Chapter 27
Tara didn’t hesitate for a second, immediately buffering Caleb with a golden aura meant to shield him from damage, while she lunged ahead. Sinking into the floor with her intangibility magic, Tara all but vanished until she reappeared behind Amara with shadowed tendrils lashing out.
Amara spun around, defending herself with cosmic light. The two clashed again, light versus darkness. But Tara added an icy chill to her shadows, doing everything in her power to close the distance.
Her mind was steady, unafraid of the battle, of her mother, of unleashing the full extent of her branches. I’d never seen Tara move with such confidence.
“You could help,” I thought, pleading with Theodore.
He tugged at his enchanted collar. “Never involve oneself in family squabbles, I always say.”
“Moire, detain the goddess.” Amara weaved around Tara’s strikes, barely avoiding fatal blows.
Still, I expected Amara to put up a greater fight. Perhaps she held back because she didn’t want to harm her daughter.
“Doubtful,” Theodore mused, plopping into a crisscross position to observe the fight. “She’s probably just drained from her brief battle with the top ten.”
Theodore revealed flashes of Amara appearing before the top ten witches, detaining them all in her Oceanic Collapse magic before releasing the vampires to possess them. Christ, if she unleashed that onto Tara, this fight would end in seconds.
“Get the hell out of my friend’s body!” Tara raged, hurling a flurry of shadow tendrils at Moire, aiming to restrain Katherine’s body entirely.
Moire muttered a spell, and the shadows exploded into autumn leaves. They hit the ground and crumbled away to nothingness.
“Get out of Katherine!” Caleb swung a fist, full force, and stopped before colliding with Katherine’s chest. “Now!”
Without hesitation or delay, he cast banishment. If only he realized she wasn’t a demon possessing Katherine but another witch who’d somehow wedged her way into Katherine’s mind.
Moire screeched, furious and in utter agony, nearly toppling over before Amara intervened and telekinetically threw Caleb back.
“Caleb,” Katherine said in a fog.
“Shut up, girl.” Moire slapped her hands on Katherine’s temples and forced her back down into the depths of her own mind.
“Sloppy, Moire.”
“It’s not my fault,” she hissed. “That abomination did something to my magic. Made it fuzzy for a moment.”
That was it. He’d struck out with a perfected banishment. If he had more time to focus his casting on Moire, he’d definitely defeat her, but with Amara playing interference, that wouldn’t happen.
I knew what needed to be done.
“Don’t go,” Theodore whispered. “Let’s enjoy the show.”
I abandoned his mind and raced toward Moire.
“I’m going to get Katherine back. You two hold off Amara until I return.” I linked to Caleb and Tara momentarily.
“Mr. Frost?” Tara thought. “Are others on the way?”
“It’s just me for now,” I replied. “We’re going to have a hell of a fight, but I believe we can stop Amara together.”
With that, I dropped into Katherine’s mind, preventing Moire from assisting in the battle. I could only hope Caleb and Tara held their own until I returned.
The intrusion came with a strong pulse of telepathy.
I might lack the strength to kick Moire out of Katherine’s head with ease, but I certainly put a stop to her puppeteering.
Outside, Katherine’s body stood completely immobilized, and I wouldn’t allow it to move again until Katherine took control over her autonomy once more.
Inside her inner core, I realized why Katherine and Caleb got along so well. They had the same mindset, using a library to sort their thoughts and memories. Very analytic.
While Caleb’s library revolved around dates and magic types and profiles of all the witches he studied, Katherine’s focused more on the source of magic itself. Rows upon rows of books contained enchantment spells Katherine had learned over the years.
The library was divided into sections. Enchantment spells Katherine had learned from other witches, enchantment spells Katherine had created herself, magics that existed without an enchantment spell variation.
Those would likely be the rare branches that held too many unique complexities to mimic, like Gladiatrix’s branch.
Sure, Katherine could and had created enchantments to enhance her strength and speed, but it was unlikely that anyone could create a spell to match such unparalleled power.
I made my way through this massive library, searching for hints of Katherine’s consciousness and traces of lingering memories, but finding nothing except barren aisles.
There were two minds in here—three, including myself—but aside from the faintest of touches, I couldn’t locate either of them.
“That’s it,” I muttered. “Location spell.”
