Mac’s voice was so quiet through the roaring in her head that she barely heard it. But her hands trembled.
“It’s what he wants. Don’t give him what he wants.”
“I want justice,” she shouted as her hair flew around her head in coils and snaps.
“You’re too weak to kill me.” The man at her feet lay back, deliberately exposing his throat. “You haven’t the courage.”
“Stay with me, Ripley. Look at me.”
With the sword gripped in her hands, she stared through the bars. She saw Mac only inches away.
Where did he come from? she thought dully. How did he get here? Beside him stood her brother, and on either side Mia and Nell.
She heard the wheeze and panting of her own brea
th, felt the cold sweat sliding over her skin. And the pulse of that greed swimming in her veins.
“I love you. Stay with me,” Mac said again. “Remember.”
“Lower the barrier.” Mia’s voice was brisk. “And cast the circle. We’re stronger.”
“They’ll die.” The thing with Harding’s face taunted her. “I’ll kill them slowly, painfully, so you hear them screaming. My death or theirs. Choose.”
She turned away from those she loved and met her match. “Oh, yours.”
The night exploded with sound as she brought the sword down. A thousand images echoed through her mind. Through them she saw the triumph in his eyes, the sheer glee in them.
An instant later, they were baffled and lost. And Harding’s.
She stopped the blade an inch from his throat.
“Help me.” He whispered it, and she saw his skin ripple.
“I will. The root of magic is in the heart,” she began, repeating the words Mac had put in her subconscious. “From this the gift of power must start. With its light we burn off the dark, with its joy we leave our mark. To protect and defend, to live and to see. As I will, so mote it be.”
Beneath her ready blade, Harding began to laugh. “Do you think such weak women’s spells will hold me?”
Ripley tilted her head, almost in sympathy. “Yes. As will this.” Her mind was clear as glass as she closed her hand over the edge of the blade. It sliced into her palm, already stained with Mac’s blood.
Against her heart, the amulet Mac had given her glowed warm and bright.
“His blood,” she said. “And my blood. Mixed now and true.” She squeezed until drops fell on his skin. And he began to yell. In rage, she thought as she continued. Wonderful rage. “Poured from the heart, they conquer you. This is the power that I set free. As I will, so mote it be.”
“Bitch! Whore!” He bellowed as she stepped back, strained to snatch at her, to rise. Snarled when he could do neither.
Her vision was suddenly so incredibly clear. Hope, she realized, was blinding bright. She vanished the bars of light, turned. “We can’t leave Harding like this.” Pity for him swarmed into her. “Poor bastard.”
“We cast it out,” Mia said.
They laid out a circle of salt and silver. Inside it Harding spat and howled like an animal, and his curses grew more foul, his threats more hideous.
Faces shivered across his face, as if the bones knit and re-knit themselves.
Thunder rolled across the sky in waves as wild as the surf. The wind cried piercingly.
Harding’s pupils rolled as they ringed him and clasped hands.
“We cast you out, dark into dark, from here till ever, you bear our mark.” Mia focused. A small white pentagram scored Harding’s cheek.
He howled like a wolf.
“Into the void and into the night,” Nell continued. “Out of this soul and beyond the light.”
“Helen, I love you. You’re my wife, my world,” he said in Evan’s voice. “Have pity.”
It was pity she felt. But the single tear that slipped down Nell’s cheek was all she could give.
“In this place and in this hour,” Ripley chanted. “We cast you out and scorn your power. We are joined, we are the Three. As we will, so mote it be.”
“We cast you out,” Mia repeated, and each who clasped hands repeated, one by one until the words overlapped into a single voice.
The force of it came like a gale, cold and fetid. It swirled up, a black funnel, then spewed into the air. And into the sea.
On the sand Harding, his face gray but unmarked, groaned.
“He needs tending,” Nell said.
“Go ahead and take care of him, then.” Ripley stepped back. Immediately the strength went out of her legs and she buckled.
“Okay, baby. Okay.” Mac caught her, lowering her gently to her knees. “Catch your breath, clear your head.”
“I’m all right. Just a bit wobbly.” She managed to lift her head, look at her brother. “Guess you won’t have to lock me up for homicide.”
“Guess not.” He knelt as well, took her face in his hands. “Scared me, Rip.”
“Yeah, me, too.” She pressed her lips together to keep them from trembling. “We’re going to be busy tomorrow. Storm damage.”
“We’ll handle it. Todds take care of the Sisters.”
“Damn right.” She breathed in, breathed out, and felt free. “You ought to give Nell a hand with Harding. Poor sap. I’m okay.”