Cal stared back at his father with a blank face, and I noticed Maddie’s eyes flitting to him every few seconds, even though I knew she was still trying to ignore him. There was something brewing between the two of them, and Maddie was fighting it. Baen, meanwhile, was watching Maddie. He’d gone to the aunties after the others came to rescue me. When he let Fe and Pip know what was happening, they’d gone to the Wicked Quill and retrieved a very specific book Baen had in his collection and brought it back here just for this purpose. Thank the great pumpkin he’d made it to the fight in time.
I held that book in my trembling hands now, and even just holding it, I could feel the power pulsing from its pages. It was an ancient grimoire, belonging to some line of witches that didn’t exist anymore. An antique, Baen had said, and extremely valuable.
I’d spoken to my aunties when Fe took me into the kitchen for my healing tonic. I’d told them what I needed to do, and they’d agreed wholeheartedly. It was the only way. So here we were, standing together with the man responsible for it all between us, smiling like he was genuinely proud of himself. All because of some sick obsession with my mother. It was disgusting, and I could barely even look at him. He’d ruined too many lives already, and it stopped here.
“Idcirco praecipio tibi ut aperta,” Auntie Pip said in a strong voice as she spoke the revelation spell, her hand outstretched.
The wall shimmered and twisted, until an arched doorway suddenly appeared out of thin air. The knocking was louder now, and the door seemed to be moving again, breathing like it was a living thing. Auntie Pip had said it was a living thing, and I believed it. The door pulsed with power, and shivers racked my body, causing my hair to stand on end.
I stepped forward, opening the door. It took a little force to do so, because as soon as it cracked open, a whirlwind flowed through. The dim hallway was bathed in light, and I stared into the writhing chasm of color, sparks, fog, and raw magic—the portal to the mortal world. The last in existence that was accessible at any time. On the other side of those lights was Sunset Hollow. My town. My history. The remnants of the life I was choosing to leave behind.
I looked at Ichabod and cracked open the grimoire. I had the page marked with a bookmark, and I took a deep breath before reciting the spell word for word, my voice strong and steady.
“Ego tibi vires Ichabod. Adque rediit mortale!”
His eyes went wide, and his mouth parted in a scream as tendrils of blackness snaked from my fingertips, stretching towards him like creeping arms. “No! You can’t do this!” He was panicking in earnest now as reality set in.
I repeated the phrase until that blackness was wrapping around him, making him shake, scream, and beg. I took sick pleasure in his pain, watching in awe as his magic seeped from his very skin and into the air between us. It was a shining light, and it was so bright, I had to look away. I could feel the raw magic flowing into me, but I didn’t want it. I wasn’t a witch. I was a necromancer, and I had no need for this kind of magic.
Looking around, my eyes landed on Cal, and I smiled. Flinging my hands out, I ripped the last remnants of power from Ichabod, sending him crumbling to his knees, and flung it straight at Calvin’s chest. He staggered back, eyes wide as Maddie ran for him, but she stopped herself last minute.
“What did you do to him?” she breathed, looking at me with wide eyes.
I was breathing hard as I watched the magic soak into his skin, making his eyes flare with power and then settle. He sat against the wall in a daze.
“I gave him his father’s powers.” I looked back to Ichabod with a pitying sneer. “This piece of shit is mortal now. I think it’s only fitting he be sent to live among his own kind, don’t you?”
Maddie choked on her surprise, saying, “You mean we’re not gonna kill him?”
I locked eyes with Cal, who was watching me with a perplexed frown. “No. We’re not killing him. We’re doing him one better. Ichabod will be banished to the mortal world forever, and then we will shatter this portal. No coming in or out of this world, unless it’s on Halloween night. It’s too dangerous. He can rot with the mortals—no powers, no allies, nothing, just the way he deserves.”
Cal stared at me, and I could have sworn I detected gratitude shining in his eyes. I knew he most likely hated his father now, but still, losing a parent wasn’t an easy thing. I had the power to kill this warlock where he stood, but I was making a choice.
“That’s right, assface, fuck you!” Jessica shouted as she raised her one leg and pointed. I felt her crawl out from under my hair and smiled at her squeaky little voice providing me much appreciated back up. “Have fun eating mortal food and paying taxes!”
“How do you know what taxes are?” Freddy asked.
Jessica snorted, rubbing her legs together in an evil manner. “I know things.”
I looked at my aunties and nodded. The two of them waved their hands in tandem, forcing Ichabod to his feet. He was straining against the magic, utterly worthless and weak. He was as mortal as we used to be, and he would never desecrate another grave ever again.
He teetered on the threshold now, and my aunties were waiting for the go ahead, giving me the chance to have the final say. I stepped up to his back and raised up on
