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Ashworth greeted us with a grumpy, “About bloody time.”
“Hey,” I said, “the underpowered witches in this outfit needed recovery time after last night’s efforts.”
He gave me the look—the one that said he didn’t believe a word of it. “We’ve already dragged the soucouyant container closer. How do you want to play this?”
“I’ll attempt to find the older soucouyant using this one,” Monty said. “You four are basically backup and protection.”
Ashworth’s expression suggested he wasn’t exactly happy about being assigned the role
of backup. Monty continued on obliviously, “Liz and I will head off in Aiden’s car; Belle, you’d better go with Ashworth and Eli, just to be on the safe side. We’ll figure out what to do next if and when we find the soucouyant’s lair.”
“Nothing like being prepared beforehand, laddie,” Ashworth said.
Monty raised an eyebrow. “If you’ve got a better suggestion, old man, I’m more than happy to hear it.”
“Old man now, is it?” Ashworth’s voice was deceptively mild. “If you weren’t so green around the edges, I’d be tempted to teach you some manners.”
“Can we cut the macho bullshit and concentrate on the task at hand,” Belle said. “Because we’re running out of daylight and I’d personally prefer not to be tracking this thing when it’s awake and aware.”
“A point we can all agree on,” Aiden said. “Mac, you can head back to the station and sign off. Monty, go grab the soucouyant’s container. The rest of you get to the trucks. Let’s get this show on the road.”
Everyone else obeyed but I remained exactly where I was. Aiden stopped and raised an eyebrow in question. I motioned toward Monty, who was now standing on the shore hauling on the long rope connected to the jerry can.
“We’ll need to remove her from the container before Monty can try a tracking spell, and I’d rather do that here than in the confines of your truck.”
“Good point.” He crossed his arms and waited beside me.
The weighted jerry can came up out of the water; almost instantly, the soucouyant became active. I couldn’t see it, but I felt it. Felt the sudden press of its energy against the threads of wild magic that bound both it and Monty’s magic. I rubbed my arms and tried to ignore the stirrings of unease.
Monty untied the rope, detached the rocks, then picked up the container and ran toward us.
“Right,” he said, unscrewing the lid, “let’s get her out and then I can try adding a tracking spell.”
The lid came off and a fierce storm of magic and heat blasted into the air. The grip of the two spells on the soucouyant was starting to fade. “And if you can’t add the tracking spell?”
“Then Ashworth will be seriously pissed, and tell me so in no uncertain terms.” His smile flashed. “But I’ve had an expert run me through what needs to be done, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“The expert being your professor friend?”
He nodded. “Ready?”
I nodded and concentrated on the magic I couldn’t see rather than the stuff I could. Monty’s energy soon joined mine and, after a second, the sphere that held the soucouyant came free. The inner edges of Monty’s spell were indeed fraying, and despite the fact that I’d tried to make mine self-replenishing, there were now dull patches running through the network—an indication it wouldn’t last another twenty-four hours.
“Right,” Monty said. “Do you want to make a small gateway through your net? It just has to be wide enough for me to pick up the end of my spell.”
I nodded and did so. Monty reached magically through the gap, untied the last line of his spell, and began twining through what I presumed was the tracer spell. I watched through slightly narrowed eyes, trying to remember the patterns and words, just in case I needed to do something along similar lines when I was head witch—
My thoughts came to a crashing halt.
Where the hell had that come from? Why in the hell would anyone appoint me head witch? Aiden might have expressed the notion somewhat wistfully, but if Ashworth wasn’t strong enough to be reservation witch, why would anyone even consider me?
Possibly because of the wild magic and your connection.
That connection will never make up for the lack of skill and knowledge, Belle.
I know, and it’s not like I even remotely want something like that to happen. But given the way things have been rolling for us lately, it’s an eventuality that wouldn’t actually surprise me.
You and I could not handle the job. Not even with the wild magic’s help.
