Witching Time (The Wild Hunt #14) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,85

higher,

Hear my will, obey me still.

There was a deep rumble as a bolt shot forth from the wand, a fireball so bright that it was almost blinding. I shielded my eyes as the bolt of neon fire hit the ground, engulfing Jericho and expanding to fill the circle of flame that was keeping the wights intact. There was a series of screeches, loud and pitiful, and then—suddenly, only the sound of flames burning.

I lowered the wand, unsure whether I actually liked being in possession of so much power. In theory, power was great. When you actually had it in hand, it was daunting.

The flames began to die down, burning out quickly, and Phasmoria hurried forward.

“Cover your ears!”

We all did and she shrieked again. By now, I had a raging headache from the energy of the wand and the frequency of my mother’s shrieks and the crystals’ continual thumping in the background. I winced, moving to sit down again before I fell.

A glance toward the circle showed several wights left. We could see them again, thanks to my mother. Herne, Kipa, and Ember raced in. They faced off, dancing away from the wights’ attacks as they parried with their swords. But the wights were injured, and it didn’t take more than a few swings of their blades to finish them off.

I stared at my wand. “I don’t know about this,” I said softly, glancing over at my mother.

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“This wand is incredible, but if it ever got stolen…I don’t know, it’s just dangerous.”

“That’s the point,” Phasmoria said. “You now have a weapon that will serve you against almost any enemy. Even Pandora,” she added. “It won’t kill her, but it could do a hell of a lot of damage to her.”

“But only if it’s charged and I happen to have it with me. I’m sure as hell not taking this everywhere I go.” I glanced over to see the others examining the remains of the wights, which had become visible upon their death. “Do you really think it’s wise for me to keep it?”

Phasmoria shrugged. “I can’t answer that. I think you should keep it, but if it makes you that uncomfortable, I’ll take it back.” She knelt by my chair. “Raven, you have to accept responsibility at some point. You’re one of the Ante-Fae and you live in dangerous times. You may have a god for a boyfriend, but he can’t be there all the time. And your dagger—Venom’s a sweet little blade, but face it, she’s not going to save your life most of the time.”

I thought for a moment. Phasmoria was right. As much as the power of the wand made me nervous, I didn’t have any other weapon that could come close to it. My handpan and I made strong magic together, but I couldn’t very well carry it into battle. I wasn’t capable of fighting with a sword—not that well, at least. And daggers only went so far.

“All right. I’ll keep it. Thank you again.” I kissed her on the cheek, then carefully placed the wand back into its case. A moment later my phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID. It was Rain.

“Hello?”

“Raven, I wanted you to know—I just got a call from Shadow Oaks Safe Haven. Marigold’s awake. She’s clear—they scanned her and whatever had a hold on her is gone. I’m not sure what you did, but thank you.” She sounded like she was going to cry.

I relaxed, breathing deeply. “I’m so glad to hear that. We’re out on your land right now. We cleared a number of wights off of it. I think we got them all, but we’ll check it out to make certain. Or as certain as we can get.”

As I shoved my phone in my tunic pocket again, I leaned back, staring up at the sky. The stars were beginning to glimmer overhead. We had put to rest a ghost and a man who would have been better off as a ghost. We had cleared away a wrong from the past. And yet…there was something on the wind that whispered we had barely touched the surface. That there were still secrets buried deep everywhere around us. But they’d have to stay buried for now.

I turned to the others and told them what Rain had said. As a general cheer went up, Herne held up the mother crystal and invoked a second incantation and the thrumming stopped as the crystals fell silent. He turned to