If the Broom Fits (20 page)

I
watched the door nervously
. Aisha still wasn't back. Where the hell had she gone to cast her spell? Hawaii?

I tried to let go of my irritation, but I was wound too tight. We all were. Well, everyone but Frost. Not that I had ever been able to read her at all, but she didn't seem on edge. Since Leslie had hugged her, all she had done was stand stoically against the wall, arms crossed (probably to fend off any more hugs), staring at the drawing of the door. I wanted to throw the chalk I was using to mark everyone's positions at her, but I didn't.

Finally, Aisha came carefully down the rickety stairs into the cellar. We all stopped what we were doing and looked at her. She shook her head slightly. Frost frowned, taking in everything.

“What exactly is going on?” she asked, hugging herself tighter.

“Aisha was just checking on something,” Katrina said and went back to placing candles around the room.

“Why don't I believe you?” Frost mumbled under her breath.

“Because we're trying to save your grumpy ass and it isn't like you're helping. Instead you make this plan, don't tell any of us about it, and then have the nerve to tell us that we don't get a say. Well, you're wrong. We do get a say. This might be your life, but you are in our coven and your life affects us. And you can't make us let you go. You can't make us not fight for you until the very end. That's what's going on,” I snapped.

Selene was the first one to break out in a giggle. She clapped her hand over her mouth. “I know this isn't a laughing matter,” she said quickly. “But I love you, Jess.” She came over and hugged me. “We're all going to be okay.”

I nodded against her shoulder.

“You guys aren't hugging without me,” Katrina said, throwing her arms around us. “I love you guys, too.”

“Me too,” Leslie said, joining right behind her.

“All of you?” Frost said.

“All of us,” Dom said. “I don't know you ladies, but I'm sure I could love you too.” He put his long gangly arms around the group and this time everyone laughed…everyone but Frost.

She stared at our sappy group hug with a confused expression. “What are you planning to do?”

“Are you going to try to stop us?” Katrina asked.

“That depends,” Frost said, smiling a little.

Terrick looked at me and I shrugged. Alexis whispered something to Leslie, who nodded. Aisha stood with Selene and Katrina. None of us said a word.

“Fine.” Frost held up her gloved hands. “I won't try to stop you. But I need to know so I don't accidentally get in the way.”

“Might as well do it,” I told them.

Between everyone talking at once, the plan came out in a slightly disjointed and confusing manner, but Frost seemed to take it in, or at least she nodded like she understood. “I guess it's worth a shot.” She looked around the room, sadness etched in the lines of her face. “If there's nothing else, I guess it's time.”

“Let us activate the circle,” I said.

Dom, Angel, and I got into the protection circle and did the spell. When the energy shield was active, everyone else took their spots and all the lights were extinguished except for a single candle at the front by the door where Frost went to stand by herself.

The shadows slithered around the room and through the darkness. My heart beat so loud in my chest everyone had to be able to hear it. This was the first bad guy I had gone up against without magic. I was almost as good as useless here. Anything could happen to my friends and there was nothing I could do to help. I'd be forced to watch. And Selene was right. All the planning in the world didn't matter if you couldn't roll with the punches—and I couldn't.

I put a hand on my chest. It was hard to breathe. Dom took my other hand while Angel reached up and took the one from my chest. No one spoke. My breathing eased slightly. How long was this going to take?

Then, with a flicker, the candle went out and Frost's scream shattered the dark.

“Now,” Selene yelled.

Immediately we all started the spell in perfect unison. Flames soared from the candles around the room, thanks to Alexis. The fallen angel already had Frost by the neck, and her body writhed and spasmed. The words of the spell stuttered in my mind at the sight and then he looked up. He was beautiful. Soft curling hair and penetrating blue-green eyes. Even as his finger ran across Frost's neck and her body jerked and blood welled, it was hard not to be mesmerized.

A cruel smile crept across his face. Selene hit him with magic that was strong enough to make all the hair on my body stand on end. He didn't even stumble.

Oh shit.

He flicked a wrist, sending Selene crashing into Alexis and the shadows descended over them until I couldn't see them at all. Around the same time, flames shot up in the same corner and Terrick's explosion went off on the other side. The angel slowly turned his eyes to him. Terrick started clawing at his throat, though the angel hadn't touched him. His face turned various shades of red and quickly headed to blue.

The chalked outline of the door broke open behind the angel as one by one he knocked Katrina, Leslie, and Aisha into the walls where the shadows pinned them. He had taken out everyone without even breaking a sweat. A wave of power hit our circle of protection, making the air sizzle around us, but it didn't reach us. He advanced slowly. Frost's blood dripped down his hand that still held her, and her scream dwindled to a gurgled cry. Tears rolled down her cheeks. No one else in the room got up. The shadows were too strong. Only Selene was moving, crawling out from underneath them, but she wouldn't be fast enough.

“I can smell your fear,” Ornias said in a voice that was so beautiful I almost wept. I released Dom and Angel's hands and stepped forward, but not out of the circle. “You will not win.”

