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  A little more of my magic slipped. As the ropes dropped from Belinda’s body, her eyes flickered black. She grinned in triumph. I hardened my focus, and the ropes wrapped around Belinda’s ankles instead. She tripped and fell over. When she hit the floor, she had normal eyes again.

  “I’m still here!” she shrieked. “Get it out of me!”

  I charged over to Pilar at the sake of ruining the ritual. I refused to let Belinda die because of my stupid second task. “I need to add another spell to your ritual, one that will separate the demon from Belinda’s body.”

  Pilar’s fingers flexed and clenched as she struggle to keep the demon in place. “Got something in mind?”

  “No!” I hadn’t studied enough demonology to memorize an exorcism spell. “I’ll have to make something up?”

  Pilar’s eyes widened. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

  I pointed to Belinda, baring her teeth again. “So is this! I’m not going to let some stupid wish demon kill Belinda!”

  “Do it!” Pilar shouted.

  Off complete instinct, I shook the elastic band out of my hair and threw it into center ring. It wrapped itself around Pilar’s wrist and turned green. A matching one, made of magic, appeared on my own wrist. It wasn’t an exorcism spell. It was a binding spell, one that would connect Belinda’s mortal body to my own. The demon, without its own physical form, wasn’t included in the connection. Slowly, I guided Belinda toward the edge of the candles. She was able to move her foot from the center, but as she got closer to the border, she gagged.

  “Keep moving!” I encouraged Belinda.

  Her eyes flickered from brown to black and back again as she took another step toward the outside of the candle star. She fell to her knees, and her whole body heaved. I kept using my magic to pull her toward me. One of her feet made it out, then the other. Her torso remained in the star as she convulsed and threw up. Something small and gray emerged from her throat, slid across the floor, and landed in the middle of the star with a disgusting squelch. Belinda pulled the rest of her body from the candle outline, gasping with effort.

  Sweat beaded on Belinda’s brow, but her eyes remained firmly brown. The three of us turned our gaze to the creature trapped in the star’s center.

  Vesuvio was not the grand and terrifying demon I expected it to be. Rather, it was a slimy gray humanoid with enormous pointed ears and fingers so long that the tips dragged along the floor. It looked like an ugly elf.

  The demon threw itself toward the star’s border and ricocheted off the invisible shield Pilar had engineered. In a high-pitched voice, it screamed nonsense at us and hammered its bizarre fists against the shield.

  “That’s it?” Pilar asked. “That little thing?”

  Belinda cupped a hand to her throat. “It was inside me?”

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “We’re getting rid of it, and you shouldn’t have any lasting side effects once it’s gone. Pilar, do the vanquishing spell. I don’t how long this shield is going to hold.”

  I had expended so much energy on the spell to separate Belinda from the demon that it was getting difficult to lend my craft to Pilar. The green light flickered as she lifted her hands to get back to the ritual. She chanted the ceremonial phrase. On the third time around, Belinda joined her. Oddly, I felt a power boost, as if Belinda was able to add her energy to the mix even though she wasn’t a witch. Then again, I believed all women had innate power within them.

  The green glow strengthened and swirled around the angry miniature demon, as if we had engineered an indoor tornado. Through the twisted magic, the demon grew more agitated. It screamed bloody murder as the spell caused its skin to evaporate. The muscles and tendons went next, leaving holes in the demon near its joints. The bones of its elbows and knees protruded from the skin as it hollered in dismay.

  Right when I thought we were in the clear, the spell flickered and died. The green twister fell to the floor in a heap. The demon, half-gone, snickered and cheered. A completely different colored aura appeared out of nowhere. It was the pure definition of blue. Not too bold or pale, it was both the color of the ocean and the sky. It was the color of the universe. It was the color of the Summers’ magic and Cassandra’s aura.

  When Cassandra herself emerged from the explosion of blue, gasps echoed from the stairs. Malia, Karma, and Laurel had not seen any image of their mother since she had sacrificed herself to the yew tree all those years ago. They wore looks of admiration, love, and deep sadness, but it was Morgan I couldn’t tear my eyes from.

