CHAPTER 19
DAHLIA
" F or the record," I announced as I cracked open my last emergency Monster, "this plan is insane. Even by our standards." I paused, considering. "No, wait. This makes the swamp gator incident look sane. At least then we could see what was trying to eat us."
We were gathered in our magical kitchen on the back forty at Willowberry. We were surrounded by enough magical artifacts to make Harry Potter look like an amateur street magician. Outside, the guardian circles were ready and glowing. They looked like ethereal Christmas lights on steroids.
My gaze wandered back to Dea. She was finally strong enough to stand without swaying. Though she still looked like she'd been hit by a supernatural bus and then backed over by a ghost train. Being kidnapped by lunatics was exhausting. I knew from first-hand experience. This ordeal was almost over with, though. We’d already set the trap. The Larmes du Bayou was in the center of the guardian circles outside waiting for us to lift the shield and spring our ambush. We’d run inside to gather last-minute supplies.
"Your point?" Dre asked as she finished drawing protection sigils on the windowsill. She had been working overtime since we got Dea back, and it showed in the shadows under her eyes. "Because unless you've got a better idea for trapping interdimensional terrorists, we’re all ears."
"Oh, I'm completely on board," I clarified as I sipped the precious liquid. I’d decided to cut back to one energy drink a day. My family was concerned despite the fact that I felt fine. I figured we had enough to worry about. I didn’t need to add to the list. It was startling when I caught sight of the impressive pyramid of empty cans I’d built over the last few days. Architecture students could study the thing. "Just wanted it noted for posterity. You know, in case we accidentally erase ourselves from existence."
"Your caffeine addiction is officially documented for future generations," Phi drawled, her smirk pure evil as she tapped away at her laptop. "It was filed under 'Reasons Our Sister Occasionally Vibrates Through Dimensional Barriers' and cross-referenced it with 'Why We Can't Have Nice Things’."
"I hate all of you," I declared as I crossed my arms. The effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that I was still holding an empty Monster can. And maybe slightly vibrating. But that was totally from the dimensional travel. Probably. "And I'll have you know I'm cutting back."
"Right," Dani snorted. "Just like you were 'cutting back' during the Evans’s wedding. And the cactus-themed baby shower fiasco. Don’t forget the makeover-themed sixteenth birthday last year." She paused dramatically. "Oh wait, those all ended with Steve or Jeff making emergency Costco runs for industrial quantities of energy drinks. And now Lucas has reluctantly taken over those duties."
I gasped, clutching my latest can to my chest as she'd personally insulted its honor. "That's the meanest thing you've ever said to me. Lucas understands my needs. He's supportive of my life choices."
"Honey, Lucas would support you if you decided to fight a kraken with a pool noodle," Kota pointed out. She was hugging what I'm pretty sure was emotional support pillow number four. "That's not the endorsement you think it is."
"At least I'm prepared for supernatural emergencies," I muttered. "Some of us cope with stress by hoarding decorative pillows. Others by mainlining Pepsi. I happen to maintain healthy caffeine levels."
"Healthy is not the word I'd use," Phi commented. "I’m pretty sure your blood type is now Monster Ultra."
I considered throwing my empty can at her head. Knowing my luck, my aim would be off from caffeine jitters, and I'd accidentally open another tear in reality. "Focus, people," Lucas called from where he was coordinating the pack's positions around the property. "The wards are picking up temporal distortions getting closer. And you all have habits that would rival Lia’s energy drink fetish. Gallons of coffee or matcha aren’t any better for you. And don’t even get me started on those tall-boys."
I beamed at him while my sisters started complaining. He simply held up a hand and pointed at the window. We raced through the back door and headed for the location where we had set up the trap. The guardian circles pulsed when we reached them. The light they emitted was casting strange shadows across the lawn.
Hannah's spirit materialized. "They're coming," she announced. "They can feel the crystal's energy calling to them."
I retrieved a potion that would explode when thrown and gripped it tightly. "Of course they can. We're practically gift-wrapping it for them. With a big sparkly bow that screams 'definitely not a trap’."
"Your sarcasm is showing," Kota observed dryly.
"Better than my panic." Nothing good ever came from letting fear stop you from moving forward.
Our plan was either brilliant or suicidal. Probably both. We'd modified the guardian circles to act like a giant magical beacon. We lifted the shield, and it started broadcasting the crystal's pure energy signature across the city. To the Lost Legends, it would feel like we were trying to purify their corruption. Exactly the kind of thing they'd want to stop.
