Timespell (32 page)

“Angie?” she cried, spinning around and tugging at the door handle. “Angie!”

Cold laughter met her ears.

Julia’s heart nearly stopped beating. Psychotic laughter, trapped in a dark room ... from the looks of things, she had landed herself in some seriously deep—

“Welcome, Daughter.”

“Crap,” Julia whispered, releasing the door handle. The room flooded with green-tinted light. She blinked against the sudden glow, turning to face Indira. The sight that met her eyes made Julia’s blood bubble in her veins. Heat traveled through her entire body in a flood of rage.

Kaitlyn.

Her gleaming black hair reflected green in the witchfire. She tilted her chin up as Julia approached. Julia raised her hands.

“Don’t try it,” Kaitlyn said, lifting her own hands.

They faced off like people in a duel.

“Put your hands down, and so will I,” Julia said.

Kaitlyn’s green eyes narrowed. “You first.”

“No way! You’re the one who joined the dark side.”

“Enough,” Indira demanded. “Give me the jewel.”

“That’s not happening.”

“I will have it,” Indira yelled, lunging at her with a huge knife.

Julia stumbled back and hit the wall before racing across the room. Indira was ready to kill her over this. What had she done with Ethan? “Where’s Ethan?
Where is he
?”

“Give me the jewel if you ever want to see him again.” Indira’s voice was like venom. Her white eye glowed as dark lightning crackled around her. “You have no choice.”

“I’m not handing it over!”

“Daughter of Future, handle your sister.”

Kaitlyn blasted her, but Julia was ready and sent her a shot of her own magic. The force of her power with the Jewel of Time sent a massive wave of energy through her body. The two bolts met, lighting up the room so brightly that Julia squinted and turned her face away.
Ethan,
she thought. He was being way too quiet, and her heart lurched painfully. She slammed her eyes shut. “Find me, Wan—”

“No!”
Indira cried, shooting black lightning from her free hand.

Julia dodged it, barely escaping the dark energy. She scrambled under a table on her hands and knees. “Find me, Wanderer!”

The table exploded in a shower of splinters and Julia screamed, her hands losing the icy chill that meant the magic was working. She backed away from Indira’s advancing form.
Ethan, where are you? Find me
—

Lightning struck her square in the chest this time. Pain sliced through her as the dark currents sparked, like a hundred cuts slashing her from the inside out.

“You can’t kill her,” Kaitlyn said.

“The jewel will not grant me her death by magic,” Indira said. Julia groaned as her jewel sent throbbing streams of power through her body. “But a knife poses no such limitations.”

“You can’t kill her!” Kaitlyn repeated. “I made you swear it in blood.”

Indira laughed. “Once the Sorceress is unleashed, even oaths of blood will not hinder me. Nothing will.”

Kaitlyn rushed to Julia’s side. “Give her the ring. What difference does it make now? Just take it off and give it to her.”

Julia shook her head, her teeth clenched against the pain of whatever the hell that spell had done to her.
Just take it off and give it to her.
Was that it, then? She had to take it off herself? Her eyes slid shut as she loosened her jaw enough to whisper, “Never.”

Her wrist was seized. Julia gasped as she was dragged across the room. She cried out in pain. Her hand was slammed onto another, smaller table.

“What are you
doing
?” Kaitlyn yelled.

“You want all the magic, Daughter of Future, and for that you need the jewels.” Indira’s voice thrummed low, reverberating with power as Julia kicked weakly, twisting in her grasp. “I did swear not to kill her, and until the Sorceress is freed that oath will stand. But we needn’t kill her to take the jewel.” Her lip curled up in a sinister smile. “Her death can come later. For now, a smaller sacrifice for the glory of the Sorceress. One that will grant me the ring.”

Indira raised the knife high over Julia’s hand. Horror and panic surged in her chest, rising like bile in her throat as she understood what was happening. Indira was going to chop off her hand to get the ring. “No,” she sobbed, tugging weakly against Indira’s grip. She lifted her gaze to Kaitlyn, whose eyes were wider than Julia had ever seen.

Kaitlyn shook her head wildly,
no-no-no.

The knife came down as a thought clicked in Julia’s mind—
freeze time!
She gathered her magic, realizing she was too late as a burn of pain crippled her hand.

