Page 37

Chapter 37

The Rescuers

KEENAN

T he evening is calm and dark, a waning moon shining down on us as we step out onto the cliffside next to my cave getaway.

“Hurry up,” Mags says urgently as she reaches into the portal to pull our friends through. “I need to conjure another portal.”

Angel clings to Laz as she looks around. “Are we standing on the edge of a cliff?” They shuffle closer to the mouth of the cave.

“Right, good idea,” Pinky mutters, looking around at our assembled friends. “Anyone who could die by falling off a cliff, go stand by the cave.”

Laz, Angel, Zach, Cherise, and Calvin move toward the cave.

On the shifter side, there’s Pinky, Rachel, Jessica, Hailey Whitmore, and Ginger Abbott the mouse shifter.

The bandage wrapped around Rachel’s head along with her pale face catches my eye. “You should be in a hospital.” Vanessa wouldn’t want anyone risking their health.

She shrugs. “So should Vanessa, but here we are. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Once the last person comes through, Mags calls up another portal. First, Mags’s mother, Lilith, steps through, nodding at Mags as she takes her place. Next comes her aunt Beatrice who hugs her quickly before moving aside. Last comes Mags’s friends: Lila, Katey, and Callum. As the witches assemble along the cliffside, we’re packed in tighter.

A minute passes after the last witch travels through, but the portal remains open. Mags watches it, her expression hopeful.

“They may not come, daughter,” Lilith says, warning in her voice. “The land of the living is not meant for an Oracle. They will be uncomfortable, their magic muted.”

Mags narrows her eyes at her mother. “They’re coming. We need them for this spell to work. Besides, I told them if they want to keep dating my mom, they’re either doing me this solid, or taking me to ballgames and sending birthday cards.”

The green portal glows brighter and sparks shoot from the center. The humans shuffle further against the mountain face. As we watch, some fascinated, some fearful, a foot appears, then a leg, then another one, until a majestic being steps out onto the cliff, the portal disappearing behind them.

The Oracle looks around with awe and curiosity. “This is Earth?”

Lilith takes Oracle’s arm, pulling them into the circle of humans, shifters and witches. “It is, my love.” She kisses their cheek. “Thank you for coming.”

“Your daughter used blackmail, Lilith,” Oracle says without inflection. “Your love may not be enough to save her if she does it again.”

A wolf’s howl pierces the night, distant, but closing in fast. It’s familiar. Two more howls join the first and I realize Lock, Rush, and Sarina are headed our way. They burst onto the cliffside, startling the humans as they shift from their wolves into naked humans.

“Brother.” Lock grips my shoulder as he, Sarina, and Rush surround me.

Sarina touches Vanessa’s ashen face, compassion in her gaze. “Poor thing.”

Mags claps her hands to get everyone’s attention. “Thank you all for coming. I’d love to explain what’s about to happen, but we don’t have time. Vanessa’s heart is weakening by the second and the spell won’t work if she passes before it takes effect.”

I let out a ferocious growl as I panic. “Less talking, more action!”

Lock bumps my arm and shakes his head. “This is Vanessa’s only chance. Leash your wolf.”

I do as he says and force my wolf back, chaining the aggression he’s pushing to the surface. He wants to protect our mate, but he’ll do it in the worst possible way by rampaging through the people who are here to help us.

“Attention, please!” Sarina shouts. “Mags is speaking now so please shut up.”

The chorus of murmurs dies away, and Mags sends Sarina a grateful look. “Vanessa will die a human death very shortly unless she undergoes a transformation.” She takes a deep breath, her gaze meeting mine. “We’re going to use Vanessa’s latent shifter blood to transform Vanessa from human to shifter.” A chorus of murmurs go through the crowd and it’s a second before anyone can hear Mags again. “Shush! We don’t have time to ponder the impossibility of what we’re about to try, we have to get it done. But before we can cast a transformation spell, we need to conjure the witch who cast the curse that caused Keenan’s original mate to start reincarnating.”

