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I didn’t understand what he meant. It’d always been up to me to find the Curse Breaker Wand. If there was one last clue to uncover, then it was for me to figure out. I had to pull myself together like I had every time before this, because no one else was going to save me.

I tried to recall how I’d dragged myself back from desolation before, how I’d clung desperately to my faith to defy the odds time and time again. I needed to find that strength within me now, because I couldn’t let myself give up.

Turbulent memories invaded my mind, some so fresh I still hadn’t had a chance to process them. I thought back to earlier this year when I’d experienced a bad flare-up. I remembered how helpless and out of control I felt because I couldn’t just make it go away on my own. Then I thought of my desperation when I couldn’t solve my mother’s clues on my own, how I’d exploded at Talia and Chloe in the heat of the moment.

I realized then that I hadn’t pulled myself out of that on my own. My friends had been there the whole time. When I’d had my flare-up, my girls had rallied around me and got me the care I needed. It’d been my friends who figured out the thoughtography spell to uncover the last of my mother’s messages.

And when I’d sent my son away, I’d begged my husband to leave me be in the devastating aftermath of the heartbreak. It hadn’t helped, because I’d needed Lucas to be there for me, and instead, I pushed him away.

It was a recurring pattern of mine, and I didn’t realize until now how deep it went. I had no problem working with others on large-scale tasks like running the council, but when it came to my duties—anything deemed my job or responsibility—I still felt ashamed if I couldn’t carry the burden and solve the problem myself. I kept telling Lucas there was no shame in asking for help or seeking assistance from the tools available to him, but I hadn’t realized how much I struggled with that myself. Despite my fierce independence, I still needed my community. They were everything that drove me forward, and it’s why I couldn’t stand the thought of losing Lucas now.

Lucas’s words echoed in my mind. I’m not asking you to have the answers.

I felt like I had to be on the top of my game all the time and to be strong so everyone else didn’t fall apart, because I was a leader. But great leaders didn’t work alone. Their job was to coordinate the group, to know each individual’s strengths and delegate tasks effectively. My greatest strength wasn’t in solving these mysteries all on my own, but in bringing people together to work it out as a group.

I’d been so upset last night because I didn’t have answers to give my friends, but they’d never been asking me to spell out the solution. They’d only been seeking guidance, which I’d failed to provide. Chloe had been forced to step up and take control when I’d lost it. At first, I thought that was a failing on my part, but perhaps it wasn’t a bad thing at all. That was how we operated, because we were a team who stood on equal ground. When one of us fell, everyone else was there to pick us back up. I’d been so afraid to fall all this time, but I realized it didn’t have to hurt if I let others catch me.

The truth was, I didn’t have answers on how to get into my mother’s stash. Lucas said I didn’t need them, and he was right. I couldn’t expect to put the solution on my shoulders all the time. It was okay to hand this over to someone else, because even though I didn’t have a solution, that didn’t mean there wasn’t one.

I rose to my knees and folded my hands in front of my heart. Closing my eyes, I bowed my head. It went against all logic, but deep down I knew what was required. I’d said I needed my mom here, and I meant it. I knew how impossible it sounded, because she couldn’t cross realms to be here with me, but somehow, someway, I had to believe she’d find a way to answer my prayers.

“Mom,” I prayed. “You’ve been here every step of the way to guide me to this point. You may not be here in the flesh, but your memory, your letters, and your pictures have brought you to me through time. You left me clues so I can finish what you started, but I’m stuck at the final stage. If there’s anything else that can bring us together, then I’m open and ready for it. I realize now that this isn’t just my puzzle to figure out. It’s ours . Even if you can’t come back, I have to believe we can still do this together.”

A calmness washed over me, but the room remained dead silent. I wasn’t sure what to expect. She hadn’t responded to any of my pleas before. How could I expect her to answer me now?

I peeled my eyes open, hoping to find something profound—perhaps not my mother, but a way for her to communicate with me regardless. A glowing key under the floorboards would be great right about now.

But there was nothing… no glowing magic, no voice calling to me from beyond.

