“She made it when she stole my purse,” I said. I filled the guys in on the day I misplaced my purse at the church.
“Thankfully, the spell is temporary, and we can protect against it in future,” Clara sipped her tea. “But if the fae are cooperating with demons and spirits of the underworld, they may attack with other weapons. They will be gaining tremendous power from their new abode, but they are also being changed by the foulness of that place. This is why the touch of a baptised person hurts them now.”
“How do you know all this?” Corbin demanded.
A thought occurred to me. “Clara, you said you used to help the Briarwood witches with rituals. You helped the coven with the spell that banished the fae twenty-one years ago, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “I did, and I wasn’t the only one. We had covens all over the country lending their magic to stop the fae.”
“So you could help us recreate the spell?”
This time, Clara shook her head. “Probably not. Only the High Priestesses of the covens and Aline’s Magister and assistants were privy to the inner circle where the spell itself was cast. As a solitary witch, I remained in the outer circle to lend power. Aline was very careful to keep the details secret for some reason. But just knowing what they did isn’t going to be enough, anyway. First of all, the fae weren’t as close as they are now. But that’s beside the point. The actual spell – the ritual – isn’t the important thing. It’s just pageantry that channels the power. Your mother led the ritual – she was its heart, and even her power was barely enough to hold them back. She was the most powerful spirit user of her age, and she died as a result. If Daigh is in the underworld, then he is infinitely more powerful than last time. We need someone with an even greater spirit ability to lead us, and I know of no such witch.”
“We’ve got Aline’s daughter.” Arthur put his arm around my shoulders.
Clara looked at me and nodded. “Yes, we do. But are you all aware that performing this ritual is very likely a death sentence for all of you? It will most certainly kill Maeve.”
I’ll die?
Clara’s words bounced around inside my head, growing louder and harsher and more terrifying. I glanced at the others, and saw from their expressions that this hadn’t occurred to them.
It should have. After all, most of our parents had died during the ritual, or were irreversibly changed by it.
I thought of the cemetery where we’d buried the Crawfords – their simple stone grave marker with the wordsWeep not, for we are angels now. I imagined my own stone next to theirs, probably with some stupid religious quote on it. I’d never get to go to university, or have a paper published inThe American Journal of Physics, or go into space. I’d never read all the books I wanted to read or have a celestial body named after me. And Kelly…Kelly would loseeverything. She’d already lost so damn much.
I don’t want to die. I’m not ready to die.
There had to be another way. And we had fifteen days to find it.
Clara held a cup of tea out to me. I took it, my hands shaking.
“Maeve dying is not an option,” Corbin said. “And even if she can’t yet control the full extent of her powers, she has five Magisters. Aline only had one. That’s got to count for something. If you say we've got fifteen days, then that’s plenty of time to find an answer.”
“I have one more question.” Flynn waved his arm in the air.
“This isn’t a classroom, young man,” Clara said. “You don’t need to raise your hand to speak.”
“Sorry. You remind me of my old schoolmarm. I wondered, was it you who did that magic that protected us all back at the church?”
Clara shook her head. “I cannot lay claim to that miracle. I was too busy trying to stop Sheryl getting to that child. It was a very clever piece of magic, performing an emergency baptism like that.”
“Emergency baptism?”
“Yes. It is part of canon law that if a person is in danger of death and wishes to take the sacrament, than any layperson not normally authorized is able to perform the ritual of baptism. All they would need to do is splash each of you with holy water and say the simple words as laid out in the Book of Common Prayer.”
“We all heard a voice inside our heads. It said the Lord’s prayer,” Flynn said, his eyes wide. “It was a woman’s voice, all melodic-like. And I definitely felt something wet on me forrid. But we weren’t anywhere near the baptismal font.”
Clara tapped her fingers against the edge of her teacup. “It could have been one of the fae who possess telekinesis and compulsion. Or it could have been a spirit witch. But the only spirit witches I know who were in that church were Maeve and myself.”
If it wasn’t Clara, and it wasn’t me, then who…
I wondered briefly if it could have been Liah, but after the way she’d pointed that arrow at my chest, I didn’t think so.
Then I remembered the voice I’d heard. Light and melodic, the words sung more than spoken. The voice telling me it had protected my boys.
I knew I heard that voice before.
I leapt to my feet, my mind whirring. Nothing about this made sense. It went against absolutely everything I knew to be true about physics and the universe and life and death. And yet?—
