A Brownstone Response by Judith Berens

Author:Judith Berens [Berens, Judith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781642023206
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2019-06-02T22:00:00+00:00

The empty field bordered by a crumbling fence satisfied Alison far more than the airport, even if Cassandra spent the brief flight looking like she had swallowed needles. It was as if flying a few miles away was the greatest inconvenience in the world.

I have the feeling she wouldn’t even care if a fight started at the airport and someone was hurt. I don’t care how many connections she has or how much of a local celebrity she is. I won’t gamble with people’s lives.

Alison shook her head at the thought. Her recent experiences with Andrei and Raven had made her think a little more deeply about what separated her from her enemies, and one big difference was her desire to protect people. It was why she had started a security company, and she never wanted to lose sight of that.

Everyone emptied out of the helicopter and followed Cassandra as she marched farther into the field, her briefcase and scepter in hand, and her irritated expression grew with each step. About twenty yards out, she halted abruptly and took a deep breath before she crouched and looked expectantly at them.

“Is this acceptable?” she asked. She nodded to a few trees that swayed in the wind in the distance. “There might be squirrels hibernating under a tree. I wouldn’t want to risk their lives.”

“This is fine,” Alison muttered.

The witch snapped open the locks on the briefcase and raised the lid. Inside, various crystals of different sizes and colors lay embedded in soft gray foam inserts. She selected a few and set them in front of her. After a few more placements, it became clear that she formed the rough outline of a glyph with the different crystals.

I’m surprised she doesn’t do this ritual at her place, but if she has everything she needs in that briefcase, it makes some sense. It certainly makes her more flexible.

“Once I begin the ritual, I’ll have to continue to the end,” the witch explained. “I can stop briefly to talk, but only briefly, and canceling it requires a number of measures that also take some time. So please, don’t bother me until I’m finished unless you prefer me to die and a large explosion.”

Alison stared at Cassandra, her mouth agape. That level of risk was even more of a reason to not have done it at the airport. Disgust washed through her.

Once she’d shaken her head and walked away, she gestured for her friends to come closer. “We’re in a field, but we’re not exactly in the middle of nowhere.” She pointed in the distance toward a highway they’d flown over. “And there still is a chance someone might portal in, so stay alert. We obviously can’t depend on Cassandra caring about anyone.”

The others nodded and spread out around the witch.

A couple of minutes passed in silence as the woman arrayed sixty-four crystals in a precise pattern. Her hands moved quickly and precisely during the process, and she didn’t bother to explain any of the steps.

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