Disclaimer: I unfortunately still do not own Sweep. I'm working on it, though. Oh, yes. I have a plan, and it's a good plan at that! Soon the world will know my wrath! (laughs maniacally) Mwahaha! (pause) Okay, maybe not. Anyhoo, review the chapter when you're done or I'll be forced to do something very sinister—you have been warned.
Taintedpromises: I do use a lot of quotes from BtVS, but it's only because they're so awesome ;) Lol, my friends and I are some of the biggest Buffy nuts ever. Once at a sleepover we watched about 12 straight hours of it … (pause) God, that was a long night … lol, anyhoo, I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying! It's going to pick up soon, I promise.
Raynornlimegreen: Lol, your drawings are works of art :D I love things like that! And, um, yes, the cliffie in this chapter is the plan going somewhat wrong … (slaps self) Darn it! I wasn't supposed to tell you that! Now the voices in my head are yelling at me! Lol, just kidding, I don't really have any … but the very loud voice of the other writer of nofurylikewiccansscorned would be yelling at me if she were here ;) So I'd better not say any more!
MIDNIGHT-PIXIE: Wow, you must really like this story to review the same chapter twice! Lol, thank you sooo much for reviewing so much and showering me with so much praise ;) It really makes my day to read your reviews, so keep giving me more! I'll try to update as quickly as I can, but I'm just really lazy … oh, well. Here's Chapter 27!
UnangelicHalo: Thanx for all the compliments :D Keep reading and reviewing if you want me to keep writing!
Part XXVII: When Doves Cry
Only daughterYou got your ticket too soon
Holy water
Because everybody's getting ruined
They are waiting to see what you do
Too long, waiting
Killian
We had run through several different ideas for what the distraction that Mike and I would come up with should be. What we had come up with, well … it was certainly interesting. It would take more magick than I had ever used before, but I didn't doubt that I could pull it off. I thought about Morgan trapped, being held by the Diobhail, and I didn't have to think or to worry. I knew that I could manage it if the consequences of failing were losing my sister.
At the moment, Mike and I were clambering over a rocky path that would take us to the north end of the cemetery, hidden by dense trees and brush. The moon had come out, but very little light made it past the thick cover of the trees above us. I was relying on my magesight to reach the plateau of the path, and I had to help Mike back up when he stumbled on rocks several times. I could barely see anything in front of me, but squinting my eyes, I could see a patch of deep blue, almost black sky ahead. We were almost there.
"So, what are we starting with?" Mike asked, panting with exertion as we reached the plateau in the side of the hill. I crouched down behind a large, mossy boulder, peering over the top as I mentally drew concealing runes over both of us. I could barely see the cemetery below, and I squinted my eyes.
"Well, I was thinking we'd start with a forest fire," I said simply, still looking towards Ballynigel. "Then I figured we'd advance to a minor earthquake and thunderstorm. That ought to distract them."
"We can't pull that off," Mike said, aghast.
"Sure, we can," I replied confidently, glancing up towards the sky. It was starless. "As long as we keep our heads, focus on the task at hand, and find ourselves the recipients of a hell of a lot of luck, we can do anything we want." I glanced over my shoulder. "Keep following the path, Bree. There should be another flat spot up a ways for you to do your part of the spell."
She nodded and kept moving up the path, and after a moment, I heard her curse quietly under her breath.
"Are you okay?" Mike whispered, looking back at her.
"Yes," she said, sounding angry. "I just chipped a nail on a tree branch."
"And yet, somehow, life goes on," I said under my breath. "Keep climbing."
As she moved on, the night became quiet again except for the barely audible murmurs from the cemetery below us. Mike joined me in peering over the rock, and he gasped.
"Is that Morgan?"
