Page 15 of Wild Ivy
“You’ve been here the whole time?”
“Never left. I can’t. I’m tied to this place.”
“This exact place?” I ask with a frown.
She nods. “This is where I reappeared.”
Interesting.
“Are you saying you died once upon a time, and our fuck up brought you back?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes. Everything dies, Tate. It’s the way of the world. It’s why Death is so important. You can’t let her go through with this inane plan.”
“Then what do you suggest?” I ask out of desperation rather than trusting whatever she will say will benefit Ivy and not herself.
Morrigan’s eyes gleam with a predatory light. “What I suggest, little warlock, is that you tap into that ancestral poweryou’ve somehow awakened. The key to fixing this mess lies within you.”
I narrow my eyes suspiciously. “And how exactly am I supposed to do that? I don’t even know how I accessed it in the first place.”
She smirks. “That’s for you to figure out. But you know the deal. It’s all about intention. Focus on what you want to accomplish, not just reversing time.”
“That’s not very helpful,” I growl in frustration.
“Did you expect me to hand you all the answers? Where’s the fun in that?” She laughs, the sound grating on my already frayed nerves.
I glance back at the others, still arguing heatedly. When I turn back, Morrigan is gone, well, invisible at any rate. Fucking typical.
But her words stick with me. Intention. Focus on what we want to accomplish. Not just reversing time, but... what exactly? Changing reality back to what it was? Undoing the damage without losing Ivy?
I close my eyes, trying to quiet my racing thoughts. I reach deep inside myself, seeking that well of power Morrigan says is in me. I know the power is boosted, and I can feel it is different from what it was before. It’s an immense weight on my soul, almost enough to drown me out completely if I let it.
Ancestral magick. The combined power of generations of warlocks flowing through my veins. It’s dizzying, overwhelming. I struggle to focus, to harness even a fraction of it.
“Tate?” Ivy’s voice cuts through my concentration. “What are you doing?”
I open my eyes to find all three of them staring at me. “I think I might have an idea,” I say slowly. “But I’m not sure if it’ll work.”
“Anything’s better than tearing Ivy apart again,” Bram growls.
I nod. “Morrigan said something about intention. That we need to focus on what we want to accomplish, not just reversing time.”
Torin frowns. “When the fuck did you talk to Morrigan?”
“Just now. She was here, but only I could see her apparently.”
“What exactly are you proposing?” Bram asks, eyeing me warily.
I take a deep breath. “I think... I think I can use this ancestral magick to reshape reality. Not just reverse time, but actually change things back to how they should be without losing Ivy.”
“Is that even possible?” Torin asks sceptically.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “But it’s worth a shot, right? Better than the alternative.”
Ivy steps closer to me, her eyes searching mine. “What do you need us to do?”
“I’m not sure,” I say. “But I think we need to focus our collective power. All of us. Bram, you’ve got Morrigan’s magick. Torin, you’ve got your vampire mage abilities. And Ivy, you’re literally Death incarnate now. If we combine everything...”
“Yes, but I became Deathafterwe came back from the alternate dimension. How can we be sure I will stay that way?”
