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EMMA

“O kay, is everyone ready?” Megan looked around the Norm Dorm.

We were all assembled there—well, all of us but Ari, who had gone to get Saint earlier that day and Bran, who had gone to fetch Avery.

Megan had found a spell she thought would lift the conversion-therapy magic Avery’s father had placed on him, but she had informed us that it would take a full coven to perform.

“Are you certain this will work?” Lachlan asked. He was sitting beside me on one of the overstuffed couches. “After all, Fae magic and Witch magic don’t mix.”

“It’s not about what kind of magic you have, it’s about your love and caring for Avery,” Megan told him.

“We’re going to try to break the magic around him—which is kind of like a shell—through the power of love and friendship.

” She got a look of grim determination on her face.

“And if that doesn’t work, I’ll use Blood Magic. ”

“Megan, you know you’re not allowed!” I exclaimed.

“If Headmistress Nightworthy finds out, you’ll be expelled,” Kaitlyn added.

“I don’t care.” Megan lifted her chin. “This is worth expulsion. We can’t let Avery stay this way—he’s not himself at all. We need to get this spell done right away to bring him back to us before the magic hardens around him into an unbreakable shield.”

“What about waiting for Ari to bring Saint?” Kaitlyn asked. “I thought Lachlan said that would help?”

“It would.” Lachlan nodded. “But I agree with Megan—we can’t wait for him. The longer this conversion magic is on Avery, the more it will harden and the more difficult it will be to remove. We must act fast—we can’t wait any longer.”

“I’m going to do the spell out on the athletic field,” Megan told us. “That way we have plenty of room for all of us to call the corners.”

“Will it work with just one witch, though?” I asked. “I’ve never called the corners before and neither has Kaitlyn.”

“Actually, this spell will be stronger because we’re a diverse group,” Megan told me. “I’ll be calling the North, Kaitlyn will be the South. You’re East, Emma, and Griffon will be West. That way we have a Sister, a Drake, a Fae, and a Nocturne—our powers will combine to help break the spell.”

“Okay, I’m willing to try if you’ll tell me what to say,” I agreed.

“Me too.” Kaitlyn nodded.

“Where will Bran and I be?” Lachlan asked.

“Standing by in case of trouble,” Megan said. “We don’t want anyone getting into the circle while we’re casting. And we don’t want Avery breaking out of it either,” she added. “As long as the circle remains unbroken, I think we have a decent chance at getting that nasty magic off of him.”

“All right—let’s do it!” I said, standing up.

“The sooner the better,” Kaitlyn agreed.

We all stood up and trooped out of the Norm Dorm, climbing the spiral staircase that led up into the Dining Hall. From there, we made our way out onto the athletic field.

This time, thank goodness, it was empty. The short grass glimmered in the light of the full moon. I was glad to see that—generally moonlight amplifies any kind of magic, so this was good.

Megan got everything set up and told us all what to say. Just as she was mostly finishing drawing a circle with salt, Bran came towards us. He had one arm hooked through Avery’s, though I could see that our coven mate was resisting.

“What’s all this about?” he complained, as Bran pulled him over to the circle. “What do you want with me? I don’t have time for this nonsense—I have to pack. I’m leaving for my new school tomorrow.”

“Oh no you’re not,” Megan said grimly. “Not unless we can’t get that nasty gay-away spell off you, Avery.”

“Gay-away spell? What the hell are you talking about?” he snarled. “I’m not gay and I never have been!”

Megan and Kaitlyn and I exchanged glances. Did the spell his father had put on him have memory altering effects as well? If so, it was worse than I thought!

“If you’re not really gay, then the spell should have no effect,” Megan pointed out. “So you have nothing to worry about. Come on, Avery—humor us. Prove how un-gay you are.”

Her words seemed to appeal to our coven mate’s new-found machismo.

“Fine!” He stepped into the circle and Megan closed it with the last of the salt. Avery held out both hands. “Do your worst, but hurry—I have to go pack.”

“Just be quiet and let me work,” Megan told him.

She closed her eyes and I felt her power start to gather.

It felt like lightning that was about to strike.

“Hail to the guardians of the Watchtowers of the North,” she began.

“Keepers of Wisdom and Guardians of Justice. I call upon thee now in my hour of need.”

“Hail to the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the East,” I said, remembering what I was supposed to say.

And so we went on. Kaitlyn called South and Griffon called North. Though none of us had Witch magic like Megan did, I could feel the power building and building. Clearly the spell was working.

When the circle was closed, Megan began to chant.

“Magic of an evil power

I bind thee now

In this Dark hour!”

I saw Avery twitch as she chanted. He put his fingers to his temples and began to rub fiercely, as though he was getting a headache.

“I bid thee leave my friend alone

I send you far away from home,” Megan continued.

Avery began rubbing harder.

“Ohhh!” he moaned. “Goddess Bright, it hurts!”