  Morgan, of all the sisters, had had the roughest relationship with her mother. Though they argued for decades, they eventually made peace, and Morgan had adapted more of her mother’s qualities over the years. She had none of Cassandra’s looks, no long white hair or silvery gray eyes, but she had all of Cassandra’s power and worthiness. As the Summers sisters stared at their mother, Cassandra spoke to them.

  “Though I sing for joy at the sight of you,” she began in a clear, bright voice, “I am not here for you, my daughters.” She turned her gaze downward, at me, Pilar, Belinda, and the Vesuvio. “I am here because someone has accessed a spell of mine. A mortal, no less. Explain yourselves.”

  Since Pilar and Belinda cowered beneath Cassandra’s magical form, I stepped forward. “Forgive me, Cassandra. We needed to vanquish a demon, the one you see in front of you, and your spell was the only one that would get the job done.”

  Cassandra’s gaze settled on me. “Gwenlyn. My, you’ve grown!”

  Sometimes I forgot that Cassandra was the first person to show me affection and love when I first arrived at the Summers house. I’d only known her for a short period of time, but she’d left a mark on me regardless.

  “I can grow even more,” I told her. “Ever since you welcomed me to Yew Hollow, I’ve been able to change the way I see the world. I’m not such a cynic anymore. I believe in love and family. That’s why I had to call on you.”

  Cassandra folded her arms. “Ah. This is not about the demon. It’s about your quest to become a real Summers witch. No wonder I’ve lost access to the coven.”

  “You lost access?” I said. “When the yew tree went dark?”

  “Yes, and it’s all for you,” Cassandra replied. “You’re the key to this coven, Gwen. You are a vessel for its power, just like the tree. Just like Morgan. Without you, a third of the coven’s power is gone.”

  “But I’m not actually one of the Summers.”

  “You really believe that?” Cassandra scoffed and waved the declaration aside. “Don’t listen to what anyone tells you. Surnames and bloodlines don’t matter. Though we are a traditionally proud coven, it should not become our fault. You, Gwen, are one of us. The fact that you could summon me, even without your share of the Summers’ power, proves it. Now, where’s this demon you speak of?”

  I pointed beneath Cassandra’s cloud of magic, where the Vesuvio sputtered its strange language and shook its fist up at Cassandra. “It’s a wish demon that’s been tricking people since the fall of Pompeii. If we get rid of it—”

  “Ah!” Cassandra clasped her hands under her chin and gazed at the tiny demon. “Yes, I’ve had one or two run-ins with this fellow during my time on earth. An unpleasant little thing, isn’t he? He always managed to escape my attempts to vanquish him. Clever, no?”

  “Pain in the ass, more like,” I said.

  Cassandra noticed Pilar again. “She made the deal, yes? I understand why you needed her now. Only a human can vanquish a demon, but only a witch can perform a vanquishing spell. It’s meant to be a paradox, but I suppose little Vesuvio here didn’t think of this loophole.”

  “I can’t sustain Pilar much longer,” I said. True, my arms were shaking with the effort of keeping the pathway between me and Pilar open. “And if she wields my magic much longer, she might never recover.”

  Pilar wasn’t doing too well either. Dark rings had appeared beneath her eyes in a matter of minutes. “Please, Cassandra. Let us use your spel
l.”

  “But of course,” Cassandra said, simple as that. “Do your worst. I’ll leave you be.”

  As Cassandra’s blue aura swept her manifestation away, she gazed across the living room at the four women standing on the staircase. Her daughters were the last things she saw before she disappeared.

  “Do it,” I commanded Pilar as soon as Cassandra disappeared. “Finish the ritual.”

  Pilar restarted the chant. Belinda joined in. I added my own voice to the mix, as did the four sisters. The green twister restarted. As our voices grew louder, the twister intensified until the demon was no longer visible behind it. The roar of magic drowned out the demon’s screams, and I thought I might go deaf from the cacophonous spell.

  Everything quieted at once. The twister vanished. The candles blew themselves out. Pilar, Belinda, and the sisters stopped chanting. The room became still.

  And the Vesuvio was gone.

  16

  “Do we have to do this?”

