Witch's Pyre (Worldwalker 3)

Lily cupped both her hands in front of her and wiggled her fingers. “It’s like a field thing, you know?”

“No,” Rowan said, shaking his head.

“I mean a force field,” Lily said, feeling silly.

“Like in that movie Star Wars you made me watch?” Rowan asked, confused.

“That?

?s the Force. A force field is more Star Trek,” Breakfast corrected. “Big difference.”

“You did it to us before,” Una said. “It kept the Workers from stinging us when we fought the Hive. I’d say you’re getting better at it, though, Lil.”

“You’ve never seen that done?” Lily asked lightly, like it was no big deal.

“I taught you all I know about field magic,” Rowan said. “And I know it isn’t strong enough to repel bullets. You did something different. I felt it for a moment.”

“Well, it’s not actually field magic,” she said, backtracking. “Instead of just putting energy into your willstones, like making a deposit, I use them to transmute energy directly. You’re enveloped in a flow of energy that’s strong enough to repel bullets. For a little while, anyway.”

“You’re controlling our willstones?” Tristan asked uncomfortably. He shifted in his seat. “Are you controlling us when you do it?”

In the heat of battle, none of them had ever been able to tell the difference. It was such a subtle thing that Lily started to resent that line in the sand. So what if she had to possess them to do it? It had kept them alive.

“I only did it for a few moments when they were shooting at you.” Lily made an exasperated sound and turned to Rowan. “It’s the first thing you ever taught me. Remember how you had me heal my ankle through your willstone that first night I was in your world? Or when we fought the Woven in the cabin? I didn’t have a willstone then so I used yours to transmute the energy we needed. That’s all I’m doing.” She looked around at her coven’s unsettled faces, feeling defensive. “You’ve always known this, Rowan. When I have to, I can use any of my claimed’s willstone like I would use my own. Is it such a big deal I had to possess you for one second in order to save your lives?”

Lily overheard the whisper of his thoughts. I did this, he said to himself. His mouth went slack and he stared at her as a memory slipped through his head, unbidden.

. . . Tristan sits across from me, jealous and angry. Lily is still in my bed, and I know he thinks something happened between us. Something did happen. I let her claim me, and now I’ve given her willstones—the tools to become a true witch. I’m such an idiot. Why don’t I just start hanging people myself and get it over with?

“Whatever happened to keeping her out of your head?” Tristan asks me.

“I didn’t have any other choice,” I reply, glad that this conversation isn’t taking place in mindspeak. I did have another choice. I could have run and let her die. Why can’t I just let her go? “Believe me. I’m regretting it,” I say.

“What even gave you the idea?” Tristan asks.

He’s not angry anymore. He knows I’m sick. Afflicted. Addicted. Why is she the only woman I’ve ever been able to love? Something’s wrong with me.

“I thought about how she’d healed her ankle,” I say. “It was a long shot, but I figured she’d already transmuted energy inside herself using my stone, and it was only one step farther to then pour it back into me.”

“That’s one hell of a step, though.” Tristan looks scared. He should be. I am. His voice drops. “Do you think she could invade a stone? Take it over without permission . . .”

The memory flash ended and Lily found herself looking at a leaner, longer-haired version of the Rowan in the memory. One thing was the same, though. He was still scared of her.

“What does that mean—invade a stone?” she asked him. She could feel the rest of the coven’s confusion and curiosity.

“It means you don’t have to touch a willstone to claim it,” Rowan replied, like there was no point in trying to avoid the inevitable anymore. “You can just take any willstone you want as long as another witch hasn’t already claimed it.” His brow furrowed in thought as something occurred to him. “And maybe you could even steal a willstone from another witch. You’d have to fight her, but I can’t imagine there are many witches who would have a shot at withstanding you.”

“I can think of one,” Lily murmured, remembering the sensation she’d felt when she’d tried to touch the Queen’s willstone.

“Grace?” Rowan guessed.

“She’s been claiming the Woven remotely through the speaking stones for decades,” Lily said. “So she can invade a willstone, too. And she’s strong. If Grace has physically touched a willstone to claim it, I don’t think I can take it over. But if she hasn’t touched it, and she’s only used the speaking stones to claim, I know I can muscle her out.”

“How do you know that?” Tristan asked.

“Because I’ve done it.” Lily felt their stares, and she knew she had to tell them all of it no matter how disturbed some of them might become. “I’ve claimed a Woven I call Pale One. She used to belong to Grace, but I touched her willstone and now she’s mine.”

“The coyote Woven who attacked you outside Baltimore?” Tristan said, knowing the answer. “So that’s why she followed us.”