"I think so," I whispered grimly. I could hardly see down to the cemetery, but it wasn't something that I needed to clarify visually. I could tell that Morgan was in the middle of the cemetery, sitting against a grave in the middle of a circle of tombstones. I focused on the scene before me, and it swam into clearer view. I could see chains and robes binding her to the tombstone, and she was unconscious. A small stream of blood was trickling down the side of her face from a cut on her forehead. Dark, shadowy figures were moving about her so that I could only catch a glimpse of her for a second or two at a time. It looked as if they were preparing for a ritual of some kind. Some of them were carrying smudges of herbs or wands or athames or other ritual tools.
"What are they doing?" Mike whispered, sounding fearful.
"I don't know."
Sky, I whispered in my mind. Sky, they've got her in the middle of the circle of tombstones. Where are you and Hunter?
I got a reply almost instantly. We're at the east end, maybe a hundred feet or so away from the nearest mausoleum. We can see Morgan from here. She sounded worried. She doesn't look well at all.
Hunter butted in rudely, sounding quite agitated. Can the lot of you focus and get on with the glamour spell already? Let's get this over with as soon as we can! We have to get her out before they start their ritual and they're completely focused on her.
I sighed and nodded. All right. We're starting. Wait for our signal.
They didn't respond, but I knew that their gazes must be aimed up here at us, waiting for us to begin. I looked at Mike, who was watching me nervously.
"Ready?" I asked.
"No," he said honestly.
"Let's begin."
"Okay."
It was the most complicated spell I had ever attempted in my entire life. As I began my power call and felt rather than heard Mike doing the same thing, I focused on raising power so fully and completely I almost completely lost focus on what was around me. I couldn't feel the ground that I was kneeling on or the cold night air stinging my skin. I was visualizing the trees around me, and I saw the bark burning and peeling as fire ate it away, consuming the leaves and creating a massive pillar of fire. I saw it spreading to other trees in a blazing inferno, and I was beginning to hear snapping and popping sounds from behind me. I focused more deeply on the glamour, drawing runes and sigils in the air to strengthen the magick that I already felt flowing from Mike and me.
"Look," Mike said in amazement. I opened my eyes and turned around to look at the trees behind us. Flames were slowly creeping up the trunk of a massive evergreen and were beginning to reach out to the branches, catching the needles on fire.
"Nice," Mike grinned appreciatively.
"Keep working it," I said determinedly, still reeling from the powerful magick I felt in the air around us. "I'm going to head down closer to the cemetery to start the earthquake." I paused. "That is such a strange sentence. But I'll be back soon."
He nodded, and I felt him slip back into a deep concentration. I looked once more at the fire in the woods; the flames had spread to a few trees around the first, and smoke was beginning to rise in the air. I smiled to myself. It was a powerful glamour, I could feel its strength; hopefully they wouldn't be able to see through it until it was too late for them to do anything about it.
Everybody's cleared the room
And they'll dress you up
Stand you in all the right places
Words like honey
Smile as they change your faces
With no regard to you at all
And you find they treat you like a paper doll
I met Hunter and Sky—or at least the two demons I sincerely hoped were Hunter and Sky—on the east side of the cemetery on my way back down the side of the forest rise. I chanced a glance back up the mountain; Mike still had the glamour going strong, and it was gaining momentum with every passing second. I felt a swell of pride within me; I couldn't have asked for a more powerful or remarkable brother.
"Killian, it looks wonderful!" Sky said, her face alight with excitement. "I think this can work, I really do."
"Well, it had better," I said, passing them and continuing through the shadows. "I have to put up the next bit, but it's not time yet. This may have distracted them, but we need to get more of them out of there."
"Wait, if they go up there to investigate and Bree and Mike are there –" Hunter began. I held up a hand.
"Mike knows what to do when he sees them coming, and so does Bree. Don't worry. They're perfectly safe."
"I hope for your sake that you're right," he muttered under his breath, turning to peer back at the cemetery. True enough, several of the Diobhail had broken away from the main cemetery, where what looked like most of the clan had been milling around in anticipation for whatever was coming. The ceremony to strip Morgan of her powers, no doubt.
"Just watch for me," I called over my shoulder as I disappeared out of their sight into the underbrush.
