SPENCER
A light breeze blew in through the half-open window. I was lying on my side and the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the bedside table. Finn’s hand rested on my leg over the cover. The first instinct was to turn around, but before I could act on it, the memories of last night rushed in and my eyes prickled as they filled with tears.
Dammit. I’ll be fine. I’m just too sensitive in the morning.
Hoping that Finn was asleep, I dabbed my eyes with the edge of the cover and tried not to sniff. But I couldn’t fool my wolf. Moving his hand up my body, he leaned closer, and his lips touched my shoulder.
“Come here,” he murmured, turning me around.
I didn’t understand why I loved it when he said those two words to me, and they worked like magic every time. I could never resist them, and they sort of calmed me down.
I pressed my forehead to his cheekbone, but he put his hand under my chin and pushed it up.
“No tears today,” he said, kissing my wet face.
He was right. I was ready to fight for my life, and even if two days and one night were all I had left with him, I wasn’t going to spend them crying.
“No, no tears.” I touched his lips with mine.
He responded with a passion that drew away all the darkness, and all I could think of was now and here. And me, alive, in his arms.
* * *
“I’ll go first,” I said to Finn when we were ready to go downstairs.
Smiling, Finn shook his head. “There’s no point. She knows.”
“What? No way.” I stared at him. “And she’s okay with that?”
He nodded slowly. “She said that you looked happy, and she didn’t want to—”
“Of course,” I muttered, shaking my head. “She thought I was going to . . . Well, whatever. I’m glad we don’t have to hide it anymore.”
Finn took my hand, and we headed to the door.
Mom was already in the kitchen making breakfast. French toast was ready on the plates, and she was now pouring orange juice she just freshly squeezed into the glasses.
“Just in time.” She glanced at us as we showed up at the top of the stairs.
Her eyes were less red, which meant that she had at least a couple of hours of sleep. And I could see the change in her mood. She was more concentrated and had a new energy in her moves. But every time our eyes met, she looked away.
Mom quickly cleared her plate and got up.
“I’ll be in the library,” she said, drifting away.
“You need to fill me in with everything you know,” I said to Finn as I swallowed the last piece of the toast and washed it down with the rest of the orange juice in my glass.
“I will.” He turned me on my seat to face him, then ran his thumb over my lips to brush off a crumb of bread.
“And I’ll need all the grimoires you have.”
“Your mom has already read a couple. I’ll help you sort them out.”
“Sort them out? Have you read them too?”
“Sure. But not all of them, and it has been a while.”
“Really? I mean,” I ran my fingers through his hair, “it wouldn’t be interesting to you. You’re not a witch.”
“I was once.” he shrugged.
I dropped my hand. “Really? But you said—”
“—That I don’t have magic. Yes. I don’t have it anymore. But I was a half warlock before I turned.”
He got up, picked up my empty plate and glass, and put it in the dishwasher.
“I don’t get it. What happened after you turned? Are you saying . . . Does this mean that if I survive the shift and become a wolf, I wouldn’t be a witch anymore?”
“Oh, you will remain a witch. And that’s the problem.”
“I don’t get it.”
“I know you don’t.” Finn sat down at the table across from me. “You see, men born from a wolf and a witch can’t be both. They survive the shift because their witch powers are much weaker than their wolf’s. During the shift, the wolf wins, and the men lose their magic. But women hybrids can be both because their wolf and witch powers are equally strong.”
“So why is it a problem?”
“Because the one who survives the shift will become the strongest and the greatest Alpha and the most powerful priestess to rule both witches and wolves. No wolves and no witches could allow that to happen. They wanted their blood to remain pure and their communities separate. Wolves didn’t want to be ruled by a witch, or witches to be ruled by a wolf.” He sighed. “And that’s why, two hundred and fifty years ago, they came together and created a law that forbids wolves and witches to have a child together. But of course, the law can be broken. And they created a curse that made sure that if born, such a girl wouldn’t be able to survive the transition.
