Page 86 of Witch's Fate

It was working!

But not enough.

Where was Malcolm? Felix and Aurora? They needed more than field warriors, they needed big magic to help Ana and Cam. All around her, the battle was raging, her friends falling to the dirt beneath the hands of the wickedly strong, enchanted skeletons.

Something grabbed her from behind and Sofia whirled, breaking free of the grasp. A skeletal form lunged for her. Kitty leapt upon its chest and tore at its throat with her small fangs. Though unassuming in normal life, she was vicious in battle.

The skeleton collapsed as water.

“Sofia!”

Malcolm’s voice. As soon as she heard it, she felt him. The connection Corrier had established. Thank fates.

She spun to see him racing toward her, Felix and Aurora behind him, the Norse gods Sylvi and Logan at their side, along with Vivienne, the Sila Jinn she’d met at Aurora’s flat.

“Help Ana and Cam lower the river!” she yelled at them. It was lapping at the buildings now. The higher it got, the more corpses surged from it, lunging toward her comrades. Ana and Cam kept it back, but not everywhere.

“I can try,” Logan shouted. He spun and sprinted to a spot farther away from Ana and Cam. Sylvi separated from him, her blue cloak swirling around her as she moved impossibly fast through the crowd, her wooden staff whirling around her, destroying opponents faster than they couldreform. It was insane the way she moved. Sofia had never seen anything like it.

Felix and Aurora clashed with the nearest combatants. Felix tore the head off a corpse with his bare hands as a great silver wolf burst from his chest and lunged for a another one. Like Malcolm’s. Sofia didn’t know how she did it, but every time Aurora touched a dripping skeleton, it burst into ashes rather than melting into water.

Malcolm appeared in front of her and demanded, “Are you all right?”

Magical energy flowed into her, warm and powerful. Malcolm was transferring some of his strength to her, aiding her magic with his own. Thank fates, because she needed it.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Help Logan and the rest with the river!” She pointed down to the east end of town where the river was still rising. The others were managing to hold the rest of the river back, though barely, and the buildings on the east side were swamped.

“If you come fight near me,” he demanded.

“No!” She wanted to stay in the middle of it all.

He grabbed her arm, his gaze fierce. His face was wet, his hair plastered to his head. “Come. With. Me.”

“Fine!”

They raced to the east end of town. Her boots sloshed in the water, sticking in the mud and rain poured from the sky, an awful deluge that make it hard to see which combatants were friend and which were foe. Kitty had had to turn to smoke just to travel. They stopped near the edge of the battle.

Malcolm threw out his hands and the water surged back, faster than even Logan had managed. He must have refilledhis power, because it was immense despite the fact that he had given some to her.

At her right, five shimmery forms appeared, along with Vivienne. She recognized the shimmering white light immediately. Souls. They approached and she could make out their features.

Her mother. Her grandmother. Great-grandmother and the two who came before her. But not Oriva, the one who had started it all.

“What are you doing here?” she screamed as she fought off a corpse that had gotten her by the arm. “How?”

“They contacted me!” Vivienne yelled. “It’s one of my powers. Told me to get Inara. We went to them and got them out. Temporarily.”

“We cannot stay for long,” her mother said. She looked like herself, only transparent and ephemeral. “But we can help, daughter. After what Oriva did, we must help.”

Sofia’s eyes teared up at the sight of her mother and the sound of her voice. “Thank you.”

They floated off, then split into two groups. Though they couldn’t really fight because they were incorporeal, when several of them surrounded a corpse, their energy destroyed it.

They were slow and not very effective, but just having them here made Sofia’s heart swell. It felt like they had a chance.

She turned back to the battle, her gaze catching on Malcolm. He held the water back with his hands while his silver wolf lunged around him, tearing at any figure that ventured too close.

The battle raged around her as Sofia shot jets of flame from her wand, felling corpse after corpse. Though she couldn’t see the High Witches, she felt their power. Dark and cloying, it wrapped around her. She fought harder, desperate to beat them.

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