I didn’t understand it, but I didn’t have to. I wasn’t the one who held a key to this door— she was. I just had to be ready to receive it.

“Help me, Mom,” I whispered. They were some of the hardest words I’d ever uttered, but at the same time, the most comforting. “I can’t do this without you.”

A soft mew met my ears. It was so quiet that I wasn’t sure I’d actually heard it. Slowly, I turned my head to see an ethereal black cat with green eyes padding toward me.

“Isa!” I cried.

She jumped into my arms, meowing happily and nuzzling her head into my neck. My heart filled to the brim with gratitude, overflowing with great happiness and comfort as I pulled her close. My tears of despair morphed into those of joy as I scratched Isa behind the ears.

“Of course.” I laughed in pure relief. “You don’t remember the clues you left behind for me, and you can’t give me answers, but you’re still here.”

Isa licked my tears, then pressed her forehead into my third eye. The sorrow that had been coursing through my veins ebbed away, and a deep feeling of love swelled through me. I was still sad my mom couldn’t be here the way I wished. I couldn’t see her or speak to her in flesh or spirit, and she wouldn’t come back the way I remembered her. But she had shown up in her own way. I realized then that my mother had found a way to cross realms to be here with me. She’d known years ago when she died that one day I’d end up here, and she’d come back to be a part of it. She never intended for me to do this alone.

“Nadine, what’s going on?” Lucas asked.

“It’s Isa,” I told him. “She must’ve heard me calling out for her. She’s here!”

I could hear Lucas’s sigh of relief. “Nad, she’s a piece of your mom’s spirit, which means this stash is hers .”

I gasped as the monumental weight of what Lucas was suggesting hit me. It was never my job to break through the protection spell and get into my mother’s stash, because Isa could. The spell would respond to her.

I set Isa on the floor and got to my feet. She bowed her head to me respectfully, her emerald eyes glinting up at me like she understood. Then she turned to the door and placed her paw on it. The door swung open with ease, as if it hadn’t been latched in the first place, let alone locked.

Lucas stood behind the door. His gaze landed upon me, and his face lit up brighter than I’d ever seen. Before I had a chance to say anything, he stepped out of the closet and took a long stride in my direction. I rushed to close the distance between us. His hands came to the side of my face, and he leaned down to plant a deep, passionate kiss on my lips. Warmth pooled in my belly. I threw my arms around his neck, but before I could drag him closer to me, I was falling again.

My pure elation at having my husband back in my arms sent my spirit spiraling back into my body. My eyes sprang open, and the intricate swirling patterns carved out on the ceiling at the estate became clear in my visions.

I sat upright to find Isa purring in my lap. She had already awoken and was kneading at my leg with her paws. Talia and Chloe were still gathered around us, and they went silent as I woke up. Chloe paused mid page turn as she frantically searched her grandmother’s grimoire.

“Lucas!” I gasped. I whirled toward him, practically flinging Isa off my lap. I grabbed for him to shake him awake, but he was already stirring. His eyes fluttered open. I threw my body over his chest, squeezing him tightly. “You’re back.”

“I’m here,” he assured me as he ran a hand—a very real, solid hand—down my back.

I planted a kiss on his lips. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”

I drew away from Lucas, and we finally got to our feet.

“Where’s the Curse Breaker Wand?” Talia asked.

Her question stalled me in my tracks. I’d been so worried about Lucas, I’d barely given a thought to why we’d been there in the first place. “We didn’t get it. We woke up too soon.”

A smirk crossed Lucas’s features. His eyes sparkled in a way that instantly sparked hope in my chest. “Who says we didn’t get it?”

He lifted his hand, and in it he gripped a beautiful wand with a honey oak finish, nine inches in length and a crescent moon carved into the end of it.

“Lucas, you got it!” I cried.

“It was there, just like you said.” Lucas unfurled his other hand to show that the Mortana crystal he’d held had turned to sand. He must’ve used all its energy in one go to pull the Curse Breaker Wand onto the astral plane—so much that it shattered the crystal completely.

