Chapter 5
ISAAC
Brie and champagne were the perfect snack combination. I ate my fifth cracker with the creamy cheese on top, washing it down with the bubbly nectar, listening to the chatter.
A slice of heaven in a hellish headache of bullshit.
Aaron Bramble tapped away on his laptop, scouring the Fae Archives for anything that might help with the fae woman.
For like the hundredth time. He’d been searching for information with a fine-tooth comb, coming up empty each time.
Sent endless emails to the Winter Palace for help, getting nothing but the cold shoulder.
Would the Winter Queen rather keep us in the dark? As in, the less we knew, the less danger we’d be in kind of thing?
Pfft. I’d rather have the knowledge because of it being power and all that jazz.
“Make the most of the days you have without me. For I am coming,” the fae woman had told Drake.
Darn it. I hated being in the dark with this creature pulling at our strings.
The shimmer witches from the fairground were now being interrogated at the High Coven HQ, and apparently Ollie would now be coming back to stay at the mansion from now on.
Cool. I’d drink to that.
As for the crystal shade, we’d all agreed on the theory that the fae woman tapped into the Hecate Crystals somehow to create it.
“The High Coven lab reports I received suggests the shard you were hit with drained some of your essence,” Erin had told me, “and the creature sprouted wings to carry it to her.”
While the peninsula was blocked by the Winter Queen’s wall, there was another route to Blue Orchard.
It meant crossing violent seas to get there.
A flaw in the plan to contain this hag, really.
Why didn’t the queen wall off every side?
Were the seas really so impossible to cross?
Uncle Jonathon must have sailed them or flew over them or whatever the fuck it was he did to get there.
“I think it established a weird physical connection,” Aaron had chimed in with a theory. “Which is why she could hurt you in her domain while she waited for the drained part of you to show up via the shade.”
Alice had jabbed him in the ribs for that comment.
“What? I’m just saying.”
“Eat your crumpets and zip it,” his sister warned.
He’d obeyed, albeit with a scowl.
A grim assessment, but totally plausible. Whatever her plan, the fae woman’s power was no joke. We’d have to tread carefully now.
Understatement, much?
I finished my second glass of champagne, refilling it immediately. “What about Preston? He’s just as vulnerable.”
Marcus had us over so many barrels when it came to our littlest brother.
It made my head hurt, testing my patience to its limits.
Even if I was yet to officially meet The Star, I already felt the connection to him.
A sensation of correctness, a warm, pulsating sibling love. It’d been the same with Riley.
“We’re cooking up a plan, sir,” April answered. “There’s a spell in the grimoire involving a net.”
I tapped my little finger on the glass. “There is?” I’d been studying the grimoire and hadn’t found a spell about a net. But then there were so many in there, I guess they all started to blur together after a while.
Before this, I’d lived as a shimmer witch with my three watered-down spells in my witch bangle. Going about my business with the witch part of me kind of irrelevant. Now I had access to a shit load of spells, with more waiting for me in the celestial room—currently sealed until Preston joined us.
“To capture our brother?” Riley asked about the net thing.
“Possibly,” Erin chimed in. “Although we were thinking more along the lines of disarming or distracting Marcus and whoever else he has with him. The net crushes the one inside it into unconsciousness. It also temporarily suppresses any magical power.” She picked up the grimoire from the coffee table.
“Here, have a read.” She handed it to Riley.
I got up and joined my brother to read it with him.
The book, with a battered blue cover, always smelled of dust. Riley leafed to the index to locate the page.
Binding Net!
A conjuring spell.
Requires the heating of dried basil and angelica in water. Grounding requires three candles to burn for one hour after midnight. A ball of twine is required for the toll, to be submerged in the water before heat is applied.
Once the connection is established, clap the magic out while calling the words Binding Net!
The liquid will disappear and grant the caster(s) the power to conjure the nets. This ability will last for twenty-four hours.
This spell only requires one witch to cast.
True spells like these came with physical consequences if the steps weren’t followed properly. Grounding was important to avoid any magical kickbacks, and a toll must always be paid for the magic to work. Also, more than one witch was sometimes required to cast the spell.
There were plenty of horror stories of spells gone wrong, including one about a man’s tongue animating and breaking free from his mouth because he tried to bypass the requirements of the spellcasting.
The poor guy found it chilling on a park bench several days later as if it were human, but a bird caught it before it could be reunited with its master.
So grim. I hated thinking about it.
Being sacred witches, Riley and I sidestepped the grounding—another perk of our blood. But never the toll. No one got to be exempt from that, not even shadow witches and their twisted magic.
“So, we’ll be able to summon nets as many times as we like within twenty-four hours?” Riley asked.
