Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

I MMY

Anger burned inside of me at Blythe's confident response to Edge's question. And why wouldn't she be assured of her success? I had gone to school with her and she had been a competent witch, easily outstripping me in all of our classes. But worse, she had an unscrupulous streak in her that found her often manipulating others or using less than honest tactics to win.

I got right in her face. "Did my mother put you up to this?"

She sneered at me. "I don't have to answer you, you talentless hack."

I raised an eyebrow and gave her my best imperious look that I learned at the knees of Bellona Willowby. "You don't. But the Coven Council will have more unpleasant ways of making you speak."

She glared impotently at me for a long moment. "Like you didn't expect it. My family might want an alliance with the Willowbys, but we won't dilute our bloodline with your weak magic. My brother will never marry you."

As much as I wanted nothing to do with Erik Dupree, it still stung to have his family reject me so soundly. That momentary hesitation was all Blythe needed. She spat a word and Edge's eyes widened. His mouth opened in horror and he faded away, reaching for me. I stretched out my hand, but he slipped right through my fingers in a cold brush of air before completely disappearing.

I turned back to Blythe, my visions blurred with tears. "What did you do?"

"Nothing a first year witch couldn't do. I banished your ghost where he belongs. To the between space. You won't see him again."

Her smug smile made me want to rip her face off. Grief suffused me, but I funneled it into a cold rage. Blythe sensed my rising anger because she looked uncertain for a moment.

I fixed a stare on her, power filling every part of my body. My hair slowly rose, a visible indication of the magic suffusing my very being. Blythe narrowed her gaze and I sensed her calling her own magic. Instinctively, we both stepped back to give each other room and then the hexes began to fly.

Flashes blinded me as we cast various spells, curses and hexes to trick and confound the other. I assumed basic rules of witch dueling applied until one of Blythe's curses landed and I was momentarily paralyzed, falling backward on the floor. Fortunately, Blythe had often taken the shortcuts in her training, relying on cheating to win, so she was often lazy in her castings. As a result, the curse was incomplete, and I was able to recover quicker than I expected, rolling out of the way of a more serious hex that, judging by the deep black scorch marks on my floor, would have seriously maimed or even killed me.

Okay, so this was serious and all the rules have just been tossed out the window.

I scrambled to my feet, my breath coming heavy. I really needed to exercise more, and sex didn't count. Or at least I didn't think so, but I really wanted the chance to find out. But first I had to destroy this bitch. Then I could figure out how to get Edge back.

Something prodded at my brain, the feeling similar to when I was at my sister's house. I let myself relax. When every instinct screamed at me to brace myself. A spell flooded my brain, and I opened my mouth, letting the words flow out of me, the language something I had never heard.

Blythe was in the process of casting her next spell, her arm about to flick the curse at me when she froze, her eyes wide and terrified. Her breath sucked in as if like a vacuum and her very being froze like a statue, even her hair stiff in space. Silence reigned around us and I held my breath, waiting for her to complete her curse, but she never moved.

I tentatively walked over to her and poked her with a finger. Her skin was cold and hard, like a statue. Was she dead or just frozen? Her eyes didn't follow me and there was no life inside of her that I could tell, yet something told me that she wasn't gone, not yet. But she was neutralized, leaving me time to deal with the more pressing issue. Edge and what had happened to him.

I worried that the longer he was wherever he was, the harder it would be to find him and bring him back. I raced to Kemera but, instead of opening the book, I decided to try something else.

I calmed my breathing and laid my hands on her leather cover. I cleared my thoughts and channeled my single thought of Edge and what had happened into the book, asking for how to help him.

After a few moments, I was flung backwards, off the book and the cover flipped open. The pages began to rapidly turn so fast I could feel the breeze from them. It stopped at a page that appeared to be a jumble. Slowly, the words cleared and I could read them and a voice in my head recited them for me.