Lucas held the Curse Breaker Wand out in my direction. “Are you ready to end this?”

Determination filled my chest. My mother had answered my prayers. She was here, and had been all along. Together, we’d accomplished what she set out to do decades ago, and I knew that if we continued working together, nothing could stop us. “Hell yeah. Let’s claim our power back.”

I took the Curse Breaker Wand from his outstretched hand. It fit perfectly in my grip, like it’d been specially crafted for me. Immediately, powerful magic surged through my body like a tidal wave rising up from my feet. It was so strong I stumbled back a few steps, nearly falling over at the Wand’s impressive energy. My friends backpedaled, their mouths agape as they witnessed the Wand work its power.

The Wand glowed a blue magic to match my own, and tendrils of magic reached out to swirl around me. The power circled me like a vortex lifting me upward. My feet never left the ground, but my spine straightened, and I pushed my shoulders back as the Wand filled me with a confidence I hadn’t felt in months. More than that, I could feel all the Curse Breaker magic in the coven pouring into me. Such extreme power would kill me under normal circumstances, but I didn’t have to harness it all on my own. The power of the Curse Breaker Wand steadied the magic, which I could feel flowing through me from Alora. I’d never felt a connection to our afterlife so strong before. The Wand energized me in a way I never knew, as if together, the two of us could immediately restore cities that had previously been leveled.

It was a strange thought, I realized—one that certainly had come from the Wand. Usually, people described power like this as destructive, something that could destroy whole civilizations, but the Curse Breaker Wand didn’t think that way. It wanted to build and restore, and it’d chosen me to be its companion in that endeavor.

The Curse Breaker Wand glowed white on the end and sang a beautiful chord as its power reached a peak, filling my body all the way from my head to my toes. I could sense her magic edging its way deep into my soul, but she hesitated a moment, as if asking my permission.

Yes , I told her.

My heart gave a mighty jolt as her power latched on to me completely, sealing our agreement to work together as one. She didn’t speak, but with her power came a deep knowing of what she wanted, and in turn, my own desires influenced hers. We were bound together now, until one of us chose to sever the connection. Something told me we never would, because my soul resonated with her song, like she was a missing piece of my ancestry that had been calling to me all throughout time and space. She wanted to be mine, and I desired to be hers.

I could feel through our connection that the Curse Breaker Wand was an honest, benevolent being who desired to pursue the good of all. There was a calmness about her, but beneath that a fierceness brewed. Like me, she wasn’t afraid to do what she had to do, and that made us the perfect pair.

The spell ebbed away, though I could still feel her power pulsing through my veins. My friends stared in awe from several paces away.

“Thank the Goddess the Wand chose you!” Talia cried happily. “How’d you convince her?”

“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I wasn’t trying.”

“You didn’t have to try,” Lucas said gently. “The Wand would know if you were lying or trying to force it. All you had to do was be yourself and show the Wand who you are. At your core, you’re amazing. Anyone can see that.”

My cheeks warmed at his compliment. “I can feel something within her that desires connection. I don’t know if this makes any sense, but I think I convinced her by asking for help.”

“It makes perfect sense,” Chloe replied. “Curse Breakers are most powerful when they’re working with others. You showed the Wand that you won’t lead with pride, but will consider other people’s expertise and assistance instead of taking all the credit for yourself.”

The Wand’s intentions resounded through me like her song. She’d been designed for the purpose of sharing power, and it saddened her to witness what had happened to the coven’s magic. Above all else, she wanted to be reunited with her brothers and sisters, so that together we could all restore what was lost.

The front door burst open, and we all turned to see Grant rushing into the house. He wore an urgent expression and wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. “I got here as quickly as I could.”

“What took you so long?” Talia asked. “I called you a while ago.”

Grant’s breathing slowed as he stepped further into the room. “You said you were going after the Curse Breaker Wand. I figured you’d want all the Oaken Wands together once you found it, so we could finally break the curse the priestesses put on them and get their power back.”

