Page 114 of Magic and Muffins

She reached up, kissed his cheek, then we ran.

I watched the color of the stars above, which were growing more visible as the mist drained from the veil. It didn’t take nearly as long to reach the other portal, making me wonder if the veil itself was changing.

We dropped to our hands and knees to look for the necklace.

“Found it!” Grandma called after a moment.

With an excited grin, she held up the atrocious glittering dick necklace.

“That’s it!”

She shoved it into my hand and dug in the pack.

“We’ll try your necklace first. If that doesn't work, then we’ll try all of the stones at once. I don’t want to risk breaking them unless we have to. We might be able to try closing the portal with them again if we throw them out onto the fae side once it’s open.”

After placing the relic on the ground, she handed me the pick.

“Give it a try.”

I wrapped the necklace around my hand and the pick, braced myself for the kickback, then swung like it was Effora’s nasty face. The pick hit the relic, and the tip sank into the stone.

A second later, a hum filled the air.

I tried to let go of the pick, but the necklace was still wrapped around it and my hand.

“Shi—”

The relic exploded, sending shards flying along with Grandma and me.

Stunned, I sat up and plucked a shard from my cheek and some from my arms. My bloody fingers left smears everywhere.

“Are you all right, dear?” Grandma asked.

I looked at her and saw her forehead was bleeding.

“I’ll survive. You?”

“I’ll live for a while longer.” She got to her feet and looked at the broken remains of the relic. Then she picked up a thin piece of the stone and snapped it in two. “No more magic. It worked.” She shook her head, tears filling her eyes. “All these years. It finally worked.”

Standing, I looked around at the mist, which was about level with my head now.

“One problem solved and one more to go. I doubt Orphia is just going to give up and walk away once she knows the relic is gone.”

“You’re right. Look.” Grandma pointed the way we’d come. “You can see the glow from the portal now. It’s almost open. We’d better hurry.”

I grabbed the bigger pieces of the relic, and we ran toward the portal to find Grandpa standing back with a worried frown and a walking stick tightly gripped in his hands.

“Where’s the necklace?” he asked.

I lifted my hands, showing him the remnants of the relic and the busted bit of chain still wrapped around my wrist.

“The necklace worked,” Grandma said. “It’s done. Orphia will never get the relic.”

Grandpa breathed a sigh of relief.

I couldn’t do the same, though. I ran to the portal and looked out.

Shepard still stood partially shifted before the portal, his back blurring as he moved in front of it, fighting any vampire attempting to overwhelm him. His claws raked over them, maiming some and disemboweling others. The injured ones staggered away, and new ones took their place.

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