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Wrangell Baranof looked more like a bear than a witch; he could have given Mads Arctos a run for his money. He was hulking, with long, thick hair and a big bushy beard. He lived in a house that didn’t seem big enough for his presence: the house was Goldilocks, and he was all three bears.

‘Mr Baranof, I’m Bunny Barrington, and this is…’

‘I know who you are,’ he said brusquely. Most people knew Connor, and they were coming to know me too since I worked for the Nomo.

I gave my spiel. ‘We’re here to switch containers for the gems to prepare for the new barrier to be erected.’

‘Yup? So what do you want me to do about it?’

Get a better attitude? ‘Um, let us in, drop the wards and we’ll be out of your hair.’

He squinted at us. ‘You’re lying about something,’ he said.

‘Some elements of this are need-to-know only. You don’t need to know,’ I said firmly. I held up the box. ‘Here’s the new box.’

He was still squinting at us, but after a moment or two he gestured for us to come in. He took us to a back room where a makeshift closet housed the gem. It reminded me of the closet at the first fire witch’s, but it was sturdier, built of cinder block with a steel exterior door.

‘Is it warded?’ I asked before I approached it.

‘Sure is.’

‘Can you drop the wards so we can swap the boxes?’ I asked.

Baranof studied us for a long minute. Connor’s irritation was visibly growing and so was mine. We were on a tight schedule and his delaying tactics were slowing us down. Finally he nodded, reluctantly muttered some words, waved his hands and announced it was done.

The second the wards fell, the pressure from the fire gem nearly drove me to my knees. A sibilant hiss filled my ears. Bunny, I’ve been waiting for you. We will take this world by fire and might.

I shook my head and tried to push the thoughts from my mind. ‘Connor!’ I managed. The sound of his name spoken in such distress was all the clue that he needed. He opened the box and reached for the gem.

A phone rang, but I was too far gone to register whether it was mine or not. I was motionless, fighting the voice in my head. All my thoughts were turned inward as I struggled to ignore the urge to do the stone’s bidding.

A sound – a grunt – made me lift my eyes: Wrangell Baranof was grappling with Connor. Apparently the fire witch had changed his mind about letting us have the gem. Was he being influenced, the same as me? These damned gems were so fucking dangerous; how they’d powered the barrier for so long was beyond me. I guessed they had some sort of half-life and had reached a point of toxic decay.

Baranof and Connor were fighting, but Connor was stronger and he forced the fire witch to the ground. Trapped, Baranof lit up with fire magic. Connor scrambled back as the fire flew towards him.

My mate! Instinctively my own fire magic burned in my chest and I tore the flames away from Connor and sent them back to the witch. He absorbed them effortlessly. I had power but no training, and this was a trained fire witch.

The gem’s crooning echoed in my mind. Let me out and together we’ll leave nothing but ashes behind.

‘Nope. No can do,’ I chanted silently over and over again, trying to block it from taking control of me.

Connor’s shirtsleeves were burned away and some of his flesh had blackened; I could tell from his grimace that he was in severe pain. He’d heal with some blood – but we hadn’t brought any.

The witch’s hands were a nimbus of flame. ‘Liv called. She said you’re thieves,’ he snarled. ‘She’s on her way.’

That meant his actions weren’t the result of him being possessed, so I had a chance of getting through to him. ‘Liv is being possessed by the stones. If I can get this last one in the box, it will save her. Help us,’ I begged.

I could see from his face that he didn’t believe us. Dammit! I ran towards him, hoping that my fire would be stronger than his. He flung fireball after fireball at me, but I let my body absorb them like he had done until the magic in my blood felt full and satisfied. Then I grabbed his wrist and pulled his magic into me. I gasped when he slumped. What was I doing? My magic was acting like a vampire – was I siphoning off his energy from his aura? I released him and he fell to his knees.

Before he collapsed, he threw one last weak fireball not at me or Connor but at the wooden box. I shouted to stop him but it was too late and the box blazed hot and fast. Connor and I stared in horror as it quickly disintegrated into ash and Wrangell passed out at my feet.

I sat on the floor, utterly defeated. ‘Got another box somewhere?’ I asked desperately.

Connor shook his head. ‘No. Got any more potion?’

‘Yeah, I think there was some left. How fast can your guys make us another cedar box?’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t know. There weren’t any other boards prepared, and it’ll take a long time if they have to mill a tree. If there’s enough scrap lumber left, not long at all.’

‘Call them. I’ll call Mum and see if there’s enough potion left to prepare another box. Until then, we take the fire gem and run before Liv shows up and unleashes hell.’

We both got on our phones. Mum said we had enough potion and she’d keep it warm.

Connor hung up. ‘They’re going to try and make a box out of scraps, but it might be smaller than the others.’

‘I don’t know if a foot square is important in magic, but I figure that we’re good as long as it’s big enough for the gem to fit inside.’ Hopefully.

‘I’ll carry it,’ Connor barked, grabbing the metal box that the jewel still resided in and shoving it under his uninjured arm. He slammed the lid shut, but even so I could hear the gem purring, promising me endless riches and servants to do whatever I desired. I clenched my teeth and tried to ignore it as we ran for the truck.

Our best bet was to grab the potion and some blood for Connor, then send Mum and Father Brennan to Kamluck to prepare the new box. We’d take the gem so it could go in the box right way, but it was a race against the clock. We had to stop Liv before she stopped us.

Permanently.