Page 22 of Cursed (Witchbane #8)

Tim was a pale ginger with curly hair and light blue eyes, and Evan could easily imagine him and his lute cosplaying at a Renaissance festival. “I went over the score you sent. It’s odd. How about telling us what’s really going on? You don’t usually want to jam before sunrise.”

Evan and Tony exchanged a look. Tony gave an encouraging nod, and Evan threw caution to the wind.

“Go for it,” Evan said, shrugging.

Tony cleared his throat. “I told you about Pax getting kidnapped by a witch who wants to hurt him. The witch also cursed Evan. Evan’s partner and their friends went to rescue Pax and stop the witch, but they need all the help they can get.

I know there’s no reason for you to believe me, but this song is a type of spell that can send energy to the good guys to help them power up. ”

Tony’s friends blinked at them in silence for a minute, and Evan braced himself for them to break out laughing or call Tony out on playing a joke.

“I told you it was some sort of magic,” Tim said to the others.

“This is so cool,” Ava chimed in. “I’ve seen this kind of thing on TV, but I didn’t think it actually worked.”

“We’re here for you,” Josh added. “Let’s play.”

Tony grinned. “You guys are the best. Thank you.”

Evan put one of Seth’s shirts on his lap beneath the drum to direct the spell’s energy to the right recipient. The source also mentioned cleansing, and Evan hoped that the magic might ease the curse since he was part of the casting.

“We need to pace ourselves,” Tony told them. “We want to play for at least an hour—as long as we possibly can. Start easy and feel the music. If we go faster later on, that’s okay. We just have to keep it up.”

“On three,” Tim said, and they readied their instruments. “One. Two. Three.”

The simple melody took on richer notes as all the instruments joined in. Tony had coached Evan on the rhythm he thought would work best, and Evan poured his will and concentration into maintaining the beat and adding to the harmony.

The first several repetitions didn’t feel like anything special. Evan began to worry that they had gotten it all wrong. But on the twelfth cycle, Evan felt energy begin to rise.

“Do you feel that?” Tony asked. “Keep going, it’s starting to build.”

Outside, the rain had picked up, adding a droning undertone to the song.

“We’re playing,” Evan said quietly to Seth, not sure how much Seth could hear of the music. “Sending the music magic your way. Hope it helps.”

“Keep it up,” Seth murmured into the link. “The power is building.”

Evan kept up the beat as muscle memory kicked in, helping him stay with the others.

On the screen, he saw figures he guessed to be Seth, Rowan, Teag, and Caden walk into view.

Kinsley’s coven would remain outside, while Caden’s friends locked down the area.

If all went well, Nash and the ghosts would join them after they destroyed the anchor.

Seth and the others stayed in the shadows near the door, awaiting Vernon’s entrance. So far, the two guards inside the warded area hadn’t seemed to notice that Seth’s team had entered. That made Evan guess Seth’s people had used borrowed magic to cloak their approach.

“He’s coming,” Evan murmured when he spotted Vernon and his coven enter from the far side of the opening.

Vernon and the others didn’t bother with robes and hoods, dressed instead in black shirts and pants; each of them wearing identical large amulets. Evan couldn’t make out the shape of the necklaces, but he guessed them to be wrought of silver and bone.

“We welcome our honored guest,” Vernon said as he stepped into the warded circle and approached where Pax hung, motionless.

“I know you’re awake. Pretend all you like; you’ll give us what we came for before we’re through.”

Vernon paused, then he raised his face and slowly turned in place until he locked his gaze on the drone.

“Is that you, Evan Malone? There’s not much time left for you. Goodbye.”

With that, the drone’s camera flared white and then went dark.

“Drone’s down,” Evan said. “Audio from your team only.”

“Just play the music. We’ll handle the rest.” Seth’s mic clicked off.

Evan felt a moment of panic before realizing that hearing the battle without any reference to what was happening would be torturous. Still, he hated not knowing what was going on or that Seth was still alive.

Tony met his gaze. “Put everything you’ve got into the song. That’s how we can save them.”

Evan had kept up the beat despite everything, and now he closed his eyes and focused on the drumming, breathing deeply to still his thoughts.

Nothing matters except the song. The beat. Keep playing. Send the energy. Save them.

