Page 98 of The Mating Claim

Lacey backed off. “You mean this is something I can’t even control? Unlike the spell I recited from thebook?”

“You must be able to control it. It is magick, and it empowered by you, therefore, you can control it.” He gripped her shoulders. “Focus,Lacey.”

“How can I focus when every time I wish for something it will happen?” She narrowed her gaze. “I wish you’d get your hands offme.”

His palms remained on her shoulders. She sighed. “Doesn’t work withyou.”

“I must be immune to it because I’m awizard.”

Drust knew magick could go erratic when influenced by other sources. He had to know what was going on. “Conjure an image of something that could never appear in this room without magick. Somethingbenign.”

Barely had he spoken the words when a pink unicorn with a rainbow tail and a blue horn on its forehead popped into the room. The horse whinnied and shook its head. “Mercy,” she whispered, reaching out to touch the creature. “I was wishing for a unicorn and here itis.”

“Now wish itaway.”

Seconds later, the unicornvanished.

It had to be the book. This was wishing magick gone astray, the wish he’d granted her multiplied ten times to miss up the area. Amplified by somethingelse…

The book in thesandbox.

“Have you been in the sandbox?” He searched herface.

Lacey frowned. “I touched it and something in the sand bitme.”

Damn. “Before that, did you use the outdoor shower? Think,Lacey!”

Her gaze widened. “Of course. It’s easy and convenientand…”

Located right next to the sandbox, where water dripping off her and carrying part of her essence would drift into the cedar wood box containing the book, wetting thepages…

Activatingthem.

“Remain here. Do not leave thisroom.”

Drust materialized outside. In the gathering darkness near the outdoor shower, he sawit.

Granules of sand, shifting, moving upward, as if the sand siphoned energy and then would burst in a catastrophicshower.

Up, up, the sand rose and it formed a mouth, arms… it began towail…

With bursts of coldfire, Drust froze the screeching mass of sand. It kept growing, twisting, the arms elongating as they reached outward. To his shock, he saw small piles of sand gather, form equal shapes. Like demons rising from the bowels of the DarkLands…

His magick did little here. Then he remembered thewand.

Drust retrieved it and returned to the sandbox. In the moment he’d been gone, the sand creature had morphed into a monster ten feet tall, climbing the wall toward Lacey’sbedroom.

“You shall not have her,” he roared, concentrating all his powers into the slim wooden stick. He flicked thewand.

Sand exploded, showering him, the ground. He looked at the sandbox and then called up the cedar box holding the book. Not using his hands, he slowly opened thelid.

The book lay within, its glowfading.

It was only a matter of time before it powered up again, and sought Lacey the way a moth sought aflame.

This was too much for him. He called upon Caderyn. The Shadow Wizard immediately appeared, took one look at book and shook hishead.

“The Book of Shadows is turning into a physical form, Caderyn. I could only stop it through this wand Tristan gave me. Even that will not last. What the hell do Ido?”