I gathered the supplies. The candle made with Lemongrass. I arranged my crystals on the black velvet cloth. My clear quartz crystal skull. My black tourmaline for grounding me to this world. My clear quartz heart that I often held to channel intentions. And I placed my amethyst spirit crystal to help focus my energy and enhance all of my other crystals.

Preparations complete, I sat and cleared my mind until all I thought about was Edge. The way he looked. The way he touched me. The way he made me feel special. I was not going to let him be banished now that he had found a purpose and the solution he had been seeking all of these long years.

When I was sufficiently relaxed and in a meditative state, I let my mind drift back to the spell. The words flowed in my mind and out of my mouth naturally, as if I was always meant to speak them. Magic warmed me as if it was a part of me, and I could see the veil opening.

Okay, now what? I could see the inky blackness and nothing else. Where was Edge? I guess the spell only took me so far. I had to do the rest myself.

I picked up my heart quartz crystal and my amethyst, hoping they would amplify my intentions, and I screamed into the void, "Edge!"

A ghostly face appeared in front of me, looking thoroughly disgruntled, and I almost fell backwards. "Do you mind? Some of us are trying to rest here."

With a final glare, he faded away. I sighed. Maybe yelling was not the best option. I didn't want a strange and maybe angry ghost haunting me. I only wanted one ghost in my life. My ghost.

I clutched the heart crystal and focused all of my love on Edge, seeking the bond that tied us together. Suddenly, I felt myself yanked forward, my back bowing as my spirit was pulled through space. And, in the next instant, Edge was in my arms, plastered against me as if we had never been parted. I wrapped my arms around him and willed us back to my cottage, arrowing us from the void and into the real world.

We came back to my cottage on my back, with Edge sprawled on top of me, his form corporeal again. I hugged him and kissed him, crying that I had brought him back. He cupped my cheek and wiped the tears that had fallen unknowingly down my face.

"Thank you, Immy. I knew you would save me. How did you do it?"

"Kemera showed me how. And our love. I needed our bond to set you free." I held his face and studied him, noting the lines of worry that hadn't been there before. "Was it terrible?"

He looked serious. "It was cold and dark, and I couldn't sense you at all. I don't know how long I was there, but I knew you could save me."

I let out a sigh of relief. I hadn't been so sure, but I hugged him to me, glad to have him back. A niggle of warning came from behind me, and Edge made a rumble of anger.

I rolled out from under him and got to my feet, between him and Blythe. Her form slowly unfroze, and she shook off the lethargy from the spell. She focused on me and opened her mouth for another spell, and I uttered a one word curse that sealed her mouth.

Her eyes widened, and she clawed at her lips.

I stepped forward. "Relax. I'm not going to kill you. You can still breathe. You just can't speak. Here's how it's going to go. This is done. You're a pawn in this game. I don't know what reward my mother promised you for doing this, but I assure you, not only would you not have succeeded in stealing the grimoire, but you would have never seen the reward. You're going to walk away from all of this and say nothing more."

Edge poked me in the back. "You're not reporting her and your mother to the Council?"

I turned. "How can I? She's my mother. She can never steal the grimoire. Blythe walked right by it and is standing next to it and can't even see it. Kemera can protect herself. If she decides to leave me, that's her choice. I just want Blythe to leave us alone."

Edge frowned. "But your mother should be punished."

I smiled. "She will. Blythe will record a statement saying what she was hired to do. I won't use it unless my mother pushes it. And Blythe will vow to testify under oath against my mother."

I released Blythe from her speech paralysis, and she glared at me. "Why would I do that? Your mother will kill me."

"Because if she touches you, we'll release the statement and she'll be suspect number one. It will be in her best interest to keep you healthy and safe."

A vicious smile crossed Blythe's face. "Blackmail. I like it. I recorded her talking to me, so we have additional proof."

I always knew Blythe was sly. "Perfect. Shall we begin?"

Operation make mom toothless began.