Picking a spot between him and the woods, I repeated the spell. “Orzu.”
As expected, CJ angled away from the spelled area.
With my wand focused on another spot, I started to cast. “Or—”
CJ toppled back, losing his grip on the meat. He came to his feet crouched and snarling. A faint shape squared off against him.
“Nazid!” Thank the earth casting was part intent, because I could hardly see the meat. The spell pulled it into the air as CJ lunged for the outline I presumed was Wayne. Taking advantage of the distraction, I levitated the meat back to the circle. It touched down, and this time, it would stay. “Obala.”
If CJ wanted to snack, he’d have to do it in the circle.
From here, it was hard to tell how the fight was going. Ignoring Wayne’s warning, I crept forward, trying to stay in shadows. If I’d paid better attention back in school, maybe I’d remember how a werewolf’s sight worked and could pick the best hiding place.
In another faster-than-the-eye-could-track motion, CJ pivoted and ran for the meat.
Afraid to blink, I kept my eyes on him as he moved. Even before he crossed into the circle, I had the spell ready. My wand all but vibrated in my hand.
CJ ran out of the spell area before I could cast it. A chunk was missing from the haunch, but CJ hadn’t slowed down to feed or wrestle with it. I needed a better way to capture him long enough to get the spell going.
Wane intercepted him and started driving him back toward the circle, but getting him to go back for a third try wouldn’t be easy. CJ continued to avoid the soft ground, but Wayne traveled over it without slowing.
There had to be a better plan. Until I could think of one, I started softening more of the ground, leaving a clear path into the circle.
My necromancy pulsed.
Oh, it was a bad idea. The worst of all worst ideas. And if I’d had a better one, I wouldn’t have done it. Pushing the magic back inside my skin, I let the shield around my necromancy down so it could flood through me. My wand drifted until it pointed in the direction of the dead raccoon. “Eair Deyr.”
The raccoon scrambled to its feet. It hopped in my direction on three legs.
Backing my orders with necromancy, I directed the raccoon to wait in the shadows by the circle. It would know the time to act.
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The soft ground that had scared CJ and that he was currently trying to escape while Harris blocked his exit hardly slowed the raccoon. With soft ground, weight mattered.
“Are you ready?” Wayne’s voice whispered in my ear, carried by a twist of air.
“Yes!” It would work. It had to.
Wayne tackled CJ. The two of them rolled across the ground. As soon as the werewolf realized the earth was solid under him, he pushed to his feet and started to run. This time, he kept to the narrow path that led back to the circle.
“Ready.” The command shivered with necromancy.
The gap between CJ and the circle narrowed.
I shoved my necromancy to the side and let my magic flow into my wand.
As CJ took the last step that would put him in the circle, the raccoon darted forward. CJ’s foot caught, and he toppled to the ground.
“Purisaz! Sowil en kannu! Alkaz!”
The seam holding the salt opened up, letting it fall to the ground in a perfect circle. The magic flowed through the runes, letting them mold and shape the power, focusing it into a barrier the werewolf couldn’t cross and activating the purification spell.
Eyes locked on CJ as he twitched and grunted, I fed more power to the spell. It used every bit of power I could give it to burn through the blood magic that had fused itself to every cell in CJ’s body.
The blood magic went into overdrive, pulling more energy from CJ. He got to his feet, though I doubted CJ was making the decisions, and lunged for the barrier. A sharp crack sounded, and CJ was blown back into the center of the spell.
Gritting my teeth at the pain of channeling this much magic this quickly, I added more power to the spell. A blackened swirl of magic lifted off of him. The purification was working. If I could hold it a bit longer, he’d be himself again.
“Kelsey!” Wayne yelled.
I ignored him. He should have known better. I’d told him this spell couldn’t be interrupted.
“Kelsey, behind you!”
Surprise had me reducing the flow of power to the spell and turning. A fist filled my vision before pain exploded on the side of my face.
“You filthy witch. You ruined my career!”
The chill of the asphalt seeped through my clothing. I opened my eyes, but it was all a blur.
My ears though, they worked just fine. I turned enough to get my eyes to cooperate. Yup, that was Floyd standing over me. “No, you did that all on your own,” I said.
Floyd’s face twisted into an ugly and hate-filled sneer. “You and your spells caused all of this.” He pulled his foot back.
Nothing prepared me for that kick, right to my gut. I lost track of the spells on CJ.
Floyd pulled his foot back again.
Not able to speak, I willed a wall of magic between us.
His foot hit the wall, and he cursed.
One arm supporting my battered middle, I hissed with pain as I pushed myself up to a sitting position. Wayne should’ve been here by now, unless something was wrong.
- I fumbled for the magic as I scooted around. The spell was faltering. I tried to reestablish the connection, but it hadn’t been set up for me to drop it and return. Without me, it was failing, in no small part because CJ was beating against one section, slowly breaking it down.
Wayne stood on the other side of the spell from CJ, one hand out. CJ slid back from the spell.
I felt the wall separating Floyd from me shudder as he hit it again.
Ignoring him, I fumbled for the purification spell. When I grabbed it, I rammed my magic into the spell. In a shower of sparks anyone could see, I reconnected to the purification spell. I poured power into it. The purification kicked into high gear, pulling more blood magic from CJ. He dropped to the ground again, and this time the corruption continued to pour off of him.
“I should’ve done this before.” A gun slide chambering a round followed his words.
Wayne jerked as if he heard it too, but even the wind wasn’t fast enough to save me.
Floyd waited until I turned, and he smiled a terrible smile.
I did the only thing I knew to do. “Ingwaz fehu kannu.” Mother Earth, let this work.
“Kelsey!” The very wind screamed.
The muzzle flashed.