30 Ways to Fool an Angel (Tales of a Midlife Witch #7)

Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

T hings felt wrong to me. The closer we got to Ireland and the Shadow Breakers, the worse it felt. It didn’t surprise me to look out of the windows and see thirty paranormal agents waiting down on the ground.

Tony had slept on the trip while I had brooded and planned, except I hadn’t planned for a ground assault the moment we landed. Two against thirty weren’t good odds for us. Hopefully, my scary voice would work on them.

I pushed on Tony’s arm to wake him. His blue eyes opened to meet mine then drifted to my lips. He smiled wickedly at me. “One day our circumstances won’t be so dire and you’ll have to decide what to do about the attraction between us.”

“Well, that’s not today,” I said. “The Shadow Breakers sent a welcoming committee. My gut says they’re not going to be friendly.”

Tony sighed. It was one of his irritated ones. I was learning.

“Want me to kill them? There must be other paranormal agents who need exciting jobs.”

I chuckled dryly. “I like the idea of wiping them away... and I like hearing you say it. You bring out the wicked in me. But what if they’re just misguided? It was two of them who set us free.”

His grin made my heart speed up. “Do you want a lesson in anti-magick? You can save the good ones that way. It might be a bit painful for you.”

“You want me to pop out my wings, don’t you?”

Tony nodded. “Yes. Both of us will need our wings. You’ll need to pretend Danu sent you and use your scary voice to convince them. Only you need to crank it down to something that won’t paralyze them.”

“Do you seriously want me to lie about my mother’s patron goddess?”

“I know Danu. She won’t mind. If she were here, she’d laugh and play along with us,” Tony said, walking toward the door. “I’m going to talk to our pilots, read their minds, and make sure they’re not part of any plan against us. I’ll be back to escort you by the time we land. Hang tight.”

“Okay,” I said to the air because Tony was already on the move.

I took a few deep breaths and stared down at my hand. “Hey, ring. Are you there? I may need your help in a few minutes.”

Many seek our power. The fairy enthralled the people after you, just as he did the witches. It took him many years to cast a spell that strong and on so many. It will not be undone easily.

“I see. Do you have any good news?” I asked the air.

Good is a relative value. We have answers to your questions. Your wings are a biological inheritance from your father. Using your magick caused them to manifest.

I blinked in confusion as I thought. “How can that be the case? My wings came first. Then my voice got scary. I think they are my weapon.”

No. That is not possible. We searched all the records ever produced about a creature getting wings. Their origins are always innate in their DNA. This is what the Creators intended. Be grateful. You may still get a true weapon at the appropriate time.

I grunted at the news. “Well, now would be a good time. There’s a group from the Shadow Breakers meeting our plane. I don’t think they plan to tell me they’ve released the spell on my grandmother.”

Indeed, they are not. Your witch grandmother remains trapped. She believes you are living with your mother.

“Can you tell if my scary voice will work on them?”

The etheric echo will work on some, but not all. Effects vary with the power of the being you are trying to stop.

“I’m suddenly envying Grandpa getting a spear. Was it a magickal spear?”

It was created for him , the ring said.

But that told me nothing at all.

The pilots landed the plane on a runaway that cut through a field. A circular turnaround allowed the plane to turn and coast back to where the Shadow Breakers welcoming party waited.

I had a moment of wishing I’d asked Mom for help before I faced whatever was ahead. Then I thought of Gigi being under a spell and squared my shoulders. Why hadn’t I let Tony teach me to fly when I had the chance? We could escape this group and make a plan to free her.

I hated it, but maybe the angel I lusted for was right. Maybe I needed to take more risks. I’d faced one danger after another since Mom put the ring on my hand. If this would be my life, I didn’t want to be feeling unprepared all the time.

Like the proper protector he professed to be, Tony walked off the plane first. He went directly to the man standing in front of the group. I followed him slowly and stopped midway down the descending ramp.

I lifted my head and moved my shoulders forward and back, preparing for the pain. Closing my eyes, I squeezed the muscles in my back. Nothing happened. Why weren’t my wings coming out? Even if the ring was right about them, they might intimidate some of these people. Tony thought they might.

In front of me, Tony’s wings suddenly shot from his shoulders. I watched them break skin and rip through his very nice shirt. His now very visible feathered wingspan blocked my view of the people he was talking to. I stopped to hide behind him and listen to their conversation.

“Look here, Ancient One, don’t make us lock ya up in dragon chains again, because ya know we’ll do it. All we want is the girl. Our boss told us to keep an eye on her and that’s what we intend to do.”

“My job is to protect the girl. If you force me to kill you all to keep her safe, I will do that without regret for the loss of your lives.”

“Calm yerself. We don’t intend to hurt her.”

“No, I think you want to use Fiona as bait to draw her mother here or as leverage to control her whole family. Neither of those will be happening.”

“Ya’re outnumbered and don’t have enough magick to stop us all. We got ya once and we’ll do it again.”

