Sky throws her arms around her sister, squeezing her briefly before sitting up and wiping her cheeks. “Don’t ever do that to me again, dumbass.”
Natalie’s lips twitch. “I don’t plan on it.”
Fiona’s eyes are huge. “Katie, how did you do that? Can you control them?”
I shake my head. “I didn’t control anything. I just…asked.”
Her expression twists, like she wants to be angry but doesn’t understand why. “This is the first time bio magic has been used on a witch in a century.”
I reach out mentally, searching for her mind the way I connected to the chimeras. It’s like clawing through stone to get beneath her rigid exterior. But there, nestled deep inside her, is a complex web of thoughts andemotions. Pride and fear mix together. There’s concern for the state of the world, and a desperate desire for all feral magic to be harnessed, even if that means destroying it. There’s hatred for this power that isolated her from her non-magical family, and there’s the need to protect them—her niece, her sister, her parents.
I am descended from the ancient Guardians, Fiona,I think, trying to project it into her mind.I’m here to maintain the natural balance. Free magic is not your enemy.
Fiona gasps, looking at me with a mix of fear and something else. Something less defensive and angry than usual.
“We’re on the same team,” I say, “and we have to work together if we want to protect the world from harm.”
“Katie’s a Guardian of ancient magic,” Natalie says, sounding more like herself. “She can talk to the chimeras. She’s been trying to tell us.”
Fiona shakes her head. “Ancient Guardians are a fairy tale.”
“They’re not,” I say fiercely.
The fight is still raging around us. A lynx pounces on Hayley, its claws raking her chest and tearing open her cloak. She screams, the sound rising into the treetops.
Stop!I shout inside my mind.
The lynx turns its blazing eyes onto me. Hayley moans in pain beneath it, blood oozing through the gashes in her cloak. The lynx bows its head, and slowly, it backs away.
Fiona stares at me, her expression shifting from shock to something grudging. “Prove it, then. Call them all off.”
I nod, reaching out again with my mind.Stop this fight,I tell the chimeras.The witches are not our enemies.
The effect is immediate. The chimeras hesitate, the battle quieting like someone has put a damper on it. One by one, they turn to me.
“The Guardian asks us to stop,”one hisses.
“Why should we stop defending ourselves?”another growls.
There’s a greater threat to us all,I reply.Please trust me.
Slowly, they back away from the Shadows. They don’t retreat entirely, but they stop attacking, watching me.
Fiona studies me, her expression unreadable, then turns to survey the battlefield. My heart lurches as I see the number of witches hunched and injured, their blood pooling on the rocks and staining the shoreline. The chimeras gather at an uneasy distance, many flickering and wounded. But as I look at them, they heal themselves like torn material being stitched back together—bio magic at work. Like Lucy did to Natalie.
“Shadows, stand down,” Fiona calls out. “The Madsens have stolen bio magic. This changes our priorities.”
The witches lower their hands, turning to Fiona in stunned silence.
“They’re doing the ritual now,” I say. “Sophia’s absorbing the magic.”
Everyone stares at me, eyes wide, lips parted in surprise.
“I can’t explain,” I say, my voice shaking. “But I saw it. It’s happening, and if we can’t find her before she gets out of the woods, we’ll never be able to stop her.”
Natalie pushes to her feet, swaying.
“You rest,” I say, reaching out to steady her.
