A Reckless Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,38

on the beach with Nat and Lauren.”

He saw understanding hit Govin’s eyes. “Got it. I’ll try to ratchet it down a little.”

Devin grinned, trying his own brand of doing just that. “Try math formulas or something.”

Govin just rolled his eyes, but his stress levels eased off a little. Good. Mission accomplished.

Instead of looking out the window one more time, Devin cast out with a light finger of water power and thought he caught the edge of something. He nudged Sierra. “Can you feel it?”

She frowned, and then he felt her power surging. Man, she was a powerful witch. A moment later, she nodded. “Yeah. Three big waves, and probably a couple more forming in the backwash.”

Govin leaned forward. “How close to the islands?”

Sierra closed her eyes again—and then turned whiter. “Really close. Maybe… three minutes.”

She’s close to panic, Dev. Jamie’s voice rang in his brain.

Devin grabbed Sierra’s hands and pulled her eyes to his by sheer force of will. “Forget the islands. Just the water, Sierra. Go there with me. We need to figure out how to mellow out those waves a little. You lead—I’ll provide the assist.”

Use Aervyn too—I can handle the chopper for now. Jamie sounded low on gas, but someone else was going to have to deal with that.

He felt his nephew’s power stream sliding alongside and nudged Sierra. She took a huge breath and started to work.

Devin watched her spellcasting for a moment, weaving a complicated dance he could hardly follow. Then Aervyn’s mental picture blasted into his brain. Apparently the four-year-old understood Sierra’s plan just fine. Devin stood where he was told and pulled every ounce of power he could find.

He watched in straining awe as Sierra handled it all and asked Aervyn for more. Shit. Even wonderboy wasn’t limitless.

He’s okay for now, Jamie sent. But she’s really pushing it. Do enough grounding for all three of you.

Devin backed off a fraction and planted both magical feet as firmly in the speeding landmass to their left as he could, feeling the desperate pull and swirl of an ocean of water power in mid-spell. And then braced as he realized what was about to happen.

Power smacked into him, a tsunami of energy pouring through him and out the groundlines. He felt Govin and Jamie jump to handle the overflow. Holy shit. Channels screaming, he took as much of the weight off Sierra as he could, well aware she held the business end of the fire hose.

Hang on tight, said Jamie grimly. That was just the first one.

There was no time for fear.

Twice more, they all got drilled by a wave of power bigger than anything Devin had ever handled. Twice more, they frantically cleaned up the overflow. He hung on by his fingertips.

And then everything went magically silent.

Devin opened his eyes—just in time to see Sierra’s face blaze with victory. And then her head fell to the side as channel shock knocked her unconscious.

He grabbed for her—and nearly crunched heads with his brother. His very pale brother. Crap. Every witch on the chopper was in pretty bad shape. “TJ! Can you put this thing down?”

“Yeah,” TJ yelled. “We’ll set down in the islands. Be there in ninety seconds.” He looked down at his tablet. “Lauren said she’s sending reinforcements.”

Thank God. They needed the cavalry right about now.

~ ~ ~

Lauren tried not to stumble as she landed on a waterlogged beach. This popping into her phone and out somewhere else was still a very strange experience. She wasn’t sure a mind witch could help a lot with magical exhaustion, but Nat had been very worried about Jamie, and no way were they sending a nine-months-pregnant woman to an evacuation zone.

She covered her ears as the chopper landed. Yeeks, it was loud. Then she grinned gratefully as Nell and Sophie popped into existence beside her. Apparently it was okay to send pregnant healers to an evacuation zone. Nell’s eyes were glued on the helicopter. Lauren reached out. “I can feel his mind. He’s okay. They’re all in one piece.”

Nell’s mind beamed white-hot gratitude.

“Ginia’s coming in a moment with supplies.” Sophie’s eyes were on the people exiting the chopper, her mind all business. “And we’ve got a bigger team on standby if need be.”

Lauren quickly texted Nat as she saw Jamie step down and reach up for Aervyn, and then followed Sophie over. She was grateful when TJ cut power before her head blew off. And then stunned by the wave of exhaustion that rolled off the helicopter’s occupants.