Grant lifted his hand to reveal the Alchemy Wand, with its spiral handle and a bulb on the end. “We were all tasked with keeping track of our own Wands, so I hid mine to keep it safe. I kept it in the locker room at the pool and used what magic I had left to cast a protection charm on its locker. Everyone else got theirs?”

“Mine’s right here,” Talia said. She walked over to an end table near the couch and opened the drawer. “I modified this table as soon as we moved in and gave it a false-bottom drawer. I thought it was best to keep my Wand close at hand.”

Talia piled the contents of the drawer atop the table. With a soft thunk , she dislodged the false bottom to reveal the Seer Wand lying below. She held up the delicate Wand with swirls all over the blade.

Lucas reached into his pocket and pulled out a white wand carved with a rib cage at the end. “I kept mine on me. The Mortana Wand’s bound to a reaper’s soul, so I figured it was safest with me anyway.”

“I hid mine, too,” Chloe said.

“How far do we have to go?” Grant asked. “Knowing you, you hid it somewhere far outside of town.”

Chloe smirked. “I thought of that, but that’s what everyone would expect of me, including my grandma. I had to fool her and make sure it was somewhere close so I could get to it first if she came after it. It’s out in the garden.”

We followed Chloe outside. The air was cold, and the sky overcast. All the plants in the garden had wilted in preparation for the upcoming winter. Chloe knelt beside a brick-lined flower bed and pressed on one of the bricks. I was astonished to see it move beneath her touch, because I’d have never guessed it to be loose. It blended so perfectly with the others.

Chloe wiggled the brick free, revealing a deep crevice behind it. She reached inside and withdrew a textured old wand. Her fingers curled tightly around the branching handle.

“Let’s break the curse on these Wands for good,” I said.

The five of us gathered in a circle and pointed our Wands toward the center until the ends touched. With all the power of the Curse Breaker Wand, I could feel the deeply horrible curse the priestesses had placed on the other Wands. I knew it had to be bad if it could influence these powerful objects to such a degree, but I hadn’t anticipated the depth of their abhorrent spell. I hadn’t been able to feel it before because the Oaken Wands’ power far exceeded my own, but now that I had the immense power of the Curse Breaker Wand at my fingertips, I could perceive the curse in its entirety.

It was repulsive in a way that made me want to drop the Wand immediately and run far away from here. To feel the vile hatred the priestesses used to create this spell made me want to never stop running. But I held on tight to the Wand, knowing the only thing keeping me here was the hope that I could end this.

The curse felt like sludge over my skin, weighing me down in a way that seemed like it might drag me to the Abyss. It tasted like rot, leaving a terrible bitter tartness on my tongue. Beneath that, though, I could sense glory like a sunrise, though it remained untouchable. It was like someone had forced the sun to remain beneath the horizon, never able to shed its light on the surface of the Earth again.

I realized it was the power of the Oaken Wands, begging to escape the chains of this curse. On their own, they couldn’t break through. The Oaken Wands seemed to scream for their freedom. I could hear it—a high-pitched wail somewhere in the distance. It wasn’t quite here on this plane of existence, but their desperate pleas reached me. The devastation of the Curse Breaker Wand constricted my airways as she screamed for the torment of her brothers and sisters.

Her infernal anger matched my own. The end of the Wand glowed as I ordered its magic to curl around the evil curse. The curse fought back, and this time, the high-pitched scream was real. My friends and I jumped and covered our ears as the blaring sound of an alarm echoed across the town. Black smoke billowed from the ends of the four cursed Wands, swirling into a vortex between us all.

“The curse is resisting!” I shouted over the deafening noise. “Keep your Wands together so we can finish this!”

My friends quickly stepped closer together, and we joined the Wands again at the tips. The black smoke swirled more violently, and dead leaves whipped all around the garden. The trees at the edge of the property groaned.

A gust of wind swept by us, and Talia grabbed Grant’s shoulder to keep from falling over. “We’re not going to make it!” she cried.

“We will!” I insisted. “I’m almost there. Everyone hold on.”

