Twenty-sided Sorceress 5
Annie Bellet
1. Jade feels alone in her shop. Alek had to leave urgently and said he would explain later. Brie (three Irish goddesses) and leprechaun Ciaran have been called back to Ireland. Iollan, a druid Brie had gotten pretty close with, cannot go with them. Max (Harper’s little brother) has just turned 16 and got his license. He has a car that was pieced together he will be driving them to the airport in. Afterwards, he and his friends will be staying at a beach house for a while in Washington. Jade is relieved he will be gone if there is an attack. Alek returns from a meeting with Carlos who wants him to go to New Orleans to meet with someone. He says it is Justice business and he is no longer a Justice. She offers to go with him, but he says she cannot go to where it is. She tells him if it is important, he needs to go and he should leave before the snow storm hits. He embraces her before he leaves and she refuses to say goodbye as she feels like he is already gone. Hade has dreams of fire that night and cannot get back to sleep. She ends up playing Skyrim to try to keep her mind off of it. During work, Harper notices her spacing out. They don’t have any business, so Harper asks to leave early so she can get up to the college to study. Jade asks what she will do if the snow gets too bad. Harper says Ezee gave her a key to his office some can stay there overnight if she needs to. Jade feels very alone and that is when Samir walks in.
2. Jade pulls her power around herself in an attempt to keep calm. Samir says he has known where she was for four years but has waited for her to grow roots so she would have something to lose. Just then, Steve comes into the shop. Jade tries to warn him to get out, but it is too late. Samir uses a magical garrote around Steve’s neck to kill him. Hade rushes to Steve’s side and pulls on Tess’ power to try to save him. Steve dies, but Jade is able to turn back time to when Samir walks into her shop. He wants Clyde’s heart and says this is only a warning. Steve enters again and she dives to him to try to save him, but Steve still ends up dying. She begs Samir to kill her, but he says he hasn’t gotten bored of her yet. He leaves. The police find Jade on the ground in Steve’s blood and arrest her.
3. Jade is out of it as she is lead through the police station. She throws up bile and ends up passing out. She wakes up to Lee yelling at the officers for leaving her handcuffed while she was unconscious. She tries to tell them she needs her one call to talk to Harper. She tells Lee to tell her to turtle. She is taken to an interrogation room where she asks for a lawyer. The two state cops, Dickson and Baldwin. Try to get her to tell her what happened. When she tells them she didn’t kills Steve, they keep asking question and implying she did. She again says she wants her lawyer. When they ask more questions, she point out their nicknames could be Dicks and Balls. They try to hide their anger over this, but her lawyer arrives and shuts them out of the room.
4. Kate, a shifter and partner at the only local law firm, comes in and declares herself Jade’s attorney. She points out they are claiming 130 lbs Jade took down a man 100lbs bigger than her and doesn’t have a mark on her. Jade tells the detectives that her ex-lover came and killed Steve. She describes him vaguely hoping they don’t find him. Kate demands Jade be allowed to clean up if they won’t let her go. Kerr has to stay in the bathroom with her while she showers. Once settled into her cell in warm clothes, Jade puts a ward around her cell. She asks Tess about the time manipulation. Tess admits it shouldn’t be done because they are now in a different timeline. Jade falls asleep and dreams her memories. She is in Samir’s library the first time he left her alone. She finds his journals and starts reading them. When she realizes he is a monster that is grooming her so she becomes powerful enough for him to absorb her magic by eating her heart, she runs. She goes back to her family, but Samir goes after them too. She runs down a hallway to a door. Her family is behind it. They decide to open the door that will set off the explosion before she gets there so she can live.
5. Sheriff Rachel Lee brings Jade a duffel bag of clean clothes, her phone, and her wallet from her apartment. Jade changes while Lee grabs her a donut. When Jade gets her phone, she calls Harper who is still stuck at the college because of the snow storm. She called the Hen House and Mama and Junebug are hiding in the spare room of the barn. She called Alex and he on a plane heading to them now. Later, Jade is taken out of her cell to meet with Kate and two detectives, Hattie (Dick and Ball’s supervisor that has some sort of magic around her) and Salazar. They tells her the librarian, Peggy, was murdered in a similar way as Steve. Jade is confused why Samir would kill someone she didn’t particularly like. They ask her to come to the crime scene with them and she agrees.
