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D ON’T PASS OUT. FIGHT IT . Fight the spell. Fight them.

Those phrases became an internal mantra. I recited them over and over in my head, hoping they’d give me the strength to survive for a while longer. I held on to the image of my psychic blocks—the drawbridge pulled up, the portcullis lowered—and I added as many other things as I could in my mind. Huge padlocks, chains, a drawbar—whatever I could imagine to protect my power. But the vision wavered and trembled the longer the chanting continued. I gritted my teeth against the pain and squeezed my eyes shut grimly, determined to keep my spirit. Because it was me. I wouldn’t allow myself to be diminished for the comfort of others.

Amid the chanting of voices came a rhythmic pounding at the door. Yells of my name followed, and the wood popped and crackled under an assault from the outside. The rapping of Lenore’s beak increased from above as well, along with her disgruntled squawks and croaks.

The voices around me faltered, their concentration slipping, as the noise from both ends of the room intensified, and with another fissure appearing in the door, the spell broke.

The stabbing pain suddenly ceased, and I collapsed inward, my body a rag doll of relief. The only things holding me up were the ropes still around my torso. And even those had begun to give from the force of my struggles, the knots around my wrists loosened from the twisting of my limbs.

“What is going on?” one of the group members yelled.

My dad held up his hand. “There is a protection charm on the door. Whoever it is shouldn’t be able to get through.”

“Focus, people,” my mom yelled. “We have to finish the spell.”

The door fractured inward, a sliver opening wide enough for dim light to shine through. The protection charm that hung on the latch fell to the tile. It was a small round ornament about the size of a marble, and it rolled to the middle of the room, coming to rest on the tile.

A bloody laugh bubbled from between my lips.

Another thwack sounded against the door, and the hinges pulled away from the frame. The group tensed. They scuttled toward the back wall, my parents holding on to each other. Some of the other members grabbed wine bottles and implements from an old fire poker set stashed in the corner, brandishing them like weapons.

“We’re fine,” my mom said. “We all have our protection charms. Now get it together and chant!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, the glass above them shattered. Shards rained down as Lenore broke through. Screams erupted as she squeezed through the window, flew into the room in a magnificent display of her midnight plumage, and settled high on one of the wine racks, her long talons wrapping around the apex. She cawed, loud and long and terrifying.

“It’s an omen,” a member of the group murmured.

My mom scoffed. She crossed her arms. “It’s Al Wilson’s familiar. That raven won’t hurt us.”

“But whoever is on the other side of that door might,” someone muttered.

Lenore opened her impressive wingspan and flapped twice. A whoosh of magic flooded the room, and every candle was extinguished.

In the dark, the door finally gave way.

Screams rent the air, followed by a low growl and the sound of a scuffle, claws raking across tile, bottles and barrels crashing to the ground. The room erupted into chaos. I couldn’t see a thing between the darkness, my waning consciousness, and the bodies in front of me. But with all attention directed elsewhere, I twisted my right wrist and managed to pull my hand free from the loosened ropes. I quickly worked on the binding around my other arm and was able to wriggle free. I went for the ones around my ankles but made poor progress with my clumsy fingers.

But the overhead light flashed on, and I winced, lurching upright in a way that made my stomach churn.

Everyone froze.

The first thing I noticed was the very large, brown shaggy wolf that prowled back and forth in the center of the room. His ears were laid flat, his teeth bared, and he let out a rumbling, menacing snarl that caused the hair on my arms to stand on end. The members of the club pressed themselves against the wine racks, while my dad retreated to stand behind my right shoulder, his gaze fixed on the wolf as it slowly stalked the room. Lazily swiping his massive paw, the wolf knocked the center table over with a thud, the mixing bowl and all the other ingredients smashing to the floor.

The next thing I noticed was that my mom standing behind the door, one hand on the light switch, the other gripping a steel fire poker, her knuckles white from the force.

The wolf didn’t see her, his steely silver eyes focused on me.

“Mateo Lopez, stop where you are,” my mom said, stepping out from behind the door, her weapon leveled at him. “This may not be silver, but I’m certain it will hurt.”

“Maybe stop where you are, Mrs. Reynolds,” Al said as they walked through the splintered wood, followed by Reese, both of them coming to stand behind Mateo. Their gazes flickered toward me. I had no idea how bad I looked, but seeing Al’s mouth pinch and all the color leach from Reese’s already pale face made me think it was bad.

“This doesn’t have to get any more violent or messy than it already has,” Al said. “We’re just here for Cam, and then we’ll leave.”

“You’re not taking my son.”

Al wrinkled their nose. “We are.”

My mom laughed. “How? We have protection charms your coven provided to us, so no matter what powers your wolf and sprite have, you can’t hurt us.”

Al sighed and shook their head. “You’re right. My coven gave them to you. Which means my coven can take them back.”

“You can’t. You have no power. Everyone knows.”

Al smiled. “Which is why I brought my sister, Amy, to help.”

Amy peeked around the door frame and waved. “Hi, Cam!”

