Wolves at the Door - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,67

die.

Chapter Thirty

Helena

Graham and Byron didn’t have to block the spell.

Bevan suddenly appeared in front of all of us—in his human form.

“No!” I screamed. “Bevan, no!”

He took the blast head on and fell back into Graham and Byron.

“Bevan, what the fuck!? I didn’t call you because I don’t want you to die like Eleanor!” Harris’ hawk familiar was just like Bevan in that she barely made an appearance in the human world. When she did, it was to sacrifice her life for him. Familiars were often the first line of defense when a witch stepped in it.

He was unconscious. Maybe dead. I tried to feel for a pulse but I didn’t have time before the witches were preparing for another attack. It was so strange to see him with a human face, to see him as a young man with dark brown hair that curled on his brow, that he looked different from me and was his own person and not just a perpetually grumpy bat.

It really brought the whole thing home to me. The witches didn’t even look affected.

Their hands were glowing. “We’ll give you another chance to reconsider now,” Astra said.

“Fuck that!” I said. “I see all of you for what you really are now. You act like you’re the good guys, and it’s all bullshit. Mourir!” I screamed out my death spell, one of the spells that was never taught in school but that my mother wielded casually to get rid of mice. Like all children, I tried it anyway, only on bugs. I was never even able to kill a cockroach. I was not that kind of kid, to be able to wish to put an end to another creature with the force of my will alone. Bug spray was easier.

My sisters teased me. I collected bones and cicada husks and yet I couldn’t even kill a bug?

I didn’t love death. I loved cycles and processes. How one thing decays and another thing is born. And I loved bringing things back to life most of all—not people, but homes.

Now I was so angry I just shouted it, because I felt like nothing else would do. I was just a girl, and they never taught me how to attack other witches. This was my only chance.

“Ooh, I felt it,” Astra said.

“This confirms that she’s a traitor, at least,” Riggs said. “She tried to kill us.”

“You can’t do it,” Shoshanna said. “But not a bad effort!” She flicked her arm back and forth, striking me with a couple of hard jolts that left me reeling. Graham pulled me into his arms and surrounded me with his wings. He held me close, taking the strikes. Byron moved in front of both of us.

“Imprison!” Shoshanna cried, the other three moving to help with the spell, lending her their strength with their hands together.

I tried to block the spell.

No use when it was a team of four against one. That witch sisterhood really worked out well. In hindsight, if I’d known I’d be going up against it, Billie and I could have practiced or something.

A swirl of light surrounded us, imprisoning us where we stood. Even Byron, putting out his hand, hit against the bars. Bevan’s body was left outside the cage. Shoshanna glanced at him like she was considering if he could be used for leverage. She crouched to see if he was still alive. I held my breath. I prayed he was still alive, but if he was, they could threaten him.

“Over there…” Astra looked up at a rustle in the trees and brush near the old smokehouse.

“Ah—who’s there? Riggs, you watch them. We’ll scope it out.”

Riggs parked herself in front of our magical cage while the other three went and flushed the two wolves out of the bushes. They were in their animal forms, but it was true that their teeth wouldn’t do much good when even my magic was useless. The Sullivan brothers were herded toward us. Riggs tracked them with her eyes.

“More Sinistrals,” she said. “The hits keep on coming.”

“Transform!” Shoshanna ordered them.

Jasper and Jake growled at them, and promptly got zapped.

I was starting to feel incredibly helpless. “Don’t hurt them!” I cried. “They’re just contractors I hired, for crying out loud!”

“They’re not in on the rest of it?” Shoshanna asked. “Is that true? Transform and swear your innocence under an oath spell, and you can go.”

They didn’t transform, so that pretty much answered that.

“It seems like you were trying to secure this as a Sinistral parallel,”