The Liahona was wrapped up and tucked safely in my jacket’s inner pocket, and the pocket zipped. We couldn’t leave it behind, because we might need it if we found my aunt and needed to activate it at the last minute.

One hand on the wheel as I steered, I had my screen up trying to make sure I had my new spells down. My hand would try the motion of a claw as I said, “Crafanc” and then I would make a biting motion with my fingers as I said, “Brathu.” Neither was loud enough to make the spells work, but I needed to be ready to cast ice claw and frost bite when the moment came.

Even when I took a break from practicing the spells, driving with the shisa in the middle and two gargoyles in the backseat of the car made it hard to see. When I swerved for the third time, Steph started to get annoyed.

“Focus on what’s ahead, not behind!” she growled.

“I’m sure there’s some inappropriate joke in there that needs to be said,” I replied with a glance in the rearview mirror, then over at her. As we closed in on our location, tension was high and nobody was smiling. “Come on, this is the moment! We’re making it happen!”

“Honey, babe,” Steph squeezed my leg supportively, “I love that you’re so into killing evil witches, but you’re a bit over the top.”

I laughed, but then noticed in the rearview mirror the way Ebrill was eyeing me. “What?”

“Just… the non-magics called us witches in our time.”

“That bothered you?”

She shook her head. “What bothered me was the fact that there was no differentiation between the good and the evil. Clearly, the evil knew the difference—enough so that they had to attack us. Enough so that we had to all but eradicate them.”

A thump sounded and the car lurched. The shisa growled, alerting me mentally to problems around us.

“All but, with but being the key word there,” I pointed out. “They clearly made a comeback.”

No argument from her there. Instead, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around me from behind, head on the side of the seat. “When I first met you, I knew you were special.”

“Did the clothes give it away?” Kordelia asked with a playful scoff.

“Maybe. But I mean that I knew he had a large role to play in all of this. I had no idea that he would awaken us in the future and open the gate to Avalon after it was exiled, but… a large role, certainly.”

Steph glanced over, eyes going to Ebrill’s arms around me. As much as she said it didn’t bother her, I had to wonder. Or thought I did, but then she shifted and laid a hand on Ebrill’s arm while staring into her eyes. I had to stay focused on the road as another thud hit the car and then a dark form appeared in front of us, causing me to swerve. We were being pursued, but still had a lead on the enemy.

“Together, right?” Steph said to Ebrill, and I couldn’t help glancing over as her hand moved along the gargoyle’s arm. Ebrill didn’t pull back.

There was something intimate about that touch, and I couldn’t wait to get this fight over with so I could see where it would lead. For now, though, I needed to know what we were up against.

“Fatiha has someone working closely with her,” I said. “A number two. A strong mage, maybe.”

“How do you know?” Kordelia asked.

“I took her magic, when I was back there. The Liahona took it, I should say.” I swerved as a shadow appeared next to the window and suddenly slammed into it, causing the glass to crack. “Shit!” I swerved again as Ebrill lowered her window and cast a protective spell over the car.

“But she has… some magic, right?” Steph asked.

“I think she’s getting some of it back, or maybe whatever she’s using is not actually her, but this second in command? I’m not sure, but there’s definitely someone else involved. My guess is we’ll have to take him or her out.”

“And I’d add that this other is likely protecting the tree from the home base.” Kordelia clicked her tongue, adjusting to try and get a better fit in the awkward position she had to sit in.

“Meaning, we have our work cut out for us.” I clutched the wheel, leaning in to see that the sky was now full of those shadowy forms, darting about above us and trying to hit the car, but held off by an invisible barrier.

“What happens when it’s time to get out of the car?” Steph asked.

“Run,” Ebrill replied.

“Will that work?”

“We’re about to find out,” I chimed in, seeing the church from before, then the park. “We’re here.”

“Stay close,” Ebrill said, leaning back, arms off me now. “The protection spells are strongest the closer we are together.”

“And remember, we need to make this fast,” Kordelia added. “If we get stuck out here until sunrise, we’re fucked.”

“We make it out of here before that, we can be fucked, too,” Steph added. “But in a good way, right?”

