Spellbinder by Lisa J. Smith Page A

began scrabbling through the amulets, looking for one with the same symbol impressed on the clay as the book showed by Phoebe's name.
    There it was! She cradled the amulet in ? her palm. Phoebe's hair had been auburn and very fine.
    Okay. Now get the balefire ready.
    It had to be made from oak and ash, the two kinds of wood that had been burned to bake the clay. Thea put the dry sticks in her grandmother's largest bronze bowl and lit them.
    Now add quassia chips, blessed thistle, mandrake root. Those were just for general power raising. The real magic was in the tiny bottle that had been carved out of a single piece of malachite. It was the summoning potion, and Thea had no idea at all what was in it.
    She dug at the wax with her fingernails until the cork twisted freely. Then she paused, her hands shaking with every beat of her pulse.
    Up until now, she'd only examined things she shouldn't: bad but forgivable. New she was going to kindle a forbidden fire . . . and that wasn 't forgivable. If the elders discovered what she'd done . . .
    She pulled the cork out.

CHAPTER 8

    A sharp, acrid odor assaulted her nostrils. She had to blink away tears as she held the bottle over the fire and very carefully tipped it.
    One drop, two drops, three.
    The fire flared, burning blue.
    It was ready. The balefire that was the only way to get a spirit from the other side-apart from crossing the veil and fetching it back yourself .
    Thea took Phoebe's amulet in both hands and snapped it, cracking the clay and breaking the seal. Then, holding the broken amulet over the fire, she said the words of power she'd heard the elders speaking last Samhain.
    "May I be given the Power of the Words of Hecate. "
    Instantly, she found words coming to her, rolling off her tongue. She heard them as if it were somebody else talking.
    From beyond the veil ... I call you back! Through the mist of years ... I call you back! From the airy void ... I call you back! Through the narrow path ... I call you back! To the heart of the flame ... I call you back! Come speedily, conveniently, and without delay!
    She felt a rumbling vibration like an earthquake rock the floor. Above the ordinary fire different flames seemed to burn; cold, ghostly flames that were pale blue and violet and rose to lick at her knuckles.
    She started to open her hands, to let the amulet fall into the magical flame. But just as she was about to do it, there was a bang.
    The door to her bedroom swung open, and for the second time in twelve hours she found herself horrified to see Blaise.
    "The whole place is shaking-what are you doing?"
    "Blaise-just stay back!"
    Blaise stared. Her jaw dropped and she lunged forward. "What are you doing?"
    "It's almost finished-"
    "You're crazy!" Blaise grabbed at the amulet in Thea's hands, and then, when Thea snatched her hands back, at the silver box.
    "Leave it alone!" Thea grabbed the other side of the box. They were struggling with it, each trying to pull it from the other. Fire scorched Thea's hands.
    "Let go!" Blaise shouted, trying to twist the box away. "I'm warning you-"
    Thea's fingers were damp with sweat. The box slipped.
    That was when it happened.
    The silver box flipped in Blaise's hands, sending a spray of amulets everywhere. Locks of gray hair, black hair, red hair, all flying. Most of them hit the floor-but one landed directly in the balefire.
    Thea heard a crack as the clay seal broke.
    For one second she was frozen, then she plunged her hand into the fire. But the clay was already burning-not red hot, but white hot. She couldn't close her fingers around it. For just an instant she seemed to see a symbol etched in blue flames, and then a flash like sheet lightning exploded from the fire. It knocked her into Blaise's bed and Blaise into the wall.
    The lightning formed a column and something shot out.
    Thea didn't so much see it as sense it. A wraith shape that tore around the room like a blast of arctic wind. It sent books and articles of