While he throws his tantrum, the six of us check in with each other, through our minds.
Are we ready?
Yes.
Absolutely.
Without a doubt.
We will end him.
“It could have been beautiful,” he continues and then turns a charming smile on the three of us. Zeroing in on me. “Daphne. You’re so sweet. So loving. I know that you don’t want to do this.”
Play along, I tell the others.
“I think I have to.” I make my voice shaky. “My sisters told me that I have to.”
“They’re wrong,” he says and clucks his tongue. “You don’t have to listen to them, Daphne. We can make them see what we do. That we’re better together. That the four of us can be together and it’ll be so beautiful. So perfect. You see it, don’t you?”
“Well, I guess.” I purse my lips as if I’m torn. “I guess I do.”
“Of course, you do. You know that everything I did was for you and your sisters. That it was to show you how much I love you. You believe that, right, Daphne?”
Anger. So much rage fuels me now, but I can’t let it blind me from what we have to do.
“Here,” Horace says and waves his hand. Suddenly, there’s a movie screen above his head, and he’s showing us little snippets of time. Starting from when we were children.
“Look how lovely all three of you are, helping me in the garden.” His face is calm and happy as he watches three girls skipping around the yard. The images change. “And here you are, outside reading your books by the trees. Spending time with me.”
We were not. We were reading, and when we noticed he was nearby, we fled inside.
Because Horace was always creepy.
“And here.” His face changes now into sinister lines as the image morphs to his lair in the bayou. So many women, tortured and terrorized. “Look at how I ended it for you. Look at the skill it took for me to make every single one of them so special. All of that blood, all of the tokens of love I saved for you.”
“You’re an evil piece of shit.” My voice is as calm as his. At first, his face doesn’t register what I’m saying. “And we’re about to make you feel the kind of pain you inflicted on every one of those girls for all eternity.”
“You little bitch!”
Now! Jackson says, and we begin the last of the spell, speaking in unison.
“With the power of the four elements in us
Horace and his evil will no longer be
Evil spirit be cast out of this plane
Trapped for all time in our vessels of pain.
As we will it, so mote it be.”
We repeat the spell over and over again as we each take off our protection stones and hold them high in the air.
Horace begins to break, to fragment and shatter into tiny pieces of black mist. And as we continue to chant, he’s sucked evenly into each of our stones until he’s completely trapped in our hands.
The doorway closes, and we’re back in the chaos and the swirling wind.
Millie waves her arms, stirring the wind at her will.
“Let’s clean this up,” she says with a smile. Suddenly, the shadows, the last of Horace’s army, are sucked into the ground, and the portal is closed.
Under the light of the glowing full moon, eclipse finished, we stand, gasping for breath, staring at each other in the silence.
“We did it.” Jackson sweeps me into his arms, and then the six of us hold one another.
“He’s gone,” Lucien says, relief and gratitude heavy in his voice. “Gods, we did it.”
“They’re not gone,” Brielle says, pointing above us. “Not yet.”
Jackson’s parents, our grandmother, and the soldiers who came to help smile down on us. With a wave, the gateway closes.
“No one would ever believe it,” Jackson says. I take his hand and look into his eyes. “Hell, I don’t know if I believe it.”
I pinch his arm.
“Okay, I believe it.”
Someone behind us starts to clap, and then it spreads throughout the silent crowd.
We turn and see our friends, our loved ones, applauding with massive smiles on their faces, all of them looking so proud. So tired.
And so completely wonderful.
Mama steps forward and hugs us close.
“I knew you could do it,” she says. “Blessed be, my beautiful girls.”
“We have some cleansing to do,” Miss Sophia says, holding an old broom. “Our night isn’t over yet.”
For several hours, we sweep and clean the area. Pour more salt. Burn sage, scatter herbs, and light cleansing fires.
Until no more paranormal activity remains.
“Are you going to ask me now?” I ask Jackson after we’ve finished and the circle is closed. “You said you would when all of this was said and done.”
He laughs and pulls me against him, kisses me gently. “And I will. But not on a battlefield. Not on this battlefield, anyway.”
“Killjoy.”
He laughs again and spins me around. “I love you, Daphne.”
We came back to Millie and Lucien’s house to sleep for the night. Just the six of us. Everyone else went back to their homes, ready to sleep soundly in the knowledge that they are safe.
“I felt it,” I say quietly. We’re gathered in the library, the way we’ve been doing for what seems like weeks now, eating breakfast and enjoying some coffee.
Goddess, I need all the coffee I can get.
And the best part is, there’s no potion in it this time.
“What did you feel?” Brielle asks.
“All night long, I felt the heaviness gone. It’s like a weight’s been lifted. I just feel, well, weightless, I guess. Carefree. I’ve never known what that feels like.”
Lucien reaches over to pet Sanguine, who hasn’t left Millie’s side since we walked in the door very early this morning.
“We did something last night that we’ve fought many lifetimes for,” Lucien says. He has to stop and swallow the lump in his throat. “I’ve never grown old with Millie. I’ve never known what the day after the fight looks like.”
“It looks like six tired people stuffing beignets into their faces,” Cash says.
“What do we do with those?” I ask, pointing to the box where we stored the stones that hold Horace. “They can’t stay together.”
“I think each couple needs to take a vacation,” Millie says. “To very different parts of the world to dispose of him so the spell can never be undone, and he can’t escape. Those exact locations should never be shared outside of the person who handles the disposal.”
I look immediately to Brielle, who hates to travel.
The shadows always torment her.
“I can do it,” she says, reading my mind. “I think that’s a great idea.”
“It’ll have to be a two-for,” Jackson says. “For example, Daphne and I will have to visit two places, far apart, and leave one stone in each place.”
“Exactly,” Lucien says with a nod. “And I think the sooner we do it, the better.”
“What will we do with all of the bloodstones and the photos he left?”
“It’s already gone,” Cash says simply. “No need to ask questions.”