Page 54 of White Charms and Dark Secrets

“Heads,” he announces for the others who are still stuck frozen from the waist down.

“A coin flip is how you’re going to prove it working?” I ask him sceptically.

“Trust me, you have no bad luck right now. Your aura is shiny and un-cursed,” Solas insists. I look to the others for advice.

“He’s not allowed to lie,” Kier shrugs.

“Okay, so now I need to get my magic back,” I begin, only to be cut off by a thundering laugh from the black-eyed demon.

“What’s funny?” Rhydian demands.

“Nothing, nothing at all here is funny for any of you,” Solas answers cheerfully.

“Just hurry up and give me my magic back,” I snap, only for him to laugh again, a dark, twisted chuckle that sends shivers down my spine. “You made a deal to give me my magic back, you can’t refuse me,” I tell him, more for my benefit than his. I needed to repeat the words, convince myself that they’re all true.

“Well, you see, until you know how to reverse the power transfer, and ask me to do that, I don’t have to do anything. You should really pay for attention to wording, little witch. You’ll get yourself into all kinds of trouble otherwise,” he drawls tauntingly.

“You absolute asshole,” I mutter, blinking in shock. How could I have been so stupid?

“Well, considering that you have nothing else for me to do right now, I’d say our transaction is for now done. Call me when you figure it out. I’ll look forward to it.” He winks, and then vanishes in puff of smoke stinking of brimstone.

“I can’t believe it, I’m such an idiot. I’m a magic-less idiot,” I ramble, staring at the spot where Solas once stood.

“It’s okay, Kayla,” Kier says reassuringly as he moves over to me, now freed from whatever spell Solas had cast on him. “The upside is we’re all alive, and we’re all safe, for now at least. We’ll figure out how to get your magic back. Right, guys?”

“Right,” Rhydian agrees.

I look over to Darren, he stares at me silently for a moment before chiming in his agreement too. “Of course we will.”

“See, we can figure this out. Do you have your family grimoires handy?” Kier asks.

“Only my grandmother’s,” I answer honestly.

“It’s okay, we’ll start with that. I can also ask around, I might know someone who knows something about this. A kissing power exchange spell sounds pretty specific, I’m sure we will find something,” Kier reassures me.

“Thank you. I don’t deserve any of your help. I just messed everything up for all of us,” I whisper, feeling self-defeated.

“You do deserve it and this mess isn’t your fault. It’s clearly whatever ancestor of yours pissed off a demon enough for it to curse your family forever,” Kier tells me sincerely.

I turn away and blink, seeing Rhydian standing in front of me with several books piled in his hands.

“What are those?” I ask, already knowing and dreading the answer.

“Some of your family grimoires. I just found them,” he tells me, as he hands them over. I take and look over them, spotting five more recent generations’ grimoires.

“Where did you get them?” I ask.

“I found them.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal.

“What do you mean you found them? Just then in the last three seconds? That’s impossible,” I sputter, unable to comprehend how the hell he has my family’s books.

“They were exactly where I would have kept them.” He shrugs and turns away, grabbing the book off the top of the pile as he does. “You shouldn’t trust demons, sweetheart. They bite worse than a vampire. No offence, Detective Fang,” Rhydian calls over his shoulder as he walks.

“So we’re all just going to act like that didn’t happen, right?” Kier asks, looking between me and Rhydian’s back as he walks off into the kitchen.

“What else are we going to do?” I ask, shrugging as I decide to take on a more Rhydian attitude for now, and stop worrying about the things I can’t do anything about.

Darren and Kier both take a grimoire from the pile, and take them off to different parts of the house to look through. I stand there in silence, the insanity of the situation drowning me where I stand. I shrug it off, heading for the sofa in the front room.

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