Chapter Twenty-Nine

ERIN

Lightning in the sky was fascinating. Lightning coming straight at you, on the other hand…

I cringed, sure I would die. One painful zap, and it would all be over.

And, bang! The lightning hit. It shoved my body backward, and every hair on my body stood. But its energy bounced away, sending the lightning bolt ricocheting back at Harlon.

His eyes went wide, and he jumped aside. Angelina, who’d been clinging to his shoulder, lurched too — directly into the path of the lightning.

She screamed, and for three horrifying seconds, her body glowed. The glow became a fire that consumed her skin and clothes. Her scream rose, then cut off abruptly. Her body crumpled.

I stared, as did Harlon, who cautiously toed the pile of ash and burned clothes. Was she really gone?

High in the sky, Nash roared. Yes! She’s gone for good.

I flicked a hand dismissively. Good riddance.

And, whoa. A wisp of wind stirred Angelina’s ashes into a tiny tornado, then scattered them.

I stared at my hand, then at the vortex. Was that my doing?

Harlon’s face twisted as he followed the ashes. Not in grief, nor regret. Just the annoyance of a man who’d suffered an inconvenience to his carefully laid plans.

When he turned back to me, his eyes took on a fiendish glow, and his fingers curled, preparing his next blow.

Whoosh! Another bolt of lightning shot out. It bounced off my hand, but my teeth rattled with the force of it, and I was nearly flung back into the cliff.

Thunder exploded, mirroring the warlock’s frustration. He wound up for another attack, then stopped, thinking.

My hand was still up, ready to ward off another attack. But the longer Harlon thought, the more I trembled. Now what?

Flashing a scary grin, he turned in the direction of the main house.

My jaw dropped. No. God, no. Please.

Harlon’s lips curled, hissing something like, Yes. Now, you will pay.

He thrust forward, sending twin bolts of lightning through the sky. One speared the barn with an ear-splitting crack, while the other zapped into the old windmill beside the main house.

Once upon a time, my great-aunt had dazzled us kids by wrapping the entire rusty structure in Christmas lights. But that didn’t begin to match the wattage the windmill lit up with now.

A terrified yelp sounded from inside the house. Roscoe?

My knees wobbled. I loved that dog, but I loved my sisters and niece even more. Where were they? I vacillated between cursing them for not meeting me at the vortex and hoping they were safe.

I was sure Harlon’s next strike would set the house on fire, but he aimed it at the sky instead. The dragons scattered, and I screamed.

“Nash!”

My heart stopped when one of the dragons plummeted toward the ground — one with a dull brown hide, not Nash’s bronze-tinted body. So, whew. Nash was safe. He roared at the last two dragons, setting off the next phase of battle.

Amid all the chaos, three stooped figures emerged from the back of the house. Two darted from bush to bush, then disappeared into the trees along the creek.

I could have cheered, because that was Abby with Claire.

The third — Pippa — cut sharply north, toward the mesa.

I nearly yelled out to her. No, not that way! The vortex is over here!

Thank goodness Harlon didn’t spot them. But one of the dragons must have, because it dive-bombed Abby and Claire.

Nash roared and rocketed after it, tucking his ears and legs into a streamlined form. Once close enough, he sprayed fire. But his foe twisted away and fought back with his own stream of flames.

My heart jumped to my throat. Thanks to Nash, Abby and Claire had time to escape. But would his heroics come at the ultimate price?

One heart-stopping minute of aerial acrobatics later, the dragon broke away for a breather, and Nash did too.

Grumbling, Harlon hurled a bolt of lightning at the house. All I could do was watch helplessly as it hit the weather vane and exploded into sparks.

Not so helpless, an inner voice said, faint but fierce.

I wiggled my fingers, trying to focus. At the sound of a battle cry, I looked up, fearing an attack from the newest dragon on the scene.

But that battle cry wasn’t the dragon. It was me, raging away. At Harlon. At the storm. At everything I had never been able to be or do. Raging enough to push my soul aside and reveal a bigger, bolder, braver me.

The next time Harlon released another bolt, I reached out — not just with a hand, but my mind.

Intercepting lightning should have been impossible, but it wasn’t. At least, not in the picture in my mind. A split second later—

I gasped, rattled by thousands of watts of power. Not directly, but out at that extension of my body and mind, where I was hit by blinding white heat. And not just hit, but consumed by it.

As kids, Abby and I had played Jedi knight, while Pippa played Princess Leia with a seriously badass twist. We were pros at mimicking the sound of light sabers — exactly the sound that deafened me now as blazing white light flashed.

I stared through narrowed eyes. The lightning bolt was still flashing but suspended in place. Suspended, though not frozen — it went on crackling, kicking, and sparking like something in a mad scientist’s lab.

It was working! I was holding the lightning back! Or rather, the vortex was. Now all I had to do was redirect it.

I gulped.

My hammering heart sent adrenaline through my veins. Adrenaline, and something else.

Nash’s words echoed through my mind. Do you get it now? You have power. All of you.

Okay, maybe we did. But as Nash had pointed out, no one had taught us how to use it.

In my mind, I yelled at my father. Why didn’t you ever teach me?

