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I heard her beside me, as if she was speaking into my ear. When I looked that way, I saw her again just as plain as day as if her body was truly here. “You never,” she stressed. “Never combat hate with more hate. You always fight it with love. Reach deep down. Feel it inside you.” Her words made hope spark again. It was a small ignition, a little flame that started in my heart and grew outward like tentacles trying to take over my body, but the demon kept pushing back. “Fight it! Use it!” Granny said. Her Creole accent took over, reminding me of the life she’d given me. I would’ve been lost without her. Parents who died way too young and a grandmother who took in a snotty kid who hated her ancestry. But Granny. She’d made it all worth it.

As if she could hear my thoughts, Granny said, “You were my greatest achievement, Norah Girl. Not one ounce of magic or voodoo could’ve made up for you. Not one ounce.”

Tears sprang to my eyes and tumbled over. The wind froze them on my cheeks at the reminder of what I meant to other people. I let that hope, that love, fill me. His darkness was reaching in, but the bright white stained purple was fighting against it.

He pushed, and I pushed.

“Feel it!” Granny urged.

My hand reached out. It linked with Travis’s, and I let my love for him flow into him. I let every last thought I’d ever had about him seep from my hand into his until he glowed too.

Would it sound corny to yell out, ‘Think good thoughts’? Well, fuck it.

Repeating Granny, I said, “Love fights hate! Let it fill you!”

His shadows receded, and I could see more of the witches who were still there. Still intent. The hatred I’d seen in their eyes earlier pulled back, and little by little, I saw the shift in them. I saw how just the tiniest bit of light could shine through and make a world of difference.

Gabe grabbed my other hand. He glowed blue. His blue and my purple made the prettiest violet that beamed through the air. The light sparked love inside others as they watched. Randy crawled toward us, his face still a mask of pain. Liam helped drag him until they were at my feet. Randy reached out a hand to touch my leg. His mouth dropped, and his eyes rounded into two large spheres, his dark brown eyes almost gold as he stared up at me.

Liam stood, backing up into Gabe and I until he put his arms around both of us. A surge of love shot through us all. Sweet, sweet, Liam. He had enough love for all of us.

Jax roared. Travis still held his forward momentum with the wind, but little by little he was being pushed back further.

In my head, I started to say the spell that would rid a demon. The one Red had found for us in the Reid’s secret spell book room. I looked out, gazing at the onlookers. Sure enough, Ren was right there. He glowed, too. Seeing love and compassion come from a guy like that made my own bubble up to the surface. He held Dean Reid’s hand, and Mr. Reid, and the youngest Reid was there too. Next to them was Murphy & Anna. Anna’s hair wild about her face, but I already knew the two of them held love for one another. That much was evident when Murphy came to us when Anna was sick. And even next to them, there were a few of the sorority girls I’d met my first week here when we battled Dupre. Travis’s friend that I’d gotten so jealous of, but none of that mattered.

We were all together. All fighting for one thing.

“You’re doing it, Norah Girl.”

Granny’s voice fell over me like a security blanket. It was as if her own arms came around me, pushing me even that much over the love train that I could almost burst with it.

Jax cried out. I looked over to lock eyes with him. His fire was already dying inside.

My lips moved. My coven started to join me until Jax rescinded into himself.

Hate can’t live where there is love. And that was all a demon was, the personification of hate, and we only gave it strength when we paid attention to the hate inside us. Not anymore.

He shriveled, his face morphing and shrinking until his whole body was just a ball of black that spun like mad until it was just a speck. And then it was nothing.

Travis pulled back on his wind and collectively, we all fell forward with a sigh of relief.

The demon was gone. It was dead.

Travis slipped to his knees and the rest of us joined Randy and him there, forming a circle where it was just the five of us. “You guys were right,” Travis said, holding back tears. “The demon had consumed him. If it hadn’t, at least Jax’s body would’ve been left.”

I swallowed, and we all inched closer until Randy hissed in a breath.

Liam pulled back. “Norah, can you help him?”

Randy immediately raised his hand. “No. We’ve already used enough magic.”

Around us, cheers went up. I pulled back out of our circle and looked around. Witches kissed other witches. They hugged, they smiled. In general, the love and glory were still all around. “I don’t think it was just us,” I said.

22

Travis hugged his sister, and she stepped back, waving at all of us in the process.

We watched as she bound down the steps and out to the street to get her taxi. She was the last of our house guests to leave.