Chapter 30
The potion was icy cold in my mouth—despite its warm feel in my palm—and felt like slime as it slid down my throat. The little vial was only one gulp filled, but it was unpleasant nonetheless. I re-corked the empty bottle and slid it into my pocket, secure against the other vial which was still full.
The clearing behind Jaquie’s house, my dad said. Jacquie lived a few miles away, closer to the edge of town than we were. I had no other way to get there except to transport myself. While I knew I could do this, I had only ever done it accidentally. Exhaling shakily, I closed my eyes and concentrated. I pictured the clearing, the exact spot I wanted to be. I imagined myself stepping onto the soil. I felt a strong tug, and fell down on grass.
My eyes opened, and I was exactly where I wanted to be. The sun was not quite rising in the east, and the brisk chill caught me by surprise. I ignored it. Making a mental note to celebrate my achievement later, I pushed off the ground and ran toward the clearing. In the middle was a large wall of red and blue flames. They reached about ten feet high and flickered wildly. I couldn’t feel the heat coming off of them, but I knew if one were to touch the flames they would burn; this was Witches’ Fire. I couldn’t see through the wall, but there was a solid looking lump in the middle of the ring that I knew was David.
I looked around quickly to make sure no one was standing guard. Witches had a habit of being overconfident of their magically constructed prisons. No one but a witch could break through them. There was no one from my coven in the clearing.
Standing four feet from the fire wall, I held out my hand, palm facing the flames. I tested the strength of the wall by pushing at it with air. The flames flared up, stronger. I took a deep breath and tried to remember everything I knew about Witches’ Fire. Water made it stronger and ashes made it burn for longer. When it formed a ring it was best to break it from the four directions—north, south, east, and west—at the same time. Since I did not have three other witches with me, however, I would have to choose one corner. I couldn’t remember which was the strongest when dealing with Witches’ Fire, so I chose north. North is the direction of freedom.
I walked around so I was at the northern most point of the ring. Raising my hand again, I concentrated on cutting the ring. At first, nothing happened; then, the fire began turning purple and red and spitting out heat at me. Taking this to be a good sign, I pushed harder, willing the air to be a knife. I could feel the power in the flames. It tugged at me, fought me. I pushed harder, and after a minute the wall began to break.
It started in the middle, a small hole large enough to fit only a tennis ball through. But I grabbed at it with air, and ripped open the rest of the way. The fire raged for a minute, hissing and spitting, before the purple flames turned yellow and the heat disappeared. The opening was small, but still large enough to fit through. The yellow flames set, and I dropped my hand. I had to concentrate to keep the fire wall open, but it would take less effort now. Without hesitation, I scrambled through the hole and into the ring.
“David!” I gasped when I saw him lying naked on the ground. I ran over to him and touched his face. It was cold and clammy. His skin was painted with bruises, the discolored blotches like polka dots. I held my hand over his forehead and tried to take an inventory of his injuries, but failed. I hadn’t really done much Healing and I was expelling too much energy trying to keep the wall open.
“David,” I called again, “c’mon, wake up. We need to get out of here.”
I lightly slapped his cheek. He grunted and shifted his head but didn’t wake.
Huffing loudly, I concentrated on his body and forced a spike of adrenaline to shoot through him. It was never a good thing to force adrenaline, especially unpracticed as I was, but I needed David awake to get out. I could only hope it didn’t cause further injury.
David bolted upright, gasping, already half changed into a wolf. A furry human hand with sharp nails grabbed at my throat and pushed me into the ground. I let out a squeal as the hand squeezed and David’s hairy, long snouted face loomed into view. He growled down at me before letting go suddenly as realization hit him.
“Leila,” he growled, the word barely recognizable, “what happened?”
His body shook and he growled. Hair pushed out and retracted from his skin rapidly as he fought to control his change. He growled loudly and shook his head. He looked at me, his teeth long and dripping with saliva. Our eyes connected and a single spasm shot throughout him before he returned fully human. He was breathing heavily. He took a step and stumbled. I rushed at him to help, and caught him. My arms wrapped around his torso, his skin cold and clammy everywhere.
