Chapter Twenty-Five

Dr. Wardwell looked so normal, standing there in the middle of the foyer like she was dropping by for a casual visit. Her blond hair was tied back in a twisty bun and she was still in her scrubs. She wore a pair of beat-up running shoes that squeaked with each step.

But red lips against pale skin showed the truth as they curled up into a sharp smile.

“How did she get in?” Mom whispered to me and Tamsin. “I thought the house was protected?”

“And I locked the door,” Alex added.

“Unlocking a door is nothing,” Dr. Wardwell said, trailing a finger along the leaves of the lilies by the front door. “And your protections need to be refreshed, because breaking them was far too easy.”

I caught Tamsin’s gaze and saw the same panic crawling up my throat reflected there. She didn’t have her spell together yet. We had no defenses.

All we had was me.

“I’ll try and hold her off,” I murmured. “Get the things you need for the spell.”

If I could start siphoning the life forces out of her, maybe Tamsin could be ready fast enough to swoop in—

“Ah, ah, ah,” Dr. Wardwell said. She shook her head at Tamsin, who was sneaking toward the kitchen. “I need everyone together for this.”

Devon, Ed, and Paulette turned as one. Eyes glowing bright blue.

Devon grabbed on to Tamsin, Ed on to Alex, and Paulette on to Mom, their faces going slack as Dr. Wardwell started to drain them.

“You can’t blame me for dropping in like this,” Dr. Wardwell said. “Not when you kept stealing from me.”

I had to stop this. I had to pull them back. I had to—

I had to try.

Focusing with everything I had, I sent the power out to search for whatever life forces were trapped inside the witch. My hands glowed and the golden light arced through the air in one solid beam, hitting Dr. Wardwell dead center.

She grunted in shock.

It was working. I stretched the power as far as I could, catching hints of the energies at the edge of my senses, but they kept slipping out of my reach.

My hands shook.

Grandma. Help.

Something stirred, but it wasn’t Grandma.

“I’ve lived for years off the dim remains of dying sparks,” Dr. Wardwell said, rallying. “Yours is so rich and bright.”

The force of her power met mine head on—not to push me back.

Pulling me in.

“I promise to savor it,” she said.

I tried to fight her, but I couldn’t keep a grasp on the power. Couldn’t stop the flow as it rushed out of me. My limbs were getting heavy.

I couldn’t stop her.

I—

Tug, tug, tug.

It took a moment for the sensation to register.

I don’t think you can help me now, Grandma. This is too much. I can’t fight her.

Tug, tug, TUG.

You think I should fight?

Silence.

My legs went out and I fell to the floor.

You think I should let go?

TUG, TUG, TUG.

Why would she tell me that? Why wouldn’t she just help me?

Tug, tug, tug.

Even when it was hard to trust myself, I’d always trusted Grandma. There were secrets and hurt and death between us now, but I decided to trust her again.

One last time.

I let Dr. Wardwell pull me in.

Everything went dark.

Time stretched.

I was in another space. The between place inside Dr. Wardwell where instead of her own vibrant life force, there was a dragon’s hoard of fragmented, torn pieces of the lives of others.

It was an odd sensation. I was me, but not me. Not in any form I recognized. Pure energy. Not seeing or speaking, but sensing everything around me.

Like the familiar presence at my side.

Grandma.

She moved in close and instead of tugs, this time it was flashes of images.

Dr. Wardwell approaching Grandma while she was sitting in her car.

Reaching through the window.

Draining the life out of her with no one around to stop it.

Thinking of me.

Desperately trying to stay. Grabbing on to our connection. Following it.

Finding a piece of herself back with me.

Communicating the only way she could.

Watching as the witch consumed more people and trying to nudge me in the right direction. Seeing it all spiral. Believing I could stop it.

Being here with me now.

Ready to help.

Help how? What could I do with no body and no clue? Grandma nudged me and I realized we had company. Ed. Paulette. Devon. Tamsin. Alex. And Mom.

Dr. Wardwell got us all in the end.

Grandma nudged me again. Harder this time.

Another flash.

The golden light of our power surrounding Dr. Wardwell’s core of stolen energy and ripping it away.

Would that—would that work? Did our power still exist in here?

Grandma nudged everyone, urging us all forward, until we were up close and personal with the witch’s stash. There were dozens of sparks.

I would never have been able to do this on my own.

Grandma started to whirl around the core and Tamsin followed her. The rest of us joined in, completing the circle. We were a golden glow spinning around the fragmented life forces, warming them up, sharing our energy, connecting with them in a web of power.

A flash from Grandma to—

PULL

—as hard as we could.

The witch screamed—a cry that echoed through this space and beyond. Everything fractured around us—

And then I opened my eyes, back in my body and on the floor. Again. I looked up in time to see Dr. Wardwell turn to dust with nothing of her own left to sustain her.

Tamsin was going to be sad she didn’t get to use her spell.

I struggled to my feet and tried to blink the spots out of my eyes when I realized they were sparks. All of the sparks we’d pulled out of Dr. Wardwell, floating around me like fireflies.

Six of them, I recognized—three full and three not-quite-full—and sent them back where they belonged. I couldn’t help the relieved laugh at the groans and moans of my family and friends as they started to come to.

The rest of the sparks hovered in the air above me. The last energy of people the witch had killed—no longer tethered here, bodies long gone. Waiting to be at rest.

Would they be stuck here until we put the cap on and my wild magic was under control again? I tested the hold my power had on them and was shocked at how it loosened.

Tamsin said—

Oh. Of course. She said the wild magic was driven to seek out and heal. The only way to help these sparks finish healing was to let them pass over to wherever they were meant to be.

I released them and one by one, they faded away until there was only one remaining. It floated in front of me for a moment before disappearing into my chest.

Tug, tug, tug.

My breath caught.

Grandma.