Page 113 of Enspelled

I stare at her. “So what do we do, then? Together I don’t think we have enough power to stop her. Not since she has Briar’s power.”

“Some of it,” Abigail says. “As I said, a phoenix doesn’t come into her full power until she’s twenty-two. Or she dies.”

I don’t think I’m the only one struggling to get to grips with what she said.

“Or Iwhat?” Briar breathes.

“Wait a second,” Bodie interrupts. “How do you know about phoenixes? I didn’t think they even existed. And if they did, they were flaming birds.”

“Flaming birds?” Keane’s tone is so dry that it almost makes me smile.

“Briar’s mother was a phoenix. She and I were close friends. That’s how I know. She was very powerful,” Abigail says, her voice filled with sadness.

“Just how powerful?” I ask.

“Well, she killed a demon. No one else could have done so.”

For a long moment, silence reigns.

“She killed a demon,” I whisper. “But that’s impossible.”

Abigail gives Briar a significant look. “As I said, her mother was powerful. Briar will be even more so.”

“And you know this how?” I ask.

“Her mother told me,” Abigail says, her voice so full of confidence it’s hard not to believe her.

“But why didn’t she come back to life? You just said something about a phoenix dying. Why didn’t she survive?” Bodie asks.

“Everyone dies eventually. Even a phoenix isn’t immortal,” Abigail says.

“So how do you beat Aunt Mel if she has my powers? Wait until I turn twenty-two and hope the power I could never control suddenly appears so I can beat her?” Briar asks, disbelief creasing her brow. “Because I don’t think that plan is going to work.”

“I agree.” The female voice coming from behind the cabin isn’t mine, nor is it Abigail’s.

Mel.

We all freeze.

“You have something that belongs to me,” Mel calls out. “And I want it. Now.”

Panic floods my body, because we don’t have a plan. We don’t have even the beginnings of one. But before I can lose myself in my panic, Abigail is rounding the cabin.

“Go. I think it’s about time Mel and I spoke,” she says, her voice hard.

“But you can’t. You just said—”

Keane grips Briar’s arm when she attempts to follow her.

Abigail’s smile at Briar is sad, but also determined. “I let you down more times than I can count. It’s about time I stopped hiding. Go.”

Abigail doesn’t stand a chance. I look into her eyes, and I see that she knows it too. But she’s doing it to buy us time. To do what, I don’t know.

“Briar.” I press the grimoire into her hands as Abigail disappears around the house. “Your aunt wants this too badly for us to give it to her. We have to get it, and you, away.”

Reluctantly, Briar takes the book, but her attention is in the direction Abigail went.

Keane is pulling her away when a searing heat blows around us. It’s not just fire, but power. Pure power. Green witch, and something that feels like Briar’s explosive magic.

---