Malcolm could hear the unspoken words that shone in his father’s eyes “You’ll need me.” His father still wanted to protect him, to be there for him and that sent a deep ache through his heart.
He shot his father a bittersweet smile. “Bring the council. That’s what I need you to do, dad. My magic won’t fail. It can’t fail, not for her.”
I can’t fail her, he thought.
“Get the Council. The whole town is in danger.” He gave his parents one last look of love before he turned away. Deep down he knew prophecy wasn’t done with him yet. Blood was going to be spilled tonight. And one way or another, he was going to make sure it wasn’t Calli’s.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
This was only the second time Malcolm had ridden a broom since that fateful accident so many years ago. He barely remembered his last ride because of the haze his head had been in after nearly being forced to walk off a cliff. The only thing he really remembered from that ride had been Calli. How she’d felt as he wrapped his arms around her, feeling safe and at peace, even though they were both soaked with rain. She was all he wanted to remember.
Now he was headed back to those cursed cliffs, determined to save Calli’s life the way she’d saved his. He suspected the ancient ghosts of Moonstone Falls witches had tried to spill his blood to reinstate the wards. The ghosts might be using the hunter to drive the sacrifice and it would cost Calli her life if he couldn’t get there in time. He tightened his grip on the broom, racing across the twilight sky, praying to the universe.
I can’t be too late. She is my destiny. We’re supposed to save magic.
Before he would have done anything to avoid the prophecies, now he wanted nothing more than for them to be true. But he couldn’t just trust in them—there were always other ways for prophecies to work out. Malcolm wove through the trees at breakneck speed, finally spotting the base of the cliffs.
Let me get there in time. Please…
He pulled back on the broom and shot straight up, aiming for the emerging stars as he reached the cliff top and jerked it to a halt just twenty feet from the edge.
There! He saw the faint pearlescent glow of Calli’s magic, but now that he was close enough, his sense of connection was returning, that imminent witch lock.
And he could feel her pain, her draining energy…
Calli and the hunter struggled against each other. There was blood visible on Calli’s upper left arm and her face was dangerously pale. In faint glimmers of fractured moonlight, Malcolm could once more see the old ghosts, the remnants of their spirits drawing power to reinstate the wards. Damn, freaking ghosts! The hunter was trying to push Calli over the edge. She had latched onto him, and he couldn’t pry her off..
Rage rose up from the darkest depths of his soul. It howled like a black wind ripping across an arid landscape, demanding vengeance.
Malcolm shook himself. Control. He had to control his emotions if he was going to save her. Even now, they were trying to take his focus away from the only thing that truly mattered.
“Calli!” Malcolm cried out.
Clouds above their heads loomed low, churning like a cauldron brewing danger and disaster. Calli and the hunter turned to face him. Relief flashed across her face before it changed to horror.
“No, Malcolm, no!”
He ignored her plea for him to save himself. He’d never leave her like this. Didn’t she know by now that his life meant nothing without her?
The hunter snarled and wrapped his arm around Calli’s throat from behind. He pulled a gun from behind his back and aimed it at Malcolm. “Back off, devil spawn!”
Suddenly the hunter’s eyes glowed with an eerie yellow light and his voice changed.
“You cannot stop what must be done… Blood is owed…”
Malcolm was more in control of his magic than ever before, but the old wards and haunted echoes of long dead magic users were fighting against him. He couldn’t do this alone.
But then he felt a familiar presence and realized he never had been.
Out of the corner of his eye he spied the form of a giant black schnauzer, limping into the opening from the edge of the forest.
Hades.
His familiar was bleeding on one side. Malcolm’s heart jerked at the sight, but there was no time for a reunion. He could sense Hades’s almost singular focus to protect Calli.
He also felt the pushback from the ancient magic wane the closer Hades got. Either it was making him stronger, or the old magic was splitting its attention between them. Either way, he could work with this.
Here’s the plan, old buddy. You go for Calli. I’ll go for him. Be ready for the time spell.
