energy with their partners before rearranging themselves to form the wheel we’d need to give our magic its best chance at forming a solid illusion. Before I could break away to take my place between Wes and Brooke, Jocelyn tugged on my arm.
“I’m going to need your help with this one,” she said. “I can’t form the illusion alone, I need you to cast it with me, but we need to have the same vision.”
She opened her hand. Crystal blue light with specks of white light danced on her palm, and from the center rose a small replica of the woman who had been on the tail end of every one of her illusions. Ceti. With sun-kissed skin and waves of golden hair fit for Rapunzel she was dressed in a plain cotton dress, but power radiated from her.
Even in the form of this small illusion, it was undeniable.
Jocelyn closed her fist and the illusion disappeared. “That’s what I saw the last time she appeared, when she looked right at me. We need to bring her back to the circle.”
“Can’t we just have Brooke make some new flutes and call her here the old-fashioned way?” That seemed like a much easier route to go, but Jocelyn shook her head.
“The flutes are dead. Ceti cut the heads off them herself, and Brooke still doesn’t know how she created them. She suspects she can’t now that Cole doesn’t have magic anymore.”
“Okay.” I squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry, buttercup. I’ve got you.”
She glanced at the forest that had gone completely still. Not even the wind rustled the leaves anymore. Her brow creased. “We don’t have much time.”
“I know.” I rubbed her shoulders, squeezing the tension out of them. Dropping my forehead to hers, I kissed her nose. “We’re stronger now. We’ll be okay.”
She gave me a smile that was only half-strained. She believed in us, but there was no denying that we were up against some scary shit.
Now or never.
The twelve of us formed a new circle, taking the same positions as we did the night before. Thora stood at the point of true north, at the head of the circle. As the descendent of Aries, her sign signified the spring equinox, the start of the year. She’d been quieter and more withdrawn when she’d dated my brother in high school, but Thora as an adult, with the full range of her power at her fingertips, was fierce and dauntless. A true Aries down to her core.
Jocelyn stood across from me. Her skin glowed softly under the moonlight, and her hazel eyes came alive, brimming with the confidence I hadn’t seen since we were kids. Goddamn, she was stunning. What I wouldn’t give to see her in the sun, just one more time. I hoped with everything I had that I’d get that wish.
Overhead, the stars shone bright as always, but there was no twinkling, as if they too were holding their breath. Waiting. The gods had gone silent. This was all up to us now.
Thora took Wes’s hand. Her magic was fully charged from my brother, and her pearlescent, diamond light flowed into Wes’s golden green that reminded me of Jocelyn’s eyes. His magic flowed into me, and in turn, I pushed mine into Brooke, who passed her primary red glow along to Kenna. Around we went in a circle, until it flowed all the way back to Violet and then into Thora again. A perfect, unbroken chain of magic.
The power I’d felt when Jocelyn and I had combined our magic and shaken the walls of Kenna and Galen’s cabin was only a fraction of what I felt now. If I’d been born on the side of darkness and endless night, I would’ve had the power to split the world in two.
But that wasn’t my purpose, or anyone else’s. Our magic was in love and light, in healing and forgiveness. We didn’t shy away from the dark or try to snuff it out, because we knew it existed to make our light shine brighter.
There was power in knowing the balance, too.
I caught Jocelyn’s gaze from across the circle, and she nodded at me in turn. It was time. I lifted my hand as she did the same. Our magic burst out of our palms and collided together, at the dead center of the circle. Sparks of crystal blue flickered and whizzed as we pushed ourselves with one singular vision in mind.
Ceti.
This was our show, and everyone else gave us their all. They split themselves down the middle by season to keep the balance. All around me, flowers bloomed and the scent of coconut oil tinged the air. The sound of gulls crying out in the distance mixed with the sound of corn dogs sizzling in the fryer. The feel of the island in the summer warmed my skin as the spring and summer signs pushed their magic into me.
Across the circle, snowflakes glittered softly around Jocelyn. She shivered as they landed on her arms and melted against her skin. Golden, red, orange, and brown leaves piled up at her feet. I had no doubt she could smell the pumpkin spice from Capricorn’s and the burning wood from late night bonfires on the beach. The fall and winter signs continued to feed her every bit of power they had within themselves.
