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Midnight was drawing close. The door would open, allowing waves of elves, pixies, sprites, kobolds, black dogs, goblins, gremlins, leprechauns, and more into the world. Ten years of magical chaos and mayhem.

But it was also their one chance to rescue Yichen at long last.

A hundred years of waiting for this moment.

And all Chen could think about was the man kneeling beside him behind a fallen tree. He didn’t know what this night would bring. He prayed to the ancestors for success, and yet part of him was afraid of that success. If they all survived this night and Didi returned to them, would Chen be saying good-bye to Moon?

The idea of separating felt too sudden, too quick. He’d known the witch for such a short amount of time. Three brief days. There was still so much he needed to learn about him.

But this was for the best. Moon had his life, his coven, to return to. Soon, Chen and his clan would be returning to their life on the other side of the world.

Moon turned his head, a knowing smirk lifting the corner of his mouth. “We’ll get Yichen tonight. Don’t you worry.”

Chen gave Moon a small nod and tore his eyes away from the witch to stare through the branches toward the flickering fire in the center of the meadow. He wanted Moon as far from this battle as possible, but they needed him here.

The news of the witches protecting the clearing had forced them to re-evaluate their plan to catch the fae king and queen off-guard. Now they needed help to slice through the magic. The blood witch had spent most of the day talking with his friends, Mad and Red, about the spells they were likely to encounter and how to unravel them. The kind witches offered to help, but Xiao Dan had been quick to cut them from the battle. It wasn’t just that they were vulnerable to the fae; he didn’t want them fighting their own kind. This wasn’t their battle.

Part of Chen wished they’d brought along Moon’s necromancer friend, though. It would have been interesting to see Sky’s magic offset the earth magic that swirled in the air. He was very grateful for the amulets the death witch had delivered. The little stone around his neck was supposed to help cloak and conceal them from earth magic.

When they arrived at the state park, Moon led the way into the woods, cutting through all the spells the earth witches had set up to keep them away from the valley. They disposed of a handful of sentries along the way, but the bulk of the witches remained near the fire.

The air was full of aggressive smells—flowers, sweet and heavy, mixed with something earthy. But behind it all was the sharp tang of blood. The witches had sacrificed countless living creatures for their spells. Something about that weighed on his chest. The magic he’d smelled and felt coming off Maddox and Redstone differed from what permeated the forest now. This felt tainted and sour, like meat gone rotten after sitting in the summer sun.

A hand grabbed his wrist and tightened. Chen jerked his head to Moon only to have his lips slam into Moon’s all too briefly. His heart skipped and raced at that touch. Moon’s fingers slipped into his hair at the back of his skull, holding their heads together even after their lips parted.

“Be safe. Not stupid. No matter what happens tonight, Yichen needs you alive to help him recover from his imprisonment.” Moon’s whisper was so low Chen could barely pick it up, even with his enhanced vampire hearing. Low enough that he thought that maybe his own wishful thinking had conjured up the last four words. “I need you too.”

In a flash, Moon released him and darted away, disappearing into the shadows as he got into position. That was the signal.

Shoving aside his worries about the crazy witch creeping through the woods, Chen turned his gaze to the fire near the center of the clearing and the torches planted in a circle. They were the lynchpin of the border protection spell.

Tossing out his right hand, Chen sent a dozen streams of icy cold streaking across the ground like feral cats racing after their prey. Each one shot up a torch pole and wrapped around the flame, extinguishing them in successive order.

Cries of surprise went up and the leader of the witches bellowed for the torches to be relit. Not a simple thing with each torch encased in a heavy block of ice. Three of them had already snapped under the weight and two more had toppled over. The torches out, Chen turned his focus onto the campfire with the massive black cauldron hanging over it. A steady stream of smoke rose from whatever was bubbling inside.