Page 23 of Solar Shadows

I finished my second glass of champagne, refilling it immediately. “What about Preston? He’s just as vulnerable.”

Marcus had us over so many barrels when it came to our littlest brother. It made my head hurt, testing my patience to its limits. Even if I was yet to officially meet The Star, I already felt the connection to him. A sensation of correctness, a warm, pulsating sibling love. It’d been the same with Riley.

“We’re cooking up a plan, sir,” April answered. “There’s a spell in the grimoire involving a net.”

I tapped my little finger on the glass. “There is?” I’d been studying the grimoire and hadn’t found a spell about a net. But then there were so many in there, I guess they all started to blur together after a while.

Before this, I’d lived as a shimmer witch with my three watered-down spells in my witch bangle. Going about my business with the witch part of me kind of irrelevant. Now I had access to a shit load of spells,with more waiting for me in the celestial room—currently sealed until Preston joined us.

“To capture our brother?” Riley asked about the net thing.

“Possibly,” Erin chimed in. “Although we were thinking more along the lines of disarming or distracting Marcus and whoever else he has with him. The net crushes the one inside it into unconsciousness. It also temporarily suppresses any magical power.” She picked up the grimoire from the coffee table. “Here, have a read.” She handed it to Riley.

I got up and joined my brother to read it with him.

The book, with a battered blue cover, always smelled of dust. Riley leafed to the index to locate the page.

Binding Net!

A conjuring spell.

Requires the heating of dried basil and angelica in water. Grounding requires three candles to burn for one hour after midnight. A ball of twine is required for the toll, to be submerged in the water before heat is applied.

Once the connection is established, clap the magic out while calling the words Binding Net!

The liquid will disappear and grant the caster(s) the power to conjure the nets. This ability will last for twenty-four hours.

This spell only requires one witch to cast.

True spells like these came with physical consequences if the steps weren’t followed properly. Grounding was important to avoid any magical kickbacks, and a toll must always be paid for the magic to work. Also, more than one witch was sometimes required to cast the spell.

There were plenty of horror stories of spells gone wrong, including one about a man’s tongue animating and breaking free from his mouth because he tried to bypass the requirements of the spellcasting. The poor guy found it chilling on a park bench several days later as if it were human, but a bird caught it before it could be reunited with its master.

So grim. I hated thinking about it.

Being sacred witches, Riley and I sidestepped the grounding—another perk of our blood. But never the toll. No one got to be exempt fromthat, not even shadow witches and their twisted magic.

“So, we’ll be able to summon nets as many times as we like within twenty-four hours?” Riley asked.

“I presume so,” Erin answered.

“We’ll be casting the spell, too,” Alice said, pointing at herself and April.

I gulped down the rest of my champagne, a sudden rush of giddiness washing over me. Good. Iliked the boozy haze, so I poured out another one to keep the buzz going.

“On a mission to get pickled, sir?” Aaron asked.

I lifted my glass, throwing him a wink.

Maybe I should take it easy, but screw it. After tonight’s events, I needed the release. A good sleep would help me reset back into kick-arse mode.

“It’s better than having no plan,” Drake said.

I nodded, getting to my feet, ready to be alone again. “Are we done?”

“We are,” Erin responded. “At least for now.”

“Hopefully we’ll have some information on those shimmer witches soon,” Riley said.