What they didn't know was that we'd spent the last twelve hours preparing the mother of all magical traps. The circles weren't just for show. They were part of an elaborate containment system designed to do to the Lost Legends what they'd tried to do to Dea. Trap them between realities. Permanently.
"The grid is active," Phi reported as she looked over her detection device before stowing it in her back pocket. "There are multiple signatures approaching from the east. There's also something else. It registers as big."
"Define big," I requested as I glanced around at the hidden sigils we would activate when we had the assholes in the right place.
"Remember the Skinwalker when it shed its host?” she asked.
I gulped as I recalled the massive creature we had to fight on her campus. "Bigger than that?"
"Much bigger." Her response nearly made me pee my pants.
"Fantastic," I responded as the first wave of Lost Legends materialized on our grounds like oil slicks in reality.
Their forms flickered between states of matter. Their robes billowed in winds that didn't exist. Others followed, each one more horrifying than the last. Their corrupted energy made my gut hurt, and my lucky charm bracelet vibrated like it was trying to escape.
"Now that's just rude," I commented as they started testing our outer wards. "We spent hours on those protection spells. The least they could do is appreciate the craftsmanship before destroying them."
"Since when do evil horrors appreciate good spell work?" Kota asked.
"I'm just saying, a little professional courtesy goes a long way," I retorted.
"Focus," Phi warned as she tossed a fireball at one of the closest Legends. "Their corruption has evolved."
She wasn't wrong. The Lost Legends moved like nightmares given form. Their bodies constantly shifted between dimensions, making it difficult to hurt them. The crystal's corrupted power had changed them into something that shouldn't exist in any reality. Which was probably the point.
"Remember," Hannah's voice echoed through the night, "the circles must be activated in perfect sequence. One mistake and the backlash could shatter the barriers."
"No pressure," Dani muttered as she took her position.
Dea snorted and added, "Just world-ending consequences if we mess up."
The Lost Legends hit our outer defenses hard enough to make my teeth rattle. In the house a few feet away, I heard my collection of empty cans topple. The wards held, but I could feel them straining. We'd designed them to fail gradually. It would allow us to draw our enemies deeper into our trap like the world's most dangerous game of supernatural Red Rover.
"They're going for it," Kota whispered. "They followed the trail of breadcrumbs right to us. Also, is that one wearing a top hat? Because that's just excessive."
"Evil fashion choices aside," I said, "they're playing right into our hands. Ego will do that to you."
The first ward fell with a sound like breaking glass mixed with a cat choir having an existential crisis. The Lost Legends pressed forward. Each step they took brought them closer to the center of the circles. My hands itched to toss the potion. The problem was before they were all inside the middle, it would be pointless. The ones at the rear of their pack could get away.
"Second ward down," Dani announced. "They're getting cocky. And that top hat is definitely a fashion crime against nature."
"Good," Dea said softly. After her experience between realities, she had a score to settle. "Let them think they've got us scared. Though I have to agree about the hat."
The final ward collapsed just as the first of the Lost Legends reached the middle of the guardian circle. Their leader, the one who'd stolen the crystal originally, stepped forward. She bent down and picked up the Larmes du Bayou. It pulsed with a sickly purple light that made my caffeine-addled stomach do backflips.
"Did you really think you could undo our work?" she asked with a sneer. "We've spent centuries perfecting this power."
"Honey," I drawled, channeling every ounce of Southern sass I possessed, "we're about to show you what real power looks like. Also, your friend's hat is an affront to good taste in every reality."
I nodded to Phi, who activated the first sequence. The guardian circles blazed to life. Their pure energy cut through the Lost Legends' corruption like sunlight through the fog. The spirits of the plantation's protectors appeared around the outside of the circles. They formed a cage of sorts around the Legends as they activated the hidden sigils on the ground. Their bodies solidified as they lent their power to our efforts.
"Now!" I commanded. Power surged through our sister-bond a second later.
We moved as one, magic flowing between us like electricity through a circuit. The artifacts we'd gathered amplified our connection to the crystal's true purpose. We did multiple things at once. We channeled cleansing energy and the intent to lock these assholes in neverland. Reality bent around us as we forced open a gap between dimensions. We made sure hundreds of them were layered together like pages in a book that should never be read.
