Chapter 46
first contact
The scent of the forest began to change, and the soft moonlight that had made their journey possible also began to shift. Jess raised her hand, and the witches stopped their progress. Instead of gathering around Jess and Callie, the diverse coven surrounded Isabel.
“As we suspected,” she began, pointing toward their destination, “we’ve got heavy ozone, and the light levels tell me Max has cloaked the area.”
Isabel nodded to Miren. “We will create a temporary breach. It’s like we’ve talked about. Miren and I will pierce at opposite ends, and we all step through.”
“How long?” Callie asked, having seen the youngest witch looking nervous. “Until it closes up?”
Miren held up her hand. “Five seconds, no longer. Any hesitation could prove…unpleasant. We’ve got about fifty yards to go, so enter quickly—start triggering defense sequences before you move through.”
“We step up, breach, and step in,” Isabel summarized. “Again, commit fully and expect an immediate and lethal response.”
Her eyes swept the line of witches. “This is a rare moment in our world. The idea that we will use our beloved magic as killing weapons.” Isabel sighed. “I am truly sad, but it must be done.”
“Without hesitation,” Jess said. Her voice had a different resonance to it, almost a weapon itself.
Callie blew out a long breath, then nudged Hope with her elbow. “We’re gonna be okay,” she said, hoping to bolster the petite young girl as well as herself.
“Thank you,” Hope said quietly. Then, after a beat, “Try not to get in front of me?” she warned carefully, “My aim can be a little off when I’m nervous. I would feel awful…”
Callie, trying to comfort her, acknowledged the girl’s feelings. “I would feel bad too.”
Hope cleared her throat, saying something under her breath as she made her way to the middle of the line of witches.
As Miren passed by Callie, heading to the opposite end, she leaned close to Callie. “If Hope swings toward you, drop to the ground and pray. You might not have time to feel bad because you won’t feel anything ever again.”
“Oh…” Callie gasped, then looked at Jess for support. “Did you hear that?”
“Mmm,” Jess nodded. “Stay close to me. Get your staff and shields ready.”
Stepping from the forest in a line, the witches quickly moved to the glowing perimeter of their enemies’ massive protective shroud.
Miren thrust out her arms, hands pausing just ahead of the translucent wall. On the other end, Isabel did the same. They lunged, driving their fists through the shimmering membrane. Their expressions were matched, indicating the pain they were experiencing. Both witches rotated their arms, and a disturbance rippled between them.
“Ready,” the call went out. “Stay low, form up. We’ll get a reading on mana concentrations on the other side of the shroud.”
Isabel and Miren rotated to face each other, and the ripple in the shroud split, then opened. Together, they had created a doorway.
“Step through,” Isabel painfully cried, and the witches stepped through and into the monastery’s courtyard.
Rotating through, Miren pulled her arms from the barrier, but their timing was off. One of Isabel’s arms became stuck, and she began to shake as the energy of the shroud surged around her forearm. Already weakened by provoking the breach, there would only be seconds before the concentrated energy would sever it.
Miren abruptly accelerated from the far end of their formation, tackling Isabel away from the shroud. They both fell to the ground, tumbling across the wet grass.
Isabel groaned from the impact. “Oooh, love. I much prefer when you’re more gentl—”
The monastery compound erupted.
No subtle wards or an attempt at negotiations, just light…everywhere. Then, a cacophonous sound with murderous intent.
Plasma rails hissed through the air like molten whips. Shock lights bloomed and shattered against the stone walls. The sound cascading along the buildings was relentless, and the feedback as the noise bounced off the containment shroud amplified the chaos.
Then screams.
Miren ran forward, jumping into a crouched stance, and with a swing of her arm, she unleashed a powerful disruption wave. Usually a blunt force, she had learned to target its leading edge, and as it bounced along the sanctuary’s walls, it took out windows and skittered off the old stone sills, decimating the sorcerers hidden along the wall.
Running parallel to the witches, Tamsin fired off a series of orbs that arched high in the pre-dawn sky. With a scoffing expression, two of Max’s security team stood from their fortified bunker and countered with an umbrella of protection panels to deflect the incoming orbs. Distracted as intended, they failed to notice the pulsing green orb that Tamsin had released the second she had seen their position. The vicious sphere impacted just behind them, the concussion sending their bodies smashing into their own shields.
