“You aren’t leaving the premises.”
“Nope. Just going to pop him with some pool noodles and let him practice blocks.”
Lucus frowned, shedding his glamour and stretching his leaf-and-vine wings. “Pool noodles? Is that a dish Titus serves the fighters here?”
I laughed. “No, it’s a toy. Just…don’t worry about it. It’s totally safe.”
Hekla picked up a green pool noodle that Titus had cut in half and began gently lowering them one by one, over and over, toward Oliver’s head. She tucked one under her arm, then lifted his forearm, showing him how to block.
With them busy, I met Corliss, the Binder, and Lucus in the center of the mats.
Though it was the middle of the night, I was glad the shades were down. If Nancy or her relatives wandered past, I didn’t want them peeking in on us and causing trouble.
The Binder handed me the magestone from the castle. “My name is Sebastian.”
My jaw dropped, the magestone warming my fingers. I quickly closed my mouth and traded a glance with Lucus, who raised his eyebrows, likewise surprised. “Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, Sebastian.”
Sebastian gave a half bow, and I took a minute of gratitude for the weight he’d put on. He didn’t look as much like a skeleton anymore, though his eyes remained shadowed and bloodshot.
He extended a hand to Corliss. “I will do my best to trust you. We must band together now more than ever,” Sebastian said. Corliss gripped his forearm, and Sebastian curled his fingers around hers in an antiquated handshake.
“I agree. To defeat this demon,” Corliss said, “we must release our own ghosts for a time and fight side by side.” Corliss’s voice sounded no less harsh than ever, but there was a pleased gleam in her light eyes. Her red-tinged ivy wings shuffled, nearly touching Lucus’s.
“What’s our first step?” I looked to Sebastian because he was the other mage here, and since he’d nabbed the magestone for me, I supposed he had some sort of plan.
“Take fae magic from Lucus like you did after the unicorn blessed you.”
Blessed me?
I did, the dark unicorn said inside my mind.
“He just spoke to me,” I explained.
Corliss shook her head and huffed a laugh. “I still can’t believe I’m standing next to the Yew Queen and that one of our dark beasts, the most ancient of them all, chooses to speak to you.”
“I can’t believe it either.”
The others stepped back, and I placed my hands on Lucus’s broad chest. His heart beat strongly under my fingertips, and I inhaled his scent, my body lighting up with want. I swallowed, trying to focus on the task at hand. The edge of Lucus’s mouth twitched.
“You aren’t helping me focus.”
“I can’t help how much you adore me, Yew Queen.”
I punched his stomach lightly, making him chuckle before I closed my eyes. You here for this? I asked the unicorn.
Yes. This is how you will fight the beast. But know that the outcome is hazy.
You don’t think we’ll win.
I do not. But I hope I’m wrong.
Me too.
Blood-red light flowed over the tips of my fingers, the dark unicorn’s blood still active in me. Lucus’s nose brushed across my throat as he fed on my aura. He sighed, and I felt his body tighten against mine. I pushed the fact that we were being watched out of my mind. This was hot as hell, but it was necessary too. We weren’t merely being ridiculous exhibitionists. Lucus’s fae magic rose to meet my palms, tingling and heavy and bright emerald as it passed into my body, feeling like a wave of cool creek water. The fae magic, combined with my own, made my blood spark in my veins. I fisted my hands, ready to take on the world.
Corliss looked me up and down as I took a step back from Lucus. “Do you feel our magic inside you? Like fresh air?”
“It feels like cool water to me.”
A smile ghosted over her face, more happiness than I’d seen since I’d met her. “I’m glad you have it to save your people.”
I grinned. Now I had to hug her. And so I did. She huffed out a surprised laugh.
“Since you’re going to hang out in the American South for the foreseeable future,” I said, “you’ll need to get prepped for a load of hugging.”
“You aren’t as hard-edged as you appear from the outside, mage.” Corliss glanced toward the door, then back at us. “Someone is here.”
We froze. Had Nancy learned we were here? Or her nephews? But no one shook the locked door.
Shrugging, I took the Yew Bow from my back. “Maybe it was one of Titus’s students.”
Sebastian gestured to the magestone I held. “See if you can draw an arrow with that.”
I held the Bow up, aiming at a heavy bag, then pulled the string back all while keeping the magestone palmed in that same hand. Sweat beaded on my forehead, and I tried to imagine the amethyst arrow we all hoped would be powerful enough to slay the demon. Magic zipped along my arm, and a line of crackling light burst along the path of the magestone.
“Hey, hey, hey! It’s working!”
Lucus beamed. “Of course it is. We knew you could manage it.”
But as I focused on the target, the lightning arrow fizzled. I dropped my arms. “Damn.”
“Try again,” Hekla called out from the far corner where she was now batting Oliver gently with a square punching pad as he rolled on the floor giggling. “If I can create the details on laufabraud with this thing,” she waved her Frankenfinger—the finger that hadn’t been set right after breaking during one of our climbing trips, “then you can do this.”
“What is laufabraud?” Lucus asked.
I raised the Bow. “Icelandic leaf bread. Very detailed dough work.” This time, as I drew the magestone back, the arrow appeared immediately. I was still sweating like a whore in church, but I was doing this thing.
Magic hummed, drowning out Oliver’s