But he’d tried, I realized. I was the one who’d resisted his efforts, insisting I didn’t have any power.

But I did. Lots of it.

And, heck. Maybe Pippa was right. Maybe magic came as naturally as sex when the situation called for it.

And boy, did the situation call for it.

My hair whipped in the wind, and a strand caught in my mouth. The lightning faltered, reflecting Harlon’s surprise. Then he scowled and threw his arms forward again, doubling the power of the lightning.

I reeled at the impact, barely hanging on.

You wanted my help, I sensed the vortex grumbling. Show me you’re willing to do your part, or I’ll quit.

I was. Truly. But I was a novice when it came to magic. Didn’t that earn me any mercy?

Apparently not. Not a bit.

Sweat beaded on my brow as I strained with each arm — one against the rock carving, the other in the air, aiming the vortex’s power. The lightning went on crackling and zapping, scorching the patch of ground it hovered over. But inch by inch, it advanced, pushing toward the main house with menacing power.

Harlon was winning. I was losing. It was inevitable.

You should have accepted my offer, Harlon’s triumphant look said.

Suddenly, the lightning bolt erupted into a shower of sparks, and he stumbled backward. I lurched as his resistance broke off, then jerked back as he recovered. The sound of dueling light sabers intensified. Now what?

Pippa’s voice, choked with effort, sounded in my mind. Well, don’t just stand there. Help.

I couldn’t see her, but I could feel the boost in resistance. It was as if my sister had jumped in beside me, slapped a hand over the vortex, and pushed with me.

Except she wasn’t beside me. I stared through the swirling storm. Where was Pippa?

Then I focused on repelling Harlon’s lightning. The how didn’t matter now, only that we succeeded in holding him back…somehow.

In my mind, I was leaning against a stone wall and pushing. Harder…harder…

It’s working! Pippa panted into my mind. Keep going!

The lightning hissed and sputtered, angrier than ever. But it was scorching a new patch of ground now, a few inches closer to Harlon.

It was working! We were pushing Harlon back!

His face contorted in anger and exertion, and we stopped making headway.

If only Abby could chip in too. We three sisters had always made a formidable team. Surely, as a trio, we could overcome Harlon.

But Abby had to keep Claire safe, so that wasn’t an option.

Dragon roars filtered down through the clouds, making me despair.

Dammit… Pippa cursed as Harlon clawed back some of our hard-earned headway.

Somewhere overhead, a dragon screamed, and another roared in triumph. Was Nash the winner or the loser?

My arms burned with effort. My whole body ached. But letting up now meant losing everything. Everything.

Well, not today, someone growled in my mind.

I nearly cheered. Abby?

Never count me out of a good fight, she barked. Just tell me how the hell this works, and I’m all in.

That was the hard part, because I had no idea.

You need to get to the vortex, Pippa told her, still straining against Harlon.

I am at the vortex, Abby insisted.

No, I’m at the vortex, Pippa retorted.

No, I am, I nearly said. And you two are nowhere in sight.

Then it hit me. My great-aunt had warned us all about the vortex, but she’d never brought us there at the same time. Was there more than one vortex — or more than one place to tap into its power?

Touch it, I barked. One hand on the vortex. Point your other hand at the—

The lightning bolt jolted before I finished my sentence. That Abby. Always a quick learner.

Holy smokes, she muttered.

Yes, that about summed it up.

A prickly pear burst into flames as our combined power pushed Harlon’s lightning backward. The ground charred. A jackrabbit emerged and sprinted for new cover.

Keep going! Pippa urged as we kept up our combined efforts.

Okay, asshole, I sensed Abby hiss when the lightning wavered. We’re winning. You’re losing. Now, get the hell off our property!

Harlon backed up, looking incredulous. When he bumped into the front of his car, he cursed, and thunder boomed over the ranch. A moment later, he turned to flee.

I would have loved to chase him with his own lightning bolt, but the moment he dropped his arms, it fizzled, making me stumble forward.

I raced up the hill in hot pursuit. What I would do when I reached Harlon, I had no clue. Throttling him was high on my list, though.

I prefer kicking him in the balls and watching him whimper, Pippa muttered.

She, too, was panting and racing toward Harlon.

Unfortunately, the warlock had enough of a head start to hop into his car and take off. But when I crested the hill, I found him staring into the distance.

Several big, dark Suburbans were rushing up the dirt road, churning up huge dust clouds. Seconds later, the vehicles fanned out and screeched to a halt in front of Harlon.

“Whoa,” Pippa muttered, nearly knocking into me from behind.

Doors flew open, and a dozen big men — some in secret service-style suits, others in combat gear — leaped out, brandishing weapons and IDs.

“This is the ADMSA!” one of them shouted. “Nobody move.”

The storm clouds parted, and a dragon soared by, roaring.

“Nash!” I yelled, half in relief, half in warning.

A dozen weapons followed him, and I screamed. “Stop! Don’t shoot!”

“Don’t!” Pippa yelled, backing me up. “He’s with us! Harlon is the problem!”

The agency men looked between us and their leader.

My hopes rose…until Harlon started talking in that hypnotic purr of his.

“Gentlemen, thank goodness you’re here. I can explain everything.”