Kaitlyn screamed and Julia felt her wrist released, her hand sickeningly numb. “Oh my gosh,” she whispered, slumping to the ground and forcing herself to look at her injured hand. An angry gash just below the knuckles gushed blood like a faucet, but her hand hadn’t been chopped off. She glanced up at Kaitlyn, who held Indira’s knife arm in a death grip.

“I see that the events of this night are meant to play themselves out as they will again in two years’ time,” Indira said, wrenching her knife arm free. “Oh, Fates, but I have changed something this time.”

“Summon Ethan!” Kaitlyn yelled.

“Not until I help you,” Julia said, gathering her magic. With time frozen, Indira would disappear, gone back to whatever dimension she had come from.

Julia held the present and in an instant the world froze.

Indira’s brittle laughter echoed through the dead air. “Have you forgotten? You freed me from my curse!” Her head whipped back to face Kaitlyn as she said, “But you, betrayer! You shall walk this earth cursed until your dying day.”

The sound of breaking glass shattered the stillness. Julia felt a surge of strength. She sent a bolt of magic to Indira. Kaitlyn did the same as a voice from behind startled her from her concentration.

“Julia!” Angie cried. Her small face and arms were covered in cuts. “You have to summon Ethan.”

The knife sliced through the air. Kaitlyn screamed, clutching her face as Indira began dissolving in a cloud of black mist.

Julia thrust out her hands, blasting Indira with magic. Angie and Kaitlyn joined in—Kaitlyn, with her face cut open from mouth to ear, blood flowing freely down her neck as white light released from her palms.

A crack split the air. The sound was so loud it might have been the earth itself. The ring on Julia’s hand began to burn. White light flooded from the jewel toward Indira, like the ring was releasing a spirit. She looked to Angie, unsure of what to do. Were they really giving up the jewels to bind Indira once again?

Angie met her gaze and nodded. Julia swallowed, knowing they had to hex Indira, even at the cost of the jewels.

Kaitlyn’s necklace and Angie’s bracelet began melting into magic streams, just like her ring. All three jewels spiraled around Indira, binding her like burning ropes. Indira’s entire body glowed as it spun in the air, her face drawn back in terror as she vanished, and along with her, the last traces of their jewels.

The room was once again plunged into darkness. An instant later, light floated from where Angie stood, steady and bright.

Julia met Kaitlyn’s gaze, surprised to find her eyes childlike and haunted as she touched her face. She fell to her knees.

“Summon Ethan,” Angie said. “I’ll heal Kaitlyn.”

Julia nodded. A tendril of fear curled through her heart at Angie’s tone. Her throat felt raw from screaming, her tongue thick with dread.

“Find me,” she whispered, shutting her eyes. She put every ounce of strength she had left into her words. “Find me, Wanderer.”

The icy chill, now so familiar, formed in Julia’s palms and soothed the burning gash on her hand. She willed Ethan to obey her, like he had told her to, forcing him through time and space.

Solid flesh pressed against her hands and Julia exhaled in relief, opening her eyes and blinking rapidly to clear the silly, unnecessary tears. But the skin that met her palms was moist and sticky. When she twined her fingers with his, there was no answering grip. Her lungs refused to draw a breath as she watched the mist take shape. Ethan appeared, completely unconscious and soaked from his neck to his waist in blood.

“Oh no,” Julia cried, dropping to the floor with him. “Oh, please, no.”

She tore open his once white shirt, now dyed red with his blood. A wave of nausea choked her. His body was slashed, blood flowing freely from a cut so deep she could see the inside of him. Soft white tissue bulged up through a well of crimson.

“Ethan,” she sobbed. Her eyes clouded over with tears as she held her hands over his abdomen.

Her fingers disappeared in the blood that gushed from his body and flowed over the wound on her hand, mingling with her own blood.
So much blood.
She had no way of healing a wound so complicated—maybe if she still had the ring—and the thought made her choke back another sob.

“Restore,” she said hoarsely. Pressure built in her ribcage as she caught the unnatural stillness of his chest. It wasn’t moving. He wasn’t breathing. “Restore,” she repeated, her voice little more than a whimper through tears that wouldn’t stop. “Please restore, Ethan.
Ethan.”