I looked anxiously at Megan and saw that Kaitlyn was doing the same.

Megan gave a small shake of her head and I realized this must be part of the spell.

It reminded me a little of Fae magic, which—as Lachlan says—is transactional.

When you do magic in the Fae Realm, you have to pay for it with pain.

Clearly Avery was paying now. Or maybe it just hurt to have the spell stripped away—the way it had hurt me when Lachlan had stripped off the geas that had hidden my true identity for years.

“Depart from here, I say to thee!

You must depart and set him free!”

Megan’s voice was rising now, her hands lifted to the sky as she called on her power to help strip the conversion magic off of Avery.

“Ohhh!” he moaned and doubled over, holding his head. “Oh why… why?”

At that moment there was a crack! like thunder and someone else was standing on the athletic field, just outside the circle. My eyes grew wide when I saw who it was.

Avery’s father was standing there and his face was as dark as a thundercloud. I couldn’t believe he’d just appeared like that—travel spells are rare and they take immense power to perform. Avery hadn’t been kidding when he said his dad was a powerful Warlock.

“Stop! What are you doing to my son?” he shouted at Megan, who pretty much ignored him.

“Lady Bright and Lord of Night,” she went on chanting.

“Free my friend from his Dark Plight!”

“Stop that! Leave him alone!” Avery’s father tried to charge in and break the circle but Lachlan and Bran were there to stop him. He was a big man but Bran was a Fae warrior and Lachlan was strong too. Together they blocked his way so Megan could keep chanting.

Avery, meanwhile, was now kneeling on the ground, his head clutched in his hands.

“Too much!” he moaned. “So many memories! I can’t tell which ones are real!”

I felt sure then that the gay-away spell really had affected his memory.

My guess was that it had given him a whole set of false remembrances in which he was straight.

They had probably been laid right over his true memories.

Now that the spell was slowly being peeled off him, he couldn’t tell which memories were real and which ones were false.

I felt my heart twist for him and wanted to run to him badly. But I knew if we broke the circle, Avery’s father could get in. Well, if he could get past Brad and Lachlan, that was. They were strong but that still wasn’t a chance I wanted to take.

Then, suddenly, a wind like a hurricane began to blow all around us and a massive shadow fell on the field. Looking up, I saw a huge black dragon blotting out the moonlight. Its scales were glowing gold instead of blood red but I thought I recognized it—it must be Saint!

Unfortunately, the giant wingbeats of the black Drake must have blows away some of the salt from the circle.

Because a moment later Avery’s father disappeared from where Bran and Lachlan were standing and reappeared between me and Kaitlyn!

Then, a moment after that, he was trying to push through the circle!

I took a deep breath and reached for my magic, which comes flowing in from the Fae Realm like a golden ribbon. I took hold of it and pictured making a kind of glowing rope to hold Mr. Connor back and keep him away from Avery.

The magic worked—well, kind of. It was holding Avery’s father back, but just barely. He really was strong. You have to pay for Fae magic with pain and it cost me a lot of agony to keep him in check so that Megan could keep chanting. I could feel it twisting in my stomach as I grimly held him back.

But before Megan could get out another line, Saint’s Drake landed and shrank down into Saint himself.

He rushed right past Megan and into the circle and knelt at Avery’s side.

Either the salt had been blown away so much that he could run right in like that, or else his love for Avery let him enter.

Either way I saw him gathering Avery into his arms.

Avery looked up at him and I could see the agony in his eyes.

“I know you!” he exclaimed. Then he shook his head. “No—I’ve never seen you before.”

“ Dios , Avery! It’s me—Saint!” Saint exclaimed. “You do know me—you’re my l’lorna. You broke the curse on my Drake—remember?”

Avery’s face cleared for just a moment.

“Yes, of course!” Then he squeezed his eyes shut. “No, it never happened. Never happened!”

Watching what was going on in the circle seemed to be making Mr. Connor almost crazy. I could feel him struggling against my magic and holding him back was like trying to hold back a speeding car! It was like someone stabbing a spike into my stomach, but I forced myself not to let go.

“No! No, get him out of there! He corrupted my son! Make him leave!” Avery’s father shouted, waving at Saint. “I have a whole new life planned for him!”

I glared at him and poured more magic into my “rope.”

“You mean a future where he isn’t himself anymore?” I demanded through gritted teeth. “A future where he’s a jerk all the time because the spell you put on him makes him objectify women?”

My words were clearly falling on deaf ears because Avery’s father continued to struggle. And he was so strong I was afraid he was going to break my magic rope at any minute! Lachlan and Bran were making their way around the circle to me, but things were happening fast .

Megan had stopped chanting and started shouting to Saint instead.

“Help him!” she urged. “He’s under a conversion spell and I can’t get it off! Help him remember what you mean to each other—bring him back to himself, Saint!”

And then everything seemed to happen at once.