In spite of her wink and the way they all nervously laughed, I was too distracted for the joke—or flirtation, if she was serious—to affect me at the moment. My focus was on the street outside, where shadows were taking the form of witches and demons.

“They’re coming in fast. We need to go now.”

“Agreed,” Ebrill muttered, then threw open the door and waved her hands as she shouted, “Ddiogelu!”

Protective barriers rose before us. We were out, then, the other two and the shisa running around the car to push forward toward the enemy line. I had my new spells at the ready, excited to have the chance to try them out. With the practiced motion and saying “Crafanc” as I thrust my hand, I sent out an ice claw. It formed blue light around my hand and then shot out, growing larger as it went until it was a hand of ice with long claws, tearing through the enemy and shattering behind them. Two witches fell, and the assault began. Other witches were casting spells that Ebrill was barely keeping off our backs, while Steph had her wraith knights on the attack and Kordelia was casting blasts of magic at the enemy. The shisa was growling with excitement, taking off in a blur to strike at the closest demon.

“Gotta love that dog!” Steph said as she stopped at my side and summoned wraith knights to tear into the enemy around the shisa. Not that it needed help, as already it was tearing into its second demon.

“Not really a dog,” I corrected, but was more focused on casting an ice claw to hit successive lines of the enemy, and then spinning to shout “Brathu” and hit others with frost bite. Gales of wind and frost burst forth to rip through our opponents.

If not for the fact that my magic was more ice-based, I’d say I was on fire.

My team was doing their part, too. The shisa ripped through the enemy forces like a streak of light, pausing after each group of four. Most weren’t dead, but were left with one or both legs torn open. Some fell and received a second bite, their throats torn out. Kordelia and Ebrill were forces of magic and muscle, at one moment casting their spells as I had witnessed in the past, then using claws to rip their enemies to shreds. Each plowed through enemy fighters, knocking those aside that they didn’t take the time to destroy.

Steph ran past me, shooting fire and summoning back two of the wraith knights who had fallen. She paused long enough to say, “Badass team you’ve chosen for yourself!”

“They kind of chose me,” I muttered, hitting a hellhound with the ice shot and watching as the fire went out and the beast shriveled up.

Screams registered, along with shouts from civilians, and it was only then that I realized they had likely been happening for some time. People were at their windows, pointing, and one house was already in flames. Sirens sounded in the distance.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I didn’t know if this would show up as some insane supernatural event in the news, or maybe there was a magic way to make it appear like a natural disaster, but I knew we needed to get out of there.

As I turned to say so, a tree cracked, the ground thudded, and in charged a man three times as large as me with skin that looked to be mostly covered in stone. He wielded two chains with scythes on the ends, swinging them at us and not caring if he hit those on his side if they got in the way. Some of his people turned on him, but he was focused, barreling in toward Ebrill and Kordelia.

“Gorlon,” Ebrill growled and then waved at us, pointing at the giant. “Hit him with everything you’ve got! Forget the rest!”

I complied, and as soon as I focused on the giant, the shisa homed in as well. Steph sent her wraith knights and bursts of flames, while I attempted the ice claw and shots. When nothing seemed to do any damage, my full arsenal went at him, at the same time that Kordelia and Ebrill went on the offensive. They took turns, leaping onto trees and houses and using ledges and branches as jump-off points to try and hit the giant higher, gliding on their wings in short bursts. Nothing we did left much of an impact, though, and when the giant saw that it couldn’t hit the quick-moving gargoyles, it came after me.

Having a giant charge at me with swinging scythes wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time, even with my amazing team doing their best to take him down. The rest of the enemies had pulled back, giving us room to see how this went down, only shooting the occasional spells when the opportunity arose. Luckily, with Ebrill’s defensive spells and my ice wall, none made it through.

The giant reached me in several large, lumbering steps, and I tried frost footing. His next step slid, but he caught the ground with one scythe, nearly catching me with the next. When his eyes rose to meet mine, I almost regretted causing him an inconvenience—those large, gray eyes sparkled with tiny specks of black throughout. Again, he swung. I threw myself back and cast an ice wall, then tried changing the ground to pull him in. He was too strong, breaking through the wall and then pulling free from the ground.

