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Peacemaker:“Then he makes his choice now. He’s the only one with control over that, not you. Besides, he strangled you.”

“So what?” He’s not the first, and I doubt he’ll be the last.

We need something that can locate the hexes without burning energyandget rid of them.

Peacemaker:“Amulets and incense can clear hexes. But those Witches are experts. They’ll have their hexes perfected and not easily removed. We don’t have the time if you want to go in now.”

“How long would it take?”I’d like to get this done and wipe this off the things to do list now. But if we can do it safely in a reasonable timeframe, I’m all for it.

Peacemaker:“About a month, and that’s if it even works the first time.”

And nevermind. Mal isn’t going to go for a month without King.

Peacemaker:“Amulets would be better, but they can only help one individual, not a group. A dispel artifact can only remove one hex at a time as well, and it takes focus.”

Which would leave people vulnerable during the downtime. If we need to sneak in spending twenty minutes removing one hex every two feet would be ridiculous.

Fuck, the spark it is. Maybe I can focus enough to erase it directly.

Peacemaker:“What is the spark?”

“I don’t know how to describe it.” I check in with it to find it hanging out on Mitri’s shoulder. When I glance over at it, it hops on the gun pressed into my thigh.

Peacemaker’s voice turns wary:“What is that?”

“You can feel it? It’s me, I guess, or a piece of me.”Probably the only good thing left.

Peacemaker:“I can feel it. It’s warm. And happy? Soothing.”

“Yeah.” I watch it wind itself around the gun happily, spitting sparks everywhere. Mitri is oblivious as he stares out the windshield.

Then it bounces to the other gun and does the same thing. For some reason it makes the tiny hairs on the back of my neck rise in dread.

What is it doing?

It bounces back and forth like some crazy form of hopscotch, creating a string leading from one of the guns to the other. It braids the two pieces intricately as it turns a shade of green that reminds me of Mitri’s eyes. It gathers the strand and bounces onto Mitri’s chest.

I start to sweat.

“What are you doing?” I stare at Mitri’s chest in trepidation. I get Mitri’s attention for speaking out loud but I don’t have a chance to try and cover for myself.

Peacemaker responds like I was speaking to him.“It’s tightening our bond with Mitri. I don’t know why. We’re solid, practically one person.”

It adds a neon green strand from Mitri, blending it with the other two, and zips back into my chest. It roots out the gray thread of my line and starts braiding it in.

“Wait,” I choke out and slap a hand over my breastbone as if I could stop it.

Sparky keeps going, ignoring my rising panic.

I feel something inside me shift, connecting with the line. Like my organs are a broken puzzle and a piece just snapped into place, sealing up a jagged edge.

I have a split second to marvel over it as the spark finishes.

Then an avalanche of burning pain follows that causes my body to spasm and my head jerks back. I choke as it pierces through me, and I clutch Mitri and Ben’s thighs in a death grip.

“Stop! What did you do? Make it stop!”

Peacemaker:“Shit! Just breathe, try to relax!”