Lux

Blinded by the light, Lux pitched forward, her foot catching the lip of the cellar entrance. Daphne's nails dragged across her skin as the older woman tried to hold on, but the force of impact removed her hand with a stinging rip. Moist earth filled Lux's mouth as her chin slid across the ground. She rolled over and spat out mud, swiping at her face and squinting into the night.

Audra, Ruby, Sara Elizabeth, and Brooke stood several feet away, their bodies glowing as they spun a spell and flung it at Daphne as the woman tried to rise to her feet. With her grandmother's stone in her hand, she could hear their thoughts. Each one was an echo of another, the spell a constant chant as they fought to keep the older witch down.

"Enough," Daphne shouted, slapping her hand against the earth. The ground rippled around them, sending the girls to their knees. But still they chanted.

"Kitty," Lux said, spying her friend nearby the cellar. The doors were closed, and Lux prayed Memaw and Declan were okay. Kitty was sitting on her backside, eyes wide with terror as she watched the Circle. "Kitty, are you okay?"

Her friend turned her head, the movement like gears grinding. Another emotion drowned out the terror as their eyes locked, but it was washed away by the appearance of Travis at her side.

The gangly teenager threw his arms around Kitty before reaching for Lux. Tear tracks across his cheeks connected his freckles. Freckles bright against skin that was too pale. He'd not yet recovered.

Lux grasped his hand and squeezed. "Travis, you shouldn't be here."

"Like hell. My girls went missing. You think something like a little ordered bed rest is going to keep me away. Even if it was spent in the company of the finest male specimen I've ever seen- nope. My girls come first."

Lux warmed at his words, but Kitty shrank, drawing her shoulders in as she rose to her feet. "We've got to help the others," she told him, averting her eyes from the other girl.

"Let's stop this bitch," he said, slamming his fist into his palm.

"Kitty? Whatever she's got on you- it doesn't matter. Stand with us." Travis's brows dipped, confusion clear on his face, but Lux didn't bother to explain. He would know soon enough. And from the way the ground shifted beneath her feet as Daphne rallied, she knew there wasn't time. "I still love you."

Kitty's lip trembled and water filled her eyes as she straightened her spine. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay."

"No," she whispered, stepping back and raising her hands. The emerald on her wrist glowed.

She'll kill me. Like a black rose, Kitty's thought bloomed in her mind.

"I'm sorry for this," the girl said.

A rending sound drew Lux's attention to the right. Kudzu, left untended, had latched onto the house, but the earth witch called to it, ripping it from the old boards with snaps and groans. The shredded vine hovered in the air, the shimmer of the spell curling about its leaves. For one second it remained still, as if its master was hesitating, but with the whisper of a single word from Kitty's lips, it rushed forward.

Travis shoved Lux out of its way, his long limbs becoming entangled in the stubborn plant. Weeks of training had put lean muscle on his form, but it was not enough to break free from the magically strengthened vine. It curled about him until only his eyes were visible, and when they closed, Kitty let him drop.

There were many things Lux could forgive. Kitty's betrayal was one of them. But watching the fight fade from a friend who'd been drawn into this mess because of his love for them both, broke something in her. A wild wind whipped through the trees, filling the air with a hiss of leaves and clacking of branches. The silver beneath her skin, which had faded after the flash of light, was back in full force.

When another tendril of kudzu snaked near Lux's head, she flicked her wrist at it. Green turned brown and brown, gray before it dissolved into ash and scattered. Kitty gasped, but she did not falter in her attempts to take down Lux. Pebbles joined the projectiles the girl lobbed at her, but each met the same fate.

Ignoring the battle raging to the side, Lux stalked the witch. Both kept their hands lifted, silver and green swirling about their fingertips.

"Please, just give her what she wants," Kitty said.

"We would've protected you," Lux cried, her eyes burning with unshed tears. "United, she can't beat us."

"She's tied my soul to my stone, and my stone is bound to her. She owns me."