And they'll dress you up for the flight
Like Ophelia, you wave goodnight
With the earth and sky you cheer and cry
Writhe as all your days go by
And laugh as you die
Bree
"Are you guys ready?" I whispered, shivering slightly as a gust of chilling air flew past me. Even though half the forest was on fire, it was still really cold that night.
I heard Robbie and Raven's responses as clearly as if they were standing next to me. I just shook my head at how clever this magick really was and began the chant.
"Three times around, three times about, evil is bound and evil stays out …"
Sweet softer shoulder
Oh, sweet sugar safe
Alexis
I didn't answer as an orderly asked if I was through with my cranberry pudding or if I'd be having more; my eyes were closed, but it didn't mean I wasn't seeing anything. It was as if a television screen had appeared on my closed eyelids, and I was watching the scene before me in perfect high-definition color and sound. And emotion. I had been watching my friends for the past few hours, able to see them so clearly but unable to speak to them or talk to them … or warn them.
I felt Mike focusing so hard on the glamour and raising to its fullest that he had very nearly lost perception of the world around him. His eyes closed, he was in so deep a trance that I was terrified.
"Mike!" I wanted to yell. "Mike, they're coming! Can't you tell they're coming? You're supposed to be protecting you and Bree!"
Oh, no … he hadn't seen them coming. A few of Muireadhach's soldiers were running up the hillside towards where he was hidden behind a rock, a hiding place that wouldn't last long at all. Already they had seen him, and he was too deep in a trance of building the glamour to see them.
I saw Killian give Hunter and Sky the signal they were searching for: a fake explosion in the wooded trees near Mike that echoed across the cemetery like a bomb's roar. I saw them leaving the safety of their hiding spot behind the mausoleum and enter the main cemetery; no one was looking at them. They were just more members of the clan.
I wanted to cry out, "No!" but I was too late. Four strong, scaly arms had grabbed both of Mike's and hauled him to his feet, rudely awakening him from his trance with a shot of horror and panic that I felt shudder through me. They had found him, and … oh, Goddess, no … the glamour in the trees was fading, the flames dying as they curled away into the mere wisps of magick encircling the forests that they truly were.
I felt Killian's panic, and that split loss of concentration was all it took. He had been moments away from creating a full-blown earthquake in the cemetery to rattle the Diobhail enough to distract them, but it was just a miniscule rumbling that I felt. Now I was looking through Sky's eyes as she tried to break through the locking and binding spells on the chains holding the unconscious Morgan to the gravestone; there were so many layers on them, but she was close, fitting them together and unlocking them like a puzzle.
Suddenly, though, she wasn't looking at the brown cloth robe she had been wearing under her glamour; her hands weren't brown, wrinkled, and scaly like a Diobhail's anymore. She looked up, and I saw Hunter looking back at me. Hunter. Not a Diobhail. His green eyes were wide with fear, and I felt a surge of panic race through me unlike any I had ever felt before.
"Interesting …"
The terror was almost overpowering. As I looked into those bloodshot, cold eyes, my mind ceased to process all thoughts.
"It was an interesting idea, really. Quite a nice glamour, as well, if I may share my opinion." A sigh. "Of course, it's a shame it was for nothing. Allow me to show you out."
I watched in absolute horror as Muireadhach, with a burst of magick so powerful it terrified me, sent Hunter and Sky airborne and flung them out of the circle without further ado. A yell died in my throat but surfaced again; I screamed for real as I saw them, with a deafening crack, reach the outer limits of the cemetery and crash, Sky into the wall and Hunter against her, into the wall of the outermost mausoleum.
I was screaming and yelling and not even attempting to calm myself; I saw their bodies crumple on the ground, lifeless, and I almost choked as a sob that welled in my throat never quite made it out.
"No!" I screamed. "No!"
Doctors and nurses were rushing into my room, but there was nothing they could do to subdue me. I wasn't paying attention to them. I just saw Hunter and Sky, on the ground, unmoving. I could see blood beginning to pool on the ground, staining the grass as they lay there. Unmoving.
