“Yeah, but bad guys magically crawling to Hell isn’t necessarily a bad thing, is it?”
“It would depend on their intention.”
“Right.” I nod, wishing I could call Tabatha somehow. She knows how to tailor a portal to only let certain people in and out, though that would up the level of complication tenfold. “I’ll just…I’ll try not to supercharge the spell then. Maybe Lucifer shouldn’t give me a power boost. Separating my witch powers from my angel powers can be tricky. It wasn’t all that long ago I learned I had two sources of power.”
“Perhaps. Though if you are indeed able to use your powers from your witch side only, it shouldn’t be an issue. Lucifer cannot enhance your angelic side, only your witch side.” Julian takes the notebook from me and slowly walks through the greenhouse, gathering a few herbs. I sit in the middle of the room, trying to center myself, but just being here is throwing me. It was daylight when we walked into the castle, yet darkness surrounds the dusty glass windows, and a crescent moon shines above. It has a dark red hue, making the surrounding clouds look like they’ve been splashed with fresh blood.
Several minutes later, we have the herbs laid out. I’m reading over the spell again when Lucifer comes back, holding a black cauldron filled with the rest of the supplies.
“I trust you know what to do,” Lucifer comments.
“Yeah.” I rip a bay leaf into three parts and put it inside the cauldron.
“Remember, Callie,” Julian starts. “You’re not a regular witch.”
“Right.” I give him a wink. “I’m a cool witch.” Julian tips his head, and I laugh. “We’ll have a movie night when we get out of here. Lucas came to appreciate my love for Mean Girls.” The smile disappears from my face as I get back to work, invoking and combining different herbs. Holding my hands over the cauldron, I pull in energy from around me, a little worried I might heat up the herbs with hellfire, which would burn them beyond what is needed to open the portal.
“Spiritus tenebrarum noctis animos. Invoco te fortuna coeptis,” I whisper. “Spiritus tenebrarum noctis animos. Invoco te fortuna coeptis.” Heat gathers around my fingers. “Spiritus tenebrarum noctis animos. Invoco te fortuna coeptis.” The herbs ignite, causing smoke to waft up. Quickly, I create a shield of telekinetic energy, trapping the smoke as if I put a lid on the cauldron.
The herbs need to slowly char for six minutes and then be placed at six points around a pentagram: five at the star’s points and one in the middle, where we’ll stand.
“Can someone keep track of the time?” I ask both Julian and Lucifer.
“I’ve got it,” Lucifer tells me, lifting his wrists to check the time on an expensive Rolex. I draw a large pentagram on the stone floor with chalk and move back to the cauldron.
“We’ve still got five minutes.”
“And it’s going to go by slow, I’m sure.” I rake my hair to the side, fingers catching in a tangle of curls and sink onto the ground, not realizing how much these heels hurt my feet until I’m off of them. “You know, this is the most time I’ve spent with any of my paternal family members. I wish I could say it’s nice getting to sit and chat like this, but the whole being stuck in Hell thing kinda ruins that.”
“I’m sensing a but coming,” Lucifer encourages, leaning against one of the greenhouse walls.
My eyes fall shut for a moment. “But it’s still nice, because for some reason, it’s…it’s calming being around other angels, even here. It’s what drew me to you,” I say, looking at Julian. “Before I knew the truth. There was just something about the mysterious man I caught glimpses of that pulled me in. I can’t really explain it other than to say it’s like going home.”
“Divinity seeks divinity,” Julian informs me.
“Is that why I never felt like I belonged?” I twist my engagement ring around my finger. “Not even at the Academy. I was different, and it wasn’t because I was, well, better at magic than pretty much anyone in my class. It was…was something else. It makes sense now that I know the truth.”
“And yet you still don’t quite feel like you fit in on earth,” Lucifer remarks.
I don’t want to admit it, because I love my life, even with the constant danger. Lucas is more than I could ever dream of, and I never thought I’d be able to find someone as wonderful as him, who loves me completely and unconditionally. Tabatha and Evander are just as much my family as anyone I’m blood related to, and we have so many good memories today. And my friends? They’ve gone above and beyond for me more times than I can count.