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I scramble toward Imogen, losing my footing in the slick mud. “Give it back.”
“I made a promise,” she says gravely.
“To Valerius? That’s no promise; it’s a death sentence. Please, Imogen, reconsider what you’re doing.” I put up all my blocks, hoping I have enough magic to resist her taking my remaining wish from me.
She leans close and says, “My boy is cursed and if a wish answers a person’s deepest desire then a curse is the inverse, it can be taken it away.”
I shake my head, confused.
“It doesn’t have to be this way.” I plead, but she has the wand. My wand is on my bed where Bobby tossed it. I’m out of options. “We can figure something out. It isn’t over.”
“Oh, but it is.” She lifts her arm and aims the wand, but not at me. The red crystal glints in the lamplight, directed at JJ. She chants words I cannot hear over the roar of the rain and battle in the background.
Imogen’s magic thrusts her son backward and into the mud. I don’t even spare her the wrath of my glare as I rush toward him, too late to block it. Then as if enough damage weren’t done already, the spell rebounds or perhaps Imogen retrieved her energy. I can’t be sure as I jump out of the way then dive in his direction, shouting, “No.”
I drop to my knees, clutching JJ in my arms. This cannot be happening. We were so close and now he’s so cold. Cold forever. Tears form in the corners of my eyes and fall along with the rain.
I sob and a sympathetic hand rests on my shoulder. I imagine it’s Yassi or one of my friends, witnessing Imogen’s cruelty. The cruelty and betrayal that I will avenge. I knew better than to trust someone who cursed her son.
“We must get her,” I say, standing up and turning around to rejoin the fight. I don’t need a wand. I will summon my magic and cast spells without it. Anger temporarily replaces the sadness. There will be time to deal with grief later.
Only, it’s Imogen standing before me. She places the wand in my hand. “My deepest desire is to be young forever, immortal. But I understand now. That’s not the way of nature.” Her form flickers.
I don’t know what to say. Should I risk believing her?
“I know JJ would never use one of his curses against me, so I took it from him...cursed myself. Ironic but necessary. Doing so knocked him out. Now, it’s up to you to fulfill the prophecy. Please tell him I’m sorry.” She lifts the wand in my hand, aiming it at JJ to undo the curse from the prophecy, her curse.
Imogen flickers again and begins to fade like he has been all year, but in fast forward. “It can’t hurt worse than knowing of all the wrong I did. Maija, please make things right. It’s time for me to say goodbye.” Her voice sounds far away even though she stands before me.
I swallow hard and tears pierce my eyes again.
“I trust you know Gibberish. All brixta do. Please undo his curse. Restore him to life.”
“I don’t know the spell.”
“You could make a wish,” she says and dissolves into nothing.
“But I used three.” This is all happening so fast and I’m not sure who or what to believe.
She places her hand on my heart. “You are brixta, a revolutionary, a change-maker, but also a caretaker, a life mender. Trust yourself. Believe in your magic.”
I gaze up at the stars. It’s then I understand where my magic comes from. Those silver-gold balls of light above. The childhood rhyme I’ve known all my life floats into my mind. That’s where wishes come from. Above.
Starlight, star bright,
The first star I see tonight;
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.
So I do. I summon all of my fiery energy into a ball in my center. It pulses and throbs as true as my heartbeat. I cast my wish among the stars and then the words to undo the curse come to me in the form of a song. They’re the same one from the Querror. The one Imogen starts humming. It’s the Riptivik school song. Gibberish. The song Imogen dedicated to the school when she was spirit director. She created a failsafe that had been right here all along.
I sing the familiar words, funneling my energy through Imogen’s wand and direct it at JJ to undo the curse. Magic, the purest color of fire, flashes from the wand, enveloping JJ. I keep it trained on him until it brightens his gray-cast figure, bringing color to his cheeks. Then I rush over to him, cradling him in my arms.
“JJ,” I whisper. “Please come back.” I sob into the rainy night, wishing for him to return to me. However, it didn’t work despite the change in his appearance. Maybe it was too much or I was too late. He remains limp in my arms.
The battle between members of the Hive, Marauders, Mavericks, and at least half of Riptivik continues around me. However, the rain lets up, and where I expect to feel JJ cold in my arms, warmth finds its way to my fingertips before heat floods in.
Hope sparks inside me.
His eyes blink open. “Maija,” he breathes as though for the first time.
I laugh with relief.
His gray eyes shine, drawing me into the many mysteries in this world. He says, “I could really go for a piece of apple pie.”
“I promise you all the apple pie. I’m so glad you’re okay. That you’re alive.”
“Me too. But they aren’t,” he says, getting to his feet with renewed strength of no longer existing in the liminal space.
JJ and I throw ourselves back into the fray as a thin stream of light winds its way from the main campus toward the lawn.
I fend off several Hive followers, mud-streaked and vicious. I get knocked back by a few blasts of golden-hot magic. It’s blinding and searing, but I battle back with my own power going full stream.
Two guys from Bobby’s group come at me from both sides. They watch my wand hand as I do a swirly little move before aiming at one of them. The other guy must think I’ll need to take a moment, turn, and fire at him, when all I need to do is hold out my palm and fiery magic pours forward, catapulting him over the hedge.
Bree, my roommate swoops in. I blow off my finger like a pistol and pretend to holster it. Then I wipe my hands and say, “Hashtag Boss Witch.” I doubt she’ll get the reference, but it gives me a chuckle that quickly dies when someone jumps on me from the back.
I charge up again and jolt them with more magic firepower.
Yassi and Wyatt parry with none other than Mr. Gold, Bobby’s dad. The weregirls double-team a pair of Hive guys. JJ and I rush to help Chancellor West who continues to contend with Valerius. This is what the head of Riptivik prepared us for—to be warriors and guardians of this school and all of magic-kind.
When we reach them, lights flickering like stars fill the moor. Derrington nears us, holding what looks like a lit candle in her hands but is actually her wand. Many others follow her with wands held upright like candles. “I may be the fiercest witch on the faculty and a conservation professor, but I believe in peace.”
Countless students form a line behind her and she instructs them to make a circle. JJ and I join them. With her wand, she instantly lights each of the students’ wands as the circle closes around the Marauders, Veda, Screven, West, and Valerius, much like the one on Hallows Eve.
This time the wands burn as bright as candles as the energy in the middle wanes. It’s as though the wands draw the magic from those fighting, especially Valerius and his followers. West joins us. The others soon fall to their knees as the Coven swoops in on their motobrooms, taking the Marauders, the Hive, and Veda, Screven, and Valerius into custody.
Riptivik students cheer, even louder than they do when we win a rumpus game.