Lux dropped her hands. Kitty took advantage and hurtled a stake from a rosebush at her. The sharp point sliced through Lux's arm, scarlet spilling out and staining the torn sleeve of her t-shirt. Lightning slashed across the sky and rain fell. Kitty jumped and looked up.

"We would've helped you. Found a solution."

"No, you're all a bunch of half trained girls playing with things you don't understand. You're not even half trained. But that's not the only reason I stayed with her." Kitty had to scream to be heard over the crashing thunder. Her magic gathered around her, and Lux knew a nasty spell was on the tip of her tongue.

But it never came. A streak of florid white light struck Kitty in the shoulder. All her power fled, and the earth witch stood before Lux as nothing more than teenage girl with sorrow in her eyes. Gideon and Mama rushed up from behind Kitty, Mama's lips pursed in a knot. Gideon kept his hand elevated. Neither reached for the blonde as she fell forward, but Lux caught her and eased her to the ground.

With a gleaming hand, Lux pushed the hair out of her friend's face. Kitty was trembling, but she put her hand on Lux's face, her palm cold against her cheek. "I really am sorry."

"I wish you would've trusted us."

The girl swallowed and winced. "In the beginning, I d-did. I was... going to come to M-memaw, but D-daphne showed me things. I d-didn't stay because I sc-scared of her."

A wrinkle formed between Lux's eyes, and Kitty's hand slipped lower on Lux's face, her fingers tracing over the downward lines of her lips. Kitty's thoughts were becoming jumbled, but what she could make out was darkness and terror. "I don't understand."

"Y-you're going to d-destroy us." The wandering hand stilled and dropped.

                            *****************************************************

Declan

Something warm and damp moved gently over the lacerations on Declan's wrists. At first, it stung, but within a few seconds, the burn gave way to blessed numbness. But as the pain faded in his wrists, it blossomed in his arms. It started as little tingles- pinpricks of hurt- as the blood flowed.

"Declan, wake up." He knew this voice. The ministrations stopped, and thin fingers curled into his shoulder. A rough shake. "Wake up."

"What if," Phoebe's voice was shaky as she spoke, "what if the damage is done? He may be too far gone."

"You're right."

"I am?"

"Yes." A steel edge bound the word. Awareness gripped him. He knew this voice. "Declan has always been a quitter. One time, when we were about seven, he stopped playing chess with me because I was winning. He didn't see a way to beat me, so he quit playing."

The world between the slit of his eyelids was blurry, but he held them open, hoping his lips were pressed in a thin enough line to convey what his eyes could not. She was truly here. "You were cheating. That's why I quit."

Leora rocked back on her knees, a satisfied smirk on her face. "He had a nasty habit of pretending to sleep so he could eavesdrop as well."

Phoebe wiped a tear that had settled in the crease around her eyes and chuckled. "Declan, there you are, my boy."

The two women steadied him as he surged to his feet. He couldn't stop the sharp intake of breath as the world lurched. This was no time to give into weakness, but the velvet feel of Leora's skin against his was almost enough to return him to his knees. Not because of desire, but because it meant she was real. Somehow, he hadn't failed her.

"Declan, you're in no condition to be up yet." Phoebe's admonishment lacked conviction. Her gaze floated to the ceiling, and he followed it. Bursts of light- all colors- flashed through the open door.

"Here. I have nothing to help with the iron poisoning, but it should get better now that you're not chained. This will at least get you moving."

In Leora's hand was a piece of quartz. The six-sided prism was clear and unexceptional, but he knew how misleading its appearance was. Before he'd learned of its connection to the angels, Declan had used it in elixirs.

Most healing potions had a minute amount of ground quartz in them to help boost the patient after receiving it. It could ease physical and mental exhaustion and increase awareness, but using it in its raw form without a buffer was dangerous. For it didn't heal injury or disease, it only masked the pain. Once used in times of war, men would fight entire battles with holes in their guts or limbs missing, only to fall over dead the moment they took the stone from them.

He took the stone, opening his senses to its magical essence, and sighed as his aches and pains fled. "Thank you." Leora was solemn, but she nodded. She knew the risk as well as he. It was worth it.

