Page 97 of Hallows End

But the evil raises a hand, and Giles goes flying backward, hitting the wall.

We’re all in the room now, but we can’t get close to her. We’re unable to move.

With us at bay, he returns to his task of fastening the rope into a noose and slipping it over Breena’s head.

“NO!” she screams, over and over again. “I do not receive this. I donotreceive this.”

With a flash of light, my mom whips into the room and attacks the evil, knocking him back.

His face crumples in fury, and he lashes out at her, leaving Breena huddled on the floor, the noose still around her neck.

“I can’t get to you, baby,” Giles says, even speaking seeming to take great effort. “I’m trying, but it has me trapped.”

“Don’t want to die,” Breena whispers as her white eyes focus on something on the floor. “Don’t want to go so soon.”

The evil throws Mom out the window, but she flies back in again, her teeth bared and eyes red, ready to kick some ass.

But the evil draws in a deep breath and then screams in a wail so sharp and shrill we all try to cover our ears.

My mother disappears.

ChapterTwenty-Three

Jonas

The scream pulls me out of my panic, acting like a slap across the face while drowning.

I scowl and look around, but I can’t see where it came from, and then the mark on my hand begins to burn.

I take a breath, close my eyes, and feel the power within me build, starting at my sacral chakra and moving up like a fire.

“Fire.”

I open my eyes, stare at the wall of energy keeping me away from Lucy, and know immediately what I have to do.

I remove the wand from the box and, with my hands up above my head, raise my voice.

Eyes wide open, elements rise,

Power and might from earth to skies,

Build within to use without,

Remove all hindrance, erase all doubt.

Let me pass from here to thee,

This is my will, so mote it be!

Fire builds in the center of the energy, unlike any fire I’ve ever lit or kindled before. This is fiercely blue, starts small, and then spreads.

I can’t hear Lucy’s thoughts, but I can feel the chaos around her. I can feel the fear and worry. The grief. I use that energy to fuel mine, making the fire grow bigger and brighter.

You will not keep me from that I love,

You have no power here.

I will defeat thee from below and above,

---