my face. When I took her hand, she instead pulled me into a quick hug and I noticed the power of another witch in her aura, even as I felt Sorrow slide itself around to the small of my back .
“Oh,” she said, pulling back, eyes wide. “Ye leak magic like it’s water.”
“I, ah, didn’t mean to intrude or anything. Just wanted to make sure your daughter was all right. Let me get out of your hair,” I said, trying to back away.
“Nonsense, yer the hero of the hour. We want to hear about the attack and all that,” Gael said, smiling.
“Not much to it, really. She ambushed us, knocking out Ryanne before we knew she was there and then we fought. I got really lucky and she fell and hit her head.”
“Oh, ye look Irish, but ye don’t know a thing about proper bragging, now do ye?” Mary asked. “Our plane was landing about that time and we felt the fight from the airport, we did.”
“Aye, it was like fireworks going off all at once,” Aileen said. “Ye don’t have to hold back with us, Declan,” she said, glancing at the old woman in the corner. “We already know who yer mum was.”
I looked closer at the old lady, noticing that her expression wasn’t all warm and welcoming like the Flynns’. Hers was closed and cool and the girl by her side held herself the same way.
“Ah, Declan, these are some more folk from back home who came to meet you,” Ryanne said, her tone nervous.
The old lady tapped her finger on her knee once and power flowed like the Niagara Falls.
Only it was the girl who drew it, pulling waves of energy from all around. Instantly, my shields snapped up and I started my own pull, finding myself in a tug of war with a hazel-eyed, freckle-faced teenage witch for the surrounding energy. She’d already glommed onto the ready power in the air around us, so I put my hand on the light switch and pulled current. The lights snapped out as the girl threw up a shield.
It was a shield of Air and it was so thick, I couldn’t have got through it with an ICBM. It went from the floor to the ceiling, blocking off their side of the room, like a bomb shelter. The Flynns were all casting their own shields, watching to see what would happen. The girl was strong and her shield massive, yet it only protected their front side. I could attack the building, knock out the walls behind them or drop part of the ceiling on them. But that would be excessive. My hand was still on the outlet and the answer came to me in a flash. As did a spell I’d never seen before, one that just popped up, superimposed on my vision, ready to be cast. It was an extraction spell and it was designed to drain the two witches in the corner of all their power to the point of death.
Sorrow’s contribution stopped me in mid-draw, my body stepping back of its own accord.
A foot scraped behind me, but the voice that came next stopped my defensive response. “They be testing ye, lad. Waiting to see what ye can do and what ye will do. Right, Macha? So… whatcha going to do, lad?” my aunt asked. How the hell did she keep showing up at these awkward moments? Ah right… witch with strong divination skills.
I put my back to the wall so she could enter the room, but I didn’t take my eyes off the two in the corner.
Several things popped into place in my head. It helped that Aunt Ash was cool as a cucumber.
I reversed the flow of power through the outlet, pushing instead of pulling. My outlet connected with the rest of the room’s outlets, including the one on the wall behind Macha Banfill and her young assistant. A blue arc of electricity snapped out and licked the metal chairs they sat on. With a cry, both jumped up and the girl’s shield slipped, just a bit, but enough. I slipped a bolt of force through the sudden opening near the ceiling and picked both witches up, slamming them lightly against the wall. The Air shield dropped completely.
“Nicely done, lad,” my aunt said, her eyes never leaving the two on the wall.
The old woman raised her chin slightly, meeting Ashling’s eyes.
“Declan, be a good lad and put the lights back on, would ye?” Aunt