took shape before us.
In the shaky, shimmering image, Virginia sat speaking with Officer Dash as they made the plan to kill off Harold and place the blame on me.
“But what of your witch?” Dash had asked Virginia.
“She can die, too, for all I care,” Virginia seethed in the mirage.
I couldn’t see Luna through the mirage, but I could hear her ask, “You would betray me?”
“She already has,” Dash announced, clicking her tongue to take the image away. Whether she’d shown us an illusion or a memory, I couldn’t say. Either was equally probable—and equally devastating.
Luna swished her tail and let out a keening wail. The massive magnolia tree behind me rose up from the earth.
Virginia tried to run, but the tree used one of its limbs to lift her high into the air and hold her captive.
“Why?” Luna cried, visibly straining from the effort of commanding the gigantic tree.
“You left me no choice,” Virginia bit out. “Magic used to mean something to you, but lately you’ve been such a lovesick fool that you’ve paid no attention to what’s really important. With his new familiar imprisoned, Merlin wouldn’t have been able to practice magic anymore, and you’d have to stop pining for him and shift your focus back to growing our power.”
Luna lowered her eyes, and the tree threw Virginia high into the air, then caught her again with its branches just before she crashed into the ground.
The wretched woman screamed the entire time both up and down.
Luna’s whole body shook and trembled, but she showed no signs of relenting. “There is no our power. It’s mine. It’s always been mine. You were but a servant.”
“I think of you as much more than a servant,” Merlin assured me as we both watched, dumbfounded.
“You don’t deserve the magic you were blessed with,” Virginia shouted down at her witch.
Luna cocked her head to the side, straining under the weight of her magic. “Is that so?” she asked, then nodded back toward the massive hole from which the tree had emerged.
We all watched as the tree walked on its roots and then climbed back into the earth and grew still. Once it had settled in, Luna shook off her fatigue and broke into a run.
Virginia scampered down, and the moment she touched ground, Luna jumped onto her shoulders, claws fully extended.
“Ouch!” Virginia cried, but none of us had any sympathy for her.
“You think me undeserving of my magic?” Luna asked, but didn’t wait for an answer to her question. “Have it your way! I hereby renounce my power and sever the bond between us.”
The ground trembled, and Virginia collapsed to her knees.
Luna jumped clear just before impact.
“What’s happening?” Virginia cried as her image blinked and blurred and a cloud of shimmering green rose up from each of their bodies, creating a heavy fog that was difficult to see through.
“I am no longer a witch, and you are no longer my familiar. The magic is free!” Luna declared.
“Noooooooo!” Virginia cried, chasing after the departing fog and grasping greedily as if she could catch and hold onto the air. I couldn’t see her very clearly through the magical fog. Instead, I watched the air as it shifted and moved around her.
And if I couldn’t see, I doubted Virginia could, either.
Little by little, the fog condensed into itself, forming a thick, undulating wave.
Virginia remained fixated on the chase, swept away in the wave, so focused on her desperate grasp for power that she didn’t consider where the expelled magic was now heading.
I watched in shocked horror as she slammed into the well that had served as Luna’s cauldron and flipped over the edge, unable to catch herself before disappearing into the dark hole with the rest of the wave—returning to its source of power.
A moment later the magic had gone, and a loud crunch rose into the air.