Page 49 of Ignited Spirits (Haunted Magic #3)

“Isabel?” Anya’s weathered voice calls, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“Hi, Anya. Or Gran. Or Melinoe.” I pause uncertainly. “What am I supposed to call you?”

She chuckles, the sound raspy. “You can call me whatever you want, but Gran would be the most natural. Not that I don’t love seeing you, but why are you here?”

I grin at her blunt question.

“We need your help.” I turn around, looking for whoever has the journal. Archer pulls it out of his pocket and hands it to me. I open it to the right page and pass it to Gran. “We need to make this potion and figured you would be the right person to ask about it.”

She nods but doesn’t bother pulling down the spectacles perched on the top of her hair. I guess now that her secret is out, she doesn’t have to pretend to be affected by old age around me.

After reading through the spell, Gran pales. She flicks her gaze up to mine, her eyes shining with trepidation. “What do you need this spell for?”

I hesitate, worried Gran is going to tell me my plan is too unsafe. It is risky, but it’s less risky than letting Lua drain the earth. Sighing, I decide to just be honest. “It’s the spell Lua is using to drain mages. We want to use it to drain her.”

Her eyes go wide before she glances between the spell and me a few times. “This won’t work for what you want. It’s an old mage spell that requires mage magic to activate it and will currently only work on mages.”

My forehead wrinkles as I try to figure out what’s going on. “What? But it uses a cura artifact to work. And Lua’s currently using it.”

“She isn’t the one using the spell,” Gran informs me patiently. “And the potion doesn’t require any cura artifacts to work. It’s an old-world spell that strips a person or mage-enchanted object of its magic, effectively killing them.”

I’m just incredibly confused now. “Okay, but how does that relate to the Styx blade? Levi looked through Giles’s memories, and they’re definitely using the potion to drain magic and the blade to help Lua store the stolen power.”

Gran thinks on it for a moment before asking, “Do you have a blade from the River Styx?”

“Yeah.” I resist the urge to pull it out of my dress to show it off. I’m still worried I’m going to accidentally kill someone with it.

“Then why do you need this potion so badly? Can’t you kill Lua by removing her soul with that blade?”

A mildly hysterical giggle makes its way out of my throat. “How do you expect me to get close enough to the most powerful cura in existence currently to stab her? It’s not like I can just walk up to her.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t know. But what I do know is, this spell isn’t the way.”

I swallow down the frustrated scream that wants to come out. “Thanks, Gran.”

She huffs a laugh. “You don’t need to thank me when I can tell how disappointed you are. Is there anything I can help with, sweetie?”

I give Gran an embarrassed smile. She’s always been able to see right through me. Anya was able to as well, which I always thought was odd.

Now I know why.

Closing my eyes, I try to think through the feelings of overwhelm and defeat to figure out some solution. We have a way to defeat her. So, now, we really just need a plan to get me close enough to do it. “Do you have any idea how I can get close to her?”

I hear disgruntled rumblings behind me. None of my mates are pleased about me having to get close to Lua, but I don’t know what they thought I would do with the knife. Just chuck it at her and hope it lands? I am so not coordinated enough for that.

Gran is silent for a long moment as she thinks it over. “You’ll have to tire her out. You need overwhelming forces that she’ll have to expend a lot of magic to defeat. When she’s magically exhausted, you can get close enough to her to stab her.”

“Can’t I just rip out her soul magically?” That way, I wouldn’t even have to get close to her.

Although, if I could take her out with my magic alone, she’d be gone by now.

Gran tilts her head back and forth as she thinks. “You could, but your magic is a less sure way to accomplish it. She very well may have protections and charms that defend against magic, but there’s nothing that can stop a weapon forged in the River Styx.”

Oh, awesome.

Another layer of terrifying to the knife I still have attached to my hip.

I turn my head slowly to look at Levi. “Why in the actual fuck did Hades give me the apparently unstoppable soul-stealing blade?”

Levi gives me a small but genuine smile. “Because he believes in you, little raven. That’s not a weapon either of us gives out easily. He gave that to you because he was worried about you facing the council and wanted to protect you in his own way.”

I narrow my eyes on him. “He said it was because Seph cared.”

Levi barks out a laugh. “He lied. As we already talked about, my brother isn’t great at expressing feelings. He cares about you and doesn’t want you to get hurt. You have that way with people, making even the most reluctant people care.”

I scoff. “Clearly not. Literally everyone hates me in Hawthorne Grove. You were there at school. You watched how much they all hated me. Not to mention the council gunning for me.”

“Council?” Gran breaks in before Levi can respond. “Did you have something to do with all the drama surrounding the council right now?”

“Depends,” I hedge. “What’s the drama?”

“The entire council is dead, other than your father and councilman Giles. It broke this morning that the councilmen were found murdered in their offices. Because your father is locked up and Giles is missing, there’s speculation that Giles killed the other councilmen.

There’s a manhunt for him, and the entire town is in disarray. ”

Gran says the whole thing with a smile on her face, like we’re discussing good weather or a gift she received, instead of multiple people being killed. I have no love for the council, so I don’t really feel bad for any of them, either.

But at least it worked out surprisingly well.

I guess the council kept it quiet that we busted my dad out of prison, which actually works in our favor. I’m pleasantly surprised by the fact that Hawthorne Grove is pissed at Giles right now. I didn’t think the classist fools had it in them.

“Yep, I was definitely involved in that drama.” I’ve been involved in pretty much all of the council issues that have happened lately.

“We think Giles or Lua killed the other council members. We sent Giles to Tartarus, so he didn’t actually run off.

Oh, and Dad isn’t locked up. He’s chillin’ in Infernus . ”

“Oh, good. I was worried about him.” If Gran has any questions about Giles or what happened, she doesn’t voice them, which I’m super down with. I don’t particularly want to discuss anything that happened that day. Maybe in time, I’ll be able to speak about it, but not right now.

“Yep.” I rock back on my heels as I look up at the clock on the wall. “So, we probably need to get back to Infernus . Do you want to come with us?”

Her eyes light up briefly before her expression falls. “I would love to go back home, but I won’t leave your grandpa here.”

“Why don’t you just bring him with us? Mom, Dad, Rhys, and Aiden are all hanging out in Infernus . Hades hasn’t even attempted to murder them once, so I think it’s safe for Gramps.”

Might as well throw a family reunion in the castle. I’m sure Hades will absolutely love that.

She wavers before agreeing. I open a portal, and Gran disappears through it. Once she brings back Gramps, we all go through a rift to Infernus together. I’ll have the joy of telling Hades the newest wrinkle in our plan once we arrive. Lucky me.