In the center of the circle, dawn became dusk, over and over. The sun rose and set, the moon rose and set. And the seasons changed in rapid succession. The sparkle of snowflakes and raindrops soon became golden clusters of dew that sang a haunting, beautiful song. One that ached with loss. A song I knew all too well.
And as the notes of that song grew stronger, the drops of dew began to rise in the air, forming a faint outline that slowly began to fill in and become whole. Jocelyn had her bottom lip tucked tightly between her teeth. Almost there.
“We need more,” I shouted. “Reverse the flow. We need magic from everyone.”
Without hesitation, the other ten shifted their magic to flow counterclockwise. Cold stole over me, seeping into my bones, as the scent of lilacs and sea salt vanished, replaced by the crisp, clean scent of snow and the hint of smoke in falling leaves.
The vision began to form more rapidly now, but as it began to take shape, I felt as though my skin was being rubbed raw. I winced. It was disconcerting, but not entirely painful. I glanced across the circle at Jocelyn, who wore the same expression as me.
How would this feel if I was doing this alone? What had it cost her to make that branch solid last night? My magic began to waiver and the illusion started to contort into a branch. Jocelyn’s gaze flew to mine, and right then I knew.
It had cost her significantly more last night.
Goddamn it. I couldn’t stop what I was doing to yell at her for putting herself through pain for no good reason. But that was definitely a conversation we’d be having later.
Throwing myself back into concentrating on Ceti, I gritted my teeth as slivers of bone and stomach lining also peeled away. The thought of Jocelyn taking the full brunt of this pissed me off, I had no idea how Finn dealt with Thora’s healing, but I couldn’t overthink it or I’d lose the thread of the illusion we’d finally gotten back on track.
With one final push of magic, the crystal blue sparks exploded in a shower of stardust. A dazzling rainbow-tinted hue lit up the night, and as the dust cleared, a woman with golden hair and a docile smile stood before us.
Ceti, solid and whole as those of us who formed this circle, but with no more life than a doll. It was creepy how she stood there with vacant, golden eyes. Her shoulders were slumped, like she was being held up by strings.
She might’ve been made of flesh and bone, but she was still very much an illusion.
As soon as I opened my mouth to ask Jocelyn what she wanted to do next, a drop of moonlight fell from the sky, growing larger and brighter as it reached our circle. It landed on top of our still-life version of Ceti. She absorbed the light, then blinked and began to speak.
“I didn’t think you’d be able to bring me here again.” The woman’s voice was melodic and sorrowful, like her song that whispered on the wind. She nodded to me and Jocelyn. “Well done. We don’t have much time. Be quick with your questions.”
We didn’t need the flutes when the twelve of us worked together. I let go of Wes and Brooke, knowing now that our physical connection had only been symbolic. Our magic, our fate, our connections with each other, that’s what gave us the power to draw down the dead.
Audrey, unsurprisingly, also understood this. She dropped her hands from Finn and Jocelyn and stepped forward. “What were you trying to tell us last time before you got cut off? You told us we couldn’t call you back here. Why?”
“As you have already deduced for yourselves, the uncursed part of Nirah that lives inside of me is the reason why I’m still here.” She placed a hand over her heart. “As long as his physical form remains alive, I can’t cross over. But if the curse infects me too, all will be lost.”
Finn lifted his hand. “Not to be rude, but aren’t we kind of already up shit creek? This is ending today. We can all feel it. It’s already taken so much of the island. Even if we prevail, what will be left in the end?”
My goofy, deceptively intelligent brother made a good point. One we’d all been thinking about—consciously or subconsciously—since Brooke and I raised and patched the boats at the marina. We weren’t really fighting to save any physical land at this point. We were fighting for survival and the lives of everyone who had made this place home.
Ceti gave him a patient smile, like she was half-tempted to scratch him behind the ear. “Nothing the curse has taken so far is lost for good. Unless it takes out the beating heart of the island. Then it will be too late.”
“The heart of the island…” Kenna whipped her hair back. “The gates?”