  While Belinda and Pilar recovered from their demonic ordeal in the living room, sipping calming draught that they thought was herbal tea, Morgan and I discussed their fate in hushed voices in the kitchen.

  “Yes,” Morgan insisted. “The memory spell will keep them safe.”

  “But they promised not to tell,” I countered. “It doesn’t seem fair to take this from either of them. They deserve to know the truth.”

  “They’re mortals, Gwen,” Morgan said. “They’ll never be like us, and we can’t risk letting them go. They might tell someone else, and with our secrecy spells down, that someone could easily take advantage of us. Besides, don’t you want Pilar and Belinda to have normal lives?”

  My shoulders slumped with defeat. “I suppose you’re right. Memory wipes always feel like a violation of human rights.”

  “It is,” Morgan agreed. “But for the sake of the coven, we sometimes find them necessary.”

  Her hand shook as she squeezed my arm. Her energy buzzed with a weird static, like a poorly-tuned radio. Cassandra’s sudden appearance had affected all the Summers sisters in some way. Malia, Karma, and Laurel had gone for a walk around the house to clear their heads, but Morgan declined the offer to join them. Still, she seemed shaken up.

  “Are you going to be okay?” I asked her in a low voice. “I didn’t know that was going to happen. I swear. I never would have done it if I had known.”

  Morgan smiled and clutched both of my shoulders. “Gwen, relax. I’m not mad at you. If anything, I’m proud of you. My mother was always highly protective of her spells. You’re a mighty woman to get her permission to perform one.”

  “It was for the good of the many,” I said. “The Vesuvio would have kept causing trouble if we had let it go.”

  She clapped me on the back. “And your second task is in the bag. How do you feel?”

  “Well, I never want to eat cupcakes again.”

  Morgan chuckled. “I’m sure Belinda could change your mind.”

  Together, the two of us joined Belinda and Pilar in the living room. With the demon gone, Pilar had been able to keep the things she’d wished for. Though she still retained her youthful appearance, the lines around her eyes were a bit deeper if you looked close enough. The important thing was that no one had come around demanding the mayor be ousted. Pilar could continue to help Yew Hollow improve.

  Belinda had finished her calming draught and moved on to coffee. Each time she drained her mug, it refilled itself. Either Belinda was determined to wash the demon’s remains from her system with caffeine and acid, or she was so fascinated by the self-filling cup that she kept drinking to see it happen again. My bet was on the first one though.

  “How’s everyone feeling?” I asked them. “Any residual side effects.”

  “Gas,” Belinda said and burped. “Oh, goodness. Excuse me.”

  Morgan vanished Belinda’s coffee cup. “You’ll thank me for that later.”

  Pilar had responded to the calming draught better than Belinda had. She wore a relaxed look, content to sit in the strange home of magical women for as long as necessary. “I’m all right. It’s done, isn’t it? The demon won’t come back?”

  “Definitely not,” Morgan assured her. “Cassandra’s spell eradicated the wish demon from our earth. It’s probably in some crappy level of the otherworld, looking for unlucky souls to trick.”

  Pilar and Belinda exchanged confused looks. They had no idea what Morgan was talking about.

  “Everything will go back to normal, right?” Belinda asked with another quiet belch. “I won’t accidentally dump a bunch of spiders into my next batch of cupcakes?”

  “I can’t promised that,” Morgan teased. “But if you do drop something unsavory into your baked goods, it won’t be because of a demon possession.”

  Belinda sank into the couch cushions. “Oh, thank God.”

  “Before you leave, we need to ask the two of you for a favor.” I exchanged a look with Morgan, who egged me on with a slight nod. “We need a strand of your hair. It’s to cement the spell. Precautionary, of course. The demon won’t return unless someone calls it.”

  Pilar immediately plucked a hair out from the root and handed it over. “Whatever it takes to keep that thing where it belongs.”

  “Certainly,” Belinda agreed, tweezing one of her own hairs from the top of her head. “I refuse to let anything that disagreeable have an effect on me again.”

  I collected the two strands of hair and held them in my palm. Morgan clasped her hand in mine, enclosing the hair between us. At the same time, we drew upon our craft. Each of us glowed with our respective aura colors.