He held Frost up higher. “I already have.” The circle took another jolt. “Her blood runs over me. Already I feel her power becoming mine. No world will trap me again.”

Selene had managed to sit up, her face hard and elf-like as she ignored the shadows clawing at her back.

“Not if I kill you first,” I said, hoping to buy Selene time, but time for what I had no idea. Her magic was useless on him.

Lifting both hands before her, she seemed to grip the air and try to fling it toward the door. Nothing happened and she sagged back to the floor, once again overtaken by the shadows. The angel still didn't move, but Frost did. She tore from his hand and hurtled across the room and through the doorway.

“No,” Ornias thundered. He vanished and reappeared at the door, leaning forward, grasping the back of her shirt.

I didn't take time to think. I ran forward as low and fast as I could, breaking the circle. My body collided with Ornias, knocking him the rest of the way through, but the momentum carried me as well. I started to fall—then something pulled me back just as the door sprayed with Frost's blood began to close forever.

Within seconds the passage was gone. They were both gone. Everything connected with the door had vanished, including the drawing and the blood stains on the floor.

My chest heaved and my knees shook. I dropped to the floor. Dom plopped down beside me, still holding my shirt with white knuckles.

“Next time, a little warning about your plan,” he said.

Angel cast a light spell bright enough to suffuse the entire room, even though the shadows had disappeared with the door.

Slowly people began to move and pull themselves back up. Alexis helped Selene to her feet. Katrina sat with Terrick as he pulled in long coughing breaths. Leslie and Aisha came over to make sure we were okay.

But we weren't. We'd lost her.

“We can get her back,” Leslie said, pulling a piece of chalk from her pocket and drawing a door. “We can open it again.”

No one moved. None of us had the strength to do it again so soon. I slowly reached up and stopped Leslie's hand; tears sprang from her eyes.

“No,” she said. “It isn't too late. She wasn't…We can…”

“It's too soon. You know that. We can't fight him again. Let's go back in the house.” I put my arm around her. “We can talk about it there.”

We helped each other back into the house and everyone spread out. Selene sat at the kitchen table, head in her arms, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I had to do it,” she whispered. “We couldn't let him stay here. He would have killed all of us.”

“I'll make tea,” Katrina said, numbly.

I sat Leslie down in a chair near Selene and I took the one across from them. Terrick was the first of the other coven to hobble into the kitchen. He sat next to me. Aisha was next, then Angel and Dom.

Alexis hovered in the doorway. “Now what?” she asked.

“It's over,” I said. “We lost. Or we won. It doesn't actually seem to matter.”

“That's not the way I see it,” Terrick said. “Frost died, but she knew she was going to. This is what she wanted, right? That doesn't mean it's over. We worked well together. Things didn't go as planned, but look what we did. We cracked Winter Darkmore's spells, banished a fallen angel, and solved like thirty something murders. I think, all in all, it was a good day. We're a pretty good team.” He waited for people to agree, but it was too soon for bright sides. “Together we're almost a full coven.”

“I have to call Sy and check in with Cheney.” Selene stepped out of the room, still crying but completely healed of her injuries. Perks of being an elf and bonded with a vampire.

“What's in the box?” Aisha asked.

“Stars,” Leslie said shakily, crying a little harder. Whatever she said next was completely unintelligible.

Something was sitting on top of the box. “Frost left her key.” I picked it up and turned the box until I found the hole. The lid popped back. Inside were letters left to all of us. As I passed them out, Selene and Sy returned.

“What happened?” he asked, all the happy lines and normal teasing gone from his face. He looked older and infinitely more exhausted. “I thought you guys had this handled.”

I handed him his letter and Corbin's too. “I take it you can get this to him.”

Sy rolled his eyes and put it in his pocket before opening his own. He read slowly—then leaned his head back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling.

I put my own letter in my pocket. I would read it later when I was alone. I just couldn't do it right now.

“What's that?” Dom asked, pointing into the box.

I picked up the few sheets of paper left inside. “It's a spell to reach Orion. It's different than her mom's spell though.” I frowned, reading it closer. “I've actually never seen a spell like this.” I handed it to him, and Alexis came over to have a look too.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Terrick's head popped up. “Frost made me promise we would free Orion since I figured out where her mom went wrong. She was very clear. She said no matter what happened tonight, we needed to free him.”

Leslie wiped her eyes and nose with the back of her hand, collecting herself some as she nodded. “I agree completely. Let's do it. Right now.”

After what everyone had been through, I doubted we could muster enough energy to close a circle, but we stood anyway. It was Frost's last request. What choice did any of us have?

I
was flying
. Bold, beautiful colors blurred all around me. Blues and yellows and reds that faded into vibrant pinks soared past me as I went. My throat burned and ached but at least Ornias had lost his grip on me and the pain of his touch had subsided. It was all that waited for me at the end of this journey, though. I kept my eyes open to tally one more good memory before he caught up and killed me.

A hand grabbed my wrist and jerked me out of the tunnel of lights but it didn't hurt. I was crushed into a familiar scent. It smelled like wind and snow. Maybe I was already dead. I leaned in harder, inhaling deeply.