Swords clanged out as wraith knights struck his legs and back, but he simply roared and took out three of them with one wild blow. More leaped forward, using each other for leverage so that two made it high enough to try attacks at his chest and throat, but a spell from a bystander took out one. The other landed with a sword in the giant’s chest, but only a shallow strike that pissed off his adversary more than anything.

Steph was nearby. She summoned again, only to collapse to her knees as the newly-summoned knights faded. She was using her magic too fast.

“Ebrill!” I shouted, pointing to Steph while attempting another go of frost footing and then ice claw and shot, aiming for different parts of his body in hopes of finding a weakness.

A growl caught my attention. The shisa was there, having taken a break from trying to attack. Or so I thought. It shook its head, growled again, and then charged. An image of the earth moving to lift the shisa and throw it at the giant entered my mind, so I obliged. All around me, the earth was distorted like after a massive earthquake, and now it was even more so as I sent a wave through the ground that caught the shisa and tossed it up and at our enemy.

The giant slipped, the shisa hit, and then I saw that Ebrill had helped Steph so that both were up and charging. Kordelia glided overhead, and they all hit at once. I roared as I charged too, focusing on the nature of my ice shot and ice claw attack and working with my transmutation magic to forge them together and put them into the shape of a sword in my hands.

It was cold, but almost like part of me. The giant struggled to get at the shisa—even dropped one of its scythes—and then we all made contact, tearing and striking. My sword penetrated. As the ice of my blade sank into the stone, blue spread across the giant’s body. The stone cracked from his skin and fell free.

He was exposed!

The attacks drew blood. Another lunging attack nearly caught me. That huge scythe slammed into the ground inches from my foot. I cast an ice claw directly at his face and watched as the icy magic tore into his eyes and forehead. His screams drowned out the incoming sirens.

The giant was down. The rest of the enemy was converging on us. But in other news, I had leveled up again! I quickly applied my stats and checked out my new situation, which read:

Level 6 MAGE

Statistics

Strength: 20

Defense: 15

Speed: 16

Luck: 13

Charisma: 12

Mana: 520

Recent Spells

Gorffwys (sleep); Frost Footing; Ice Wall; Ice Claw; Frost Bite; Frost Shot

“They’ll just keep coming!” Kordelia shouted as I dismissed the screen. “Ebrill, you have to cloak us!”

“Give me room,” Ebrill replied.

Kordelia was at my side a moment later, her hulking frame reminding me how intimidating she could be, especially with this fierce snarl of hers. She pointed to the incoming group of enemies, and said, “Walls, attacks, everything you’ve got.”

I nodded and looked at Steph, who heard and shouted, “I’ll recall my knights, and send them all at once to hold the wall as long as they can.”

“Ready,” I said. We all got into position, the shisa suddenly back at my side as if sensing what was to come.

“NOW!” Kordelia conjured a spell that sent debris—dirt and grass and stones—flying, creating a circle around us that would blind some, hurt others, but mostly set the barrier of where my ice walls needed to go up. I could do better than that, though, and made the ground rise first with my transmutation, then created ice walls atop the circle. Only flying enemies would be able to make it over, but they had to be damn powerful if they were going to make it through Kordelia’s spell.

The wraith knights were already moving out, translucent as they went through the walls. Ebrill had a glowing hand in the sky, muttering her spell.

“We’re covered,” she said as the blue burst out forming a haze over us, and then we turned, Steph taking the lead.

“Where to?” Ebrill asked Steph, but she was looking around as she ran, unsure.

“I’m getting something, but… I think they’ve found a way to counter my knight.”

My humor at her wording seemed ill-timed, so I attempted something, working with the shisa to pick up the magical scent of where the wraith knight had gone.

The shisa gave me one look and then ran, so I followed. My team was close behind as I rounded the church to see the shisa digging at a spot between the church grounds and the next house over.