Recovered from her rocky entrance, Isabel started laughing as she fought. Her fire took shape like short lengths of chain, clattering through the air and striking like hammers.
The initial salvo was heavy and brutal. As planned, Isabel and the team had sent a message—but Max had planned his response carefully.
A squad of enforcers armed with plasma rods ringed the monastery entrance. With interlocking protection shields glittering overhead, they went low, forming a human barrier in front of the sanctuary steps.
Tamsin had circled around when a gap opened in the shell-like formation, and a pulse weapon fired directly at her, timed to her speed; they had anticipated her acceleration move. The witch was barely able to summon a protection ring as the ray of light struck, spinning her in a flailing circle. Landing poorly, she threw a weak shield over her head as Jess and Callie put down covering fire.
Isabel grinned as Tamsin threw her middle finger at the phalanx position. She had succeeded in pinpointing the strength of their enemy, but she left her defensive shields hovering over her position for a good reason.
“Hope,” Miren’s voice cut through the din of the courtyard.
There were more pockets of enforcers opening fire, many from the doorway of the old sanctuary and from the outbuildings that flanked the old church structure. Miren began to conjure a wall of refractive light to redirect enemy fire, turning the natural illumination against them. “You’re up, sweetie.”
The petite witch moved like a shadow, her black skirt swirling as she effortlessly stepped through Miren’s shield. A fitted black leather jacket hugged her frame, over a short top that shimmered faintly with runes. She wore defiance like perfume—soft enough to draw attention, sharp enough to keep it.
Hope had watched and listened to the quiet stories the witches told as they had made their way through the woods. Stunned by their power and ridiculous grace under pressure, she wanted to prove her mettle.
She reached out, stretching her hands toward the sanctuary. Her brow sharpening, she slapped her wrists together.
The resulting energy wave tore across the lawn like a waterskier’s wake. Turf and dirt shot up in the blink of an eye, then impacted into the old church entrance. The phalanx formation was obliterated. The doorway splintered, sending thousands of oak splinters in every direction. The weathered steps heaved, and finally the stone arch collapsed, rendering the once carefully shaped boulders into a pile of vibrating rubble.
For a moment, the battlefield was quiet. Both sides seemed to marvel at the crushing destruction.
Turning, Hope shrugged, grimace apparent. “So…that happened.”
“Well,” Jess cleared her throat, “We’re officially ahead of schedule.”
Callie had watched in horror and awe as the witches, sober-faced and resolute, fanned out working in pairs, one to shield, the other to conjure against Max’s enforcers.
With a snap of her wrist, Callie’s rune-laden staff appeared, bristling with energy. She was no longer a hopeful observer. Training was over.
A plasma rail shot down from one of the clerestory windows, revealing a sniper position. Startled, Miren targeted the window, but Hope was already moving, her chaotic power still surging under her skin.
She spun quickly, but stumbled on the grass. A second energy wave blew from her hands and immediately went awry. It missed the window along the side of the sanctuary and drove through a portion of the roof over the entrance.
Driven by conviction, it roared through the roof like a magical cannon. The blast was strong enough to strike the protective cloak stretching over the compound, and the waves of remaining energy fanned out in a spider-legged shockwave, rippling against the soft light on the eastern horizon. Tamsin and Isabel pointed out that several of Max’s henchmen had turned and run from the fight.
“We’ll go after them,” Isabel hollered. “I don’t want anyone to double back or lure us into an ambush.”
A sudden, eerie calm had descended across the grounds, but the fight was far from over. By now, Max would have tried to accelerate the Veil breach ritual.
Jess stood next to Callie as she stared up at Hope’s handiwork and held out her hand. “Seen anything new?” Her question was asked lightly, but Callie’s stomach turned. The moment was coming. She knew it would happen inside the sanctuary, somewhere.
“I saw that,” Callie admitted, then lied, “but nothing...lately.”
That part was partially true. Callie had been trying to provoke the images, but something—a key clue—continued to evade her. Perhaps the compounding guilt of omission was catching up.
Callie watched Isabel as she chased after one of Max’s minions, then looked up, tilting her head, listening—but realized the shimmering containment dome over the old sacred ground would mask any sound from the outside world, remote as they were.
“Ready?” she asked Jess.
Then, she snapped her wrist, resetting her wooden staff. The runes glowed with renewed energy.
“Let’s do this.”