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He lays down some glowing runes beside her arcane symbols.
Sabra’s eyes go wide. “Oh my gods, that’s amazing!” She claps with excitement. “Phoenix, are you seeing this?”
I nod. Oh, I’m seeing it all right.
“I’ve never seen symbols like this before,” she says, eyes glowing as she bends down to look at the shining runes. She looks back up at Layden. “What do they do?”
His forehead scrunches. “I’m not sure how I know, but they’re interpretations of your arcane symbols, just in another language.”
Sabra all but squeals. “It has to be from the plane the dybbuk who cursed you came from. This is a clue! And it should help us get it off you or at least manage it because wow…” She closes her eyes as she hovers her hands over his glowing runes. “Man, I can feel the power humming off these babies.”
When she looks back up at Layden, she’s beaming. “We’re going to make magic together.”
Oh dear. I’ve only seen Sabra like this a few times before. And it’s always when she’s cracked some new magical secret or attained some new level. I always wanted to close myself up in the lab and play computer games, but apart from normal teenage girl shit, Sabra was always chasing the next magical high.
I get it. It was her escape. Her mom was locked away in a mental institution that Vlad held the keys to, so she was essentially living in a prison, and all she had was me. Yeah. I was about as friendly as a jar of snakes most days, so she had to find her own way. And she did through magic. Vlad was happy to give her all her family’s books and grimoires about magic and lore. He’d used them for centuries and no doubt expected to use Sabra just like he had her mother before her, her mother before her, and so on.
Vlad stopped allowing her to visit her mother last month, only finally admitting it was because she’d died after we both started boycotting our duties. Sabra fell into a deep depression before I suggested running away. Depression gave way to a spark of anger, then finally fury. It gave me hope for her. I hoped our leaving might be the start of the rest of her life, free of the connection to Vlad and the misery and death he’d brought to her family.
I thought for sure she’d never come back. But looking at her now, you’d never know it.
She seems light and bouncy as she and Layden lay out more symbols and runes, working their way around the circle. I haven’t seen her like this in years. It’s not just now. At the cabin and on the car ride home, she was like this, too. Happy and lively, like the last nine years since her mom was first locked up never happened. Is it just an act because Layden’s here?
I’m startled out of my thoughts by her voice calling to me from the center of the circle. “Come on, Phoenix, let’s try it.”
When I look up, I see that the three circles they’ve drawn are lit up with runes and humming with power that even I can feel.
I’m careful to step between the runes as I join Sabra and Layden in the smallest of the concentric circles at the very core. It’s a tight squeeze, but we all manage it. I’m very conscious of the press of Layden’s chest against my back, especially considering the fantasizing I did about him last night in the shower. I’m glad I’m facing away from him because I can feel my cheeks heating up.
Sabra holds up a knife carved from stone, and I lift my palm toward her. I’m familiar with this part, but I hear Layden’s sharp, surprised inhale as she slices the knife across my skin.
“Right on that symbol there,” Sabra says, pointing to a symbol she’s chalked in front of me, overlaid with one of Layden’s glowing runes.
“Why does she have to be part of this?” Layden asks. I hear the concern for me in his question.
“She’s a blood goddess,” Sabra says as if it’s obvious, and I try not to wince. I haven’t told Layden everything, and it feels like she’s outing me. “Her blood amplifies any spell we weave and calls to the other planes since—”
I jab her in the ribs, and she looks at me, seeming surprised at my glare. But she does stop talking. Thank fuck.
“Since?” Layden queries.
“Since her blood and Vlad’s line are so powerful,” Sabra covers smoothly. “Her blood is the jet fuel to our spell.”
I can feel Layden’s eyes boring a hole in the back of my head but ignore it as I clench my hand over the rune Sabra indicated so that blood drips down from it. I know there need to be at least three drops. Magic comes in threes and sevens. Don’t ask me why. I’m just the blood bank here.
As I stand back up, the circles begin to spin around us.
“It’s working!” Sabra says excitedly.
“Did you think it wouldn’t?” I ask.
“What happens now?” Layden asks.
Sabra grins. “We wait and see.”
“Wait and see what?” Layden asks. An excellent question.
The spinning circles start humming, and the ground under our feet starts to rumble. I’ve been in conjuring circles with Sabra before, and this doesn’t usually happen.
