Page 36 of How To Summon A Memory
That was fast, though I realize when someone knows exactly what they want, we don’t fuck around. I’m back at the crossroads just as their knees buckle. I catch them before they can fall.
“What happened?” I ask before I notice the shimmer of magic no longer comes off Florence.
“I’m free. Now we need to do the same for Ethan.”
“How? If you don’t have magic, they’ll make him marry someone else.”
“No. Well, yes.” Florence tips their head from side to side as if they’re thinking. “He’ll still need to bond with someone, but that someone needs to beyou, not a witch. His magic is too strong to share with someone from any of the covens. It needs to be someone that can handle the surge of new magic. I need to know where your crossroads is, and I know he had a plan.”
“I can’t tell you.”
“You can break the rules if you want, Wick. Rumor is your brother does all the time.”
“You don’t understand. I can’t show you or tell you.” I wave at my face. “My mouth and nose disappear and the magic bounces me away if I try to walk up to my crossroads.”
“Can you draw a picture? Write out the street names?”
My mouth opens and closes. “Never tried.”
“Then try.” They pull a tiny notebook and pen set from their pocket.
Why hadn’t I thought of this before?
“Hurry. Time is a bit of a factor right now. My family will know what I’ve done and the other covens will try to?—”
The brightest light I’ve ever seen shoots from Cordia’s mansion as if it’s a beacon to the heavens.
“Hurry. Hurry. I think when I kissed him?—”
“You kissed him?!”
“Yes, we figured true love’s kiss from a friend would work as much as from a lover, and I think it worked. But I think it rendered the entire pendant useless, so he’s left unprotected from his magic.”
“You’re saying. Oh fuck. That’shismagic.”
“Yes. So?—”
I scribble the street names of my crossroads in the notebook and let out a sigh of relief when nothing happens.
“Now get me as close to your crossroads as possible,” Florence takes my hand and I get them within a block. “Be ready.” They run and as they approach my crossroads, they hop onto my sign and twist until it comes off the post. Then they use the sign to dig into the gravel and wreck it all to hell.
The ground rumbles, churning the crossroads into chunks once the magic takes hold. Florence squeaks and runs back towards me, their work done.
My fingers tingle, and my body vibrates. A thread of magic shoots up where I stand and steals my breath as I rise into the air. Florence stops dead in their tracks and watches as I’m tossed and turned as if I’m in a giant washer on the spin cycle. My head throbs and as abruptly as it all began, I’m dropped to the ground.
The thread of magic sinks back into the ground, and I laugh. My hands are the same blue they’ve always been. My wings fan out bigger than before, and my tail has a little tuft at the end instead of a soft point. What the fuck am I?
“No time to admire yourself. We got to save Ethan.” Florence grabs my hand. “You should be able to infiltrate Cordia’s mansion without a problem. Just like Pike could get through the barrier.”
“But Pike isn’t me.”
“Just try, damn it. I won’t lose my best friend.” Tears leak from Florence’s eyes.
I squeeze mine shut and teleport us to the outskirts of Cordia’s property. The scent of magic hangs in the air, but there’s no one in the yard anymore.
Her house glows unnaturally from the beam of light.
“Come on, we need?—”