"No …" I sobbed, feeling real tears spilling out of my eyes. "No … no, get up, hurry … please get up …"
I was seeing someone else through my tears: Raven, Sky's girlfriend. She stopped chanting the spell that she, Bree, and Robbie were doing almost instantly as the next words faded from her mind. She knew instantly that something was wrong.
"Sky …" I felt her whisper as she realized that she wasn't sensing anything from her lover. Moments ago, she had felt fear, and before that intense concentration. Now it was just nothing.
I collapsed in my bed, wailing, sobbing for all I was worth. Goddess, no, this couldn't be happening … this couldn't be happening …
Everybody's got their own life philosophy
And I can't wait until I find one coming from me
Oh, the bridge is narrow
You better not look down
Because as soon as you jump over
You won't find anybody around
Killian
I realized too late what was going on. Mike had been captured by Muireadhach's soldiers, and the glamour spell had faded away. All of the glamour spells, actually. As I was running towards the mausoleum where I had seen Hunter and Sky fall a moment before, my mind was racing, my heart beating too fast for comfort. Everything was coming apart … the demons had Morgan and now Mike, too … and Hunter and Sky …
"What happened?" I demanded as I ran up to the scene that took my breath away. Hunter and Sky were both unconscious (or worse, said an eerie voice inside my head) on the ground. I saw Bree and Robbie running up from the other side, both with horrorstruck expressions.
"Muireadhach happened," Bree said in one breath, falling to her knees beside Hunter and checking for a pulse. "Oh, God, Hunter, Sky …" She looked up. "He's alive. His pulse is weak, though. Really weak."
"Goddess …" I whispered. I knelt down next to Sky, but still I stood back a little. Raven was crying, holding Sky's limp body tightly as sobs wracked her body. I could only imagine the pain and terror she was feeling right then. "Don't move her, Raven," I cautioned. "You could make the damage worse." I reached for her, but Raven glared at me.
"Get away from her," she said through gritted teeth.
"Raven –" I started.
"I said, get away from her!" she yelled, desperation and panic in her shaky voice. I looked at Bree and Robbie desperately.
"They need to get to a hospital. It looks like Sky's got some heavy damage."
Robbie and Bree both instantly looked at Sky, and Bree choked back a sob. A steady stream of blood was trickling out of Sky's ear, a sure sign of brain damage. Robbie's eyes widened.
"Oh, God …"
"I'll take them," I said.
"But you're a blood witch," Bree objected. "You have to –"
"I can get them to safety faster. The three of you need to continue the protection spell."
Bree snorted angrily. "Oh, yeah, a fat lot of good that did."
"It was working," I said firmly. "I could feel it. You need to keep doing it now for Morgan and Mike."
Robbie's eyes widened. "Wait, they've got Mike?"
I bit my lip. "Yes, and that's why you need to keep doing it. To make sure nothing happens to them. Everything could come undone otherwise." I bit my lip. "Mike's our only hope now." I looked at Raven, desperate to make her understand. "Raven, I swear to the Goddess that I'll make sure she's all right. You have to let me take them to a hospital."
Raven glared at me for a moment, her eyes red and her cheeks stained with tears, before nodding slightly. "Hurry," was all she said.
Oh, the bridge is narrow
And you've got so far to fall
And you know down in dirty water
Is no place for a paper doll
I looked back at the cemetery, feeling a despair rising in me that was almost crippling. Mike and Morgan were both captured, and Bree, Robbie, and Raven had returned—albeit unwillingly—to doing the protection spell. I bit my lip; I honestly hadn't had the heart to tell them that I honestly didn't know what good it would do. Because I had allowed myself to be distracted, we had failed. Hunter and Sky's lives were hanging in the deadly balance and, with a feeling of panic, I realized just how faint Sky's heartbeat was. Hunter was bleeding from a large gouge on his back, the blood soaking through his shirt onto the ground, and I couldn't hear Sky breathing anymore.
What else could be done?