"You don't seem surprised to see me," she said, her head turning to the side as it always did when she was confused.

Declan snapped his arms to his side, his elbows locking and fists clenching as his cestuses unfurled down his arms. "After Daphne, I'm not surprised by much anymore."

"Please, don't hurt her. I can handle her if you can subdue her. She's still my sister. She's still Daphne."

"I can't make any promises," he said, his tone harsher than he intended. Phoebe nodded, though. Daphne might be blood, but Lux was family. She'd want him to protect her above all else.

"Why don't you go with him?" Phoebe asked. She gestured around the dim room. "I'm safe down here."

Leora shook her head. "I don't have the power for that, not anymore. It takes all I have left to keep myself tethered to this property."

Declan had ascended the ladder but halted. A crushing weight returned to his chest. "Tethered?"

She tucked a strand of golden hair behind her ear and waved him on. "Just go. I'll explain after you st-stop Daphne."

"As long as you know you have things to explain."

Sorrow swam in her gray eyes as she stepped forward and squeezed his hand. "I never meant to hurt you. Whatever happens next, those words must be spoken. I will not wait another hundred years to say I'm sorry."

The earth rattled, and the door above him clanged shut, sending a spray of dirt into mouth face and hair. The raised voices of witches chanting in unison followed an inhuman scream. Magic mingled with the taste of earth on his tongue.

"Go," Leora shouted. "Hurry."

Declan reached the top of the ladder in two steps, but the covering held tight as he pushed against it. Growling, he wrapped his fingers around the rails and drew on the essence of the material. They mostly used cedar for protection and preservation, but all wood provided the sorcerer with strength. Fresh lumber was best, but he could feel a trickle of energy seep into his body. It would have to be enough.

With teeth smashed together, he pushed on the doors once more, nearly falling when they flew off the hinges. What the... He looked down at his hands, but a flash of heat in his pocket drew his attention. The quartz was shining bright- its once clear center now silvery as magic swirled inside. Lux.

Hoisting himself into the night, he took a moment to examine his surroundings. Daphne was locked in a fight against the Circle, her eyes nothing but charcoal pits, and the veins in her arms coiled and bulged like black snakes as stolen magic funneled through her.

A muffled grunt sounded to Declan's left. A long, person shaped bush was rolling around on the ground. The foliage tore easily, revealing Travis's freckled face. The boy heaved, drawing gulps of oxygen into his lungs.

"What happened?" Declan demanded as he finished removing the kudzu.

Travis rolled to his knees, his forehead pressed to the ground. "Kitty. Why? Why would she do this?"

Declan wanted to offer comfort, but all of his senses were engaged in one thing: finding Lux. "You're okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Good." He staggered, his strength waning. A quick draw on the quartz left him feeling energized as he looked around, but what he found nearly drained it away again.

Lux was on the ground, hunched over Kitty. Her dark hair fell down her back, but it couldn't hide the tremors in her body. Bella and Gideon stood over them, their faces unreadable in the dusk. Before he could make a move towards her, Lux stiffened and stood. Bella reached for her, but she batted her hand away as she spun around.

"No," he breathed. Every inch of Lux was blazing- like a star entering the earth's atmosphere, but if she didn't get her magic under control, her fate would be the same. She would burn out and the parts that made her Lux would be gone.

"Daphne!" Lux's scream shattered the windows on the house, and the already fierce wind intensified. She drew her arms behind her body, her chest thrusting forward and her head dropping. The light around her pulsed, collecting in the center of her chest. With another shriek, she whipped her hands to her front, palms slapping together with a thunderous crack.

The Circle hit the ground as the wave of power released by their High Priestess barreled across the yard, uncaring of who or what stood in its way. Declan snatched Travis and dove to the side. Daphne gaped, but free from the spells the Circle had been casting, she was able to throw up a shield.

"Come to fight little witch?" Daphne laughed as she dropped the barrier and crossed her forearms. Shadows clung to her form. She was a beacon of gloom.

"With everything I have," Lux declared, making Declan's heart clench.

"Then I will see you dead."