Page 176 of Blue Moon Mistress

I hurry back to my four-wheeler as she pours it over the sphere. I can’t stop her before she starts the spell… but I can’t let her keep it up for long either.

If this goes wrong, it might kill us all.

If it goes right, it’s definitely going to kill the seven there with her.

My phone hums when I get back to the ATV, and the screen tells me it’s the fifth call I’ve missed.

The text from my mother tells me to call her with five exclamation marks. But I don’t have time to explain why that’s not going to happen. So I send her my location and toss the phone back into the bag.

Aphrodite can’t wait.

Thirty-Seven

The first thingI have to do is figure out what protection spell she’s circled herself with. In the time it’s taken me to grab the things I think I’ll need, she’s begun pulling a thick mist in around them.

I imagine it’s more for insulation that obscuring. If she can keep the spell contained to a small area, she can concentrate what power she has… it’s the only way I can think of that she might be able to keep from causing herself serious damage.

She chose this spot carefully and I know she’s been planning for longer than I’ve known she was here. But I don’t think I’ve underestimated her skill level.

What she should do, and what she can do…

A gulf lies between those two points.

Still hidden, I scour the area, looking for what she’s done. If I can figure other method, I might be able to stop the madness.

The moon might still be gibbous, but the night isn’t bright enough for this, except…

Bingo.

There’s a dark line burned around them. A deep channel that marks the boundary.

Reaching out, I tentatively test the air above it. There is nothing.

But when I spin a tiny spell at it, the barrier flares and sparkles, a dome over them.

But those sparks are something I’ve seen a dozen times before.

Salt scorch is often used as a protection spell… but it’s weak, sloppy. Easily undone.

She had to have been in a hurry when she did it. I can’t think of another reason she might have done something so reckless.

The burn is just a magical residue. All I have to do is push my shoe over the line, scratching away that line and the boundary opens.

“Don’t,” I whisper to the wolves who have now crowded close to me. “Don’t go after them until I tell you to. It will drain you faster than any of them.”

They shift, restlessly, and I imagine they’d whine if they could make any noise.

I could destroy the barrier entirely, but what she’s doing has to be contained.

Dropping down to my knees, I dig out my own salt. “You have to stay out here.”

I see one of them snap their jaws in protest. “Nothing is going to happen to them that they can’t heal from. I promise.”

Clearing away the scorch… just enough to get in, I slip past that boundary, taking as little with me as I can, and I reconnect the line with my own salt.

It locks the wolves out but—

The boundary sparks as the spell re-initializes, electrifying the air.

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