Page 96 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

“Yes, and you’re her great-whatever-grandson. You’ve got power. Shafira has power. Don’t get unsure on me now. I need you to come out swinging with anything you’ve got in you.”

He looked me dead in the eyes. “I won’t let you down.”

I believed him. Karro wouldn’t let me down. We had this.

“My powers lie mostly with brewing teas to cure sickness or elevate consciousness to talk with the ancestors, things like that,” Shafira said.

“What do you need?” I asked.

She stared at me blankly.

“To cure a hellhound who has been housed in black salt? I’m running low on energy, but if you tell me now, I can use what I’ve got left to manifest the ingredients to you right here.”

“What about the black salt?” she asked, and good question.

“We aren’t close enough for it to interrupt the manifestation, but you all might have to carry me when I’m done. It’ll take what I’ve got left.”

She thought about it. And yeah, it’d have been so helpful if I’d been able to manifest us right to Connor, but I couldn’t. My magic wouldn’t let me. And I had no idea where in South America they held him prisoner. It was safer for us to travel thecatacombs for the time being. Trust me, I’d been berating myself this whole time for not just transporting myself to him.

“Well, I need boiling water, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, clove, calendula, lemon balm, and honey—do you think he has any infections? Feverfew could help with that, too. This is hard. I just don’t know what all his ailments are.”

“Throw the book at it. We don’t have time to mess around.”

“Can’t she just manifest the finished tea?” Karro asked.

Shafira looked between me and Karro. “She could try, but I worry about anomalies forming.” Anomalies forming? That was a thing? “They are two distinctly different types of magic. She is Lilith’s granddaughter, so maybe it is perfectly safe for her to mix them. As far as I know, she is the only one who can manifest objects into existence. For the rest of us, we do not mix spellwork with herbal magic.”

“Anomalies? So what are we talking? Not strong enough?”

“That could be an issue. Too strong is also an issue. Too strong may hurt him internally, like overdosing on a medication. It also may add rogue ingredients never meant to be in that potion by accident. You are magically creating a potion out of thin air. Much thrives in the air.”

Shit. I never thought of that. I couldn’t take the chance. Shafira told me way back when we were still sitting in her living room, that everyone had a destiny, a part to play. I needed to trust that the universe sent Shafira with me for this purpose. This was her part to play.

“Don’t let me down,” I said to her. “I can’t do this without him.”

She exhaled a short, sharp breath. “Fine, then I need rose hips, lemongrass, nettle leaves, peppermint, red clover, chrysanthemum flowers, Hawthorn berries, rosebuds—I think that should do it. Are either of you good at spellwork? You could amplify the effects of the tea.”

“I’ll try,” Karro said. “My spells have been improving.”

“I’m going to have to drop the cloak for a moment. I’m running out of energy. I can’t manifest everything and still keep us hidden.”

Both of my traveling companions nodded. I sucked in a deep breath, dropped the cloak, and manifested the crap out of those ingredients. I needed this to work. Connor needed this to work. A pitcher of boiling water appeared out of thin air first, followed by the herbs, then the flowers, and lastly, the honey. She used her hands to measure the dry ingredients and poured in the honey according to what felt right to her. She looked up from her work. “Want to try?” she asked. “You’re weak. If it helps you, then I think with Karro’s amplification, we can save Connor.”

Hell yes, I wanted to try it!

“Hit me, bartender,” I said, hoping to bring a little levity to the situation as we were running dangerously low on positivity. We gave the tea a little time to steep. I raised the cloak over us again while we waited. In that time, I manifested a backpack for Shafira to store the leftover herbs and flowers in. She slung it securely on her back. I hoped this worked because the cloak fizzled out. We stood in that walkway completely exposed. I dropped to the floor as my legs no longer felt able to hold my weight. She handed me the pitcher and I took a big, burning hot sip. The power of the herbs tingled as they moved through me, invigorating my body, mind and soul just that quickly. “I feel great. Like, I want the both of you to take a few sips to get yourselves powered up.”

Karro smiled as if pleased with himself. “So the amplification spell worked.”

“Whatever both of you did, I’m feeling like a brand new person. Please” —I handed off the pitcher to Karro— “drink.”

“We need to save it for Connor,” Shafira argued.

“There’s a whole pitcher. I need you full strength.” I pushed the pitcher toward her mouth. “It’s go time.”

She nodded, taking the pitcher from me and lifted it up to her lips to drink. After she’d had her fill, she handed the tea off to Karro. He drank his share, leaving two-thirds of the brew for Connor.

“Let’s do this,” I said. I held the pitcher close to my chest protectively and had to keep myself from running to him or risk splashing the lifesaving brew all over my shirt. But I had so much spring in my step and we were so damn close, I swore I could smell him.

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