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He crossed his arms. “No way.”
Rhea spoke up then. “Okay, but you stay out of the way and don’t make a sound. And whatever you do, don’t break the circle.”
He zipped his fingers across his lips and tried to be as invisible as possible. Naturally, it didn’t work at all, given it’s hard to miss a seven-foot-tall demon in sweatpants and a hot pink shirt that read Laissez les bons temps rouler.
I shot my minion an encouraging smile before giving Rhea my full attention. “Now what?”
“Pour the salt to make the circle. Make it wide enough so we can both move around the table.” She turned to Adam. “The second the circle is poured, light the candles. Blue first and then purple.”
While I cast the circle and Adam prepared to light the wicks, Rhea gathered the bundle of dried sage. She whispered something. The tip of the bundle sparked, and then tendrils of smoke curled up toward the ceiling. She walked clockwise around the table before turning and going the opposite direction.
“Sage clears out the bad energy and purifies the ritual space.” Her tone was the same one she’d used when she gave me my lessons in New York.
The circle was finished, so I set the bag under the table, careful not to inadvertently smudge the line. Adam quickly lit the candles as instructed. Then he took a spot across the table from me.
Rhea stepped up to stand over Brooks’s head. “We’re going to invoke a cone of power. If you’re ever alone you can do this by yourself, but we’re going to combine our energies for more potency.”
Adam closed his eyes and breathed deeply of the sage-scented air. His hands rose, and his left hand grasped my right. Rhea took my left and joined her left with Adam’s right. Together we formed a triangle inside the circle, which I remembered from my lessons lent even more power to the circle.
“Now,” Rhea whispered, “do you remember how I taught you to call on your powers?”
I did, of course, but I had a question. “Yeah, but aren’t my talents the exact opposite of what we need here?”
Frown lines formed on her forehead. “What do you mean?”
“Chthonic powers are mostly about death and destruction.”
Adam’s eyes popped open. I felt his gaze on me even as I continued to look at his aunt for explanation.
She shook her head emphatically. “On the contrary, my dear. Your Chthonic powers also give you an immense capacity for healing.”
“But how do I access that? Before I had to tap into the pit of rage inside me to use them.”
She smiled. “For healing, you tap into the deep well of love you try to keep hidden.”
I shifted on my feet, suddenly uncomfortable with the turn in conversation. Adam’s hand tightened on mine. I cleared my throat. “Okay.”
“You ready?” Rhea asked.
“No.”
They knew I was lying, so they closed their eyes. I followed suit and tried to locate a part of myself I barely knew. I spent so much of my life denying that I had any emotions at all. Then I’d allowed myself to be fueled only by red-hot anger and a need for revenge. But now I searched the far corners of myself for anything resembling what I assumed love might look like.
Rhea began to speak in a low tone. The words were in Hekatian— the ancient magical language used in spell work and rituals by mages. Despite my limited knowledge of the language, I somehow understood their meaning. “Goddess Hekate, Mother of Magic and Night Queen, raise your torch, that your light may illuminate the path toward healing. Goddess Diana, Moon Maiden and Mother of the fae open our vision and protect your humble servant so he may live to carry out your will.”
Inside, I pushed below the black cloud of anger, vengeance, and fear hovering in my midsection. Farther down, I found a deep pool. With a trembling touch, I brushed the surface, causing a ripple. When the waters calmed again, I recognized faces just below the surface. Adam and Rhea were there, but so were Giguhl and Vinca. Brooks, too.
Something shifted and the waters rose up over me like a tide. Instead of the fiery power I called upon to destroy, this surge swelled gently. Warm instead of hot. The emotions here were deep purple instead of angry red. My chest filled— diaphragm swelling and ribs expanding. Pushed outward and up. Through my limbs and into my fingers. Rose in my throat like a primal call.
My eyes flew open as the power surged from me. My skin tingled where it touched Adam and Rhea. Their eyes were open, too, and glowing with their own energies. Our powers met and mingled, rising up in a swirling vortex of color shot through with sparks of light.
Rhea’s voice sounded far away, echoed. “We three unite to pour healing into this broken vessel. We three unite to absorb his pain. We three—”
Adam caught on first, his deep voice joining in. “….. to pour healing into this broken vessel. We three—”
My own voice picked up the chant. “….. unite to absorb his pain.”
The cone of power at the center of our triangle condensed and began to stream into Brooks’s body. His shoulders lifted from the table as his body rose to receive the healing energy. At the same time, a second ribbon of energy— darker, thicker, and tinged greenish-black— rose from him and split into three streams.
Now I finally understand why Rhea needed Adam and me to assist. I only received one-third of the negative energy, but it was so intense my teeth gritted and cold sweat covered my skin. My stomach roiled with nausea as the borrowed pain tried to dig its claws into me. Breathing deeply through my nose, I struggling to balance the two opposing flows of energy.
Adam’s pupils were now full black. Rhea’s hand tightened on mine. I expanded my focus until I could see all of us through my third eye. Three sets of hands joined in common purpose. Three pairs of lips chanting the same invocation. Dark and light energy flowed through us, around us, between us. Until finally, a single clean stream of energy ran through Brooks. Then three streams of power rushed back into their sources and were absorbed. But only one mage collapsed to the ground.
20
My head pounded like hellfire. My limbs felt weighed down with lead. I opened my eyes and immediately regretted the decision. The room spun like a drunken dervish. I slammed my lids shut again until my stomach quieted its protests. Breathing through my nose, I chanced another peek. The world had stilled while my eyes were closed. Even better, Adam’s face came into focus above me. Dark smudges under his eyes and worry lines aged his handsome face. “Welcome back.”