Outside the mind, I was just a telepath, but inside the mind, my magic could do quite literally whatever I willed it to do. If I wanted to cast divination, then suddenly my branch allowed for such things.
Conjuring a collection of twinkling lights, I ordered them to guide me to Katherine. They scrambled in every direction, searching between the shelves and far behind in the shadows of Katherine’s mind.
“Find her consciousness,” I clarified. “I want to see Katherine, not her thoughts or memories. Her being.”
The flurry of lights returned, circling around me again and again until they carried a small picture book.
Oh, fuck me.
I grabbed the book, read through it, and found it resembled a story about Katherine. She was the type who tucked her memories into stories. Well, she didn’t choose it. Most people had no idea how their inner core worked. It just functioned for them.
Flipping through the pages, I read about the stick figure version of Katherine who always smiled and cheered and prayed for the best of everyone around her.
“Seriously?” I flipped through the pages, waiting for an opportunity.
The twinkling lights blinked, and I knew now was my chance. I jumped into the picture book, falling further into Katherine’s mind, and navigating my way through a chamber of memories.
This book was one of many tales, each leading to the same minefield of memories. A collection of her past pushed together in a bizarre style. Her mind was difficult to navigate, but I found myself led to a recent memory.
The lights of my spell guided me to a moment between Katherine and her mother.
“This book is rather special to our family,” Katherine’s mother explained.
Her red hair was stringy, and her face was exceptionally pale. More so than I’d seen during parent-teacher conferences. Exhaustion weighed heavily on her eyes, and her lips were pulled into a tight, rigid smile.
“I want you to have this grimoire.” Her hands trembled a bit, nervously clutching the ancient grimoire Katherine received for her internship.
“She doesn’t want to share it,” a young voice said.
I turned to find a small version of Katherine observing her own thoughts, her own memories. How astounding.
“If I paid attention, real attention, I would’ve seen the effects the grimoire had on my mommy.” Katherine jotted notes in a pink unicorn-themed notebook. “All I thought about was how cool it’d be.”
She was lost in her own mind, reverted to a childish form of herself.
“What happened to you?”
“The book,” she replied, pausing the memory right before her mother handed her—the teen version of Katherine—the grimoire. “I accepted it, greedily read the spells, and gave over my body to this witch.”
“How?”
“A spell triggered purely by reading the words.” The young Katherine kicked her feet against the ground. “Such a rookie mistake.”
“It wasn’t a mistake,” I said. “You couldn’t have known.”
“I should’ve.”
I knelt down to meet Katherine at eye level. “I know you’re frightened. I know you’ve been through so much already.”
“I’m not scared.” The small girl clutched her notebook, using it as a shield over her chest.
“It’s okay to be scared,” I said. “Fear can protect us from rushing into something dangerous. And fear is proof we have something to live for.”
Katherine averted her gaze, thoughts twirling around the many memories outside this storybook I’d fallen into.
“I need your help,” I said. “Help me fight off the witch keeping you from living your life.”
“The magic is too strong.” Katherine trembled. “The spell craft enchantments are at a level I didn’t even know was possible.”
“I’ll let you in on a little secret, inside the mind, belief is the strongest magic.” I stood back up. “Psychics know that more than anyone else, but I promise if you believe in your magic, it won’t falter.”
She hesitated, mind cautiously considering, but finally, the belief trickled through her little by little.
Katherine grew back into herself, transforming from the small, frightened child into the brave young woman I’d taught for the last several years.
“Impressive,” a raspy voice called out from the shadows.
“It’s her.” Katherine trembled.
“I’m here with you.” I planted a hand on her shoulder, easing the fear building inside Katherine.
Her knees quaked, but she finally steadied herself.
“How sweet,” the raspy voice called out. “I thought my trap would be enough to detain you, telepath.”
Moire stepped out of the shadows, revealing herself.
Only she presented herself as an older version of Katherine.
She wore an elegant dress, something Victorian style with a gothic touch.
The dress itself was strapless, exposing her shoulders and cleavage.
Her light brown skin was covered in tattooed symbols.
“Mortal bodies are dull, but I do what I can with their limiting attributes.” Moire ran her fingers through her long black hair that fell well past her waist.
“Let’s kick her the hell out of your head.”