Page 7 of Enchanted by the Gargoyle (The Crescent Coven #1)

Tamsin

C losing my eyes, I let the connection to the earth ground me, and I focus an extra second on making sure it's secure before I turn my attention to entering the node.

In reality, this node is buried deep below the surface, and not something any mortal can dig to or access, but, being an earth witch I can astral project myself just about anywhere with a strong enough tie to rocks, crystals, or soil.

The shimmering amethyst crystal sits before me, deeply recessed into the ground, with a massive crack right down its center.

The jagged gash has nearly cut it in two, and its color is subdued.

I stand there for a moment with an unfamiliar sense of anxiety enveloping me, until my mind comes to a dark conclusion, I don’t know if I can fix this .

Kneeling next to the node and placing my hands on either side of the maw, I test the energy, yellow energy flaring out across it.

Barely anything comes back to me. The node is very weak, and when one node fails, all the others have to make up for its absence across the town.

A small crack is easy to shore up, reroute some power to other ley lines, but this…

this must be straining the network beyond capacity.

“Shit,” I mutter under my breath. Time for some ancient spellwork.

Standing over the node, I take a deep breath and take my inner eye even deeper, holding the image of a perfect, unblemished amethyst node in my head.

Swirling my hands in a counterclockwise formation, as though reversing time itself, I chant under my breath.

“ Restituere quod fractum est, sub terra, sub anima. ”

The chant syncs with my breath, each word gaining in lilt and speed until breath, body, mind, and spirit are singularly focused on healing the node.

Time stands still, and I have no way of knowing for how long I chanted, how many times I repeated the words, I only know I can’t stop until the energy shifts.

I’m barely aware of my aching legs or my sore fingers from swirling over and over again.

I’m getting louder and louder, the desperation for this to work evident in my voice until a flash of yellow and a burst of ozone tells me I’m done.

Sucking in a breath, as though this entire time I had been under water kicking for the surface, and open my eyes. A dull yellow seam floats in the center of the node, a sticky gooey mess barely holding both sides together. Tears blur my vision before I can stop myself.

It didn’t work. It didn’t work! I knew it wouldn’t work.

Why did I think I could do this? Why did I think I was strong enough to reverse this?

Now the veil is going to fall, and it’ll be my fault.

My body slumps to the ground, head hanging between my knees, tears falling silently onto the ground, dripping down my nose.

What am I going to tell Merna? She’s going to be so disappointed .

“Tamsin?”

Ezren’s voice snaps my head up, and he’s standing on the other side of the amethyst crystal, looking utterly bewildered. I do a double-take, making sure I’m not hallucinating.

“Ezren! How…?”

“I don’t know. Your body was crying, and I got worried, and then I tried to talk to you, and there were more tears, and then I started thinking that someone was hurting you, and I wished I could be here with you, and now I am?

I’m a little freaked out to be honest.” He’s wringing his hands as he’s speaking, throwing wild looks at the tiny cave we’re in, so small that the tips of his wings brush the ceiling.

“I…,” I start, and then burst into tears. It’s so unexpected that my immediate reaction is to hide my face in shame.

I don’t have to take even one step, because Ezren is right there, pulling me into him, folding me into his wings until I’m wrapped securely. He’s making humming noises and smoothing my hair.

“Is that yellow shimmering thing the repair?” He asks under his breath when my tears soften to hiccups.

I nod. He probably thinks I’m such a moron.

“I tried and tried. I’m not strong enough to fix it. I don’t know what else to do.” Tears seep into my mouth as I speak, and I swipe at them.

Tilting my chin up towards him, he patiently wipes away the rest of my tears and tucks my hair behind my ears. “What if I push the node halves together and hold them while you try the spell again? Would that help?”

“You can do that?” I whisper. The node itself is so tall it comes up to chest level on me, but when Ezren pulls away from me and kneels next to it, arranging himself so he has leverage to push the halves together, the idea that he couldn’t do it is laughable.

Without warning, my hands begin to spark, glowing embers crackling off my fingertips, static surges into the air, touching the walls.

“I guess we’re doing this. Okay, I don’t know how long I need to chant for, so you can’t let go, at all, got it?” I warn.

Ezren just nods. He adjusts his knees slightly and then gives me a solemn look that tells me he isn’t letting go until I say.

My heart twangs because I realize that I don’t want to let go of him either.

Would a human man take all this in stride, be willing to push together a 900-pound rock for me? Definitely not.

I hold his gaze and swirl my hands once more, feeling a surging connection that wasn’t there before, between us and the node.

Ezren’s arms are bulging, his forearms roped with pure muscle.

As I begin to chant, I feel a hook behind my belly, urging me forward, causing my feet to slide a little on the loose rubble.

Warm, golden light pools from my hands, lighting the temporary seam I created earlier so its glow shines outward, filling the small space with light.

Like winds from a hurricane, I’m pushed forward to where Ezren is kneeling, the force of it knocking me to my knees.

Far be it from me to ignore the signs of nature; it seems like I am meant to touch the node in some way while I continue to chant.

I hesitate for a split second before placing my hands right on top of Ezren’s.

The moment contact is made, I feel the surge of energy and the burst of ozone.

The node’s wound is melting and sealing itself, stitching back together, leaving a smooth, crystalline structure behind, as though nothing had ever happened.

As the last of the crack seals, the ley lines themselves shine a deep purple, stretching out like spokes in a wheel from the center of the node, snaking hungrily from out and under the cave structure, into the town to meet up with the other nodes.

A flash of light surges, throwing Ezren and me to the ground, as everything goes still and silent, the crystal sitting innocently in the center, its faint glowing purple light winking up at us as though nothing had ever happened.