Page 92 of The Magic of Betrayal
"Yeah, let's do that," Cam agreed with me, but I waited for the explosion that was brewing.
Sloane sighed, his pain clear. In fact, that was the majority of his emotions right now. He was hurting, big time. He was ashamed, embarrassed, scared.
Boo hoo.
"I am so fucking sorry. I fucked up and I have been doing everything since to find a way to fix this, to get her back."
Cam stared at Sloane for an uncomfortable amount of time before running a hand through his long hair and rising to his feet.
"I don't trust you anymore, and I certainly do not forgive you. I'm not sure I will ever be able to forgive you. But let's get our asses out there and try to get Saige back. That's what's important tonight, not our bullshit," he added, staring at each of us. A warning. Stay focused.
Not bothering to wait, I turned and walked out to the backyard. There were flames dancing in the distance and I guessed that was where we were doing this spell. As I led the way, I felt a twisting in my head,hewanted to come out.
‘It's my turn,’I thought to him, shoving his presence down deeper.
Nobody spoke as we marched through the woods to a small clearing where Laurie was finishing setting up. Bette wasn't here yet. Maybe she wouldn't come.
There were four chairs arranged in a square, facing inward. Laurie had a basket at her feet that she pulled different things from and sprinkled over the ground, mostly in the middle of the chairs.
"These seats for us?" I asked, tilting my head toward them when she looked up from what she was doing.
"Yeah, this spell is going to take a lot of power, so you guys might as well sit while we do it."
I stalked over to the chair closest to her little basket and sat my ass down. Hopefully, this wouldn't take long and then I could get back to my own plan of how to fix this shit. Which consisted of heading to the nearest city and finding a demon and forcing them to open the fucking portal. I wasn’t even gonna ask. We were beyond pleasantries. I’d slip right in and plant the thought right in their head. Problem. Solved. We should’ve done this days ago.
"Evening, gentlemen. You must be Sloane," Laurie said to him over her shoulder as she knelt down and added a few more things to the grass before pressing her palms down flat and pushing her own magic into the ground.
"I am, and you must be Laurie." Sloane shifted on his feet and I picked up immediately on his nerves and... regret. Regret is a bitch. That's why you should always be damn certain that what you're doing is what you want because we almost never get a second chance to fix it. I sure as shit don’t. That’s why everything I do and say is intentional. When you don’t get the luxury of correcting mistakes, you learn real fast to act with purpose and with confidence because there’d be no time for apologies. He was learning that lesson right now.
"What's the plan, Laurie?" Kai asked, taking the seat to my left.
She stood, brushed her knees, and returned to her basket of stuff. "This spell is ancient, I had to translate several old texts, but in theory, this should work," she told us.
Cam sat down to my right and Sloane was across from me.
"Where's Bette?" Cam asked, running his palms down his thighs.
"She was too upset to come out. Didn't want to get her hopes up if this doesn't go the way we want," she explained. "Shall we begin?"
"Let's do this, I want to see my girl as soon as possible," Cam nodded, his voice gruff and deep.
"I will give you directions as we go and I'll chant the spell, just focus on what I tell you to do and this nightmare will be over in less than fifteen minutes." She clapped her hands and I caught a flicker of excitement coming off her body.She must really think this is going to be successful.
A breeze ruffled through the forest, the leaves above us rustling in the wind and Cam quickly pulled his hair up to keep it out of his face.
"Sloane, if you could please cast some of your fire at the ground, then I will ask Cam to do the same in a few moments, okay?" Laurie directed and I watched Sloane's face illuminate briefly as he pushed fire from his hand and dropped little flames against the grass. A whoosh and then a burning pentagram was ignited, surrounding us.
"Perfect, now, Cam, add your magic to Sloane's."
Purple sparks flew from Cam's fingers and the flames around us surged to ten feet high as his electricity crackled and the flames changed from orange to blue before they shrunk down to only a few inches high.
"By using your power in the flames, it will keep them going when the storm comes," Laurie explained, holding a book that was practically falling apart from age. "At this point, I am assuming the prophecy is real and that you four are a part of my daughter's 'five', so I am running off the hope that by combining your physical powers, along with Fischer's cognitive abilities, and Kaito's mate bond, I will be able to use an advanced locator spell which will give us access to the portal. Does that make sense?"
It did, actually. This might actually work. Then I felthimagain, pushing against my restraints I'd put in place to keep him away.
‘Just chill out,’I told him.
"Yes," everyone agreed.
