Night Witch (Weatherstone College, #2)(68)

This took effort and concentration, but Logan didn’t pressure me. He was all reassurances and advice until I achieved my goal. I touched Gran’s hand, pressing the burning tip of my finger to her index finger, and in less than a second, I’d completed my task.

With a lump in my throat, I cradled the finger in my hands. “Thank you,” I whispered, stepping back from the crypt as I doused the fire inside me.

Logan didn’t touch it, but he did weave air magic around the length and levitate it from my grasp. “When we leave the graveyard, I’ll be able to send it back to your house.”

“Thank you,” I repeated for him this time, my voice rough with overwhelming emotions. It had been another long day, and I was ready to crawl back into bed.

Logan swept us through the graveyard this time, his winds gentle as they cradled me and deposited us by the car. With another flash of his impressive energy, Gran’s finger bone was safely on its way to the house. To be deposited behind the wards of my home, safe and sound. Logan grasped my hands, a cool wash of water erupting from his palm to cleanse them. He’d sensed through the bond that I was feeling a little ick at handling Gran’s dead body. “Thank you,” I repeated around a yawn. “You take such good care of me.”

“I will always take care of you, Precious,” he said, lifting me into his arms.

I’d have normally protested, but today I let him deposit me gently in the seat and click my seat belt into place. His magic cushioned my head as the door gently closed, and I slumped against it. My eyes were closed by the time he got in the driver’s side.

“Sleep, baby,” he murmured, and I felt a featherlight touch against my cheek. “I’ll keep the monsters away.”

I could handle my own monsters these days, but it was nice to know that I didn’t always have to. “I’ll protect you too,” I mumbled, almost gone.

I was asleep before I heard his reply, and didn’t wake until we pulled into the driveway of my parents’ house. Logan’s face was calm when he opened my door, but there was a darkness simmering in the depths of those green eyes. His energy felt tumultuous through our bond, and I got the impression he’d spent the drive worrying. I wanted to alleviate those concerns, but I couldn’t. The curse is progressing. I felt it in my essence as it ate away at both my magic and my lifeforce.

“A few of the others are inside,” he told me, his voice deeper than usual. “Let’s go and see what they’ve managed to procure from the list.”

He held out a hand for me to take, and as I stumbled, he hoisted me into his arms, pulling me gently against his chest. With a wave of his hand, he closed the car door and then strode into the house, carrying me all the way. We entered via the front door to find Mom and Dad, Trevor and Jensen inside.

“Paisley . . .” Mom sounded panicked, and she rushed toward me before we were through the entry.

“I’m okay,” I said, my voice stronger than I felt. “I’m just drained, but we got Gran’s finger bone. How did it go with all your items?”

Mom fussed about me for a second, before she settled down and pulled out her list. “Okay, we got the grains of paradise, frankincense, black pepper, and the purification herbal mix. Trevor got the lava, and Jensen found the urchin venom. Your sisters dropped off the snake venom and they’re heading to the coven to see if we can borrow one of their spellcasting rooms. We don’t have the facilities here to create an anti-curse this strong.”

“There’s no need for that,” Logan reminded them as he settled on the couch with me on his lap. “Rafael cast the curse, and he has to be the one to lift it.”

Mom nodded. “Right. Right. I’ll let the girls know.” She grabbed her phone to message the twins, and I pulled the list of ingredients from my pocket and crossed out what had been found.

Grains of paradise from West Africa

Silphium grown in the Lombardy region of Italy

Belladonna berries from Asia

Frankincense

Deep-sea urchin venom

Mandrake root

Black pepper standard

Amanita nouhrae mushroom from Chile

Two everlasting candles

Lava from an active volcano

The essence of the dead

A finger bone of a reaper witch

Blood of a spellcaster

Venom of a western taipan from Australia

A purification herbal mix



“We’re getting close,” I told Logan, holding the paper out to him.

He didn’t even look at the list, his dark gaze locked on my face. I had no idea what I looked like, but his expression told me it wasn’t good. Thankfully, he was distracted when the rest of our friends returned, and between Noah, Tobias, Sara, and Haley, they’d managed to gather up every other item on the list, except the essence of the dead.

Pulling myself off Logan’s lap, I stood and glanced around the group. “I’ve never covered this in class. Does anyone know how I gather the essence of the dead? I can feel the planes now, and I know I need to call it from the dead zone, where the souls haven’t been judged or moved on to Hel or the Eternal Lands yet, but how do I contain it?”

“You need a magical seal,” Dad told me. “It has to be formed of your energy, and it’ll hold the essence—or energy, really—of the dead you’ll call.”