“Did she say reincarnation?” Cherise asks Calvin, who shakes his head, his eyes wide as he watches the shifters warily.

“You can conjure Lyra Guardian Witch?” Lock asks, shocked. “How? Why haven’t you done it before now. She could break the original spell.”

“There’s no time,” I remind my brother, nudging him.

“She doesn’t know how to break the original spell,” Mags snaps, backing away from the group.

Oracle makes a harrumphing sound. “It is highly irregular for the penalized to receive visitors.”

Mags rolls her eyes. “She cast that curse centuries ago, maybe it’s time to loosen up the restrictions a bit.”

Oracle looks like they want to argue, but Lilith wraps her arms around them. “Let the child do her work.”

Mags nods at her mother in thanks, then turns her attention to her conjuring spell. Her voice becomes louder, infused by power as she speaks the incantation:

“Lyra, who is lost in shadows deep,

Where darkness and mystery doth creep,

Come forth, let the light guide your way,

And banish the darkness of night’s dismay.

Lyra, oh where did you go?

The world misses your heart’s glow.

Disappeared into the night,

But now it’s time to reappear in sight.”

POOF! In a burst of fire and smoke, an ethereal woman with long dark hair appears. Lyra. Fallon’s missing mate.

I’m stunned by her presence. We always hoped she somehow lived but seeing her in the flesh is confirmation that she survived her miscast spell.

“Magdalene, my cousin.” Lyra hugs Mags, then holds her at arm’s length. “It’s been too long since our last conjuring. And you are so much more powerful now. You’ve barely broken a sweat calling me here.” Her gaze sweeps the mountainside and her eyes widen. “Where am I and who are these people?” She catches sight of Rush, Lock and me and backs away. “I should leave.”

“No one is going to hurt you,” I say hoarsely, stepping toward her. “But we need your help.”

Her gaze falls to Vanessa, whose breathing has grown shallower, her skin paling until it’s nearly translucent.

I can feel my love’s mortality slipping away. “Your curse upon my brother two hundred years ago is killing my mate.”

She looks surprised and Mags grips her arm, gaining her attention. “The short version is your anti-mating spell fused with Keenan’s original mate’s latent shifter blood to create a reincarnation spell. Vanessa is a reincarnation of his mate and she’s about to die if we don’t intervene.”

Lyra’s expression is one of compassion. “What do you need me for?”

“I need you to suspend your original spell for a few seconds while I call forth Vanessa’s latent shifter blood. Your spell will get in the way of my spell if we don’t find a way to lift it.” Mags looks at her hopefully. “Can you do it?”

Lyra thinks for a moment. “I can’t reverse it, since it was a miscast, but I could probably blur the parameters, which would allow your magic to slip through.”

“Do it then!”

Lyra sighs regretfully. “I can’t. I’m sorry, but most of my magic was bound when I was sent to the penal realm. I don’t have the power I need to suspend a miscast spell.”

Oracle steps forward, giving Mags a knowing look. “I grant you the powers necessary to help Magdalene Rage Witch.”

“Thank you, Oracle,” Lyra says with a small respectful bow.

“They will be rescinded when you are finished here, and you will be returned to the penal realm.”

Lyra bends her head. “Of course, Oracle.”

“Let’s move,” Mags snaps, stepping away from the group. “Mom, you know what to do.”

Lilith lifts her hands. “Witches and shifters, join me. Humans stand behind us.”

The humans shuffle behind the lineup of witches and seconds later the witches throw up a protective wall to shield the mortals from the powerful magic about to take place. It’s bright and glowing with energy but we can see the humans on the other side.

“Where do you want her?” I ask Mags, my eyes on Vanessa. Her lips are turning blue as she gasps for breath. I press my head to her chest and nearly shout my fear as I listen to her heart falter between beats.

“Over there.” She points at a long, flat rock. I lay Vanessa on top, her lifeless body lolling as I release her. She looks like a sacrifice and my wolf urges me to snatch her away and carry her off to safety.

