Kitty
Kitty thought she'd matured a lot in the two years since she had graduated high school. What time couldn't accomplish, experience had, but it would seem some things would never change. Like the urge to punch Sara Elizabeth in the face or to call her a cow. She was only sad the girl no longer sported that dreadful pixie cut from senior year because she could've ragged her all day over that.
"I'm still wondering how anyone thought it was a good idea to let her in. For all we know, she set this entire thing up," Sara Elizabeth shrieked. It was the same thing she'd been saying for the last hourâ just words in a different order.
"Sara Elizabeth," Travis said, drawing out her name with unveiled exasperation. "That isn't really the point anymore."
"Isn't it?"
She twisted in her seat and glared at Travis, her fingers curled around the seatbelt strapped across her chest. A still very flat chest. Kitty made a mental note to remember that for later.
"None of this was a problem until she showed up, and then suddenly our High Priestess is possessed by a centuries old ghost. And we are now taking her with us into enemy territory where she will probably hand us over like a neatly wrapped present. You two are such fucking airheads to not even consider this."
Declan's knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. He had remained mostly silent while Kitty recounted the story of the last day, purposefully skimming over the exact details of how Morgause managed full possession. Travis and Sara Elizabethâperverts that they wereâconnected the dots real quick, and Declan's complete lack of embarrassment was further proof the sorcerer was in a very dangerous headspace. She didn't need magic to sense he was coming completely undone at the seams.
"That's where you're wrong," Declan said, shocking everyone into silence. "Lux started having Dreams a while back, and they started getting worse the last few days. Kitty showed up after the last one."
Sara Elizabeth sank into her seat. "Why didn't Lux tell us? Her Circle? We can't help her if she keeps things to herself."
Kitty hated she agreed with the girl on that point. Lux had a terrible habit of trying to do things without help. Apparently, that bit hadn't changed after high school either. She used the rearview mirror to watch the two in the backseat. At this point, she was thinking the only thing that had changed in the last two years was Travis' muscles.
"So what are we hoping to accomplish here?" Travis asked.
Declan exhaled. "I don't know now that Morgause has taken over. If they stored her soul in the Faerie stone, it isn't there anymore. Is this trip even worth it now?"
Kitty straightened in her seat, her blue eyes bright with excitement as a thought came to her. "Where did Lux's soul go?"
"What do you mean?" Travis tilted his head. The leather creaked as he leaned forward and clutched the back of Kitty's seat. "You don't think they're just squished in there together?"
"Definitely not," she laughed. It was brittle and forced, but it eased some of the tension in the vehicle. "Elaine said they thought the exchange would happen when the witch turned seventeen, because that's when the witch gets her channeling stone, but it didn't happen that way for Lux. These Dreams only started recently. The Faerie stone had to be physically connected to Lux to open up the connection."
"And now the transfer is complete," Sara Elizabeth grumbled.
Kitty snapped her fingers, making the girl jump. "Exactly. A transfer, which means Lux's soul is now in the stone."
"How do we know Morgan won't just destroy it, then? Hasn't already destroyed it."
The car lurched to the side, and Declan righted it. Sweat beaded on his brow. "She hasn't. Lux is aliveâor still exists. I would feel it."
She placed a calming hand on his arm and waited until his breathing returned to normal to start speaking again. "I think she is, too. Think about it. Witches have magic because..."
"Because we're descended from angels."
"And the channeling stones we use bind our human souls to our angelic souls, giving us access to the magic. Without Lux's soul, her body is no more unique than other human. She has to remain alive in order for Morgause to have magic."
"Holy shit," Travis breathed. "You're right."
Sara Elizabeth clamped her eyes shut and tears streamed down her cheeks. It was almost enough to make Kitty feel sorry for her. "It's basically a bloodstone now."
The mention of the forbidden object made Kitty squirm in her seat, but whether or not anyone would admit it, her knowledge of that practice would serve them well right now. "A bloodstone is created through death because the Bloodwitch doesn't need a body. She just needs the magic. Morgause needs both."
Declan grew more alert and the car surged forward as he pressed the pedal to the floorboard. "Elaine said we had to destroy the Faerie stone to stop Morgause, but we can't do that now or we'll hurt Lux."
"We're going to have to reverse the transfer."
"And we're back to square one," Travis griped. "How the hell do you expect us to reverse a spell that the Queen of the Fae cast? The original HBIC?"
Kitty shrugged. "I was just theorizing and showing that we still needed to get to Nigel and see if we can figure out how the connection was established, because the connection is important. Because it has to remain open."
Sara Elizabeth elbowed Travis out of the center and pointed through the windshield. "Is that smoke?"
Black tendrils rose above the trees, spreading like ghastly ribbons across the bright sky. And a bright orange glow washed across the horizon through the trees. Bluethorn was on fire. Which meant she was right about heading in the right direction, but it looked like they were too late.
Declan
Bluethorn was a small townâbarely deserving of a name or a dot on the map, which is exactly what its residents wanted. Because all the residents were members of the supernatural world. Witches, sorcerers, Fae, and even the odd vampire or two. It didn't surprise him that Nigel was from a place like this. He knew most came here for protection and freedom, but a darker group enjoyed the separation from humans. And he had no doubt that was the group Nigel belonged in.
Declan was sure it had been a charming place, but any evidence of that was burning away quickly as flames ripped down the roads and over the houses. For the first time in hours, he pushed thoughts of Lux to the back of his mind as he focused on keeping the people in the car safe.
"There," Kitty called out, pointing at a clearing in the center of the town square. Mostly untouched, people crowded there. Children kept to the middle and those with magic cast spells to combat the flames, but they were losing.
"Let me out," Sara Elizabeth demanded, throwing up the door before he could come to a complete stop.
Spells for water conjuring poured out of her mouth, and her magic rippled outward, passing over his face like cool mist before turning into a torrential wave that smothered the fires closest to them. It was funny that at the beginning of all this, she was the one they most distrusted, but now she was throwing herself in the middle of danger, wielding her awesome power with precision. It would never cease to amaze him how far she'd come.
"Declan, do you see him?" Kitty asked. "Nigel is in the circle. Propped against the tree."
"Of course that bastard is," he growled, bringing the car to a halt and leaping out of the vehicle, leaving its engine running in case the others needed to make a quick getaway. His cestuses appeared, covering his hands and arms in armor and wicked spikes. He wouldn't be leaving until he had answers, even if he had to take each one from Nigel's flesh.
"What can I do?" Travis asked, jogging behind them. His alert eyes swept from side to side, likely looking for anyone trapped in the fires. "I mean, I could throw up an illusion, but I kind of get the feeling it wouldn't do any good right now."
"Illusions?" Kitty asked.
Travis grinned. "It's pretty handy."
She poked at his biceps. "Huh. Are those real?"
Declan blocked out their bickering. Not because it annoyed him, but because it made him ache thinking about how much Lux would have loved hearing them go at each other. Just like old times.
They would have those times again. He made her that promise, knowing wherever she was in the universe right now, she would hear him. Always.
"Nigel," he bellowed, smiling wickedly when the boy tensed and turned pale.
He reached for the familiar power in his half of Lux's stone, faltering when he found it cold. A numbness spread through his limbs and into his heart. Only a few paces separated him from the sorcerer, who was now frantically looking for an escape, but all around the inferno roared. He was trapped in a prison of his own making.