In their quest to gain access, they didn’t even notice that I was standing nearby. I doubted they would have even cared. Syncing my magic with that of the barrier, I stepped through. The sudden whip of pain that sparked in every cell in my body made me wince. But it was momentary.
“Go back to the billabong,” I told Phoenix and the yowies. Of course they just sat there watching me. I left them to their spying and jumped over the fence. One of these days I would just use the gate. At this point, it was a ritual.
I found the nymphs clustered near the oak tree. They had always kept up appearances for me. This time they dispensed with their glamour. Gone were the stunning creatures of mythology. In their place were heathens. Their claws were three inches long. Their faces had elongated to the point of gruesome. The lights that flickered around them were no longer in bright, sunny colours but were murky brown and black.
The one closest to me screeched in my face. I recognised the cadence of her speech. When she tried to fly at my face, I flicked my hand. “Why didn’t you say something to Jacqueline when they first arrived?” I snapped at the unravelled purple nymph.
Her voice was just barely audible it was so high-pitched. Being half in the Ley dimension, I could just about understand her.
“Can’t do anything,” she said. “Grove belongs to the Fae realm.” They let out a unified cry of such deep hated, I almost wanted to turn around and run. In that moment, I understood the source of their anguish. Once upon a time, they had been ruled by the Fae. As a result, the Fae had residual rights to the Grove even if the nymphs no longer recognised their sovereignty. Even Jacqueline couldn’t overrule the millennia-long connections that tied these two races.
“Hell with that.” Stomping through the Grove, I walked to the clearing and sat down on the grass. The demon blade made it awkward to sit, but I unclipped the scabbard and tossed it on the ground. The nymphs followed me. They flew in agitated circles around my head. I unsheathed the demon blade and used the tip to slice open my thumb. No matter how many times I did this, I would never get used to the flare of pain. Still, I gritted my teeth and pressed the sides of the cut together until a bead of blood gathered on my skin. I drew a circle in the grass.
Through the Ley dimension, I saw the red of my current protection circle pulse brighter. I had laid that trap there for the Sisterhood. It wouldn’t bode well to set a protective circle against the supernaturals because that would preclude the students from using the Grove for their lessons. I scoffed at the idea of a one-size-fits-all spell.
“Purple,” I said. She stopped her vicious hissing and dropped down in front of me. I held the demon blade out to her. A second ticked by where her face went absolutely still. Before my eyes she morphed back into the beautiful creature I was used to. For the first time there was a sliver of fear in her eyes.
“It’s not that bad,” I said. She glanced at the demon blade and back to me. Something shimmered over her perfect features. Reaching out, she pressed her whole palm to the demon blade. It hissed in satisfaction.
I wanted to smash it against the ground. No matter how much I tried, the stupid blade was demonic. It enjoyed the taste of supernatural blood. She flinched and pulled her hand away. Her whole palm was bleeding.
I bit my lip and pressed my thumb to it.
A soft breeze whipped through the Grove. It howled as it reached the clearing. I closed my eyes once more and concentrated on the circle. With her added strength, the red glowed so bright it bathed the surrounding area in crimson.
“Make the pact,” I told her. She began to speak high-pitched words that would seal her will to that of the circle. It would give her control over who stepped through the circle’s protection. While she did that, I concentrated on transforming the circle from a simple barrier into something that would make the Fae think twice before they messed with it again.
As a hedge witch, my mind naturally turned to nature. Vines of blue and black began to twine around the red circle. It lashed into thick ropes that expanded past the barrier the nymphs had erected. I hit something on the far side of the Grove. With the new positioning of the Academy, the Grove was located right next to Nightblood’s library. I felt the magic that fused the Academies together.
That shouldn’t matter in this instance, so I chose to ignore it. The second the Fae made their next assault the new blood-magic barrier snapped back at them.
My mouth dropped open as magical thorns the size of my arm whipped out from the circle like thrown knives. They burrowed into the Fae who had dared to attack. I heard a high-pitched whine as the Fae fell over clutching at his arm. Uh oh. I was going to get in trouble for that one. It was hard to muster any guilt. The rest of the Fae’s friends lifted him up and carried him away.
The nymphs chortled. The purple nymph ceased her chanting at the same time I peeled my eyes open. As the colours of the Ley dimension dimmed, I found myself completely exhausted. I fell over onto my side like a limp noodle. The nymphs danced around me.
“The least you can do is give me an Arcana fruit,” I croaked. No such luck. What they did instead was spray water from the pool
