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“I tried,” she whispered.
Hazel whipped her head around to glance at Beth.
“It wouldn’t come.” Thea’s eldest daughter, now the future of the Callahan line, swallowed hard, the muscles in her throat working. “The magic. It wouldn’t come.”
Hazel inhaled sharply. “You couldn’t draw on extra magic?”
Beth shook her head. “It’s like…it was muted. Smaller. I tried throwing a spell at the demon, but it was barely enough to make it stumble.”
Hazel closed her eyes for a second. Her heart weighed heavy in her chest. “It’s happening here.”
“What?”
Taking a deep breath, she said, “The weakening of the Powers That Be. They’re losing strength, and with every day they become weaker, the link through which the witch families draw upon the magic between the layers of the world fades a bit more.”
Beth let out a harsh laugh. “That’s ridiculous.”
Hazel frowned. “Didn’t Thea tell you about this?”
“Oh, she did, all right. She also said it’s a load of bullshit.”
“Language.”
Beth tsked. “You might believe in this crap because Arawn brainwashed you—”
“It’s real,” Hazel cut her off. “You saw the beasts, didn’t you?”
After Arawn had smote Velez and snared the dragon, and both Merle and Hazel had switched allegiance to him, they’d all agreed that letting the witch community see the evidence of the impending changes in the makeup of their world would be a good idea and might go a long way toward convincing the witches to swear fealty to Arawn. The explosion of Mt. Hood was something that no one could overlook, obviously, but most of the witches didn’t know what exactly had gone down up there.
So Arawn had shown them. He’d brought the griffin and the dragon, both under his control, and Maeve had transformed into her phoenix in front of the entire witch community. Faced with that, no witch could deny the fact that huge changes were underway. Beasts like that had been a thing of myth before, even for the supernatural community.
To see them, very much real, alive, and breathing—fire, in the case of the dragon—could upend a witch’s worldview. Hazel knew, because that had been her reaction when Maeve and Merle had first introduced her to Arawn’s new “pets.”
The other witches, too, had struggled to keep their composure. Sometimes, reality had to slap someone in the face before they were ready to accept it.
“Yeah,” Beth said. “I saw them. Doesn’t mean I believe every word that comes out of that Demon Lord’s mouth. Just because dragons and other beasts are real doesn’t prove his claim that the Powers That Be are getting weaker. He’s a power-hungry opportunist. Of course he’d say anything to make us witches throw in with him so he can add us to his growing list of assets.”
“He’s not like that.”
“Oh? So he hasn’t built an empire of otherworld creatures bound to him by fealty and favors owed?”
“Yes, but—”
“He’s not a calculating, ruthless, brutal being of immense power who has been working in the shadows while expanding his network and amassing ever more magic, claiming more and more lands until his territory is drawing a literal noose around the witch community’s neck?”
Hazel grimaced. “Look, he does sound bad when you put it like that, but his reputation is actually far from reality.”
“He’s manipulating you.” Beth glared at her. “But I’m not buying into his bullshit. Follow him all you want, believe his twisted lies, and betray our gods. I will do no such thing.”
Hazel sighed. “Beth, what more evidence do you need? Your family’s magic failed tonight. Neither of you was able to draw on the power between the layers of the world. It cost Thea her life, and it almost killed you, too. You have to face—”
Beth stopped and whirled to skewer Hazel with a thunderous look, effectively dragging Thea off Hazel so she hung limp at Beth’s side. The younger witch grunted with the effort to hold her.
“How dare you,” she whispered harshly. “I have just lost my mom. I am literally carrying her dead body. She’s still warm.” Her voice cracked, fresh tears glistening in her eyes. “And here you are, shoving Arawn’s agenda in my face. Have you no shame? Is there no shred of decency in you?” She heaved Thea up again when the body started sliding down. “Spare me your lecture. Leave me alone so I can take my mother home and bury her.”
Hazel drew in an acrid breath, a nauseous feeling coiling in her stomach. “Beth, I didn’t mean—”
“Save it.” Beth looked daggers at her, hefted Thea up again, and turned to hobble down the street toward the car.