6. Jade is given gloves as she enters the crime scene with Hattie and Salazar. They show her that Peggy’s chest has been blown through and it looks like it came from a shotgun. Jade points out that her heart appears to be missing and the corener confirms it. Hattie has everyone else leave the house. She asks Jade what is going on. Jade asks how far in is Salazar. He says he is an eagle. She tells them Samir is a sorcerer and so is she.
7. Jade tells them a quick version of her story. She remembers that one of Peggy’s coven members is named Joyce Summers who runs a no-kill animal shelter called Pet Haven. Salazar asks her how many hearts she has eaten and she replies by asking him how often he beats his wife. He relents that not all stereotypes are valid. She tells them she has only killed people when they were trying to kill her first. She thanks Hattie for not hating her right off the bat. Hattie says she has been around long enough not to judge someone by reputation. Some of the worst things she has seen done were done by humans. They get a call they Joyce Summers is the one that found the body and is waiting to give her statement. They go next store and Joyce explains. Samir told them Jade was his daughter and he wanted the coven to keep an eye on her for him. He payed them and they accepted because they were planning on doing that anyway. For three years, they have been reporting everything back to Samir. Jade warns her to get the coven out of town because Samir will come for each if their hearts. She realizes Samir knows about all of her friends and where they are. She gets a call from Harper who tells her the Hen Hiuse is under attack. Jade rushes out of the house and asks Hattie to drive her there. Hattie tells her their orders are to cover up the magic from the humans and stand down. They don’t have the means to fight a sorcerer, especially one as powerful as Samir. Jade uses her power to fly instead.
8. Up in the air, Jade has trouble knowing where she is. She spits a plume of smoke and heads that direction. She finds the Hen House on fire and rushes in to make sure no one is inside. She can’t feel anyone alive and leaves when she hears Harper calling for her. They check the barn that is full of gullet holes. All of the horses are dead. They find where Junebug and arise had been camping in the loft, but none is there. Levi says he can smell Junebug’s blood. They go outside and look around for Rose’s fox tracks, but they end just before the woods. Junebug flies down to them in Owl form and lands as a human. She explains thst Rise told her to fly away. She tried to help Rose, but was grazed by a bullet. The men Samir hired took her. Samir calls Jade and tells her he wants Gavin’s heart in exchange for Rose. He tells her to call him back in two hours. Alex is the only one that knows where it is, but they all know he won’t release Rose no matter what they do. Back in the barn, Jade finds a mug that Rose had made. She tells her friends she can track Rose using it.
9. Jade tracks rise and the rest follow. The come to an abandoned church that has several guards. Jade flies up to the roof while the others take out the guards around them. She ends up fighting a bear shifter and win in the end. They go inside and find Rose tied up and yelling about Max being taken by Samir. Jade finds the same black crystals that were used to make her hear her family’s voices. She blows them up. He phone starts to ring and she knows it is Samir.
10. Alek calls to let Jade know his plane has landed. She tells him to go to the Hen House and keep out of sight in the barn. When they get there, Yosemite the Druid, has drug the horses out and returned them to the ground. He offers to take Rose with him and watch over her. Junebug agrees to go with her. The rest come up with a plan to save Max. Jade will pretend like she is going to hand over Clyde’s heart, but then she will eat it and defeat Samir. Alek reminds her he told her not to give her the heart. She tells him they have run out of options and he takes her to get it. It is already gone. Alek says he has things to tell them, but they will have to wait because need to stay focused on Samir. When Ezee asks about the council, Alek tears off his medallion that labels him as one. He says there aren’t anymore Justices. Jade tries to convince her friends to stay hidden with Yosemite, but they all refuse.
