Page 124 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

Most of the witches and Lilium were either helping take care of the wounded, or pressed in close to those witches, waiting to help if necessary.

“How is she?” I asked, concerned about Victoria’s condition.

“Her injuries are bad, but she’s stable,” said a witch, a middle-aged woman who wore a shag-style haircut that flattered her face and made her icy-blue eyes the focus of her face. With her golden-blonde locks, she reminded me of the acting icon Farrah Fawcett. I didn’t know most of these witches, and truthfully, I lacked the headspace to bother with getting to know them, so for the time being, I’d think of her as Farrah.

As for Victoria, that wasn’t the best news—not as bad as it could’ve been, but I liked her. I wanted her to be okay. And truthfully, we needed her.

Given we were running out of time, I decided to address the witches and Lilium present and just fill in any new ones who showed up. I clapped my hands to get them to look at me. “I need your attention. Witches, I need you to break into groups. Raise your hand if you’re a kitchen witch.”

A bunch of hands shot up into the air.

“Great, you all congregate over by the woman in the blue boho blouse,” I ordered. The woman in the blue boho blouse waved her hand and the kitchen witches started moving over to her. “Crystals?” I asked. More hands shot up. A woman with bright-pink hair caught my eye. “Crystal witches head to the woman with the bright-pink hair.” And yes, I had to make that distinction, because we had witches with a rainbow assortment of hair colors. The crystal witches moved to stand by her. “The rest of you do spellwork?”

I got a bunch of nods and mumbles of “Yeah” or “Yup” or “Yes.”

“You guys stand next to the goth practitioner,” I directed next. The goth waved their hand to get the others to see them, though I found a goth look to be rather hard to miss. Lastly, I addressed the Lilium. “Lilium, now that you all know what you are, if you’re not already by Karro, then I need you up there.”

Most of the Lilium already stood in a huddle close to Karro. It’d been a shock for most of them to finally find out what we were. A few already knew, but for most of us, it was a big shock to the system. Most supers knew the legend of the Lilium, but no one had ever met a Lilium. So then to find out youwerea Lilium—yeah, mind blown.

“Okay,” I called out. “You all know that this is literal life and death out there. I need the kitchen witches to start brewing up anything and everything for healing, for forgetting—anything that will aid us in the fight. Crystal witches, start using oils to anoint the crystals. We’ll make them into necklaces for everyoneto wear for protection. Spellcasters, we need offensive and defensive spells that will stop humans without killing them if possible, maybe knock them out for a while, but do what you need to do to the demons. Lilium, do your thing, whatever that may be. You need to be able to use your magic, both offensively and defensively, as easy as Harry Potter flicked his wand and shouted, ‘Expelliarmus.’ I got a lot of snickers from that, but they all got to work in their groups.

Karro’s group looked to him for input and he totally took to this new leadership role like he’d been born to do it. But then again, maybe he had been. What did I know?

I stayed next to Connor. He kissed the side of my temple. “How’re you feeling about all this?”

“I’m good at manifesting. I think I’ll be okay, but I don’t know if Sim has the hilt and his book yet. We need him here to join the dagger and those plants from the garden were given to him for a reason. I have to talk to him so I can manifest them here.”

“Babe, I know you want them here, but I think you need to give them the chance to do what they’ve got to do.”

“You want me to leave them out there withThe Purge?”

“No.”

“So then I have to.”

“He was bound for most of his life just like you. My gut tells me he needs this time to find out what he’s capable of.”

“But I need to know if he has the things yet.”

“Then talk to him—don’t just bring them here, not yet.”

We were running out of time but as I kept finding new achievements to unlock, I had to assume Connor’s point held merit. Alotof merit. Of course, I’d never tell him that. We didn’t need him thinking I’d ever let him win an argument.

He looked around the room and then said, “We need a private room, something quiet.”

The archives answered right away, with a door shimmering purple into appearance at the far end of the room. We started weaving our way around the throngs of bodies to get to it. The door opened for us without even a push or twist of the handle.

When we stepped inside, the smaller room held drinks on low-lying tables set next to these huge, beanbag-style chairs. I dropped on a lavender one, sinking into the cushiony softness. Connor dropped onto the second black one. Assigned seating. The room had a reason for this—I just didn’t know that reason yet.

“Okay, let me see my brother, Simeon, and his mate, Madigan,” I said, manifesting the hell out of this. The air between our seats swirled and then a picture showed, like watching television without the TV.

It was dark there. I manifested letting them talk to Connor and me, and to hear our responses. I hoped this worked. “Sim,” I whispered, in case he wasn’t safe. Simeon twisted his head from side to side, probably to see where my voice came from. “Sim, straight ahead. Up.”

He tipped his head up, looking straight ahead. “Simone? Where are you?”

“The witches’ archives. We need you here. You, Madigan, your book and hilt.”

“We’re trying to get home. It’s crazy out there.”

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