The Mistress of Magic ✔

Chapter 24: Protect All Within

Blair didn't even realize that she was biting her lip because she was so lost in her thoughts. Maddox and Blair were still in the kitchen waiting for Anastasia's arrival to discuss the turn of events. The entity that paid them a visit today was sinister and had a purpose. Blair would not have been concerned about it if the entity wasn't so confident. The entity had the nerve to come face to face with a Lightwood witch fully knowing the consequences.

Blair had come across this type of insidious energy during her high school prom, but her grandma handled it before anyone got suspicious over why her entire family was in the school parking lot. Blair was grateful of that experience today because it meant that she had the knowledge on how to defeat whatever attached itself to her.

Anastasia arrived with a grim expression. "How are you two holding up?" she asked as she closed the door behind her.

"We're fine," said Blair. "Where's Holly?"

"She's at home, studying," answered Anastasia, when suddenly, she turned quiet and froze in her tracks. She covered her nose like she smelt something putrid. Her lilac eyes grew pale comparable to how the flower dies if there wasn't enough water to feed them. "This entity is getting too strong, Blair," she said.

"I know," Blair agreed with her cousin.

"It's almost like it's spreading, growing like a plague," cautioned Anastasia.

Blair got out of her seat and offered it to her cousin. "This entity hasn't reached full power yet," said Blair. "We will have to exorcise it as soon as we can."

"What did it look like?" asked Anastasia.

"A black shadow," said Blair. "This entity hasn't developed its body yet. It had no limbs, just a neck and evil eyes-"

"Red eyes," Maddox spoke up.

Her cousin and Blair both looked at Maddox. "You- you saw it?" asked Anastasia.

"Yeah," he answered.

"He still has the sight," Anastasia told Blair.

Blair nodded, because it took her just the same amount of astonishment like Anastasia to believe that Maddox wasn't some ordinary man. "Maddox saw the entity, just like me," she said.

"You probably have some witch blood in you, Mr. Steele," Anastasia teased with a grin. Maddox smiled at her joke, but Blair believed that this joke might have some truth to it.

"This entity is trying to grow a body, Anastasia," said Blair. "It's trying to take its full form so it can last longer amongst the living."

"How did it even get here?" asked her cousin. "This only happens if the spirit realm has been opened. And as far as I remember, nothing like that has happened."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Blair let out a weary sigh.

"What do you mean?" asked Anastasia when it clicked to her too. They both looked over the Maddox.

"When Maddox's father came to seek my help, he left the spirit realm for quite a long time," explained Blair. "Anything could have slipped past and came here."

"So, my father opened a doorway for ghosts?" asked Maddox.

"More like an extra small window," corrected Blair. "Only this one was able to see it and come through."

"This is not good," mumbled Anastasia.

"Things, like the entity we encounter today, wait for an opportunity when a portal between the living and the dead is opened," Blair explained to Maddox. "These entities wait in the shadows instead of crossing over to afterlife. And the longer they wait, the darker their intentions get."