The song cycled again and again, and Evan felt the magic rise and build. He suspected it would feel even stronger if all the musicians were together in the same place, and hoped that doing it this way would be enough.

Outside, the wind howled, and rain lashed the RV, loud on the aluminum walls. Evan wondered if he was imagining that the storm and the song seemed to build at the same time.

He lost track of time, swept up in the beat, the song, and the rain. The forecast had called for showers but not a torrential downpour, nor had it mentioned the lightning that flared in the sky or the thunder that shook the RV.

Evan kept an image of Seth and Pax in his mind as he drummed, doing his best to will the rising magic toward them.

Seth said Vernon was an elemental mage. If the song co-opts energy from the storm, does it weaken the power Vernon has available to draw on?

Maybe we’re not just strengthening the magic for Seth’s witches, we’re also draining a resource Vernon might have counted on using.

And if we’re right about the ship’s wheel being Vernon’s anchor, destroying that will also give us an edge, and sap Vernon’s magic even more.

Outside, the sky lightened from black to muddy gray as dawn came. Strong winds whipped around the RV, rocking it from side to side and making Evan fear that despite physical tethers and protective magic, they might be knocked over. The rain beat against the windows, making it impossible to see.

Save Seth. Save Pax. Lift the curse. Save Seth. Save Pax, Lift the curse.

The words became a mantra he silently chanted in time with the music. Tony played with a look of resolute concentration, and Evan guessed that the musician was similarly fixed on channeling himself into the rescue.

Despite being drawn into their last-minute effort, Tony’s friends played with enthusiasm. From their expressions of peaceful concentration, they looked like they were equally swept into the surge of the magic as the power rose.

We can’t win the battle for Seth, but maybe we’ll be the extra edge that makes the difference.

Unbidden, Evan’s mind supplied its own images of the battle, filling in from imagination what the drone no longer showed.

Vernon and his coven would use every bit of dark power they possessed to hold off Seth’s attack and work the ritual. Evan only remembered bits and pieces from his own rescue, but the attacks he and Seth had mounted to save the other descendants remained clear in his mind.

He remembered the smell of the herbs and potions and the scent of the candle smoke.

Evan had been bound to a table while Pax hung from chains, but Evan could still feel the bite of cold iron on his wrists.

Despite being drugged, he had been utterly terrified.

He hoped that Pax was indeed unconscious and spared that terror and the dreams that followed.

Evan’s hands ached from the constant drumming, but he kept on playing, welcoming the pain that reminded him he was still alive. The magic had eased some of the discomfort from the curse, but Evan knew it still drained him.

The song took on a life of its own, skirling high and dropping low, in tune with their breath and heartbeats. Evan had read about monks who played for spiritual transcendence, but until now he had never understood how such a thing could be possible.

Now, he believed.

If we didn’t have people to rescue, would the song put good energy out into the world to heal what’s broken?

If he survived, Evan promised himself he would ask Rowan about the possibility.

The storm raged on, and thunder rattled the windows in the RV. Tony flinched at the sound but never lost the melody. Evan realized they had been playing for over an hour and wondered how much longer the fight would last.

Evan felt himself fading and clung to the music magic to keep him from collapsing. He worried that meant the battle wasn’t going well, and fear tightened his chest and nearly took his breath away.

Winning was never assured, no matter how good their magic or how powerful their allies. Yet Evan had never let himself imagine not freeing Pax and stopping Vernon and his followers. Now, he worried that their effort might not be enough.

Seth has weapons and charms. Teag and Rowan are powerful witches, and so are Kinsley and her coven. He’s got Caden and some muscle for backup, plus Tristan and Nash to summon the ghosts to help.

It’s got to be enough. Please, let it be enough.

The sun was fully up now, lifting the gloom despite the rain that continued unabated. The wind had died down, and the thunder and lightning stopped. Evan didn’t know whether that was an omen tied to the magic or just a storm running its course.

Tony glanced toward him and frowned. “Doing okay?”

Evan guessed his dwindling reserves showed in his face. “Yeah. Hanging in there.”

Although he continued to play, Evan felt as if the music was all that sustained him. He knew he couldn’t keep going much longer.

Did we fail? Did Seth stop Vernon before he killed Pax?

Evan searched his feelings, but was unsure how to separate his own imagination from anything he might be reading from the magic.