The Lost Legends realized too late what we were doing. They tried to retreat, but the circles and the guardians had them trapped. Their corruption worked against them and made them vulnerable to the very between-spaces they'd tried to use as weapons. "You can't," their leader snarled as reality started to fracture around her. "You'll tear everything apart!"
"Actually," Phi corrected, "we've got some pretty excellent calculations suggesting otherwise. Want to see my notes? They're color-coded. I even used sparkly gel pens for the really good parts."
The crystal pulsed in the leader's hands. It was fighting against her corruption as our cleansing energy went to work. It responded eagerly to our combined power. It remembered its true purpose. The Lost Legends had twisted its harmonics, but they couldn't change its core nature any more than I could give up caffeine entirely.
"Hannah," I called out as reality rippled around us like a pond in an earthquake. "Now!"
The guardian spirits surged forward. Their power mixed with ours in ways that probably broke several laws of physics. The circles blazed brighter than ever as we enacted the final phase of our plan. Everything paused for one blinding second. Then, the crystal tore free from the Lost Legends' grasp. It spun through the air like the world's most dangerous disco ball. Their corrupted forms began to unravel as the spaces between realities pulled at them. They fought back. Evil megalomaniacs never went quietly. Especially not ones with questionable fashion sense.
"Like I said," I told their leader as she began to fade, "this is what real power looks like. The kind that's freely given, not stolen. Also, your taste in hats is terrible."
The spaces between realities closed around them like a book snapping shut. Their screams echoed through dimensions that shouldn't exist before finally fading to nothing. Where they had stood, only empty air remained. However, if you looked closely, you might see the occasional ripple of what could have been.
The crystal floated gently into my outstretched hands. Its light was pure and clean once more. The corruption was gone. It had been burned away by the combined power of our family bonds and the guardians' protective magic.
"Holy shit," I breathed as the dust settled. "We actually did it."
"Was there ever any doubt?" Dre asked, though she was swaying slightly from magical exhaustion.
"Several," Dani replied honestly. "I counted at least twelve moments where I thought we were all going to die horribly. Thirteen if you count Lia's last caffeine crash."
"Only twelve?" Kota grinned. "You're getting optimistic in your old age. I had us at twenty minimum."
Phi pulled out her detection device and grinned. "The temporal readings are stabilizing," she reported. "The rifts are sealing themselves now that the corruption is contained."
"And the Lost Legends?" Dea asked. She was still pale from her ordeal.
"Trapped between moments," Hannah confirmed as she materialized fully. "The spaces between realities will hold them far more securely than any earthly prison. They wanted to exist outside of time? Now they have their wish. Though I can't guarantee what happened to the top hat."
I looked down at the crystal in my hands. Its power hummed in harmony with our family bonds. The pure light pulsed gently. There was nothing left of the sickly corruption it had been tainted with. "Think they learned anything from this?"
"Besides don't mess with the Twisted Sisters?" Dre asked dryly.
"Or maybe don't try to rewrite reality?" Dani added.
"Or corrupting ancient artifacts probably isn't the best career choice?" Kota suggested.
"Or top hats are never coming back in style?" Phi contributed.
I laughed, feeling the last of the tension drain away. "Fair points. Though I'm still concerned about that time loop in the garden."
Hannah smiled as the other guardian spirits gathered around us. "You've done well," she said. "The crystal is back where it belongs, and its power will be used as it was meant to be. For protection and understanding, not dominion. Keep it safe in the hidden room. It will keep it invisible as if it’s stored in a Keeper’s vault."
"About that," I said, eyeing the property damage around us. The yard would never be the same. And the side of the magical kitchen looked as if a bomb had hit it. "Any chance it can help fix all this? Because I'm pretty sure our insurance doesn't cover a magical reality war. Also, the roses really need to stop blooming in reverse."
"Actually," Phi interjected, "if we use the crystal's harmonics to stabilize the residual temporal energy, we might be able to reverse some of the damage. Though we should probably deal with that garden situation first. The roses are starting to draw the pixies’ attention. We don’t want them getting sucked up into any problems."
"After dinner," I declared firmly. "And possibly a nap. No, definitely a nap. Maybe several stacked on top of each other like a sleep parfait."
Dre chuckled and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “You mean let’s get a good night’s sleep?”
“Now you’ve cursed us. Some new crisis is going to interrupt what would have been wonderful rest,” I lamented as I looked around at my sisters.