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I told them both where to stand and then activated the circle. “Don’t move around too much, because if you hit the spell wall you’ll tear it open.”
Karleen’s gaze swept the immediate area, no doubt seeking the threads she had no power to see. “How are we supposed to know where the boundaries are? And what use is a protection spell that’s so easily shattered?”
“There’s three feet of wiggle room around us,” I said. “The circle’s strength lies on the outside; had I made it similarly strong inside, it’d cause serious harm if you accidently stepped into it.”
“Then let’s proceed before the rain gets too much heavier.”
Annoyance flared yet again, but I pushed it back and silently called to the wild magic. At first, nothing happened. The distant pulse of power continued unabated, and the night remained free of those luminous, fragile wisps of energy.
Then, gradually, a few responded, moving through the trees like slivers of moonbeams. I held out my hand; after a few heartbeats, the fragile strings slipped through the protection circle and twined themselves around my fingers. There was no sense of Katie within them, so I clenched my fingers and used them to amplify my call for her.
More moonbeam slivers responded. They curled around me, caressed me, amplifying the power of my call. After a few more minutes, a different sort of energy touched my skin. Katie had answered.
Your wish?
Her voice, I noted, was clearer and stronger than before. Either our connection was growing, or my tie to this place was. Your mother wants to talk to you.
I cannot speak directly to her. You know this.
You can if you inhabit me.
She was silent for a second. That could drain you significantly, despite the wild magic’s presence in your soul.
A statement that basically confirmed my theory. Then don’t be long.
Her amusement ran through me, as warm as a silvery sun shower. I won’t. Warn them.
My gaze rose to Karleen’s. “She’s here, but you can’t speak to her for long. As Aiden said, it’ll take a lot of strength out of me.”
She nodded, her expression a mix of hope and disbelief.
I took a deep breath and then closed my eyes. Katie, the stage is yours.
She stepped into me. Her soul sang with the energy of the forest around us, a force so fierce and bright that my skin burned and my heart raced. The air was sharper, thick with scents that stirred my soul and made my blood race with the need to hunt and chase. The night was brighter, too, and the moon a power I could feel deep in my heart, deep in my very soul.
Katie’s soul, I reminded myself, not my own.
“What do you want, Mother?” Though the voice was mine, it held a cold power that was all Katie.
Karleen’s eyes widened. Perhaps she recognized the tone if not the voice. “If this is truly Kate speaking, tell me what I said the night you told me of your intention to marry Gabe.”
Katie forced a smile, though it was all teeth and little humor. “Over your dead body.”
“And your response?”
“That no, actually, it was my dead body. Why are you here, Mother? What do you want?”
Karleen took a deep breath. Silver glistened in her eyes, but she quickly blinked the tears away. “I just want to know why you did this. Why did you sacrifice yourself in this manner?”
“It’s no sacrifice to forever be a part of this land—”
“But none of us will live forever, and our deaths will leave you alone.”
Katie smiled again, though this time it held none of the fierceness. “I will never be alone in this place. Gabe is with me in spirit, and I will always have kin—all my siblings will have children, and their children will have children, and so on.”
“I still can’t—”
“Mom, it was my destiny. It’s always been my destiny. I suspected it when I was a child, and I foresaw it as a teenager.”
