Misplaced Magic (Book 8)

Chapter 16

"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."—Franklin D. Roosevelt

--xxxxxx--

Christina and Lisa were sitting in the living room once again but Jonathan was there with them now. He had started to trust them and they were all trying to keep warm. Lisa was looking him over and something occurred to her. 'You're cute Jonathan.' She said bluntly. He looked at her a little shocked.

'A little young for you isn't he?' Christina smiled.

'Not for me, for Lauren.' She said. 'What do you think?' It was Christina's turn to study him and she had to admit that he was handsome, in a skinny, skateboarder kind of way.

'I guess so.' Christina said. 'Maybe we can introduce them when we're back?'

'Guys, I'm right here.' Jonathan said, trying to hide his blush.

'You'll like Lauren, trust us.' Lisa said.

'Okay, can we please get out of here now?' Jonathan asked.

'Yeah, shall we try Lise?' Christina stood up, a little unsteadily, with Lisa following her lead.

'I really don't think this is going to work.' Lisa said. 'We're too weak anyway and we don't know how much power it will take.'

'Way to think positive.' Christina said.

'What if I help?' Jonathan said. 'My power hasn't worked in a while, but I could try.'

'No offence, but you didn't mean to open the portal in the first place.' Christina said. 'We know what we're doing.'

'We do?' Lisa whispered. Christina elbowed her in response. 'Yeah, we do.' Lisa corrected. 'But why don't you wait back there, away from us, in case it goes wrong.'

'Okay.' Jonathan nodded and pressed his back against the far wall.

'Ready?' Lisa turned to Christina.

'Yeah. But if it works and I pass out, don't leave me here.' Christina pleaded.

'I'll try not too.' Lisa grinned. 'On three. One.... two..... three.' With that, Lisa and Christina directed their energies towards one another. They hit in the middle of the room, black tendrils wrapping around blue light, until they had formed a ball in the air. Lisa's eyes were as dark as the night, Christina's sparkling blue. They kept sending power in. This went on for a while until Lisa saw Christina drop to her knees.

'Chris!' She called above the noise.

'I can't.... keep this up.' Christina admitted.

'Hang on.' Lisa said as she pushed more of her own power into the room.

'Lise, it's not working.' Christina called.

'Damn it!' Lisa said. She let her power drop so that Christina could do the same. Christina fell forwards and landed on her hands before settling down on her back and closing her eyes. Lisa came to her side, Jonathan walked back across the room to them.

'You okay?' Lisa asked.

'Mmmm.' Christina said, eyes still closed.

'Now what?' Jonathan asked.

'Now, we have to hope our sisters have a plan or this is where we die.' Lisa smiled sadly, taking Christina's hand.

xxxxxx

Katherine, Amy, Lauren and Dani were walking through the woods a good way behind Bathin. They were watching his every move. 'I don't like this.' Lauren whispered to them.

'None of us do Laur.' Dani agreed.

'If it gets them back I don't care.' Katherine said.

'Yeah you do.' Amy corrected her. 'I can feel it.'

'You be quiet.' Katherine nudged her and they both smiled.

'They're going to be mad at us when they get back.' Lauren said. 'Especially Chris, she has to give him some of her power.'

'He only wants a taste.' Dani corrected. She screwed up her nose. 'That sounds more gross every time.'

'At least they'll be back. Big picture guys.' Katherine said. Bathin stopped in front of them and spun around.

'This will do nicely.' He said. They were in a small clearing, but there were tall trees all around them.

'Do you need us to do anything?' Amy asked.

'No, just don't get in the way.' He said. Then he held his hands out and began creating a ball of energy. It looked a lot like Lisa's but it was more of a brown than black. He sent the energy into the space between them and the area started to get very warm.

xxxxxx

Christina was lying with her head in Lisa's lap. They were still on the floor and Jonathan was pacing around them. 'Does she always nap like that after she uses her powers?'

'Not always, depends on how much she uses.' Lisa told him. Jonathan nodded and kept pacing. He stopped suddenly and went very pale. Lisa saw this and followed his eyes.

'Oh shit.' She said. She gently put Christina's head on the floor and stood up. There were four ghosts standing across the room from them. 'Jonathan, stay with Christina.'

'But....' He protested.

'Now!' Lisa ordered. Jonathan did as he was told and put himself between Lisa and Christina, kneeling on the floor next to her.

'Human.' One of the ghosts whispered.

'No, witch.' The second ghost said.

'Can I help you with something?' Lisa asked nervously.

'Power.' The third one said. This one was a man. Very tall, almost skeletal. 'We need your power to get out of here.'

'Sorry, no can do.' Lisa said. She began to prepare her death beam.

'You don't have a choice.' The final ghost hissed. It was an elderly woman and all Lisa wanted to know was what she'd done to end up there.

'Look, we don't want any trouble.' Lisa said. 'We didn't mean to come here.'

'Well, now you're stuck.' The man said. 'And you get to die here.' He smiled and started to walk over. Lisa sent out her beam and it hit him in the chest. After a moment of burning, the beam stopped and he looked at her. 'That tickled.'

'Lisa.' Jonathan said nervously. Lisa started to walk backwards.

'They're pretty strong.' Lisa said.

'No kidding.' Jonathan replied. 'What do we do?'

'I have no idea.' Lisa said, looking down to Christina. 'Can you carry her?'

'Yeah. Why?' Jonathan asked.

'Pick her up and get ready to run.' Lisa ordered. Jonathan put one arm under Christina's neck, one under her legs and picked her up. Before anything else could happen a blinding light appears behind them. Lisa turned and shielded her eyes and she swore she could see Katherine on the other side. Then she heard her.

'Lisa! Come on!' Katherine was yelling. Lisa realised what was happening and tugged Jonathan's arm. They hurried over to the light, the ghosts following them, and jumped through.