"Okay," says Hunter, crossing his arms, "so how do we reactivate it?"
I can tell from Jodie's look that the answer isn't going to be simple. "You were created using the blood of five other shifters," she says. "If we can distill the essence of their powers from their blood and transfer it to you, I believe we'll be able to give you your magic back.”
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming,” Landon remarks.
Josie nods glumly. “Normally this type of rejuvenation would demand the DNA of the shifter’s parents, since these abilities are passed on genetically. In your case, Millie, being a hybrid, your parents didn’t carry the shifter gene.”
“Right,” I say. That makes sense. It sucks, but it makes sense. “So this shouldn’t be too hard then, right? Between you and the guys, we can perform the procedure now.”
“I wish it worked like that,” Josie says with a sigh. “You have to think of this process like a transplant, or a blood transfusion. If you’re a human, you’re a blank slate, so under the right circumstances, you can receive shifter powers. It’s rare, but it is possible. That’s what Hawthorne is trying to do. The issue is that once you have shifter magic in you, the source of the magic needs to be the same. Otherwise, your body will reject it, and the process could kill you.”
“How do you know so much about this, anyway?” asks Silas, sounding curious.
Jodie gives him a dry smile. “Witch, remember? Meddling with shifter genetics is something we’ve been doing for centuries.” Turning back to me, her smile fades. “All this is to say, Millie, that you’re going to need the precise donors whose magic you were infused with as a baby. The point is to replicate that original experiment on a smaller scale in order to re-up your powers. Which means…”
The implication finally sinks in, and I can feel concern taking me over. Silas, Shade, Hunter, and Landon are all here with me, and would no doubt willingly assist me. But there’s one missing ingredient, one remaining shifter, the ultimate snag.
And her name is Edith Carlyle.
Chapter 5
For most people, the idea of dealing with an enemy in order to achieve a greater goal is a worthy sacrifice—hell, maybe even a noble one.
I guess I’m just not that noble.
I can feel the others’ eyes on me as I wordlessly walk over to the nearest tree and drop my head against the rough bark of its trunk, my eyes drifting closed as I grapple with the worst case scenario. Edith rubbed me the wrong way from square one, and I’ll be the first one to admit my initial misgivings had as much to do with my jealousy as they did with her potential to betray us. Either way, though, I was right about her in the end, even if for the wrong reasons: she single handedly caused the death of my former foster mother, Mollie, and put us back on the Academy’s radar after our return to the U.K. I can’t confirm it, either, but I suspect she also led us into a trap back when we still considered her an ally, pitting me, Hunter, and Landon against a couple of her human-loyalist friends. She also happens to be an insanely skilled witch shifter, with power levels high enough to rival some of the professors at the Academy.
Oh, and she’s where I got my witch form from. I almost forgot.
All this is to say, there couldn’t be a worse missing piece of the puzzle, and whether the others express it or not, I know they’re thinking the same thing. I become aware of a frustrated groaning noise and realise with a start that the intonation is coming from me as I press my forehead into the tree like somehow I can make it swallow me up. It just couldn’t be easy, could it?
“Is she okay?” I hear Hunter murmur to one of the others.
“What do you think?” Silas grumbles back.
“Boots?” Landon asks cautiously, and I feel him rest a hand gingerly on my shoulder. “I know I said I wasn’t the jealous type, but you’re getting awfully cozy with that spruce.”
That surprises a laugh out of me, and I open my eyes and turn back to them. “Sorry,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. “I probably sound whiny as hell.”
“Considering what you’ve been through in the past twenty-four hours,” Silas replies, “I think you’ve earned the right to whine a bit.”
“Thanks.” I give him a weak smile. “I was just hoping this wouldn’t involve tangling with Edith again.”
“I take it she’s the other witch shifter?” Josie asks.
I nod, sighing. “Smart. Crafty. Hella powerful, too. And gorgeous...”
“She’s no you,” Hunter blurts. I meet his ocean blue eyes, and a flush creeps across his pale face, but he doesn’t look away. “I mean it,” he adds quietly. “We all do.”
That’s enough to make me want to cry. Even as borderline-useless as I am right now, they still care about me. It almost doesn’t seem fair. “So what do you propose we do?” I ask Josie once I’ve gotten my emotions under control.
“Get away from the Academy, for a start,” she replies. “I’m weak, but I should be able to jump us to the mainland, at the very least. I have an apartment in the countryside, away from prying eyes. By the time you’ve collected the DNA, I should be recovered enough to perform the procedure. We can plan on meeting up there.
“What about Edith?” Silas asks, crossing his arms. “She’s going to be a problem.”
“You’re telling me,” I mutter. “She’s clearly on the wrong side. There won’t be a way of getting her to go willingly, that’s for sure. And she’ll probably have Academy agents with her.”
“There’s also the matter of where she is,” Hunter points out. “We don’t even know where she got off to after she turned you in, Boots.”
He has a point, as much as I hate to admit it. Considering how far we’ve seen the humans’ influence extend over the past few weeks, she could very well be on the other side of the world, and we would have no idea. I can already feel despair creeping back in, and it must be written on my face, since the others exchange a look of concern.
“Hey,” Silas says, putting a hand on my shoulder, “we’re going to fix this, Boots.”
“Are we?” I ask quietly. “I mean, are we, really?”
“Boots-” Landon begins.
I cut him off. “Look around,” I say, making a frustrated gesture at where we are. “We’re in the middle of nowhere. We’ve only got a few allies, and next to no resources. We don’t even have a place to stay. And the Academy’s only going to get stronger.”
“That’s exactly why we need you back up to par,” Hunter argues. “You’re the biggest weapon we have against them, and they know that. Why else do you think they’ve wanted you out of commission for so long?”
“But what if it’s not worth it?” I ask, running a hand through my hair. It hurts to even verbalise the fear. “I mean, we don’t even have a guarantee that we’ll be able to get my powers back. What if we just end up wasting our time on a wild goose chase when we should be strategising against Hawthorne? What if he actually succeeds in his experiments while we’re fucking around with my powers?”