“The Gates of Dawn and Twilight are one part of it, yes. They allow life and time as you know it to freely flow through when they are raised. The Well of Rebirth is the other part.” Ceti’s expression turned so serious, she appeared to be carved from stone. “It must not go dark.”
“Hi. Ceti?” Violet tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “You said the curse could infect you too. What do you mean by that? Like when it seeps into our minds?”
Ceti shook her head, the moonlight catching on her golden tresses. “No, the curse can infect my physical form, like it’s done with Nirah. It can make me like him. The black magicks Nirah used came directly from Ophiuchus. From a time when there were no stars, no light in the sky. He traded his soul, but the curse didn’t know his soul already belonged to me, and I made no such deal. If it captures me as I am now, though, it will force me to remain corporeal. The curse will complete the bargain. And then not even the gods can intervene.”
“What’s the completion of the bargain?” I asked. Not really wanting the answer, but needing to know anyway. “The loss of the island? Death?”
“There will be no more magic to bond you. You will be ripped away from your soulmates, and you won’t find each other again. Not even in death.”
“Fuck me.” Wes tilted his head back and cursed the stars. “I think I liked it better when it was just our lives at stake.”
Over the trees, smoke plumes rolled into the sky, blocking out the light from the moon and casting a long shadow over our circle. Ceti shot a worried glance over her shoulder. “Hurry. My time here is almost over, then I cannot come back.”
“Just one more question,” Jocelyn said. “When the illusion of you appeared before, you had my eyes. Why? What does that mean?”
“Sweet one.” Ceti’s expression softened. “You’ll need to see yourself in me. You know why. What must be done. You’re the only one who can weave the right illusion, and I’m not just talking about your ability. Fate makes no mistakes.”
Before anyone could ask another question, the ground began to tremble. We let go of each other as we attempted to keep our balance. Jocelyn ran for Ceti, throwing herself in front of her and raising her hands to fling out another illusion. A fake Ceti.
Jocelyn aimed for the trees and the smoke swallowed her carbon copy. It was enough of a distraction though. The smoke hadn’t recognized the real Ceti, who flickered for a moment before disappearing as our combined energy flowed out of us. The pieces of myself I’d given up to make Ceti solid were returned to me in a rush that caused me to stumble.
Angry at being tricked, the smoke wound high into the air before slamming into the ground. The force of it knocked the twelve of us off our feet. Bits of rock and hard-packed earth pelted us, slicing our skin like a thousand tiny razors.
Finn and Thora were the first on their feet. Their speed gave them an advantage as they raced between us, healing our injuries and pulling us to our feet. The relief was short-lived, though. The smoke formed a solid wall of black and punched the ground again.
“We need to get the fuck out of here. Now.” Wes swept his arm overhead, ushering the rest of us to follow him away from the cabins.
I grabbed Jocelyn’s hand, charging our magic as we dove toward the more solid ground of the street. Behind us, the curse continued to chew up Brooke’s backyard. Her bees abandoned their hives as the sound of a bomb detonating went off behind us. More rocks flew over our heads as Finn and Thora zipped in between us, healing where needed.
With one final blast, both Galen and Brooke’s backyards caved in. Their cabins crumbled and splintered before falling off the ledge. Salt-scented ocean sprayed over us from the depths of this new sinkhole. Which likely went all the way through the island, bringing up water from the underground network of caves that went even deeper than the gates.
This was just the beginning, though. The curse continued to eat away at the land, and it wouldn’t be long before it reached the street where we stood.
“What are we doing?” I asked. “We can’t just stand here with our thumbs up our asses.”
Another rumble rolled the earth beneath our feet. Jocelyn and I lifted everyone a few inches off the ground to keep them from falling over. We didn’t have time to plan anything, we just needed to move. This time, when another wall of solid black slammed the earth, we didn’t wait for the ground to split open beneath us. We were already halfway to the water’s edge.
Which was now this side of Stardust Parkway.
“The boats,” Cole said. “We need to make sure they’re still floating and get every resident on one of them, right the fuck now.”
