Page 51 of Rogue Witch

The students fan out to reveal Jonas, hands tied in front of him. A rope around his neck is attached to a stick someone is holding, as if he’s an animal.

Fury sweeps through me and I take a step forward.

“Lucid dream,” Stony says.

Lucid dream….

I conjure a regular bow and a foam arrow, aim, and send the arrow hurtling toward the guy holding Jonas’ rope. The arrow moves like lightning and goes straight through the guy’s chest. He falls to the ground in a deep sleep.

Someone seizes Jonas’ arm as I send another arrow flying toward them, this time aimed at Ariel. She throws up a circular wall of black that makes it look like they’re standing in a black hole. A sense of disorientation makes my surroundings twist around me and I list to the left before catching myself.

The arrow misses Ariel and disappears into the darkness behind her. A wall of energy hits me and I’m thrown backward. I land on my ass yet feel as if the wind has been knocked out of me. Stony looks over her shoulder at me as I push to my feet, breathing hard.

Ariel shoots a narrow-eyed look at me. What did I do to make her hate me so much? I thought she disliked me because I’m Miriam Crowe’s granddaughter. Grams betrayed us by dabbling in Shadow magic, so I must be the same. Right? But the burning light in Ariel’s eyes is personal. She’s jealous.

“Brace yourself, Stony,” I say, then widen my stance, my right foot slightly in front of the left and chant,

“Earth and wind, heed my request.

“Put this bitch in her place.”

I never believed spells had to rhyme.

A loud rumble follows and the ground shakes. I rock, but the students stumble and grab for each other. Screams fill the air. What the hell? I lock gazes with Jonas in the instant before the ground opens up and he—and the rest of the group—drop from sight. I stare, unable to move. I-I killed them all. I hadn’t meant to. I’d just wanted to…. Wanted to what? Teach Ariel a lesson?

I stumble forward several drunken paces before my mind registers Stony at the edge of the crevasse. Shouts and screams within the crevasse yank me from my stupor and I launch into a run. At the edge of the hole, I look down to find everyone, Jonas included, balanced on ledges on the jagged wall. I can’t prevent a small cry of relief. I ignore the Shadows hovering ten feet from me while I center my core. I start and lose my concentration at sight of a shadowy form crawling up at turtle speed from deep within the crevasse.

Gooseflesh rises on my arms. “What the hell?”

One of the guys balanced on one of the ledges on the opposite side of the crevasse leaps up onto the ground on the other side of the hole. I take a step back in surprise before catching myself.

Vampire.

He flashes a smile, incisors long and white. Vampires don’t extend their incisors unless provoked or ready to feed. I center my energy on the anger and fear that is always far too close at hand, then freeze when the Shadows drift closer. The vampire laughs softly.

“Back off,” I command in a quiet voice, and make a backhanded wave at the vampire.

He‘s forced backward but manages to keep his feet and halts ten feet back. He starts around the crevasse toward me. Stony runs around me faster than a person would think a pig could, then stops between me and the vampire. He halts, clearly surprised and uncertain what threat a pig might pose.

“Phillip,” one of the female students calls. “Help me!”

He ignores the plea and again starts toward me. Stony shifts into her true form. At nearly seven feet tall with talons like the raptors in Jurassic Park, she’s a formidable sight. The vampire stops and hisses. Stony bellows.

Students are shouting and pointing at the shadowy figure creeping up the crevasse. My heart pounds. I can’t make the same mistake I made with the guy who got hung. The Shadows seem oblivious to Stony and hover within reach of me. I center my magic and, with a force of will that feels as if I am regurgitating a spleen, I chant in a gentle sing song,

“Mother Earth, gently please.

“Lift my friends from the crevasse onto solid ground.”

Jonas rises on a mound of rich, dark earth just large enough for him to remain steady and is deposited onto the ground beside me.

“Mother fu—” I shake off the curse. I’d made the mistake of asking Mother Earth to save my friends. I am so stupid.

I quickly chant,

“Mother Earth, gently, please,

“Lift the others from the crevasse onto solid ground.”