“I got this,” I said, and the shisa moved out of the way, eyeing me with excitement. The little lion-dog was really starting to grow on me. “Thanks, Shisa,” I added, deciding that worked for a name. Why the hell not?

“Tell me we’re not about to unearth some massive tomb where undead will rise and fight us,” Kordelia said, eyeing the church.

Steph laughed but shook her head. “As far as I know, that’s not part of it.”

My focus, regardless of what awaited us, was on the transmutation magic that worked on opening a way for us before the enemy managed to get back on our trail.

Earth flowed aside like it was the sea before Moses. Sure enough, it opened into a tunnel beneath. We shared a look of excitement and then went in, charging through the tunnel with our path lit only by the glow of blue from Ebrill’s hand and orange from Steph’s. I took the time to close our entry point but already the sounds of monsters screaming for blood came from ahead and behind. They must have found their way in through other entrances.

The tunnel led to a whole series of underground networks, tunnels and rooms. We charged through, hitting a group of demons who had been on their way to find us. They fell in a matter of seconds. We moved on until Shisa finally stopped in a round, tall room, growled, and started circling, eyes looking up.

I followed his gaze and saw why. A form appeared as a silhouette against a ceiling that was half there, half not, but stabilized as the figure passed through it.

It was Fatiha, I saw as the light from our glow lit up her features.

“You think you’re so clever,” Fatiha said, drifting down toward us, dress fluttering about her, eyes glowing red. She landed and let her silver hair down so that it flowed around her shoulders. Despite her age, it wasn’t hard to see why I had once found her attractive. Although, now she was purely evil in my eyes, and that dimmed the attraction level quite a bit. She landed and gestured around us. “But, what sort of idiot would enter the lair of one of the Nine Ladies?”

“The nine witches of Ystawingun,” Ebrill said, eyeing her. “I should have known.”

“Not me, but I serve those who remain loyal.” Fatiha smiled, spread her arms, and looked like she was about to hiss, when instead, a stream of fire emerged and circled around her before vanishing. “There was a time when I could do so much more than that. A time before… you.” She glared at me. “That magic will be mine again, once you are disposed of.”

All of this was a bit much to process, along with the idea that there was someone in this place more powerful than her. And if so, that meant this other was likely guarding the tree and Gertrude. It only made sense, so I had to go out on a limb.

“We demand an audience.”

“What?” Fatiha frowned, put off.

“An audience with the witch who this hideout belongs to.”

“The Nine Ladies, we called them,” Kordelia said. “Not the type to take audiences, at least.”

“You know nothing of my mistresses,” Fatiha spat out.

“Don’t I?” Kordelia laughed. “Apparently, you don’t know, do you? About Rianne, about where she came from?” Fatiha’s frown made that clear, so Kordelia continued, “Surely you’re familiar with the two who abandoned the rest.”

“The traitors.” Fatiha nodded, curious now.

“Morgen was the well-known one, although she went back and forth, didn’t she?” Kordelia eyed the older woman, waiting to see if she would catch on.

“Mizoa!” Fatiha said, eyes going wide. “But… how? Rianne, she was before, no?”

“Not Mizoa, exactly. Rianne wasn’t one of the Nine Ladies but was Mizoa’s mother. In fact, it was learning of the betrayal by the rest of the Nine against her mother that drove Mizoa to abandon the group.”

“What’s your point with all this, Kordelia?” Fatiha asked. “You, who have been known to wade in both sides of the pond yourself.”

“Not anymore. And my point is simply this—your master, whoever it is… She will see us, one way or another.”

“In her time and place.” Fatiha’s fire suddenly went out as a wind blew through the passages and up to flow over her. She bowed her head.

“That time is now,” a voice said, one I was sure I recognized from earlier battles, or maybe it had been in my head before? Either way, it wasn’t new.

The wind picked up and then a ring of fire came together, nearly burning all of us but for quick spells cast by Ebrill and me. The fire formed one entity in the middle—a tall woman in a black gown singed by flames, with black eyes and hair held by a net of embers that glowed but did not burn.

“You requested an audience,” the fiery woman said. “Granted. Now surrender or turn to ash. Your choice.”