Page 337 of Sigils & Spells

“Holy shit.”

I didn’t know who said that, only knew I was suffering inside. A gasp left my lips as I watched other outlined figures race onto the field, my father slapped down, and cuffed and dragged away as someone cast a spell, muting the scene so we could not hear it.

“Fuck. They put a magical block on whatever transpired here,” Enok muttered angrily.

Maia moved to comfort him, but I stayed where I was, Brandon by my side. My brain was busy piecing together flashes, memories from the past. My mother staying up late in her office, pulling out old files, reading, always reading deep into the night.

“Ending a coven is no small thing. It requires breaking ties with the witches and wizards who’d vowed with their blood to remain loyal. I have never heard it done before,” Brandon spoke, interrupting the quiet that had fallen over us.

“Here,” Jade said, handing out granola bars and bottles of water.

This was a lot of information to take in, and I didn’t know what to do with it. We should probably go. I said as much, and the others nodded. The tone of our little adventure had changed to melancholy, and as I nibbled the cinnamon oat granola bar, I mourned the loss of a grandmother I never knew, a mother I missed dearly, and a father who had nothing but the taste for revenge to offer his small daughter.

“We need to find out who Luc and Francis are,” I said to Brandon.

He nodded, offering his hand, and I took it. I did not know if I could ever let go again. He was becoming a requirement for my very existence.

“Someone is coming!” Enid shouted,

We stood up as a group, forming a circle to better guard ourselves. Enid had shouted her warning a split second before a group of people appeared out of a shimmery doorway that had just popped up onto the grass.

“Halt! Stop where you are!” voices shouted.

Men and women wearing the same Westwood Academy sentinel uniform Magnus and Brandon often wore were barking orders at us, some had claws unsheathed, others had weapons raised. Behind them was Leanna Stolbright, sneering at us with a few angry looking wizards and witches bringing up the rear.

“What is going on here? Have you students gotten lost?”

“No.”

“Well, actually—”

“Er—”

“They are here because of me, Miss Stolbright,” I said, stepping forward.

CHAPTER12

Brandon’sangry growl sounded behind me, and I knew the totally hot, possessive display should not turn me on, but it did.

Not the time or place, Tana.

“I knew it,” Stolbright sneered. “Seize them!”

Now, I had never liked that woman, but hearing her shout an order that had sentinels seizing Enid and Jade roughly by the arms had me seeing red. Magnus and Enok rushed to defend and protect their mates.

Brandon jumped in front of us all, the confused sentinels dropping the witches and backing up with the telltale flintlock click of his dragon followed by a guttural roar that shook the very ground we stood on.

“What? No! They’ve got the dragon under a spell! Seize the fire witch!”

“Brandon?”

One of the sentinels called his name, but it sounded more like a question to my ears. I’d heard shifters could hear truths and lies, and since I knew Stolbright was lying, they likely heard it, too.

“You do not want to do this,” Brandon said in a loud and clear voice.

“Are you bewitched? It is our duty to protect Westwood Academy and obey the orders of the admins there—”

“I am myself, and I promise if you proceed with this, I will attack. My dragon demands it.”

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