Page 84 of Big Witch Energy

“OK!” Mina said brightly. “But she’s gathering right outside the salt circle, coming back like ghost herpes.”

Ben scowled.

“You’re the one who insisted on a thorough health education!” Mina reminded him as Josh helped Caroline to her feet. “Now, Dad and Edison and…Cole’s body just sit there and try not to get hurt.”

“Josh, get in the circle, just in case,” Riley said. “I’m not taking the chance of failing because we needed our ‘listener’ involved.”

“Got it.” Josh handed a lock to each member of the coven.

“We’re going to have to move outside the salt’s protection,” Alice said. “Remember, Rose is manipulative and cruel. And she’s on the verge of losing, which is when manipulative and cruel people do their worst.”

“Oh, little Alice,” Rose crooned, materializing just outside the salt range. “You would know more about manipulative people than anyone, wouldn’t you?”

Alice paled slightly. Caroline touched her hand. “Sorry, I said something to her about your grandparents.”

Alice nodded, and the coven surrounded Rose’s re-formed mist.

Rose turned on Riley, grinning, a mad glint in her eyes. “I knew your ancestors. Snobbish wastrels that they were, thought they were too good to mix with my family.”

“Nah, it was probably just your personality,” Riley told her.

“Those little toys won’t work for you two, because you’re not Dentons,” Rose told the kids, smirking. “You’re just castoffs, so unlovable, your mother didn’t even want you.”

Mina and Josh smirked right back. “Yeah, yeah, change the playlist, because you’re on repeat, you half-assed mean girl.”

“And they’re Dentons if my magic says they’re Dentons,” Riley said. “And my magic says they are, so suck it!”

On opposite sides, Riley and Caroline passed their locks around the circle. Each person followed, drawing a magical line from their lock to the next person’s, creating a circle of energy around Rose.

“You wouldn’t do this to your own blood,” Rose insisted, her voice wheedling. “You, the best girl, the sweet girl who does all she can to take care of her family. You wouldn’t do this to a Wilton. What would your poor father say?”

“Oh, that was the wrong card to play,” Josh scoffed. “Mentioning her father. You just don’t understand actual human emotions, do you?”

Riley and Caroline, holding their locks again, pushed them forward until the circle pressed in toward Rose and opened over her head. Wincing, Caroline used her good hand to draw Alice’s pocketknife across her injured hand’s palm, blood welling over the loops of her lock. Cole’s lock, which in its own way made sense. Blood would bind the magic, bind Rose, break the hold this woman had over them, generation after generation. She was afraid to look up, to see what was on the other side of that circle, but she did it, because she wanted to know that wherever Rose was going, it was a fit punishment for what she’d put their family through.

The void was formless. Rolling black nothing, cold and empty and silent. And somehow, all the more terrifying for its emptiness. There was no comfort. There was no peace. There was a void. That was what Rose deserved.

“We’ll go on, long after you’ve forgotten your own name in that sea of nothing,” Caroline told her. “I’ll never mention you again. I’ll never tell my family what you did or who you are. I’ll go through the histories and remove any trace of your name. I’ll talk to my father about renaming the bar. We’re going to be happy. And you’ll be nothing.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing,” Rose insisted. “You need me, the family needs me, to keep them in line. You’re going to find out just how small you are.”

“Shut. Up!” Caroline shouted, clenching her fist and raising it, pressing Rose up through the portal. Then she and Riley drew their locks back, and the portal closed. All five of them repeated the motion, breaking the circle of light.

In unison, they sank to their knees and dropped their locks into the center of the circle. They breathed together, each not quite sure what to say about what they’d just done. Caroline glanced over her shoulder, where Ben and Edison sat against the RV, wide-eyed.

“Is anybody hungry?” Josh asked, breaking the silence. “I could really go for some pizza. Does doing magic make you hungry? Is this how it feels?”

“You’re always hungry,” Mina said. “And you seem unaware that there are food groups other than pizza. And Pop-Pies. My Pop-Pies. My illicitly obtained Pop-Pies.”

“Don’t start with the Breakfast Food Streaming Service Peace Accords,” Alice said, laughing.

“I’m not sure they brought about any sort of real peace,” Riley added, shaking her head.

“It’s a fragile peace,” Caroline said. “As flaky and insubstantial as a Pop-Pie crust itself.”

“Seriously, I’m hungry now,” Josh complained. “Shoving mean old ladies through interdimensional portals to a possible hell is exhausting.”

Edison snickered. “I’m willing to cover the pizza, and to test out Caroline’s newfound possibly-not-cursed-ness.”

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