“As I said, the women’s powers were equally strong, and they only helped each other, making the shift even quicker and easier. Even if one of the powers was weakened, after the shift, unlike men, the women would still have both. That’s why the curse was meant to reverse the process, to make both powers fight each other during the shift to the point of the girl's death. That’s why none of them can win that fight.”
Mom came out of the library. And she finally looked me in the eyes.
“But you will. You will win, Spencer. Because you have both on your side. A wolf and a witch.”
I glanced at them, from one to another, then looked down. I was in shock and my brain was buzzing. Biting my lip, I got up and went to the window. I was glad that both of them remained silent and just waited for me to process everything I just learned.
So if I survive, I will become the Great Alpha. Me. Who has no idea how to be a wolf. Though Mom was right. I was a powerful witch. But the thing was that I hadn’t had an opportunity to fully use my powers since . . . well . . . ever.
I wasn’t allowed, was I?
In two hundred and fifty years, only one has survived the curse. Did she have help from a witch and a wolf too? How did she survive?
We just need to find the right spell, I remembered Finn’s words from last night.
And he also said something about the bracelet. I looked down at my wrist.
My head went fuzzy, and my mind was all over the place.
Concentrate, Spencer. Concentrate!I shouted at myself in my mind. Your life is at stake, don’t you get it?
I turned around. Mom was still standing in the same spot. With his hand on his hips, Finn was now pacing.
“Last night, you said something about the bracelet. You said that even with the bracelet, I easily lit the candles. What does it mean?”
Finn stopped.
“That bracelet is enchanted.” He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “Those symbols suppress your magic.”
“Why would you suppress my magic?”
“You’ll be shifting into a wolf. We thought that if we could find a strong enough spell to weaken your magical powers, it would give your wolf a chance to win.”
“As you heard me last night, I was a bit skeptical about that,” said Mom. “First of all because I would need a powerful spell to suck the magic out of you, which I haven’t found yet. I was hoping to recreate the one that’s on the bracelet, and if I make it bigger and stronger, it could work. But the problem is, the spell to empower the symbols should be cast at the full moon when you will already be changing, and it will be too late.” She heaved a breath. “Second, I could siphon some of your magic myself, but I could only do it by direct contact. Holding at least one of your hands. If I do it before you start shifting, you will restore your powers pretty quickly. I’ll need to do it non-stop during the shift, but the thing is, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hold on you. You’ll tear me apart even before you change, and before I’ll be able to help you.”
“I will what?” I stared at Finn.
“Yeah,” he nodded, “it’s true.”
This was getting worse and worse with every minute.
“So we have to find a way to weaken my magic?”
“Yes. But we can’t underestimate the fact that it’s a curse,” said Mom. “We will need some backup plan.”
“Curse or not,” said Finn, “if her wolf is strong enough, she will win the fight. And to make it so, I have another idea. You can channel my strength and transfer it into her.” Looking at Mom, he pointed his finger at me. “I know it can be done. And to do this, you wouldn’t need to be too close to her. The only thing you will need to connect me to Spencer would be our blood. But we still need to find a way to siphon as much magic out of her as possible for this to work. If we don’t, empowering her wolf would make the force of combined power even stronger and would only kill her faster.”
“Great,” I scoffed.
Mom heaved another breath. “It will be very dangerous for you, Finn.”
“Seriously?” He frowned at her. “You’re worried about me?”
“I’m worried too,” I glared at him.
“I’ll be perfectly fine. But there’s another thing. The spell, the whole process, will take a while. So it may seriously weaken me or even knock me out. In that case, we’ll need help.”
“Help?” Mom narrowed her eyes. “What kind of help? From whom?”
“From another wolf. Or two. To keep Spencer in check. Or she might . . . Let’s just say her actions will be unpredictable.”
“Who do you have in mind? Are you sure we can trust them?”
“We can trust them. They’re my friends. And they’re like me.”
“I knew I might be dangerous, but I thought . . .” I ran my hands up my forehead. “I can’t believe this,” I muttered under my breath. “Finn, will I always be that dangerous? You seem to be okay; always in control.”