“I presume so,” Erin answered.
“We’ll be casting the spell, too,” Alice said, pointing at herself and April.
I gulped down the rest of my champagne, a sudden rush of giddiness washing over me. Good. I liked the boozy haze, so I poured out another one to keep the buzz going.
“On a mission to get pickled, sir?” Aaron asked.
I lifted my glass, throwing him a wink.
Maybe I should take it easy, but screw it. After tonight’s events, I needed the release. A good sleep would help me reset back into kick-arse mode.
“It’s better than having no plan,” Drake said.
I nodded, getting to my feet, ready to be alone again. “Are we done?”
“We are,” Erin responded. “At least for now.”
“Hopefully we’ll have some information on those shimmer witches soon,” Riley said.
I turned to him, his head resting on Drake’s shoulder. The scene was so utterly adorable, igniting twinges of jealousy.
Why couldn’t I have a shoulder to rest my head on? Why didn’t a guy look at me the way Drake looked at my little brother? And why was I whining?
I took a hearty swig of booze, scooting closer toward the sozzled line.
“Then goodnight,” I announced theatrically, strutting out of the living room.
Riley caught up with me at the foot of the stairs. “Hold on.”
I grabbed the banister, the inside of my skull lurching inside a storm of bubbly giddiness. “What’s up?”
He gave me a little smile. “Fancy having a sing with me?”
My brother loved him some karaoke. So did I, even if my caterwauling sounded like a cry for help.
I chuckled, feeling my cheeks heat in the booze-afflicted way. “Sure. Lead the way.” I bowed to him, then threw back the rest of the champagne.
Riley cocked his head. “Are you okay?”
Icy doom licked up my spine, a reminder of the dark possibilities ahead of us. “Not really. I’m trying to not be freaked out.”
“I’m sorry.” He reached out to pat my arm. “Blue Orchard sounds so awful.”
And dying must have seriously sucked for you. “I…fuck…” I swayed, a wave of emotion coming at me. My legs wobbled, the hallway beginning to spin.
“Isaac?”
This wasn’t the alcohol, but something else. Something with the raw power to knock me off my feet.
I collapsed awkwardly onto the bottom step, tears pricking my eyes like hot needles. Slumping forward, my walls came down. A series of sobs tore out of me, my body shaking like jelly.
I covered my face with both hands, heat crawling up my neck.
“Isaac?”
A full-scale attack unleashed itself upon me, firing off recent pains to take out the remains of my collapsed walls. Cannon balls of fear set loose, bullets of anguish forcing a banshee-like wail to burn out of my throat.
Great. Just what I needed, to fall apart like an absolute tool. But the tears came hot and fast, coupled with plenty of sniffling.
Darn it!
Riley joined me on the step, throwing an arm around me. “I’m here.”
I leaned against him, my head finding his shoulder.
Interesting. Just when I’d wished for such a spot to rest my skull, there it was. But the brotherly kind. And it made me cry harder.
See? You do have a shoulder.
I shouldn’t be crying. There were people out there with worse problems. Much worse. At the same time, my feelings were valid. I’d seen my brother die, briefly, I’d been attacked by some crazy fae hag and a crystal shade, and my family situation was super complicated.
It’s my life and I can weep if I want to.
Riley gave me a squeeze. “It’s okay. Everything will be okay.”
I’d never met anyone with his sunny disposition before. No matter what, he always saw the bright side of everything. A real optimist with a heart of gold who’d been through some seriously hard times, and such a comfort blanket.
I sniffled, lifting my head. “I drank too much too quickly.”
No shit!
“Sorry,” I threw in, wiping my eyes.
“Don’t be,” he answered. “You cry all you want. I’m here to listen, to sit, to do whatever it takes to make you feel better.”
He had enough to contend with. After what happened with Rhianna, he was helping Drake work through his pain. The scrying witch was the father of the child sacrificed to summon Preston. Poor guy. What a grim situation.
I took some deep breaths to calm myself down.
He rubbed my back.
“Thanks, honey,” I said. “I’m just all up in my feels.”
“Understandable. A lot has happened. Just don’t suffer in silence.”
“You’re too cute.” I reached up to touch the silver streak in his raven-black hair. Really, I should let it all out and talk it through with him.
Maybe after a coffee.
“How does a hot drink and a cookie sound?” I asked. “Followed by a sing-song, of course.”
He smiled, giving a nod of approval. “Sounds fabulous.”
We got up and headed toward the kitchen.
The mansion’s warning alarms wailed, making us both jump at the same time.
“What the fuck?” I roared.
Drake hurried over, the others following him. “There are crystal shades at the gates!”