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“If you’ll excuse me for a moment, please,” my cat said, shifting onto his hind legs, then slamming back down and pounding the ground before him.
A flurry of sharp icicles shot down from the sky and formed a cage around Dash, much like the one made of flowers and thorns that Luna had crafted to contain Merlin.
“You’ll never defeat me,” Dash hissed as she rammed her body into the icy prison bars.
“Big words for somebody who’s trapped in a cage,” my cat quipped. “Why have you kidnapped my familiar? And what is this other one doing here?”
Dash’s hackles rose. “I don’t owe you—”
“Speak the truth,” Merlin said, breathing out what was left the shimmering potion fog. Whoa, my cat was a witch and a magic-breathing dragon. I’d have to remember to reflect on just how cool that was later. You know, after we got out of this alive.
The black cat strained in an effort to remain quiet, but one by one the words came out. “The… Only… One… Who… Can… Stop… Me… From… Fulfilling… My… Destiny.” She emphasized this with a long and angry hiss.
Merlin traipsed over to the cage and sat just out of Dash’s reach. “Oh, so this is some funny prophecy business? Strange, I thought those were outlawed.”
“Not prophecy. Lineage.”
As Dash choked and gasped for air, Merlin casually tilted his head to the side. “What does lineage have to do with anything?”
“My… Ancest—” Dash gasped and fell on her side, letting out a long pitchy yowl. “My secret dies with the two of you!” she shouted, no longer under his spell.
“Well, that’s unfortunate,” Merlin said as he stalked the perimeter of the ice cage. “Because we don’t feel like dying today. Do we, Gracie?”
I shook my head and mumbled, “No.”
Dash clicked from inside the cage and shifted into a tiny insect, flying easily between the bars. She transformed back into the black cat mid-flight and fell to the earth with an unsettling thud.
“Neat trick,” Merlin said, raising his back and puffing out his tail like a cat on Halloween. “Wait until you see what I can do with a little bit of static electricity.”
The sky darkened, and somewhere in the distance thunder boomed. I hoped the tree would shelter from me from the terrible storm that would soon be coming. Or that my cat at least had enough control to avoid hitting me with it.
“No! Merlin, stop!” a husky female voice shouted. A blur of white rushed onto the scene and thrust herself between the warring witches. Luna!
Virginia’s missing witch had arrived, and I doubted she’d be on our side. Merlin had put up a good fight against Dash, but there was no way he’d be able to win against two more experienced witches.
I silently whispered a prayer for the both of us as I watched helplessly from the shadows of the large tree branches. I hoped I’d already stored enough magic for Merlin to be useful, because I had nothing else to offer in this fight.
25
“I told you to stay away from my property!” Luna shouted at both me and Merlin, sweeping her searing gaze over each of us. “Now release my familiar at once!”
Merlin stared straight ahead with wide eyes, instantly complying with the garden witch’s command.
“No, Merlin. Don’t!” I shouted, trying to snap him out of whatever spell he was under.
“But I have to listen to Luna,” he told me with a blank expression.
Uh-oh, the spell she’d forced me to give to him the other day! It had now come into effect. I remembered how helpless I’d felt as I struggled against the directive to pour the potion into his water dish, as I attempted to warn him the next morning.
I hadn’t been able to stop myself from doing as it commanded, and now it seemed that Merlin couldn’t, either.
Ugh. We were so dead.
Luna ran to Virginia and did a quick check for injuries. “What’s going on?” she demanded of her familiar.
“I don’t know,” the stylish old woman sobbed.
“Lies!” Dash screamed, appearing completely unhinged as her eyes bulged from her head. She glanced straight up into the sky, then did that clicking thing that signaled a coming spell. A mirage