Al’s smile dropped away, their eyebrows drew together, and the siblings both raised their hands and spoke a single word. It reverberated along the brick, several wine bottles bursting from the intensity of the magic. My ears rang. The charms lifted in the air, pulling free from their chains and clasps, until they all hovered in the center of the room, including the one from the floor, and with a twist of Al’s wrist and a flick of their fingers, each charm bent and crumpled into dust. They fell to the tile in a series of pings, particles from their demise wafting in the air like smoke.

The whole room paused, took a breath, and then my mom launched herself from the corner and ran toward me. She took a swing at Mateo with the poker as she passed, Mateo letting out a yelp as he only partially dodged the blow.

“Reese!” Al yelled.

Reese’s eyes glowed. Vegetation poured into the cellar from the broken window in a large green swath of vines and roots. Puddles of swamp water bubbled up from under the tile beneath the feet of the group members, ensnaring them in mud as they sank up to their ankles, the smell of sulfur permeating the room. The flora ensnared arms and legs, entwining people despite their attempts to run. If someone managed a few steps, Mateo snapped at them with his jaws and forced them back until everyone was either tangled in greenery or stuck knee-deep in muddy pockets of the floor.

The only ones left unscathed were my parents. My dad grabbed my upper arm and yanked me upward. My vision swam. Bile rose in my throat. My knees were weak and my legs uncoordinated, since my ankles were still tied to the chair.

“Cam,” he grunted as I staggered. “Stand up.”

I didn’t even have the energy to tell him I couldn’t. My mom grabbed my other side, and I hung limply between them.

“What have you done?” Al demanded.

“What your coven refused to do!”

“You used the spell?” Al’s eyes widened. “Where did you find the werewolf blood?”

My mom sneered. “From a werewolf. Where else?”

“The use of that spell is banned in all covens. It’s dangerous.” They gestured to me. “You could have killed him.”

“Ha! We didn’t. We’ve removed the curse.”

“It wasn’t a curse!” Al yelled. “It’s a gift. Cam is a gift!”

I lifted my head, my eyes watery with heartfelt gratitude as I looked toward my friends—all my friends. When had Kaci and Gemma gotten there? They stood in the doorway, shoulder to shoulder, Amy squeezed behind them. Kaci glared like a fierce kitten, and Gemma had her arms crossed over her torso and her feet spread wide as if daring anyone to try to flee.

Not that they could, with Reese’s vegetation still growing and the swamp water bubbling and Mateo pacing the length of the room in his large wolf form.

My mother pointed at him. “I should’ve never allowed him to be friends with you,” she spat, pointing at Al. “This is your fault. This is all your fault.”

“It’s not!” I said, gathering myself as best I could, my voice shaky but strong. “It’s not them. It’s me. I chose to post the second glimpse to Gemma’s channel. I chose to verify the third glimpse. I wanted to, and I’m not sorry for it. I’m clairvoyant. And no spell can take that from me.”

Gemma smirked. “Good job, partner.” She lifted her chin. “Let him go.”

“Or what?” my mom said, her fingernails digging into the flesh of my bicep through my shirt. “You’ll post another video? Villainize us for trying to save our son from your wicked ways? You’ve already ruined our lives with three—what’s another to add on top of that?”

“As if anyone would believe you, anyway,” my dad added. “You have no proof that we’ve done anything wrong.”

Gemma’s eyebrows raised. “Oh!” she said with a wide smile. “You’ve been live this whole time.”

My mom’s mouth flapped open. “What?”

Gemma pointed to Lenore, still perched on top of the wine rack. “Bluetooth camera in Lenore’s message tube.” Then she held up her phone. “It’s captured everything. And it’s all live. I’m streaming as we speak.”

“Everything you’ve said about the illegal spell and your unethical procurement of ingredients is on camera,” Al said, crossing their arms. “Thanks for the evidence.”

“And Cam’s declaration of not wanting this done to him was icing on the assault cake.” Gemma smiled.

“And I am an eyewitness to the attack on the werewolf you took the blood from. I can easily pick anyone out of a lineup.” Reese’s arms trembled, and sweat beaded along his forehead, soaking into the bloody butterfly bandage near his temple. “I think I hear the police sirens now,” he said with a laugh.

Al’s eyebrows rose in challenge.

My dad sighed, and my mom’s shoulders slumped in defeat. They let me go. I flopped to the tile on my side. I couldn’t move, as I was absolutely drained of energy and still somewhat attached to the chair. But I shouldn’t have worried—a blast of magic from Al, and some vine work from Reese, and I was in Kaci’s and Al’s arms.

“How’d you find me?” I asked, voice weak, eyelids fluttering.

“I asked a ghost at the hospital,” Kaci whispered. “I opened the portal just enough to talk and then closed it again.”

Huh. That was what I’d witnessed in the glimpse.

“And between Mateo’s heightened senses in his wolf form and the location spell I cast on Lenore, we figured out where you were,” Al said, gripping the back of my shirt tightly.

“That’s amazing,” I slurred. “You’re all amazing.”

“We’re just glad we got here,” Al said, their brown eyes shining. “You’re safe now.”

Safe. I was safe. Reese and Al and Mateo and Kaci and Gemma wouldn’t allow anything to happen to me. I was finally safe.

“I’m going to pass out,” I told them, as if imparting a secret.

“It’s okay, Cam,” Reese said. “We’ve got this.”

I nodded, then let go.