Damn.”
“Keep the children safe,” Ed said, and disappeared with a soft pop.
—
Liz made a fierce face that Angie had never seen before. It matched Edmund’s. “Give no quarter,” she shouted.
Angie didn’t know why attackers would want quarters. Dollar bills were way better. Her ants grabbed EJ, George, and her, and raced behind their car, before setting up a protective,warmingworking. EJ rolled over and George drooled on EJ’s back.
Thewarmingworking thawed Angie and she lay down, trying to figure out what she had done to freeze time. The stopped energies spiraled up to the high center of thehedge’s dome like whirls on a multicolored candy cane. She had torn through to the angel place and taken energy from there. Heaven had been bright as the sun, those energies and the utter black of her mother’s death magics tangled in a messy ball at thehedgetop. It looked like something KitKit made when she got into Gramma’s yarn basket.
Angie sighed. She had really messed up. The problem was the combination of heaven and death. They’d met and entwined when they should have canceled each other out. A small yellow strand was dangling from the very top of the dome. On the other side of the ball of magics was a lightless strand of death. Rightthere. Not that she could reach either.