“I wasn’t during the first shift. No one is. The pain, the struggle, it all becomes too much to handle during the first transition and at the end, we’re blinded by rage.”
I turned my back on them and went to the window again.
“Spencer,” Finn came closer. “I know this is a lot to take in. But this isn’t an ordinary shift, and to make this work, we need to think everything through, and we need to be prepared.”
“I’m just thinking.” I turned to look at him. “If I will be that dangerous, wouldn’t it be better if you lock me up?”
“Those spells can’t be done from a distance. That means we will have to lock ourselves up with you. And then, believe me,” he chuckled, “none of us is coming out alive.”
“Then chain me.”
“With what? A rubber chain? You’re going to grow. The small handcuffs would keep your paws from extending, causing you even more pain.”
“There are too many things that can go wrong in this crazy plan. I can’t let you two risk your lives to save mine.”
“So you expect me to do nothing but sit and watch you die?” Mom burst out. “I would do everything in my power even if I had to die twice.” She shook her head with irritation. “We don’t have time for this. We have work to do.” She turned on her heels and marched back to the library.
“She’s right.” Finn pulled me into his arms. “We have no time to waste. We wouldn’t be able to do anything if we don’t find those two spells.”
“Even if we do, she alone can’t do two spells at once. Like I said, it’s nuts.”
“And that’s another thing we’ll need to figure out. Go on.” He turned me around, put his hands on my shoulders, and pushed me before him, leading me toward the library.
* * *
We spent the whole day in the library, and for dinner, we had a frozen pizza.
We found the spells we needed. One that would more or less weaken my magic, and another one to channel Finn’s power. The problem was that both of them were supposed to be performed non-stop at the same time, and Mom wouldn’t be able to do it alone.
It was nearly midnight. Mom was now perusing Finn’s father’s grimoire, which had a few records about werewolves. Finn was searching for spells in old witchcraft books. And I, after checking out a couple of grimoires, went back to the one with the image of my enchanted bracelet.
“Mom, when you said you were planning to put the symbols on something big, what exactly did you have in mind?”
“Finn said that during the shift, the bracelet will go to pieces, so I thought maybe a large necklace will do. But, honey, I told you, to make it work, I have to prepare the necklace ahead of time so you can wear it before you start turning. And since the spell must be cast at the full moon, I don’t think we can use this option.”
“No. On a necklace, we can’t. But I have another idea.”
Finn looked up from his book.
“What is it?”
“We need to paint the symbols on the ground around me. That way, their power will be much stronger, and when the moon is full, the symbols will charge from it constantly during my transition.”
“What about the spell? I'll have to cast a spell to activate the symbols, and before I’ll be able to do that, you’ll already be in excruciating pain, turning.”
“Mom, I’ll be in pain anyways. For now, that’s the best option we have.”
“Clare, she is right,” said Finn. “In the beginning, she’ll be able to fight the pain. How long will it take to cast the spell?”
“I’ve never done this before. But I think it’ll take a few minutes. I’ll have to repeat the enchantment until it works.”
“Mom, after you cast the spell, I want you to put a barrier around me before you start channeling Finn’s powers. That’s when I’ll get stronger—”
“You’re forgetting one thing,” Finn cut me off. “You will still be a witch. And when fully transitioned, the most powerful one. You could knock that barrier off with one punch of your paw.”
I looked at my hands, imagining them as paws, then I turned my pissed-off look at Finn.
“Seriously, I’m gonna kill you. Stop ruining all my protection ideas.”
He chortled. “Sorry. But I had already thought them all through.”
“Okay,” Mom said as she looked through the bracelet spell again. “I think I can make this work.”
Finn got up, crossed to the window, and looked out.
“We can paint the symbols in front of the barn.” He looked up at the sky. “That side will face the moon the longest.” He picked up his phone from the desk and made a call. “James, it’s me. We have a new arrival. A complicated one. I need your help . . . Yeah, tomorrow. And we’ll need Liam too.”