Was it going to burn up without me ever really using it?
Maybe I should.
Maybe I could.
Just a little more power.
A tiny bit more energy.
I could burn this field.
I could burn the town.
Maybe even the world.
“Tana!”
Brandon’s voice brought me back from the intoxicating pleading of my powers. Shaken, I dropped the ball, literally, and Rio used her magic to douse the flames. I looked around me and noticed all the others had squashed their elements already.
“Sorry,” I whispered, somewhat ashamed.
But before I could get into that, something started to happen. The air pulsed and magic swirled. Enok grabbed Maia’s hand, and we all stepped back to watch.
I saw the outline of my father crouching down in the center of the field. His voice filled the air as he called to the witch he’d brought with him, the necromancer.
“That’s my father,” I said aloud.
The others stood still, all of us entranced by what was happening. The sky seemed to darken as the two forms, one my Da, the other an unknown female, began to move.
“Start the chant. Do you feel the energy here?”Da’s disembodied voice echoed, sounding like a poor quality recording.
“Yes. The memory here is strong. I will call forth the blood,”the necromancer said, and began chanting in a foreign language.
“That explains the blood on the ground,” murmured Jade.
A few things happened then. The outline of my father and the necromancer were joined by even fainter outlines, echoes of the past. Sounds of a roaring battle were faded, muted almost, but present. I could make out people shouting, casting spells, causing destruction.
“You mustn’t do it, Luc,”a witch shouted, and her voice sounded eerily familiar.
“I’ve got to, Flo. We have to. They want to destroy the entire Mobilis Coven!”the man called Luc answered.
“But it makes no sense. We keep the peace! Surely Francis does not mean for this to happen,”Flo replied breathlessly.
“Francis has betrayed us. No one else knew we were convening here!”
“But my daughter. If we do this, I’ll never see her again.”
“We must, Flo, or more will die.”
I sank to my knees, echoing the position my father’s outlined image took, and watched helplessly as the scene played out. Witches, wizards, shifters, and more were dying on the battlefield, all because someone named Francis had betrayed their position.
I’d never heard of the Mobilis Coven, but apparently that was my maternal Grandmother’s coven. I covered my hand with my mouth as I watched the sacrifice she had made.
“Break the line till the madness ends,
Perfringere lineam usque ad finem furoris!”
Flo and Luc chanted over and over until their screams filled the air and their outlines crumbled to ash. The power they’d used to nullify the sacred bonds had destroyed them both.