“No, you won’t. This time I won’t worry about consequences. This time I will kill you,” Tony said with finality.

“Or maybe we could come to some agreement where death wasn’t the only option,” I said quickly, ducking under one of Tony’s large wings to step in front of him.

I looked at the man who was now smirking at me.

“Hello, my little darling,” he said, looking me up and down. “I appreciate ya joining our little party.”

“Stop looking at me like that or I’ll strike you blind.”

Done , the ring said.

The man gasped in shock and rubbed at his eyes. “My eyes! I can’t see. What kind of dark magick are ya practicing? I can’t feel my magick anymore. Ya took my magick from me.”

Pretending I wasn’t shocked to my core by his accusations and unseeing eyes, I ignored the rest of his posse to focus only on him. “It’s not dark magick, but it is a kind that doesn’t tolerate wrongful violence, deceit, or being loyal to an evil fairy who doesn’t deserve it. Prince Ezra tried to kill me and my mother. His life was spared but yours may not be.” I lifted my gaze to the rest of them. “Am I making myself clear?”

Of the many reactions I expected, people screaming obscenities at me as they ran away wasn’t what I expected.

“Freeze,” I yelled like some cop actor in a crime movie. A bit more than half of the Shadow Breakers posse froze. I glared at the ones who remained unaffected.

“Congratulations for being immune. You can deal with my guardian angel’s wrath.”

Behind me, Tony chuckled.

A collective whispering went through the crowd. Two or three on the edges snuck away without doing or saying anything. Two stabbing pains hit me and my wings shot out like missiles being launched into space.

I gritted my teeth and swallowed back a scream. My face must have been the picture of pain because those still standing took a few steps back to stare at me and my dark wings.

Tony’s feathered wings rose higher behind me in a cloud of white as he spread them out as far as they would go. His wingspan was much, much larger than mine, but no one was looking at him in terror. Wing size didn’t seem to matter when people thought you were changing into a demon while they watched. Since Conn had babysat me often, I had no fear of black wings, demonic symbols, or dark magic.

I looked around and saw two of the frozen people had grips on the one the ring had blinded. He was struggling in place because he couldn’t escape their stony fingers.

And he couldn’t see. Panic shook his body.

I walked to him, with Tony calling my name in concern.

“I’ve got this,” I said, never wavering in my faith.

“Stop calling for help,” I said to the man when I was close enough. I realized what I’d done when he went silent like I’d sewn his mouth shut. “Look... I don’t intend to hurt you. Believe it or not, I’m trying to help free you. Based on a witch coven Tony and I rescued in Salem, you were trapped by a fairy’s spell. Let me fix your eyes first.”

I covered both his eyes with my hands even though he thrashed his head trying to escape my touch.

“Stand still,” I commanded. He didn’t freeze again when I touched him, but he was quickly realizing that he had no choice except to do as I asked.

I thought of what the ring had me do to heal Tony. I summoned that same healing energy and sent it through my palms into the man’s eyes. Heal him and release him from the fairy’s spell, I ordered the ring.

As you wish , came the reply.

Energy warmed my palms as it left me and entered the man’s eyes. I winced at the pain in the rest of my body but kept my palms in place.

Done , the ring eventually said.

I lowered my hands and met the man’s gaze. He blinked at me, relieved that he could see again.

I touched his lips with one finger. “Let him speak his truth,” I ordered.

Done , the ring said almost instantly.

I stepped back and smiled at him. “Better now?”

He nodded. “Who are ya? What’s going on? Why am I on the tarmac?”

I turned to Tony and motioned him to join me. His wings disappeared as he walked. All his attention was on me and I felt it to my toes.

Whatever Tony was, he could make me feel special just by looking at me. Looking back at him, I suddenly understood why Mom kept letting Rasmus back into her life every time he left... and why she had warned me about the allure of paranormal men.

“I think Ezra used the same spell on the Shadow Breakers that he used on the Salem witches to enchant them.”

Tony’s gaze bore into the man’s soul for several long moments before he replied to me. “I believe you are correct.”

“Good, because it was mostly a gut feeling.”

Tony grinned. “Calling it instinct sounds better. And I know how badly you wanted them not to be bad guys. You’re not fooling anyone.”

I smiled back. “I wasn’t trying to. We know those I froze will be released from the spell naturally. What should we do about the ones who ran away or who weren’t affected?”

Tony pointed at my victim. “Ask him. He’ll probably want to help you now that he isn’t trying to put you in prison.”

“Why would I put either of ya in prison? Are the two of ya criminals? I thought ya were our saviors.”

“It depends on the day,” Tony said dryly.

When I giggled, my wicked angel beamed.

Ignoring the man I rescued for a moment longer, I patted Tony’s arm. “I know you didn’t get to kill anyone, but I’m happy we avoided bloodshed.”

Tony chuckled. “Don’t get your hopes up too high. The day’s not over yet.”