I placed my left hand on Chloe’s shoulder, while my right aimed the Curse Breaker Wand into the center of our circle. Chloe did the same, clinging to Talia. Talia held tight to Grant, and Grant grabbed Lucas. On my right, Lucas wrapped an arm around me, squeezing me close to his side.

“We do this together,” I said, speaking to both my friends and the Wands.

Magic surged out of my body. The more I pushed, the more the curse shoved back. The dark smoke encompassed us from all angles, closing in on my friends and me. In our hands, the Oaken Wands shook.

The curse’s effect on me intensified. It felt like slimy fingers slithering down my throat, taking home in my stomach until it seemed to solidify into heavy stones. I was so repulsed by it that I gagged.

“You’ve got this, Nadine!” Lucas shouted over the roar of the wind. “You’ve taken on the hardest job known to the coven—not as a priestess, but as a mother. You’re incredible at it, and if I’ve learned anything from watching you, it’s that you’re capable of the extraordinary. I know that’s hard to live with sometimes, because everyone’s got expectations for you, but meeting those expectations isn’t what makes you incredible. It’s your tenacity to take on any challenge knowing you’re capable. You started this because you know deep down inside of you, you have what it takes to finish it. But you don’t have to do it alone. We’re by your side the whole way.”

“You can do it,” Grant agreed. “Any time one of us decides it’s too hopeless, you’re there to pull us out of the dumps. Whenever we hit a wall, you’re always telling us there’s got to be another way, and then you show us how to do it. We’ve gotten this far because of you. Now let us do the same for you.”

“I love you!” Talia cried. The smoke was so close now that it blocked out the daylight. I could barely see Talia across from me. “I had no one when I met you, but you became my greatest friend to depths I didn’t know friendship could go. Before I met you, I was a shy, meek girl who couldn’t stand in front of the class without toppling over in embarrassment. You taught me how to stand up for myself, and I learned how to find my voice through you. You gave me a power that magic can’t, so fuck this curse , because no matter how strong it is, it isn’t stronger than you .”

“Talia’s right!” Chloe added. “I’ve known a lot of strong witches, but it’s not a witch's magical aptitude that makes them powerful. It’s their fortitude. You’ve stood against the greatest of our enemies with the intent to win no matter the cost, and you’ve beaten them time and time again. This curse was cast with powerful magic, but it was cast by my grandmother’s intent. You’re stronger than her, Nadine! We all are.”

Tears streamed down my cheeks. I knew my friends loved me, but their faith in me was astounding. We’d been through so much together, and I’d promised them that if we had to walk through hell and back again, we could. But we didn’t have to this time, because we had everything we needed right here.

“I love you guys!” I shouted back.

Instead of directing my magic down through the Wand, I sent it through our circle, filling my friends with power. By the time the magic circled back around to me, it felt stronger than ever before. My friends didn’t have access to their magic, and their Wands couldn’t break through the curse binding them, but it didn’t matter because together we were still stronger than we were alone.

My power wedged its way into the heart of the curse, and upon my command, the spell shattered. The Curse Breaker Wand gained control, and the black smoke surrounding us spiraled into the end of the Wand in a swirling vortex.

Around us, the wind died down, until fallen leaves merely tumbled across the stone pathway. The siren-like scream that filled the skies moments ago went silent. The magic the curse contained remained within the Curse Breaker Wand, lying dormant for a time we deemed it necessary to use again.

I took a ragged step back. Before my eyes, the end of each Oaken Wand glowed a glorious white light. My friends and I lifted our Wands in unison, and the light magic streamed upward in tendrils that wrapped together. I could feel their power binding together, committing to collaborating as one to reach our goals. The Oaken Wands had never been stronger. The lights exploded above our heads like a beautiful fireworks display.

“We did it!” Grant cried. He whirled around to test his Wand. Green magic swirled around a flower bed, settling into the dirt there. Grant alchemized the soil as some sort of magical fertilizer, and the wilted plants immediately grew color before our eyes.

