Page 115 of Which Witch Is Wicked?
“Claire’s absolutely right. Any one of us could have gotten knocked up by their respective Horsemen and brought on the Devil’s wrath.” Tierra’s sobs ratcheted up to one long, ear-stabbing keen.
Claire pinched Aerin’s arm behind Tierra’s back and shot her a glare as searing as fire itself.
“What I meant was,” Aerin restated, “you were being attacked by
Satan. I’m pretty sure no one in that situation could have prevented Moira from being kidnapped. Or Ambrosia’s from being blown to bits.”
The keening transformed to a wail that had every plant within the house dropping its leaves to the wood floor. Lucy had to restrain Cheeto’s body from rushing to snaffle them up.
“You. Are not. Helping. Sister,” Claire hissed below her breath.
“I’m sorry, okay? I sort of fired the HR director who ordered me to sensitivity training,” Aerin whispered back.
“Then shut up andhug,” Claire ordered.
Awkwardly at first, then with growing confidence, the wind witch’s arms wrapped around Tierra’s waist, mimicking the posture Claire had assumed.
“It will be okay, Tierra,” Claire reassured her sister, tightening her embrace. “We’ll find a way to get Moira back.”
“We will,” Aerin agreed. “We’re much more powerful as four. I’m not about to let that moping Judas Julian rob me of such an important asset. And speaking of assets, Ambrosia’s online earnings have totally outstripped the revenue from the physical location. I’ve been meaning to ask, did you have insurance on the store? We might actuallymakemoney on that old wreck of a building being reduced to ashes and—ow!”
Claire rewarded her sister with another pinch, high on the tender skin of her inner arm this time.
“I was just trying to say that there might be a silver lining to this whole thing,” Aerin insisted. “We’ll get Moira back, and we’ll be better than we were before. Stronger.”
Tierra allowed herself to be supported within the circle of their arms. “What would I do without you guys?” Her sobs had quieted to the occasional sniffle.
“Probably lead a totally normal zombie-free life,” Claire suggested, which coaxed a contagious laugh from Tierra.
Waves of sickening sisterly love blasted Lucy like the irradiated shrapnel from an atomic explosion. A dark, gnawing pit opened in her stomach.
No.She’d divided them. Set them at odds against each other. Even moments ago, they had been at each other’s throats. She could not allow this. Shewould notallow this. Couldn’tbearit.
Lucy again summoned the electric pain she’d inflicted upon Cheeto earlier, and he shot out from under the table, emitting a terrific shriek and a burp of flames that flashed toward the bottom of Aerin’s Armani pantsuit.
“What in the unholy fuck has gotten into that animal?” Aerin staggered backward, grabbing a kitchen towel to snap at the cuffs of her flaming pants.
Claire caught herself on the counter before the pig could plow her boots out from under her on his second charge around the table. “Are you sure there wasn’t some mescaline or something in that goop?” she asked.
Tierra hopped up onto a chair and brandished a ladle, apparently not yet accustomed to keeping her wand on her at all times, a fact Lucy found herself immensely grateful for. “He might be having a reaction to the poultice. Maybe we should lock him in the shed. Just until the side effects wear off?”
“Side effects?” Aerin’s voice had entered the higher end of the spectrum of human hearing. “Since when has fucking red glowing eyes been aside effect?”
Claire looked to Aerin. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say he’s—”
“Possessed.” They all spoke the word at once.
A pregnant pause descended upon the de Moray household. That split second where each sister decided whether they were willing to sacrifice Moira’s familiar for the chance to strike out at Lucy.
Lucy had no intention of hanging around to find out. Using a dizzying burst of power, she launched Cheeto’s body through the plate glass window over the sink and greeted her mother night in a shower of tinkling shards.
The pig’s body hit the ground hard, frightening him and jarring his intestines. The impact evicted a startled squeal and Lucy felt something else break free…something she fought to suppress so she could separate herself from the pig before—
FRRRRRRRP!
The audible flatulence blew from the pig’s hindquarters, igniting in a jet of blue flame. Lucy fought against the sudden force of eviction, of this magic animal’s natural reaction against her unnatural presence within it. All at once, she was rolling ass over teakettle across the lawn, landing in a heap at the curb.
Cheeto regarded her, his snout high in the evening breeze as he pranced toward the front door, his curly tail held aloft like a flag of victory.
