"My mother's coven left this morning before dawn," Ian said, nervously looking around. "In her workroom I found- stuff to work dark magick with. Really dark magick. I hadn't really known it before." His voice was sad. Moira closed her eyes briefly and cast her senses, reaching for Ian’s emotions. She blinked her eyes back open, her heartbeat quickening. It was genuine, Ian’s pain-genuine and overwhelming. She was almost sure he was telling the truth, and doing so was ripping him up inside. "I didn't want to know what they were doing. But now there's something awful in the air."
"We're pretty sure Ealltuinn has created a dark wave," Morgan said, and Ian flinched in shock. "It will destroy everything around, all of us. Everything."
Ian looked nauseous. "A dark wave? I didn't think anyone could do those anymore."
"Ealltuinn has found a way," Morgan said. "Now we have to stop it." She turned to Hunter. "Do you remember any of your dad's simplified spell?"
Hunter looked at the ceiling, concentrating hard. Silent words came to his lips.
Outside, the wind kicked up, blowing a small branch against a window. The light coming in had a sickly greenish tinge to it, like the light before a tornado.
"No!" he said finally, his fists clenched in frustration.
Morgan's face fell.
Oh, Goddess, Moira thought. What now? We need a plan. There must be some way to fight this!
"It's still in there," Sky said to him, gripping the back of a chair. "She didn't wipe your mind, just bound your magick."
The other coven members stood around, listening. Some smaller groups were discussing ways to act, but no one seemed to be coming up with much.
"I don't know what she did," Hunter said, his cracked lips tight with tension. "I just know I can't remember… a lot. I don't have any power."
Moira could hear his frustration and could hardly imagine what he must be feeling. Would she ever get to know him, even close to as well as she'd known Colm? Would she ever see him healed and happy? Or would this, today, be her only memory of him? Her heart ached at the thought.
"Dammit!" Morgan said suddenly, smacking her hand on the table. "She can't win, not now! We have to stop this."
Katrina and some others nodded, but they all looked uncertain and afraid.
"Can we all just join together and use the strongest protection spells we know?" Christa Ryan asked, rubbing her temples.
"A dark wave isn't just fought," Morgan explained. "It has to be dismantled."
We have to stop it, Moira thought desperately. We're all going to die-none of the past two days will have meant anything. Iona's defeat will mean nothing. The four of us together defeated her-surely we can defeat this now. That was when it came to Moira: The four of us together…
"Mum?" said Moira, swallowing down her nausea. "I have an idea. I think Sky's right-that Hunter still has the spell locked up inside his brain. He just can't remember it. You could do a tath meanma with Hunter, getting the spell from deep inside, where he doesn't remember."
"I thought about that," Morgan said. "But…" She paused, looking at Hunter. "I don't know how well he could stand it right now," she finished softly.
Hunter's eyes hardened. "I can stand it," he said, clearly using every ounce of strength left in him to make the words sound firm and believable.
Moira glanced down at the floor, overcome by the power of his feelings for Morgan, how much he would do for her. And… for Moira, too. She could feel concern for herself in him as well, even though he'd only just learned she was his daughter.
"Still, I'm not in great shape myself," Morgan said, "Iona drained so much power from me."
"I know," Moira said. "Get the simplified spell from Hunter, then send it to me. I'm not initiated yet, but I have power. You said it yourself-how strong I am. And Sky can help, joining her power with mine."
"No," Morgan said flatly.
"Mum, it's the only way," Moira said urgently, leaning forward. "None of us, no one in this room, has what it takes to do this alone. You and Hunter at least have some experience with a dark wave. You know both me and Sky, you know how to work with us. We have to do it. And what happens if we don't try anything? Are we all just going to sit here and die? After everything?" Moira met her mother's eyes, pleading with her.
"Moira may be right," Sky said reluctantly. "We have maybe an hour before the dark wave gets here. One person working the spell alone might not make it, even with the shortened version. If both of us are working simultaneously…" She looked up. "We just might pull it off."
"We've no other good plans anyway," said Hunter. "None of us are thinking clearly-we've all been through too much. We can either stay here and die, or we can go fight it."
"I hate all of these options," said Morgan, looking from face to face.
"We all do," said Sky. "But there is one problem. We need more than one witch to work the spell, and my powers are still quite weak. I don't know if I…"
"Please let me help," Ian said. His face was solemn and grim. "For years I've not asked questions about my mother's work-even though deep down I always felt something wasn't right. I've gone on and done my own thing and tried not to see what she was doing, she and the new members she recruited to Ealltuinn. But now I see what a coward I've been." His voice dropped so that they had to lean in to hear him. "I need to help make this right if I can. Please let me help. I'm initiated, and I have a fair amount of power."
Moira knew-in every fiber of her being-that he was telling the truth. She'd been right about him all along. Maybe Lilith was like Selene Belltower, but Ian was not Cal. And she hadn't been a fool for trusting him after all. Even with all the danger they still faced, knowing that helped.
Morgan looked at Sky, who looked at Hunter and Moira. Moira waited anxiously, thinking, Please, please, please.
It was only after her mother hesitantly said, "All right. We have no choice," that Moira allowed herself to realize she would be going up against a dark wave. But there was no time to be afraid or to panic. If the dark wave killed her, she would go down fighting, trying to save her family, her coven, her town. Her mum had made the same decision, when she was barely seventeen. Moira was an ancestral Riordan. She was Moira of Belwicket, with her mother's strength, her grandmother's, her great-grandmother's. And Ciaran's strength also. He'd used his power for evil. Moira would use hers for good.
Nodding, she said, "Let's go."
They decided to meet the wave as it approached the village, on the high road by the headland and the cliffs. It was hard to walk fast, with how awful everyone felt, but they tried to hurry, going over the plan as they went. The twelve strongest members of the coven would station themselves in a circle of protection around Moira and Ian. They might not help, but they couldn't hurt, and everyone had agreed to stay together. The rest of the coven would be nearby, sending whatever power they could to Moira, Ian, Morgan, Sky, and Hunter.
"Moira," her mum said, easing closer to her. Her voice was low, confidential. "I have to tell you: dying by a dark wave is much worse than dying almost any other way. And by far the worst thing about it is that your soul then joins the collection, and you become one of the hungry, desperate for energy, for life. That's what we're facing today. I want you to understand just what you're going up against."
Moira tried to ignore the aching, hollow feeling in her chest. "I understand, Mum," she said, keeping her voice as strong as she could. "But as long as we're together, it will be all right. You and Hunter and me and you, all together."