Jenna wanted to see if she could rip out a few more stitches and make Sola fray even further. She stopped her retreat toward the water to peer closely at her. “Are you positive you can do this? You look tired, my friend. Maybe I should go hunt the wraith myself. I know that’s a job best done by two, but I can always call my sister.”
The other woman’s eyes went wide. “I am fine. We will do this now.” Her hands were clenched at her sides. “I need time to cast the circle, lay the runes, and speak the words of summoning. Leave me.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes,” Sola hissed.
“Just make sure you freeze the wraith this time and not me, right?”
Sola glared.
“Okay, you got it. But if you need me, just call.” Jenna started to walk away again, watching Sola as closely as she could.
“I won’t.”
“Cool.” Jenna gave her a thumbs-up. “You got this, Ingvar.”
The seer ignored her and walked on toward the remains of last night’s circle, muttering under her breath.
Jenna turned away, barely containing her grin, and jogged toward the water’s edge. This time, she stayed at the top of the bank. Right around the same place the wraith had appeared. She kept her head on a swivel and scanned for any signs of the creature. A few stars twinkled overhead, and here and there, the water caught the moon’s light.
A large blackbird landed on a big rock at the river’s edge. It was a beautiful bird, feathers iridescent and gleaming. Jenna looked more closely, realizing it was too big to be a blackbird. That was a raven. It looked up at her with a gaze that seemed wise beyond any typical bird’s. Jenna took a few steps toward the bird and kept her voice low. “Cole?”
The bird nodded.
Cole Van Zant was Pandora’s husband and her familiar. He was also a shifter who could take on this raven form. Most important, his presence actually allowed Pandora’s magic to work and work very well. In fact, since he’d entered Pandora’s life, her magic had been usable for the first time since she’d come into her powers.
Cole was also a professor at Harmswood Academy, where Tessa was the dean of library studies.
“I assume you’re here to help Pandora?”
He peered at her intently, cocking his head.
“And me?”
He nodded again.
“Thank you.”
He made a clicking sound, then took to the air. He let out a sharp caw as he rose into the darkening sky. The call seemed like a warning. Jenna turned in time to see the wraith lurching along the bank toward her.
Leif was still a ways out, but he looked more like a soot-covered man than a creature of smoke and shadow. Nothing about him looked even slightly nebulous. There was no doubt he’d gotten stronger, more solid. This had to happen now.
Good thing she genuinely looked forward to a battle, because she was definitely going to get one. What worried her was that practice, which she did a lot of, was no substitute for real in-the-moment fighting.
It was like riding a bike, though, right? She pondered the idea of drawing her sword here and starting without waiting for Sola to have the circle’s magic functioning, but they needed Sola fully engaged, or Bridget and Birdie were going to have a hard time freeing Ingvar from her clutches.
Besides, if Jenna got into trouble this far from the trap, her team wouldn’t know what was going on. And wraith killing really was best done in teams of two. Or more. Especially when that wraith had a warped seer on his side.
No, she needed to stick to the plan.
With that in mind, she took a few careless steps, deliberately displacing rocks and making noise.
The wraith looked in her direction. And growled. His eyes went red-hot.
Jenna went into full battle mode. She peered back at him with her chest out, chin down, and gaze fully engaged. “You ready to try again, wraith?”
The creature picked up speed, such as it was.
“Come on, then. See if you can catch me.” She crooked her finger at him, then made her way up the bank to the edge of the forest again. When he was below her, she started toward the circle.
She kept going, glancing over her shoulder every once in a while to make sure Leif was still following. He was. In a few more feet, Sola’s chanting reached her ears. Everything was proceeding as planned, except tonight there was going to be a very different ending.
“Ingvar,” she called out. “Ready?”
The seer wasn’t bothering to hide herself this time. She still stood near the back of the circle, but she was plainly visible. Arms outstretched, eyes black with the magic she was working, she nodded without breaking the rhythm of the words she was chanting.
Jenna hated being between Leif and the Sola-controlled Ingvar. She couldn’t keep an eye on both at the same time. Thankfully, Jenna wasn’t truly alone.
With that thought lifting her up, she began her slow retreat into the circle. Leif lumbered after her with all the grace of a drunken bull.
Helgrind quivered for release, but it wasn’t quite time, although her hands itched to grip the handle of her beloved sword.
The moment he was within the confines of the ring, two things happened.
The first was that Sola stepped forward, speaking the same words as she had before to close the circle. Light sprang up all around them, and Sola reached into the pouch at her waist and again drew out a handful of powder. She tossed it into the air.
Everything progressed exactly as it had the first time, but the circumstances weren’t the same as before because Alice had been here earlier and cast a spell of her own, to prevent Sola’s magic from working.
The second thing was Jenna reached back and pulled Helgrind free. The blade
