Page 42 of Seduced
I ignore him and turn to Jack. “Come on, you know we’re ready. The routers are in place on the perimeter. You did the work yourself.”
His mouth pulls to the side in a grimace. “I don’t know, Skye. What if the spell is too draining and you seriously hurt yourself?”
“Ah!” I lift a finger. “I thought of that, too. I invited Maya, Cora, and Juniper, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Thomas to help us out. Oh, and Miss Georgia, because she wouldn’t want to be left out, even though I won’t be taking much magic from her, of course. I haven’t heard from anyone but Cora yet, but she said she’ll round everyone up.”
They stare at me as though I’ve grown horns.
“What?” I ask, suddenly self-conscious. Some of my enthusiasm deflates.
“Um,” Ty says, “how much coffee have you had?”
I smack his arm lightly. “Only a cup. I’m just happy that we’refinallyclose to finishing this project!” Then I get real serious with them. “You know we need to get a move on. Those boats didn’t burn themselves last night, and my family—or whoever did it—won’t stop.”
Aiden passes a hand over his face. “I know. But I don’t want you to get hurt again.”
I take his hand in mine and squeeze his fingers. “I won’t. You’ll be right here with me, and Ipromiseto stop if I feel like it’s draining too much of me. We’ll try once. Okay?”
One by one, the guys nod. Relief washes over me. Iknowwe’re as ready as we can be, and I don’t want to wait anymore. Every day of delay means one more chance for my crazy coven to act against us.
For all my restless anticipation, it takes us hours to prepare for the spell. Since I don’t have actual instructions for it, I’m working off what I remember from when I had to hand-copy my family’s grimoires as a punishment—hint: not much—and intuition. Supposedly, Alice sent me those grimoires in the mail, but that box hasn’t arrived yet, and it might be spelled or otherwise bugged, so I don’t know if I’ll dare bring it into the village at all. Whether it’s her or someone else in the coven trying to track me down, I can’t trust any packages from California at this point.
It’s noon before everyone gathers in the main room of the Lodge. We’ve pushed the dining table against the wall and removed the rug on which Aiden ravished me just last night. I try not to think of the fact that sea dragons have extremely sensitive noses—and that Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, or Kate and Scott, as they insist I call them, are now my in-laws. When Maya sniffs the air and makes fake-gagging noises, I decide to pretend I’m completely oblivious to it all, even though I’m sure I’m blushing.
“Okay,” I say as I finish pouring a large circle of sea salt on the floorboards around my laptop. “If everyone would step inside…”
It’s a little weird, doing a circle with so many people. The easy intimacy I’ve shared with the guys is gone, and there’s no immediate urgency like with Maya’s healing to make me forget about my surroundings. The sea dragons make a loose circle around me, and when I motion for it, they put their hands in contact with my skin.
Okay, it’ssuperweird doing this.
I put on a short-sleeved t-shirt for that reason, but still, having nine people hanging off my arms is strange. I glance up at Jack, and he gives me a smile, the corner of his mouth tipping up.Okay, I’ve got this.
“If anyone feels faint or uncomfortable, let go of me immediately and lie down, but please, don’t leave the circle,” I instruct.
The sea dragons all murmur their agreement, so I close my eyes and sink into my magic. At first, I only see Ty’s shining presence in my mind. He’s standing right in front of me, so maybe that’s why—or maybe he’s just so open to me, he gives off a glow even without me reaching out for him. Eagerly, I dip my fingers into his magic and take out a scoop, as much as I dare without causing him fatigue. Now that we’ve done this a couple of times, I have a better sense of the guys’ strength.
One by one, the others open up to me as I brush against their power with my consciousness. Jack and Aiden first, to give the others a chance to relax, then the rest of our small group. It’s a similar experience to what I found at the clinic the other day, with every person shining differently. If I try hard enough, I might even scent their magic, or maybe it seems that way because each one is a different color.
Maya burns bright as a star, fully recovered now, and her partners’ energies complement hers perfectly. Somehow, their power is aligned, and I can almost sense the cords of love that bind them together. Incredible.
Kate and Scott are strong as well, and it’s easy to see where Jack and Maya got their pale-blue color from. But it’s Miss Georgia’s well of power that surprises me the most. It’s nearly depleted, her fire burnt down to the embers. I can’t know for sure what this means, but my eyes fill with tears at the sensation. She’s Ty’s last remaining relative, even if they’re not related by blood, and losing her would tear him apart. Making a mental note to do some healing on her if I can, I don’t take anything from her, just brush by her to include her in the spell.
Now that I’ve gathered the energy from everyone, my chest is full of light, and the colors coalesce into pure white magic. I’m bursting with power, and I feel like I could float off the floor. My hair lifts, dancing around my head as though charged with static electricity.
“Whoa,” Juniper whispers from beside me.
I don’t look at her. If I lose my grip on this power, it’ll all be for nothing. With a deep inhale, I sink to the floor and grab my computer. The moment my fingers touch the keys, my own magic rears to the surface, and I need to leash it down until I’m ready to release it all.
I send a burst of power into my code, and the air around me crackles. The Wi-Fi network spreads in front of me in my mind’s eye, a net of hubs and glowing centers on top of which I’ll lay the spell. The words come to me from some forgotten corner of my mind, and I recite a basic protection spell that my mother whispered to me when she’d first allowed me to leave the house alone. Shecaredfor me enough to give me that protection.
My eyes fill with tears as I weave the magic with technology. It’s beautiful, the protective dome I’m creating, and it’s a pity that no one else can see it. They’ll feel it as a soft shimmer on their skin whenever they pass the spell’s perimeter, but it’ll be invisible to them.
It’s then that I realize I’ve run into a problem. The supply of power in my chest is dwindling fast, and I still haven’ t spread the bubble of the spell farther than the immediate vicinity of the Lodge. Worried, I reach out, and a hand clasps mine—it’s Aiden, giving me more of himself to help his clan.
But it’s not enough. Even when I do a second round with everyone but Miss Georgia, the spell only stretches slowly, creeping out like molasses. I grit my teeth and push at it, but the barrier doesn’t even reach the clinic, one of the buildings closest to the Lodge.
With mounting disappointment, I speak the words of the spell once more, solidifying it in place, then bring the energy down. Grounding myself, I release what little power remained inside me from the others—I don’t dare hold on to it, even though it feels amazing.
When I open my eyes, I find the others staring at me. Cora is sitting down, her gaze unfocused, but she seems to be just dizzy, not exhausted as I’d been after my visit at the clinic.
