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Slowly, I moved my right hand toward the spiral symbol and sent it a silent plea.
All right, vortex. Time to show your stuff. Please.
When I edged my hand closer, a burst of energy shoved it away. I shook my head and whispered, “I don’t want to fight you. I don’t want to use you. In fact, I’d rather not bother you at all. But I need you. We all do.”
The vortex thrust my hand away, refusing to cooperate.
My voice grew tighter, more desperate. “If you don’t help me, you’ll be dealing with Harlon next.”
Again, the vortex pushed my hand away, clearly wanting no part of this mess. And, heck. I could relate. But some problems didn’t go away on their own. Sometimes, you had to dive headfirst into a battle and fight until you won — or lost.
And I sure as hell was not going to lose, not with everything I held dear on the line.
I braced myself and covered the spiral, fighting the force this time. Eventually, I was able to flatten my hand against the rock, though it took every scrap of energy I had.
Dammit, where was Pippa?
“I need your help. Please, just this once. Help my family,” I begged.
Still, the vortex pushed back. It pushed images into my mind too — a blur of all the people who’d lived in this quiet, dustycorner of Arizona, from my great-aunt’s time to her aunt’s and her ancestors before that — all the way back to pioneer times and beyond. I saw the familiar outline of the ranch shrink, expand, and shrink again in a bewildering rush of time. The vehicles parked outside changed from the Chevy I’d inherited to a rounder, 1940s model, then a wagon. My cabin faded away, as did the barn, while the main house changed from its familiar form, with one addition after another chopped off until it was reduced to a mere shack, then nothing at all.
For a moment, all I saw was swaying grass and silent rocks. Then people appeared — smaller in stature, but not in pride, and deeply bronzed by the sun. People who planted, sang, and carved symbols into stone. I saw harsh winters, brilliant springs, and towering lines of corn tangled with bean vines. Then those people faded away too, and I caught a brief glimpse of a different, migratory clan, before nature reigned, and reigned alone.
I moved my hand away from the spiral. Yeah, I got the message. I was only the most recent in a long chain of inhabitants. Not the first, nor the last. When my time was up, it was up, and that was that.
I smacked my hand back over the spiral and pointed the other into the storm. “Harlon isn’t just coming for this land. He’s coming for you. For your power.”
The energy surged as if to say,Let him try.
“He will,” I hissed. “He will try and try, and this land will never know peace again. He will bring in others to draw from your power too. Greedy souls who will mine you for any advantage they find.”
Harlon gestured again, and the storm intensified.
“Please,” I whispered. “Help me keep this place safe from him. Not just for me, but for you.”
My fragile hopes plunged when the energy under my hand ebbed. Was the vortex shutting down altogether?
But then it came bursting back out in an entirely new way. Instead of pushing my hand aside, the energy flowed in and tingled all the way up my arm.
Do it,I imagined an earthy voice mutter.Get rid of him, and fast, before I change my mind.
I stared at my hand in one of those terrifying moments that followed getting what you wished for. Because, yikes. The power flowing into me wasintense. Invasive, almost, and I feared the side effects of calling it forth.
But, heck. I didn’t have much choice.
Keeping my right hand over the spiral, I inched away from the cliff and reached my left foot and arm back into the storm.
Angelina shouted to Harlon in warning.
He lifted his arms and thrust forward. A lightning bolt formed out of nowhere, blazing directly at me.
I held my breath — and my ground — praying my gamble would work.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
ERIN
Lightning in the sky was fascinating. Lightning coming straight at you, on the other hand…