Lucas tested his Wand, and the skeletal remains of a mouse that had died in the garden came skittering from beneath a flower bed. “We’ve got our magic back!”

In his excitement, he conjured his reaper robe and slipped it on.

“I feel so powerful!” Talia cried happily. She lifted her Wand, and a vision of party confetti raining down on us flashed through my mind, like an image of a daydream layered upon my eyesight. It wasn’t real, but it might as well have been.

Chloe used the Mentalist Wand to lift herself into the air, performing a front flip with her telekinesis. “Ooh, yeah. I’m back, baby!”

She landed gracefully, with a big smile on her face. “So, when do I get to beat my grandmother’s ass?”

“Soon,” I promised. “The priestesses will be here in two days. Once they arrive, our goal is to immobilize them and get our hands on the Master Wand. Without it, they’ll be as powerless as the rest of the coven.”

“Then they’ll stand trial,” Grant said. “Though, it’s not looking good for them.”

“That depends on what the coven decides,” Lucas replied.

“Lucas is right,” I agreed. “Their crimes of openly executing coven members and embezzling their tax dollars are not against us. We can give them a fair trial, but we’ll hand their sentencing over to the coven.”

“In the meantime, we’ve got to keep getting these people out of town,” Lucas said. “We’ve moved a lot of them, but it’s going to take all the time we have left to get everyone else out of Octavia Falls.”

Just then, blaring thunder rumbled across the sky. We whirled in the direction of the thunder, and my stomach dropped as I witnessed inky black storm clouds churning in the distance. They weren’t there a moment ago. Already the clouds covered the horizon, and they were moving toward Octavia Falls fast .

“That isn’t any ordinary storm!” Grant cried.

Chloe flicked the Mentalist Wand, and her telekinesis raised her high into the sky, giving her a vantage point above the tree line. Her voice took on a troubled edge as she shouted down at us. “You guys are going to want to see this!”

Quickly, I conjured the enchanted broom I kept in my stash. It’d been a while since I used conjuration, but with an Oaken Wand in my hand, it was as easy as breathing. My friends did the same, and we mounted our brooms and kicked off.

We flew higher than the rooftops, giving us a clear view of the sky miles ahead. Beyond the peaks of Miriam Mansion on the far side of town, storm clouds rolled across the Appalachian mountain range ahead of us, raging forward like a tidal wave. Lightning struck the sky, and a loud crack of thunder reverberated throughout the town. It reminded me of the battle at Octavia Hall, when Lucas’s power grew so strong it caused a storm to roll in. That meant something powerful was coming—something so strong even a witch couldn’t contain its power.

Then I saw it—a dark mass moving through the trees down the side of the mountain. At first, I thought it was the shadow from the storm, but this maneuvered differently, like soldiers marching in for battle.

“It’s the priestesses,” I said hollowly. “And they’ve brought their golem army with them.”

“Ryan said we had three days!” Grant cried. “He must’ve lied.”

I shook my head, feeling the truth resonate through my Wand and deep in my soul. “No. We miscalculated the effect of breaking the curse. The priestesses must’ve sensed that I broke it, and they know we have the power of the Oaken Wands now. They’ve moved up their attack to try to catch us by surprise.”

Chloe gave a chilling laugh. “Oh, it’s not just a surprise. If it were, they’d have surrounded us from every angle. No, this is a show to leave us quaking in our boots. They’ve got enough magic to portal hundreds, if not thousands, of soldiers right to our doorstep, and they want to march them into town in one big brigade to show off just how powerful they are.”

“That’s magic beyond anything we’ve ever seen!” Talia panicked.

“Tal, see if the Seer Wand has any insight,” Lucas ordered. “How’s this going to play out?”

She closed her eyes, but winced at the overwhelm of what she saw. “There are too many possibilities. Anything could happen.”

“Then all we can do is press forward,” I said. “We’ve prepared for their arrival. Everyone in position.”

“Are we sure the Oaken Wands stand a chance?” Talia asked.

I leaned over the end of my broom, narrowing my eyes at the incoming storm. “We’re about to find out.”