She had been so close to summoning him when she still had the jewel, but she hadn’t been quick enough. Shadows fell across his body. Julia sniffed loudly as she looked up to see Angie and Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn’s face was still unhealed and swelling fast. The two girls dropped to their knees beside her, laying their hands on Julia, giving her their power. A fresh rush of magic surged in her veins, and with it, the power of their shared emotions. She felt hope and fear and remorse, too many emotions to name. Julia reached deep into their willing minds, and it was as if a missing puzzle piece finally locked into place. She could use their emotions as her own.

Julia searched through Angie’s thoughts and feelings, finding her friend’s calm strength. She let it wash over her, absorbing it into her own mind, feeling her spirit grow relaxed as she looked at the situation with Angie’s ordered clarity.

She shifted her thoughts to Kaitlyn, probing the girl’s emotions until she isolated the one she wanted—Kaitlyn’s confidence. Julia drank it in until she felt as though she could do anything she wanted. At that moment, she wanted to heal Ethan.

Again she stretched out her hands. Magic streamed from her palms and over Ethan’s battered body. Angie’s thoughts coursed through her mind, gentle reminders of healing from the inside out. Kaitlyn sent immense amounts of power. It carried her through the long hour that followed, restoring Ethan’s veins, muscle, and
tissue, and all the while Julia watched Ethan’s face. This would work. It had to work.

Movement flickered behind his lids. At last he took a great, gasping breath, and then another.

His eyes flew open. “Jules?” The word was choked with effort

“I’m here,” she said, relief flooding her, warm and bright. She brushed back his hair with shaking fingers. “You’re okay.”

His silver eyes shifted back and forth. His next breath was ragged, the sound of a man drowning.

“You’re okay,” she repeated, gripping him as her heart lurched. “We healed you. We did everything right.”

“Don’t,” he said, swallowing with effort. “Don’t leave me.”

He made a noise like a cough from deep in his throat. The gurgling sound sent a rush of terror through Julia’s heart. She tried to prop him up. “I’m right here with you. I won’t leave you ever again.”

His next breath seemed to go on forever. The gurgling sound stopped. His eyes ceased in their endless searching. They became half-lidded.

Why wasn’t he moving?

She glanced up at Angie.

Angie’s slender fingers rose to her lips. “Oh no,” she whispered.

Her heart constricted. “But ... we healed him.”

Angie shook her head. She looked so sorry. Tears streamed down her pale, heart-shaped face, and Julia clenched her fists.

No
.

This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Ethan, you have to open your eyes. Please.

Angie knelt down beside her. She tried to hold her, but Julia shoved her off. She clung to Ethan’s body.

“He’s okay,” Julia said. “He just needs—he needs—” her voice faltered. Her throat seemed to stop working all together. She shook her head as her vision blurred.

Angie held her tighter. “I’m so sorry.”

“No! We finally worked together.” She squeezed her eyes shut, unable to bear the yawning pain stretching within her. “We healed him!”

“He’s gone,” Angie whispered.

Julia sent him more magic, lighting his body to brilliance. She stared at his eyes, willing the long, dark lashes to flutter.
No.
She reached for his thoughts and recoiled at the frightening emptiness in her arms.

He wasn’t there.

His spirit, his thoughts, the essence that had been inside his body was gone. Her heart beat out of rhythm. She fell across his body, a wail breaking free from her heart. Hot tears spilled down her face. “Find me,” she sobbed. “Find me, Wanderer.”

Angie held her again, rocking her back and away from his body.

She squeezed her eyes shut. “He asked me not to leave him.”

Angie murmured softly, urging her away.

Julia felt her grip on him slipping.

Don’t leave me.

Kaitlyn
swallowed with difficulty. She sat still as Angie tried to heal the wound on her face again.

Ethan. Dead.

Wow.

Her stomach twisted at the memory of Julia crying over his still body. She wasn’t used to feeling the dense weight of remorse.
It was Indira’s fault.
Indira had played her, plain and simple. A wave of hot embarrassment washed through her at the thought of how completely she had fallen for Indira’s BS. Ethan was dead because of it. What would have happened if Angie hadn’t gotten to them in time? A shudder racked her body as she touched her throat. If Indira had been willing to chop off Julia’s hand to get the jewel on her finger, she would have done worse to get the necklace.