Charmfall (The Dark Elite 3)

“Okay,” she said. “That’s our rhyme.”

Every Adept in the room let out a whoop.

We carefully wrote down the incantation on three different pieces of paper. I had a copy, Scout had a copy, and we gave the third to Daniel for safekeeping. But when it came time to pick the projectile—the thing we’d actually use to break the spell—we were at a loss again.

“If only we really had an arrow,” Michael said.

“Then we’d also have to have a bow and someone with really good aim,” Scout pointed out. “Too complicated.”

“What’s our plan to get into the pumping station?” I asked, and everyone looked at me. “The object we pick should be easy to get into the building, right? And easy to actually get into the circle?”

“Right,” Scout said with a nod. “We’ll want something inconspicuous. They aren’t going to want to let us into the building just because we ask nicely.”

“Pizza delivery?” Michael suggested.

“Or Chinese,” Paul said. “Lots of little containers to hide things.”

“I doubt a building of Reaper rejects are going to have takeout delivered to their secret headquarters.”

I looked down, and caught sight of the room key around my neck. I’d forgotten to take it off when I’d changed for the dance.

“They probably wouldn’t order takeout,” I agreed. I pulled the key off and held it out by its ribbon. “But they might talk to a girl with firespell who’s all confused about Adepts and Reapers and why they exist.”

The room was quiet for a moment.

“You can’t,” Scout finally said. “You’ve already risked enough this week.”

I shook my head. “Like it or not, I’m the only one they’ll believe. Fayden saw me talk to Sebastian, so she knows I’m willing to talk to Reapers. And I’m sure someone has filled her in about how I became an Adept and that I’m new to the scene. It makes more sense that I have doubts about Adepts than anyone else.”

“She has a point,” Daniel said.

“I don’t like it,” Scout said. “But it is a good plan.”

She held out her hand, and I handed over my key. Silently, she placed it on the top of the table, then sprinkled the concoction the twins had made—which looked like the gray stuff in the bottom of a vacuum cleaner—over it.

But nothing happened. The key just lay under its pile of gray fluff.

“Don’t you at least want to say some magic words?” I asked.

She gave me a dry look while wiggling her fingers over the tile. “Hocus pocus alamagokus.”

“Really.” My voice was flat.

“Abracadabra,” she said, this time with more flourish.

“Is something supposed to, I don’t know, spark up or something?” I asked.

“It’s pre-spell,” Scout said, tilting her head at the key. “I’d hoped it might at least light up a little, but until I’ve actually got magic again, none of my spells have juice. So it won’t trigger—it won’t spark—until it hits the circle.” She looked at me. “Repeat the incantation when you get in there, and then immediately throw the key into the circle.”

“What if she misses?” Michael asked.

“She won’t miss.”

“I won’t miss.”

Scout and I answered simultaneously. She carefully dusted off the key, then handed it back to me. I put it on again and tucked it into my dress. I probably wasn’t going to get zombie putrescence on it, but magical ash and Reaper putrescence? Much more likely.

“As soon as we get our magic back, we’ll come rescue you.”

I nodded and blew out a breath, and hoped it worked just like that. But I wasn’t going to bet on it.

* * *

With Nicu having been excused to get to the dance, the Adepts of Enclave Three—except for their werewolf—popped back to street level through a secret shortcut Daniel knew about, and walked toward the pumping station. We stopped at the corner one building over. The pumping station looked the same as it had when we’d snuck out to look at it, the blue paper still covering the windows.

The key around my neck felt like a heavy weight—I was too aware of the magic it held and its importance to Adepts. I was going to have one chance to make this work. If I threw the key and missed, Fayden would undoubtedly figure out that I was up to something and put a stop to it. And if I missed—I’d have no magic.

I had to get this right, and that was a lot of pressure for a not-quite-sixteen-year-old girl. I couldn’t legally drive, but I had the fates of hundreds of people with magic in my hands. Awesome.

Luckily, the street was pretty empty, so if we had trouble dealing with Fayden, there were fewer bystanders to injure. But I tried not to think about that. I tried to focus on how relieved I’d feel if the circle was broken and everything was back to (relative) normal again.

“When,” I reminded myself quietly. “When the circle is broken.”

But I was really nervous. Even my palms were sweaty. These kinds of things never went as well as they were supposed to.

I touched the key around my neck, then looked at Scout.

“You remember the incantation?”

I nodded. I’d repeated it over and over and over until it was second nature. “I remember. I’ll get it done.”

“Good girl,” she said, and wrapped her arms around me. “Be careful.”

“I will.”

I blew out a breath, and stepped into the darkness between the buildings. It wasn’t but thirty or forty yards to the pumping station, but the walk felt like forever.

Heart racing, I walked up the few steps and knocked on the door. It took two more loud knocks, but finally it squeaked open.

A girl with suspicious eyes and jet-black hair stared back at me. She looked down at my green and lace dress and clearly wasn’t impressed. “What?”

My heart was pounding, but I forced myself to smile. “I’m here for the tour.”

“Wrong time, wrong place.” She gave me an evil smile and tried to close the door again, but I stuck a foot in it.

“I’m pretty sure there’s a tour.”

The girl growled and opened the door just enough to step outside and glare down at me. “You have the wrong address, kid. Go make trouble somewhere else.”

“I have the right address. I need to talk to Fayden.”

She blinked at me, then stepped back inside and closed the door in my face. But before I could knock again, she opened it, and this time she was grinning.