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"Yes," Sabina said, her tone placid, "at first And if he cannot be held in this cage, and if I cannot best him one on one and keep him there in a test of our joined power, then I will use the Blood Cross sliver and send hi hiainst Leo’s proscriptions, and her own, and Bethany’s, for that matter "As you would say, I have planned for all eventualities, even the ht

"It’s okay, Jane," Molly said "The circle you’re sitting in isn’t activated The moment that Santana touches the outer circle, you’ll feel it We all will Then you just have to roll over the inner circle, on the side away fro over the circle ill activate the snare of thorns, and the energies will then pull Santana inside"

Yeah? No "I don’t like being inside a cage, even if the door’s wide open"

Sabina said to ht the stains of his life force, the fluids that were hung upon the ith hierous Though not as dangerous as what the fifty-two humans had experienced What choice did I have? "Yes," I said, after the pause had gone on too long "I brought it" I opened Eli’s gobag and dug around for the gauze I reopened the packet and set it on the grass betweenme, or the chalk of the inner circle, and that there was plenty of space for me to roll or somersault over it if needed I didn’t like this Not one bit I didn’t like that witches I didn’t knoere in charge I didn’t like that Sabina was involved--a fanghead so powerful she could probably do what Santana had done and immobilize us all--and as a witch herself I didn’t like that Sabina and Lachish seemed so chu out the circle, instead of five strong witches New Orleans had plenty Why titches? Was Iby the seat ofof soerous Mostly, I didn’t like that Molly was there I wanted her safe at s around my neck and made sure I had ash-wood stakes within easy reach in ht, ouldn’t kill an old vah for e I was sitting in didn’t hold hiht She gave reat I ics?

Molly shook her head, theCrap She hadn’t told Lachish that her ics with a hint of ics "Molly--"

"I’ll be fine," she interrupted

I co in the words I wanted to say

Lachish looked back and forth between us, but when neither of us spoke up, she indicated that all the witches should sit and take up their i As an air witch, Lachish took out a necklace of feathers: hal, and one long, golden eagle flight feather The titches already had theirs on the ground--the ht in the night; the stone witch using a dark green stone the size of her own bony knee, snarled stick of wood in front of her knees A whole, small tree, based on the way it twisted off at both ends I sniffed and recognized the scent of the plant Rose, she had used a live roseics Now she used the root, trunk, and branch of a rosemary plant, and I had to wonder if the aromatic dead plant was the one she’d killed that day

"What do I do? Just sit here?" It felt like ti up Except the scenery was nicer than the principal’s tiled floor and ar, even in the ht Want to hunt

"Pretty much," Molly said

I just smiled, stretchedready foranything Butthe teaker witches, and so that Molly was at s before and I trusted her to s, a thought that made a titter tickle in the back of my throat Nerves

"Breathe in," Lachish told the witches, "and breathe out" Her witch-light fluttered and went out "Again Slowly And"--she lifted her hands into the air--"we are together and we are separate, as the circle of power that binds us rises,of us like-s witches could do, frolay for a working was prerecorded into a single word or phrase Hedge of thorns was a protective shield spell that Molly and her sisters had created, and which co and a modified wyrd spell Santana had used offensive battle wyrd spells againstspells that called a specific person, and co distances, though with the advent of cell phones they were little used these days There were also the off-the-hip workings that accoers and outcomes that were often difficult to predict This spell started pretty si one another’s breath patterns, even Sabina, who didn’t need to breathe

The outer circle began to glow again, that pale ray, opalescent and feathery, a soft sheen of energy Beast pushed into the forefront of hter, but noith dark green shadows that ainst the surface, as if vines crawled up froround to meet at the center overhead, a dorounds, I caught a glihost, across the lawn Then the ht of it