nancy werlocks diary s02e13 Read Free Page B

dangerous magic that could easily be abused.”
    “All magic can be dangerous and all magic can be abused,” says Vivika. “But this ritual requires very specific ingredients and timing, not to mention skill and magical talent. Few witches have the ability to do what we are about to do, and fewer could probably afford to. Poor Nancy had to spend hundreds of dollars just on the components.”
    “Thousands,” I correct. “Just over two thousand. And that isn’t counting the favors I had to call in.”
    “It could have been worse,” says Houston. “Eric helped out with some of the components.”
    “I had to give an imp to a Mesmer,” I remind him.
    “That might not have been wise,” says Red Turtle.
    “Wise or not, it saved me two-hundred bucks.”
    Red Turtle says something in Unami and gestures toward the sky.
    It isn’t until Houston’s timer goes off that I notice the flock of crows that had begun to congregate in the tree limbs above us. I ignore the crows and follow Vivika’s directions to prepare for the ritual. Vivika floats over the circle and positions herself above the eggs. I stand behind her at the northern point of the triangle while Houston stands directly across from me, facing his mother.
    Red Turtle and his wolf observe.
    Vivika begins to draw on the latent energies near the cairn and starts to chant the ritual. Houston and I repeat our lines for the ritual as I slowly draw my silver-threaded lariat from behind my back. I look across the ritual circle at Houston. He’s just focusing all his concentration on his mother as tears start rolling down his cheeks.
    Just keep it together for a few more minutes , I think to myself. We can both have a nice, long nervous breakdown when this is done.
    With Vivika fixated on her ritual, she doesn’t realize I have stopped following her lead. I quickly whisper a binding incantation and toss the lariat over her head and around her neck.
    “What?” she shouts as I tighten the imbued lariat.
    “Nice throw,” says Red Turtle.
    Vivika twirls around to face me and struggles against the binding. “Nancy, what is the meaning of this? What are you doing?”
    “Destroying you, Chana Magus.”
    Vivika turns around and looks at Houston. He turns his back to her. “Houston! Whatever they told you is a lie! I’m your mother! Help me!”
    “No,” he whispers.
    “I command you!” says Vivika as she tries to compel him to help her. But Houston had already shielded himself with the incantation Brynwolf taught him before coming to the ritual site.
    The wolf walks toward the ritual circle and slowly transforms back into Joshua Brynwolf. “Go quietly, Vivika. It will be easier for him.”
    “You! How…”
    I continue with the binding incantation to make sure she is securely locked to the spot, pulling the last of her essence out of the astral plane and into the physical realm. I can feel her spirit trying to escape across the Veil. I close my eyes and focus on the incantation. My head is pounding from the psychic assaults Vivika is sending at me. Were it not for Brynwolf’s psionic shielding and the enchanted lariat restricting part of her own power, I’d probably be dead from an aneurism. Even now, my head feels like my brain has swollen up two sizes too big for my skull.
    “You people turned my only son against me! My blood! Houston, they are going to destroy me! After all the power I invested in you!”
    Houston continues to ignore his mother’s demands. Unable to rely on her own spirit power, Vivika attempts to draw power directly from the cairn. Red Turtle waves a hand and a translucent, shimmering shield of energy blocks her. “I told you, spirit. I would not allow the cairn to be defiled.”
    Vivika lets out a scream of anger. Black tendrils of energy manifest around her as she tries to lash out at Brynwolf, Red Turtle, and me. But the tendrils dissipate when they reach the border of the circle.
    “You were right, Nancy,” says Brynwolf as he