  Pilar stumbled off the couch and backed against the wall. “What are you doing? Why are you aiming at us?”

  Belinda caught on and cowered behind the coffee table. “Please don’t hurt us!”

  My heart twinged at their scared faces. I would never intentionally hurt either one of them, and I hated having to lie to them. I pulled strength from Morgan’s grasp, willing myself to remember why we had to do this. Like banishing the Vesuvio, it was for the good of everyone involved.

  “Don’t be scared,” I told Pilar and Belinda. The craft in the air distorted my voice, making it sound far off and robotic. “This won’t hurt you.”

  Morgan began sinking in her broken, imperfect Latin. I joined in, harmonizing instead of matching her pitch. Our voices mingled together and caught the attention of the other Summers sisters, who’d returned from their walk. As Morgan and I sang, coaxing the magical memories out of Belinda and Pilar’s minds, the sisters watched and listened from the foyer.

  When the spell came to the end, Morgan dropped my hand. The hair disintegrated in a flash of white light. With it, Belinda and Pilar’s memories officially vanished. Morgan and I would remember what happened, but Belinda and Pilar would fill in the blank spaces with normal, mortal versions of their tribulations.

  Pilar shook her head to clear it. “Where am I? What is this place?”

  “You’re at my house,” Morgan told her. “Don’t you remember? I called you and Belinda to help reschedule Chief Torres’s surprise retirement party. What with all that sinkhole fuss at the Wash and Go last week, the plans fell through.”

  “Yes,” Pilar said, brows furrowing as she fought to retain these false facts. “I suppose I do recall something like that.”

  “Belinda, you volunteered to cater desserts,” I added. “Chief Torres loves your donuts. We can’t throw him a retirement party without them.”

  Belinda nodded excitedly, her own eyes a little blank as well. “Of course! Anything for the chief. He’s one of my best regulars.”

  “Perfect!” Morgan gave them both what I liked to call her “town square” smile. It was the pleasant beam she reserved for mortals. The rest of us got the pleasure of seeing her real smile, which was always more of a smirk. “I’m so glad to have the two of you on board. I’ll call you with the details. Thanks for stopping by!”

  She ushered Pilar
and Belinda toward the door, who exchanged confused glances. Why was Morgan seeing them out when it felt like they had just arrived? With muddled memories, the two mortal women waved goodbye as they crossed the yard. Morgan and I watched from the porch.

  “Say, Belinda.” Pilar pointed to Belinda’s lime green car. “Do you mind giving me a ride? I’m utterly exhausted.”

  “Sure thing, Mayor Mendez. Hop in.”

  As the car disappeared down the hill, Morgan draped an arm around my shoulders. “I gotta hand it to you, kid. With you around, things are never boring.”

  “Oi!”

  We both spun around at the exclamation, hands at the ready to cast shield spells, but it was only Alberta calling us as she made her way around to the front of the house from the backyard.

  “Did I hear the rumors correctly?” she demanded. “Did you use one of Cassandra’s spells to vanquish an ancient demon for your second task?”

  “Ugh,” Morgan groaned. “I’ll never understand how quickly gossip spreads around here.”

  “Karma.”

  “Oh. I guess I do understand.”

  Alberta halted next to me and peered at me from her great height. “Well? Is it true?”

  “Yes, it’s true.”

  Alberta’s annoyed look transformed into a smile. She patted me on the back with such force that my knees buckled beneath me. “Well done, Guinevere. Well done.”

  Alberta’s reappearance was far from reassuring. On one hand, it was a victory. Without Alberta’s help, I’d learned how to solve my “fatal flaw” on my own, a key part to my accomplishment of the second task.

  “But I leaned on Morgan and the Summers,” I argued when Alberta informed me. “They helped me realize what I needed to do.”

  “The difference was your intention,” Alberta said. “When you came to me, you expected me to solve the problem for you. When you went to the Summers, you were determined to vanquish the Vesuvio with Pilar no matter what. That was a big change.”

  On the other hand, working with Alberta again meant that my final, most daunting task was nigh. Less than a week remained until my twenty-seventh birthday, but I received no word of my next assignment.