Poncho ignored him and kept translating.
“She says your work will be done here. She says the fates haven’t decided the outcome. She says the human race will decide the outcome. She says if you leave the security of this compound, which will keep you safe, The True will triumph.”
Poncho’s auntie quit talking.
“Our work will be done here?” Leah asked.
“That’s what she says,” Poncho answered.
“How can the human race decide the outcome?” I asked. “It would be nearly impossible for them to win against immortals.”
Poncho turned to his aunt, she said something to him, then he turned to me. “She said this is a test. She said they must pass or they’ll suffer for their failure.”
“Great, now we got hazy predictions to deal with,” Dad muttered, then said louder, “No offense, tía de Poncho.”
She shrugged at Dad.
“There are people in danger if we don’t move,” Callum noted. “Did Josefa see harm come to any others?”
Poncho again talked to his aunt.
Then he spoke to Callum. “The next fight, we’ll be there.”
I shook my head. “How, if we’re here?”
“No clue. Auntie just said we would,” Poncho told me.
“Brother,” Jabber began, “a lot’s riding on this. Is the old broad that good at tellin’ the future?” he asked, then looked to Poncho’s aunt and added, “No offense.”
She skewered him with her eyes.
“My first wife, she told me the bitch would cheat on me. My second, she told me the bitch would steal from me. My third, she told me the bitch would try to cut me,” Poncho said.
“Whoa,” Jabber breathed, his eyes getting big. “She’s good.”
“Yeah, she’s good,” Poncho returned. “Any other questions?”
“So we sit and wait…more?” Abel asked, pure frustration naked in his tone.
Poncho’s aunt started talking again.
Then Poncho started translating again.
“For you, yes. For her, she has to get started with her protection spells. She says the gringa witches do good work, but what you’re gonna face, you need to pack a punch and she’s gonna give that to you.”
“Well, tell her to get started,” Dad stated immediately.
“Uh…does she speak English?” I asked before Poncho could give the order for her to begin.
“She understands it, doesn’t speak it. Says it fucks with the purity of her magic,” Poncho answered.
That was interesting.
“She can get started now, Poncho,” Lucien growled.
“Right,” Poncho muttered and turned to his aunt.
“Are you going to take the advice of this witch?” Gregor asked.
“Well, just to say,” I began, “Poncho’s first wife cheated on him, the second stole from him, and the third totally tried to cut him.”
“Fabulous,” Abel muttered, dropping his head to study his boots, so I found his hand with mine and held tight.
“I…” Leah started, and when I looked at her, she was shaking her head. “Well, I feel this is magic, what’s happening, what unites us, what made some of us, what gives us what we have to fight it. So, I figure, someone who knows magic, we should listen to.”
“I’m concerned about further delays, but I must say, I agree,” Sonia put in.
Everyone looked to me.
I kept my eyes on the bruja.
She had her eyes on me.
“Keep us safe,” I whispered.
She nodded and disappeared.
And again, Abel muttered, “Fabulous.”
* * * * *
Gregor
Later that night, Gregor sat in his office with Callum’s mother, Regan.
“We’re agreed?” he asked.
She held his eyes and nodded once.
“Yes, Gregor. We’re agreed.”
He grabbed his phone and hit the button, which made the call.
He put it to his ear.
The call was answered with, “Is it time?”
“It’s time. Release them.”
“It will be done,” the voice said.
He listened for the disconnect before he drew in a long breath and let it out.
“They won’t be happy,” he told the desk blotter.
“They slaughtered entire villages.”
Regan’s voice was so harsh, coming from a gentle she-wolf such as she, Gregor’s eyes cut to her in surprise.
“We have no choice,” she finished.
She was right.
They had no choice.
He just hoped, if they survived whatever was to come, The Three would agree.
* * * * *
Barb
“We’re all in?”
Barb looked around.
Flo was nodding.
Jezza looked worried, but she was nodding too.
Ruby was just staring at her.
“Ruby?” Barb prompted.
“Could mean the death of us, our entire coven wiped out, all of this in less than two weeks,” Ruby replied.
“Could also mean, we don’t do what we can, we don’t help, next month our coven is hiding our magic, serving tea to an immortal, and doing that crap until the day we die,” Barb replied.
“See your point,” Ruby muttered.
“So, you’re in?” Barb pressed.
Ruby hesitated.
Then she nodded.
“Good,” Barb said and turned to the vials filled with fizzing pink liquid that were on the dresser in her bedroom. She passed them around, saying, “I’ll get Aurora’s to her.” Her eyes slid through Flo and Jezza. “You’ll take care of the wolves and the brothers Jin?”