“I've got you,” Orion whispered into my hair and we were moving again so fast it made me dizzy. I closed my eyes and rested my head against him.

Death wasn't so bad, though my whole body still kind of hurt. I wouldn't have expected that. And where was Olivia? She said she'd be here.

When we came to a stop, Orion pushed me back and ran his hand gently over my neck which seared at his touch, forcing my eyes open. We were still surrounded by swirling color. I batted his hands away from me, though I didn't appear to be standing on anything at all.

“Am I in heaven or hell?” I asked.

He stared at me for a moment, then laughed in a short burst. “Neither. You're still alive.”

I shook my head, feeling a bit dizzy. I fought for clarity. “Can't be. I went through the door and this looks a lot like space. And I don't have a suit on.”

He gave me a helpless gesture. “Stranger things have happened. You come through a magical door to the constellation Aquarius—yet it's the oxygen levels that you question?”

Well, it seemed like as fair a query as any.

He sighed. “Why do you always have to be so stubborn?”

“Why do you always have to be so evasive?” I gently touched my neck and grimaced.

He shook his head. “Fine. This isn't space as you think of it. When humans or angels or whatever are banished into the cosmos, it's more of a between world. Like your Abyss, only we're trapped on our own little islands. Happy?”

I looked around. It was pretty, but the view would grow old when it was the only thing you had. “This is where you live?”

He nodded.

I sucked in a breath. “They got the spell wrong.” I turned in a quick circle, looking for Ornias.

Orion stopped me. “The spell was perfect,” he said. “They sent him to Aquarius just like they planned. I pulled you out. I was waiting for you.”

“How?” I asked.

His eyes flickered up. “I had permission. Your sacrifice didn't go unnoticed.” I met his eyes and he smiled. “They let me save you. They have a deal to offer you.”

My brain pulsed inside my skull, making it hard to keep up. “What sort of deal?”

He touched my cheek gently, then pressed his forehead against mine. “Give me a second to enjoy this.”

I pressed a hand to his cheek. He turned his head and kissed my palm then gently kissed my lips. Warmth filled me.

“In a few minutes, your coven will open a door back to your world. When you enter it, you will have a choice. Either you can go through, completely healed of your curse. People will no longer die when they touch you and you will no longer be a necromancer. You'll be able to live the life you always wanted.” He smiled. “You did what none of the others could do. You found a way to heal yourself. You broke the curse on your own.”

I held my breath and waited. There was always a
but
. “What's the catch? There wouldn't be a choice if there wasn't a catch.”

“No catch. You will be completely normal.” His hazel eyes glittered down at me. “Take the deal, Frost. It's what you want. It will give you the best chance at happiness and you deserve to be happy.”

I nodded. I did deserve to be happy, but I wanted to hear the rest. “What's the other choice?”

“Keep the curse….”

“And?”

“Keep your power.”

He wasn't saying what that meant. Without being a necromancer was I even still a witch? How normal were we talking? “Completely magicless?”

He nodded. “It's a good trade.”

“What about you?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I am not a part of this. Nothing will ever change that. If you try to release me, they will punish you and your friends. Take the deal. Get what you have always wanted.”

I pushed my hands through my hair. Somewhere along the way I had lost my hat and my braid had unraveled, so my hair was floating loosely around me in long white waves. I probably looked like Medusa. I closed my eyes and tried to picture my life both ways. One version of life came much easier to me than the other. I knew what I had to do.

I looked at Orion, tears threatening to fall. I had spent my whole life with one singular focus. And I'd thought if I ever obtained it, everything would magically fall into place and be perfect. It had never, not once, occurred to me that the curse wasn't just a part of who I was, it was a part of everything I was. “I wouldn't know how to live without my curse.” I shook my head.

“Don't,” he whispered. “Not for me.”

I smiled a little, wiping away a tear. “This has nothing to do with you. What am I supposed to do if I'm not a necromancer? I can't be a bounty hunter. I technically shouldn't be in the Abyss at all. Anything could kill me. I wouldn't be a witch anymore. I longed to get rid of my power, but I never considered what that would mean. Can you really picture me working a day job? Going to neighborhood barbecues? This is who I am.”

“It doesn't have to be.” He took my hands. “You can be happy. You can find love. You can have friends. Don't sell yourself short.”

I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. The coven had been telling me this from the start, but I hadn't listened. I assumed they didn't understand so I blocked them out, but they were right. The curse didn't hold me back. I held myself back. “I have all of those things now. I have friends, I have a coven, and,” I took a deep breath, “I have you.”

He closed his eyes. “But I am here. I will always be here.”

I tried not to laugh. “I wouldn't want you around all the time, anyway. You're kind of annoying.”

He did laugh and pulled me into his arms. “I hope you don't regret this.”

“Me too,” I whispered into his shirt.

A bright light formed behind me and Orion didn't have to say the words. I knew what was there. I kissed him one more time, then went through the door. Back to my world, back to my friends.