11. They all rush to find Samir and alert Jade approach him directly. He has Max and has him bound in darkness they clearly had been causing him pain. Samir has already eaten Clyde’s heart. He tells Jade he is getting bored, but he is not quite done with her yet. She offers him her heart in exchange for Max, but Samir says ye already has it. He creates a distraction to get away and Jade rushes forward to save Max. A magical circle forms around them and starts to crush them. Wolf jumps on top of Jade and turns into darkness and then golden light. The spell is broken, but wolf is gone. Max seems okay so Jade rushes to Alek who was knocked aside when he tried to chase after Samir. Alek he is fine. Harper calls out for Jade. Jade rushes to try to remove the bindings from Max, but she cannot do it and he dies.
12. They go back to the barn and Yosemite leads them to his grove. Jade can feel it’s on top of a magical node and she can draw power from it. She knows better than to think she can harness the power though. Alek holds her and eventually, she gives way to her exhaustion. When she wakes up, Jade tries to convince the others to run and let her fight Samir alone. Harper points out how Jade has saved them from many different threats. She is not responsible for Samir’s killings. They spend the rest of the day trying to strategize. They decide they will need to leave the George for supplies. They decide Levi and Ezee will go for weapons while Jade and Alek for food. Before they can leave, they smell fresh smoke and see a cloud of smoke coming from town.
13. It is decided that Levi and Ezee will continue their mission for weapons while Jade and Alek head into town to check out the fire. They find Hade’s store is the focal point, and nothing seems to be able to out it out. Jade strips out of her clothes and walks in with only a magic shield around her. She finds a lava snake inside. She gets bit in the arm and slows time around them. Then she uses ice to freeze it. The fire goes out and she gets out of the building. Rachel Lee covers her in a blanket and sends her off with Alek. Hattie and Salazar tell her this is getting National coverage. Jade tells them that is there problem as they have declined to help. Jade tells Rachel to get the pack out. Rachel thanks her.
14. While she is sleeping, she sees Tess’ memory of the first time she accidentally tried to turn back time to save a bird. Her grandmother stoped her saying she can’t turn back time. It had killed her mother, but she had done it to save Tess. Jade wakes up and Alek gives her water and her clothes. She gets dressed and Levi and Ezee join them in the barn. They let Harper know they would be staying the night there and returning to the grove in the morning. Jade thinks about their predicament and how she doesn’t want to lose anyone else. She comes up with a terrible plan.
15. Jade takes Yosemite aside and in old Irish asks him to use his magic to get everyone except her away from the fight. He warns her it will be difficult and they could get lost in the way. Jade accepts the risk and Yosemite accepts the task. She goes to Alek and they speak in Russian. He is worried about how calm she is. She tells him she doesn’t have the energy to panic. She asks what happened in New Orleans. He tells her there are no more Justices and the Counsel has gone silent. He and Carlos had to fight their way out. Carlos is hurt, but will survive. Alek is glad to have found his mate. They spend their time together unaware of the others around them.
16. The battle starts and Junebug is shot from the sky. Jade tells Yosemite to get everyone out, but one of Samir’s attack hits him and he goes down. Jade watches her other friends get injured and go still. She attacks Samir, but hesitates to take his heart. He rips hers from her chest. She reaches back for Tess and her mother’s memories and makes a time portal.
17. Time goes back to when they were all standing by the tree. Jade doesn’t have any magic left and tells Yosemite to get them all out of there. Junebug is shot from the sky and Harper goes after her. Jade is able to keep Yosemite from being hit, but Harper runs after Junebug and gets bit by the big white bear. Jade can’t do anything to help her. Yosemite’s spell starts to work. Jade realizes Samir will keep coming for her and kicks herself away from the others mid-teleport.
18. Harper tries to figure out Jade’s betrayal and running. She realizes Jade hit the rock away with her fist and not magic. She doesn’t know what happened, but Samir approaches her. She knows she is going to die and tells him to go to hell. He brings his boot down in her head.