Legacy & Spellbound by Nancy Holder

here!
    The man’s expression changed; he looked very confused. Then he shook his head—his hair floated in slow motion, his eyes caught the light and flashed— and his voice slid toward her as if it were rolling toward her inside a crystal ball:
    Holly, no! Don’t make contact with me! They will find you!
    Inside her head, Isabeau cried,
“Jean!”
    Still conscious of herself as a light, Holly moved toward Jer. His face shifted, took on a slightly wicked cast, and he murmured,
“Isabeau, ma femme.”
    He was Jean once more.
    â€œI did not kill you, I did not,”
Isabeau pleaded.
“Je vous en prie, monsieur!”
    Jean ripped the hood off the falcon’s head and raised his right elbow, urging the massive bird to take flight. The creature hefted into the darkness and shot toward Holly. Its sharp beak aimed for her face; its eyes gazed evilly into hers.
    Holly gave a cry of despair.
    The bird soared toward her.
    She tried to back away, to make herself move in any direction, but she couldn’t.
    Behind the bird, Jer Deveraux—not Jean— shouted, “No!”
    And in that moment, Holly woke up.
    Her eyes flew open. The tall man stood with his back to her, battling two of the larger demons with bolts of magic, while, beside him, another, older man held aloft a large cross. Snow was falling; soon it concealed the two men from her view; everything was a blur of snow streaked with something slimy and green, and what looked like human blood.
    â€œTake it easy,” said a voice. She recognized it as Joel’s. What was he doing here? “I’m healing you.”
    â€œJer,” she whispered.
    Then everything faded to black.
    â€œOh, God!” Kari shouted as she and Silvana fought to repel the charging demon. It was headed straight forthem, and their combined magic spells had done nothing to slow it down. Above its head it whipped a morning star, a sphere of metal covered with spikes.
    The demon’s purple-black skin steamed in the snow; its breath reeked of death. From its glowing eyes tendrils of flame escaped, and when it opened its mouth, ash poured out.
    Kari screamed and started to bolt. Beside her, Silvana tried to stand her ground, murmuring one of the protection spells Holly and Amanda had taught them over the summer, but she was so terrified, she kept forgetting the words. Silvana’s
tante
—Aunt— Cecile had taught her the ways of
voudon,
not of black and white magics, and combat was still new to her.
    â€œKari, don’t run! It’ll get you!” Silvana shouted, then realized she had interrupted her own spell.
    Kari did run, shrieking as she turned on her heel and raced in the opposite direction. The demon roared and flung the morning star at her. It went wide, leaving Kari unhurt as she kept going.
    Silvana shouted out,
“Concresco murus!”
and to her relief—and astonishment—a barrier of glowing blue energy formed between her and the spiked ball. The morning star crashed into the barrier and was caught there.
    Enraged, the demon flung itself against the barrier,but it was deflected, bouncing backward and slamming to the icy ground on its back.
    Silvana turned to the right and repeated the spell, then to the left, forming a three-sided wall of protection. The smaller demons scrabbled up against it, pounding at it with their claws and trying to rip at it with their teeth. Two of the larger ones advanced, one with a battle-ax, another with a curved scimitar. Both of them were repulsed and both of them kept trying to break through.
    All any one of them has to figure out is that the fourth side is unprotected,
Silvana thought,
and we’re dead.
    She caught up with Kari, grabbed her arm, and said, “Move it!” As she tried to put as much distance between them and the demons, she uttered the spell again, pointing to the space directly behind them. Then she hazarded a glance over her shoulder—sure