“Hurry up!” Pinky urges, clinging to Vanessa’s limp arm. “She’s dying!”

Mags looks at Lyra. “Your turn, cousin.”

Lifting her arms, Lyra chants,

“In shadows cast, a spell misplaced,

Repelling love with cold distaste.

With incantations softly sung,

Suspend the rift that's wrongly strung.

A moment's grace, a lover's chance,

Undo the magic's harsh advance.

Mistaken words in magic’s lore,

Unravel now, let love restore.”

A gasp ripples through the wolf shifters.

“I felt something,” Lock says, shaking his head in confusion.

“Me too.” Sarina sniffs the air, a low growl starting in her throat.

What’s happening? Lyra? Where is Lyra? I want my mate!

“Shit,” Rush mutters. “Fallon is on the move.”

“I can feel our brother, too,” I say to them. “He seems better.”

“When Lyra lifted the original curse,” Mags explains. “He was freed from the effects too. But it won’t last long.”

“Why?” Rush demands, grief in his voice. “We’ve waited centuries to get our brother back.” His hard eyes land on Lyra and he bares his teeth. “Restore him permanently, witch.”

Trembling, she backs away from the shifters. “I can’t. The spell is only lifted for a short time.”

“Stop it!” I shout at my brothers before they can advance on the frightened witch. “We’ll figure out what to do about Fallon later. We’re losing Vanessa right now.”

Chagrined, they stop but I can see Rush eyeing Lyra. His thoughts are on how to trap the witch after we’re done here, keeping her here rather than letting her return to the penal realm.

Have we learned nothing? We’re in this mess because we trampled Lyra’s wishes two hundred years ago.

“You don’t need me anymore.” Lyra’s unwavering gaze is on Lock and Rush. She hugs Mags and conjures a portal. “You don’t have much time. Finish your spell.” She disappears before the wolf shifters can stop her.

“Now comes the hard part,” Mags says, touching my arm. “I need you to hold her and infuse her with feelings of calm and peace, which means you need to feel it yourself. Transformation is violent business. Her soul is going to resist when it realizes what I’m doing.”

I gather Vanessa in my arms and sit on the rock, cradling her to my chest, my gaze never leaving her face.

“Humans, you can help by thinking about Vanessa. Keep her in your heart, tell her spiritually how much she means to you. Tether her soul to this realm so it doesn’t try to leave her body.”

She turns to the wall of witches in front of the humans. “Witches, lend me as much strength as you can while protecting the humans from any miscast magic. This could get messy.” To the shifters, she says, “You guys think wild thoughts. Encourage her spirit animal, whatever it may be, to come forth and join us.”

She ticks her fingers one at a time. “Humans, witches, shifters. What’s left?” Her voice sounds strangely amplified as she adds, “And me. The Rage Witch.”

She kneels in front of Vanessa, placing her hands on Vanessa’s faltering chest. A darkness creeps up her fingertips, bathing them in dark magic. Closing her eyes, she whispers, “She’s close to death.” Mags is in another world now and when her eyes open, they’re blank. No colour, no pupils, just a swirling black void.

Oracle murmurs to Lilith, but I don’t catch her words.

When Mags speaks, her voice sounds like a distant echo, as if each word is a great effort:

“In twilight's hush, a mortal's plight,

A fading soul in waning light.

With whispered chants and moonlit grace,

Transform their essence, life embrace.

Grant the gift of endless night,

Immortal shifter, taking flight.

In metamorphosis, secrets unfold,

A new existence, forever told.”

A minute passes, then another, and another. I continue infusing Vanessa with calm and peace, but her faltering heart is hammering at my consciousness, making it difficult to concentrate.

Mags’s expression is frantic as she reaches into her pocket, pulling out a spell bag. She empties a pile of herbs and dried flowers on top of Vanessa and spreads it with her hands, repeating her incantation over and over, faster and faster.

Finally, her body droops and she looks at me, agony creasing her face. “I’m sorry, Keenan. It’s too late. She’s gone.”