Page 56 of The Witch’s Daughter

Tisiphone’s hand tensed in mine, but she knew I was speaking the truth. We’d played with our magic as children, and her specific powers fed well off mine, so I knew she could take from me what was needed.

And if that wasn’t the story of our lives…

“Fine,” she muttered, staring straight ahead. “What are we warding against, exactly?”

I resisted the urge to brush my thumb over her knuckles and soothe her worries. Touching her last night so intimately had been a mistake. Now my head was a mess when I needed to focus to keep us all safe.

“It’s going to be a protection ward against a magic attack,” I said.

“Did you see this?” Tisiphone asked Calla. There was something sharp in her tone as she looked at where Calla and I held hands to form our part of the circle.

“That’s not how the sight works. You know that. Or you did, once,” Calla said.

“Right.” Trish sank further into herself. “Wait, why would Vincent care if we can form a magic protection ward? It’s not like the humans can attack that way.”

“Just trust me,” I growled.

Her grip on my hand tightened, but she didn’t argue. I began to mutter the incantation. It was one we all knew. One Lisa Cerberus taught us when we were young. I chose it because Tisiphone would have no problem reciting it, but I didn’t expect to hear her voice crack in pain as she joined the chant.

It was too late to change course now.

Our magic was rising. The rightness of it filled my soul. Like called to like as our voices melded in perfect harmony. A gentle breeze picked up, swirling around us in a blurred tornado of colors on the wind. Playful, child-like, and pure. Our magic grew.

It was perfect.

A web of blue silken threads wove around us, invisible to the human eye, but vibrantly alive to me. I felt the earth shift under my feet, welcoming us home, as the air around us bent to our little creation.

But there was nothing weak about it.

This was powerful. Strong. Fueled by our conjoined magic.

Still chanting, I turned to Tisiphone, hoping she’d see the beauty of it. But her eyes were closed tight and tears streaked her cheeks as she feverishly muttered the spell.

A shake of Calla’s head drew my attention. Her mouth was still moving with the words as she motioned with her eyes past Trish’s shoulder to where Vincent stood in the center of the groups.

Just as I’d suspected, magic crackled around him. But I wasn’t expecting to see the clouds gathered above or the energy he pulled from the sky, gathering it into his hands.

Fuck. He was a warlock of the sky and elements. By the looks of it, he held the weather in his palms, and he was currently directing it at the group to our left.

They screamed as their ward blew apart and the three went crashing to the ground.

Vincent smiled as he regrouped.

I spoke the chant louder, tightening my grip on Tisiphone’s and Calla’s hands. I didn’t think I needed to draw on my other powers yet, but just in case, I readied myself to protect the three of us.

Slowly, I walked us in a circle, giving Vincent my back despite the growling of my beast.

I can take the hit, I told him, not missing a beat of the chant.

And I’m glad I moved.

Vincent’s magic was an icy cold blast that stole the wind from my lungs. It wasn’t strong enough to do any damage against our carefully constructed ward, but it could’ve easily shocked someone less powerful into creating an opening.

The girls kept chanting—Tisiphone none the wiser to what just happened—and I almost told them we were done when Calla’s eyes widened.

I glanced over to see what she was staring at.

The web above Tisiphone’s head had blackened, crisping and cracking with ice as it traveled like rot and ate at our ward.