Finn and Thora offered to round up the residents, since they could move the fastest and heal any injuries that might hold them up. The rest of us headed out to guard whatever boats remained. The ground continued to shake and ripple, but we made it to the marina without any serious injuries. Probably because the curse was no longer focused on taking us out.
It had enough energy stored to finish the job of sinking the island.
Now it was a race between us and Nirah. Could we do what needed to be done? Did we have all the tools at our disposal to drown him in the pool that held waters from the River of Life? Jocelyn seemed to think so. That was enough for me.
By the time we got down to the marina, the boats were further away from shore, thanks to the land that had been chewed up along the waterfront, but the anchors Brooke had created were solid. The curse couldn’t mess with her magic. So the boats remained tethered and afloat.
For now.
The rumbling stopped, but that wasn’t a comfort. In its place was an eerie stillness, as if we stood within the eye of a storm. The sound of crunching leaves crackled in the air. I grabbed Jocelyn’s hand, our magic sparking between us as our energy charged.
Out of the tree line, a giant black snake slithered and reared over us, taller than the oldest pines in the deepest parts of the forest. Its black fangs glistened as it bobbed its head back and forth. As if debating which of us it wanted to take out first.
So much for thinking the curse wasn’t focused on us.
“This motherfucker again.” Wes gave a lazy flick of his wrist, sending a bolt of green-tinted lightning straight into the throat of the snake. It exploded in a cloud of dust. “Come on, now.” Wes shouted at the trees. “Is that the best you can do?”
Donovan rubbed the back of his neck. “Could just be me, but maybe we shouldn’t be taunting the curse right now, seeing as our healers are out of range.”
“Where’s your sense of fun, little bro?” Wes slapped him on the back and he grimaced.
“I’m all about fun, but if your magic was talking to animals and breathing underwater, you’d probably be a little less—” A sharp snicket cut Donovan off, and he dropped to his knees as an arrow, black as night, lodged itself into his chest. “Just so you know,” he snarled at Wes, “I’m blaming you for this.”
Violet shot Wes a dirty look, holding her fingers around the arrow to staunch the blood flow. Another arrow launched out of the trees and aimed for Violet, but Brooke was quicker, throwing out a metal shield to block it. She melted the metal back into the ground, just as a razorbacked warthog bounded out of the trees.
“I fucking told you,” Donovan said between gritted teeth.
Wes hit it with lightning, and Kenna sucked the smoke into her burning body, killing it before it could form something else. When the buzzing sound followed, Cole tucked Brooke behind his back, but she refused to be kept aside. She flung her arm from behind his waist and hit the funnel of wasps with a ball of molten iron.
Audrey froze them within a block of ice that shattered on the concrete. When the wasps turned to smoke, Galen scooped it up and burned it to ash. Over and over, the curse hit us with its greatest hits, but we were stronger, faster, a more cohesive team.
After Wes took out the mangled illusion of Kyle that had been taunting Jocelyn, Finn appeared out of nowhere. Stopping so fast, his frame vibrated. He crouched in front of Donovan and ripped the arrow out of his chest.
“Can’t leave you kids alone for two seconds.” Once Finn finished healing Donovan, he stood and dusted off his hands. “Thora is coming. The town was all gathered on the street ready to come find us, so that made our job a little easier.”
“Everyone is accounted for?” Wes asked.
“As far as we know,” Finn said. “We’re kind of on a time crunch here, so we asked neighbors and families to look out for each other. There aren’t any homes left on the east side of the island, so everyone has to be staying on this side.”
Wes nodded. It would haunt all of us if anyone got left behind, but we didn’t have time to check every home. Not even Finn could stop and knock on every door that fast. We had to keep our focus on getting everyone we could onto boats, then getting out to the cave.
Where Nirah was holed up, waiting for us.
I’d heard all about the Well of Rebirth from Galen and the threads of light that swirled within the dark, tar-like substance that held the island’s hopes, dreams, and joy, as well as its fears, anger, and resentment. From what I knew about the curse inhabiting Nirah’s body, it would want us there. To revel in our horror as the last thread of light blinked out.
Fortunately, that need to see us suffer would also be its downfall.
