Luka remained lying on the bed—almost like he was afraid to move as Hecate and I gathered around him. We hadn’t heard anything from Lennox—or anyone. It was past noon now, and the pendant around my neck hadn’t warmed a bit. We wouldn’t wait any longer. We’d do the spell now.
“Luciana, your hands will be on Luka, while mine will be on you, transferring my magic into you for you to do the spell.”
I flexed my fingers, attempting to call forward the magic that still wasn’t there.
My entire body felt hollow and empty. Like the very lifeblood had been sucked out of me. I felt strange and unbalanced. Unlike myself.
I’d figured by now I’d at least have a small kernel of magic refilled, but nothing. There was still a hollow pit inside me where my magic should have been.
How long would the Earth punish me?
“Luciana.”
I snapped my head back up, meeting Hecate’s unnerving red stare. “Are you listening?”
“Yes.” I pushed my shoulders back. “I’m ready.”
Hecate crossed the bed to stand behind me. She braced her hands on my shoulders in a firm hold. “You must not buckle. You must stand strong for this to work.”
“I know.” I tried to keep the sarcasm from my voice.
She dug her nails into my shoulders. “You will not sass me in this.”
I pressed my lips together.Elder fucking witches.
The room seemed to vibrate as Hecate began to murmur the spell. The hairs on the back of my neck rose and goosebumps broke out across my skin.
Her words were in a language even I couldn’t comprehend,but there was a determination to them—an intensity to each syllable.
I closed my eyes and focused, searching for any sense of her magic like she’d instructed me. I needed to let it in as she was pushing it out or this wouldn’t work.
I stretched out my fingertips, eliciting the same sensations I would if I were reaching out with my magic. It felt strange, echoing these movements without the sensations of my magic rising inside of me.
I searched within my mind—I imagined I did have my magic at my disposal, that I could see its iridescent glow—like tiny vines snaking out, reaching for Hecate’s magic.
Just a little farther?—
I buckled as a crash of magic surged through my body, entering through my shoulders where Hecate and I were connected.
My body trembled at the unfamiliar magic—it bucked against it. Refusing to let it in.
You know this magic.
It’s Hecate’s blood that runs through my veins. This magic belongs to me, too. I opened myself up to it.
Slowly, Hecate’s magic started trickling in, my own barrier cracking open an inch.
The original witches’ magic slithered against my veins, not joining like my magic did, but wrapping itself around it. I could feel it snaking down my arm. My skin prickled to the point of pain as it reached my blackened veins. The dark magic didn’t accept the strange magic. I could feel the magic fighting against one another.
“Now, Luciana, start the spell now.” Hecate’s voice was nothing more than a hiss in my ear as her magic seeped in.
I pressed my hands firmly against Luka’s chest, feeling the soft fabric of his shirt under my palm along with the steady beat of his heart.
I began murmuring the spell, mentally graspingHecate’s magic in my fist as I pulled it forward and thrust it into my hands—into Luka’s chest—to his beating heart.
My hands warmed, and my fingertips tingled as the magic worked its way through my appendages.
“Now, Luciana!”
