Page 86 of Morning's Light

“Are you sure you’ll be able to read the script?” Astix asked Aisanna.

“Something tells me when the time comes, I’ll not only be able to read it, I’ll be fluent.” Aisanna’s voice was dry.

Astix nodded. “There’s something to be said for having faith. The salt?”

“It’s right here.” Karsia held out the bag.

“Good. I’ll sprinkle it in a circle. Then we begin.”

Astix did just that, surrounding them in an unbroken circle of white crystals until the bag lay empty. Another nod to Aisanna let her know it was time.

Aisanna steeled herself, took a deep breath, and called out. “Cecilia!”

The others shrank into themselves at the name, the call, the beckoning. It rang among the trees and was carried into the wind.

“Come out and let me see your face.” Why, why was she doing this? Going along with a less-than-rock-solid plan? She’d never been very good with decision making, but she was tired. So tired. Her body trembled with an odd mix of fury and trepidation.

Aisanna turned to her siblings. She wished she could handle this on her own, tell them to stay behind and let her go it alone. She was the oldest. It was her job, wasn’t it? She should have been able to fix things.

Instead, they stood with twin expressions of fear adorning their slender faces. Both dressed in dark colors, nearly blending in with the trees. Their silence told her more than she wanted to know.

It had to be all of them. And it was time.

Aisanna let her eyes drift closed and focused on the beat of her heart. The fingers of her left hand rose to touch the spot beneath her collarbone. The beginning of the spell tattooed on her skin. Her mouth formed the words before her brain had a chance to process what they meant. Ancient Cyrillic in a spell long forgotten, a secret she now kept in her heart.

Fear gnawed at her gut, fraying her nerves. When the wind rose, she knew the spell was working and forced her voice to rise above the howling. Snow scattered around them and rose in a funnel toward the sky.

Come to me.

The words echoed in her mind, a parody of those spoken to her weeks ago. To her sister weeks before that. A roar sounded through the forest. A torrent of wind swirled, and blinding light from the sky speared through the night.

Come to me.

Voices spoke from the darkness, and Aisanna finished the rest of the spell, letting the final notes drift in the winter air. Then she noticed the stillness. The blackness around them grew darker until it blotted out the stars, the sky.

The wind picked up again, whirling around them and screaming. The turbulence scattered their ring of salt.

“She’s here!” Karsia said, raising her voice to be heard.

A presence filled the small space around them, agitated power, fury, strength. Still, there was no visible sign of her.

Aisanna slammed a fist against her open palm. “Dammit, Cecilia, no more games. As you’ve been summoned, so shall you appear. Show yourself!”

The three of them began to chant in unison. They stood in a circle, joining hands as the wind lifted. Aisanna fought to keep her balance, widening her stance to ground herself against the constant battering of the wind. Beneath her feet, snowy dirt heaved.

Shadows swirled around them, yawning, howling, until finally coming together in a single form, with feminine curves and the hint of a smile. The voice that answered resounded off the trees and splintered bark. The girls fell to their knees, hands covering their heads.

You call. I answer.

Aisanna drew air into her lungs and glanced over at Karsia, visible by the thin light of the moon. “Do it!”

The youngest nodded, shifting her gaze down to the book nestled in the snow. Her mouth moved and magic rose in a distinct green aura around them, vibrating from the force of the spell.

The instant the insubstantial mist touched her arm, Aisanna recognized the push at her mind. She’d experienced it several times before. Was intimately acquainted with what lurked there. Her stomach heaved and cramped like a dozen shards of glass were piercing it.

She yelled, lurching forward and clutching her stomach. Her soul felt fragmented, coming together in the wrong way. She was aware of the screaming. Knew it came from her and knew her sisters would do whatever it took to push through.

She heard the long low howl of a wolf. Panic stole over her and slipped through her defenses. Her pulse raged. A vortex whipped her hair into a frenzy around her face, stole her breath into a vacuum.

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