“Leila,” he breathed, holding me tighter against his side, “what’s wrong with me?”
“I don’t know. I pumped you full of adrenaline though.”
“Yeah, I can tell,” he mumbled through clenched teeth. He grunted. “Hurts. Hard not to change.”
“I know. We need to get out of here.”
David looked around at the fire wall surrounding us, as if noticing it for the first time.
“Where the hell are we?” He asked. “Last thing I remember you were doing that dome thing and your coven was here.”
My hold on the wall opening was beginning to slip. “That was two days ago. David, we have to get out of here, the wall’s closing.”
He looked confused but nodded, seeming to sense that now was not the time for questions. He took a step but stumbled again and leaned on me more. Together we walked toward the ring opening. David’s weight was a bit much for me, but I supported him the best I could.
My head was hurting from the effort of keeping the fire wall open and there was a ringing in my ears. I could feel my hold on the flames slipping as I pushed David through the hole before me. From the corner of my eyes I could see the flames closing in on me as I climbed through; could feel the heat climbing around me. Something hot burned my elbow, but the rest of me was free of the wall before anything else could burn. I pushed David away from the Witches’ Fire, the opening now closed up with burning blue flames. I was breathing heavily and sweat trickled down my temples.
David swayed where he stood and half fell-half leaned against me. I grunted under his weight and dropped one arm from my hold on him to reach into my pocket and pull out the other vial filled with blue potion. Holding it with three fingers and my palm, I used my thumb and index finger to uncork it and held the bottle up to David’s lips.
“Drink,” I ordered as I dumped the contents into his mouth.
He grimaced and I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.
“Ugh,” he mumbled when the slimy substance cleared from his throat.
“I know,” I said, remembering the slimy feel of the potion. “We have to get out of here,” I repeated, more for myself than him. My father said to go to the horse Shifter’s, and the only way there was teleportation.
“You’re not going anywhere,” a coldly familiar voice said.
David growled and I looked over to see Topher standing at the edge of the clearing. His eyes were bloodshot and wild looking, and he appeared to not have slept in days.
“You can’t stop us, Topher,” I said more confidently than I felt. In truth, Topher probably wouldn’t have a very hard time stopping us—I was weak and tired from breaking David out of the Witches’ Fire, and David was so weak he could barely stand. But to Topher, I hopefully looked fiercely energized.
Topher jerked his chin toward the fire ring. “I’m impressed,” he commented calmly, “that was a strong wall.”
“I’m an impressive person,” I said dryly.
Topher smiled darkly. “That you are. But you must have spent a lot of energy breaking free the mutt,” (David growled) “which means you don’t have much left to fight me.”
“I always have enough energy left to fight you,” I spat.
“Fair point,” Topher acknowledged, “but you wouldn’t have enough energy left to stop me from snapping this damn dog’s neck and locking you up and forcing you to—”
Topher never got to finish. With a roar, David pushed off me, ran at Topher, and punched him in the face. Topher crumbled to the ground, and I had a feeling he would wake in a few hours with a terrible headache.
“Fucking witch,” David spat. He looked up at my shocked expression. “Damn broomstick had it coming,” he muttered.
David swayed uneasy on his feet and I rushed over to him, still shocked (and somewhat amused) that he knocked a witch as powerful as Topher out with a single blow, especially since he could barely stand on his own.
“I think it’s safe to say,” David said in his light, joking tone, “that you’re the only witch I ever want to see. Ever. As a group, they kind of suck.”
I smiled, glad David was returning to his normal self. “Let’s get out of here,” I replied.
I held tightly to David and pictured the horse Shifter’s field. I had only ever been there once, but I had a strong enough sense of the place. I pictured the grassy hills and imagined David and I walking through them. There was a strong jolt, and we fell to the ground. I saw stomping hooves and felt hot breath on my skin.
Standing over us was a very angry horse.