Page 102 of Dragon Tempted

They rushed away and Sienna froze with her phone in one hand and her heart in the other.

Sienna didn’t know how long she stood there lost in her thoughts. She sucked in some deep breaths and found herself squatting down to pick up the papers she had strewn once again on the floor. Marcus would be rallying the guards, her brothers would be securing their families in the basement, and Sienna needed to prepare herself. No, she didn’t want to hurt John. But what he’d said earlier clung to her and pricked like stinging nettle. If they couldn’t reverse the curse before the Templars attacked, who else would die?

She should go back to the office to find John. To talk to him…

Footsteps sounded behind her, and she turned to see Tessa and Megan hustling back into the room.

“Why aren’t you both in the basement with the girls?”

“Marilyn and Jonas are with them,” Megan said.

Sienna took a step toward them. “You need to be safe. Where are Adam and Eric?”

Megan’s eyes widened in fear. “They’re outside with Marcus, ready to face off with the Templars.”

Sienna’s heart sped up. She was their leader and should be outside. Maybe John was waiting for her there. “Go downstairs, please.”

Tessa held up Lily’s drawing. “This means that we’re supposed to be with you. I tried to ask Lily if she knew what the drawing meant, but she didn’t. She goes into an almost fugue state when she draws, and she didn’t get a chance to finish it.”

“Right. It’s not finished, so we need to figure it out ourselves,” Megan said. “Why are we with you in this picture?”

Sienna blinked. “Yeah. Why would you need to be there when I…”

Tessa nodded. “Exactly. It doesn’t make sense.”

“So what does?” Sienna looked at the drawing.

“We were all so preoccupied with what you’re holding in the drawing.” Megan gestured to the paper. “But maybe we need to ask why Tessa is holding a square—is it a piece of paper maybe? And why am I holding purple flowers?”

Sienna pointed at the oval that looked like it was the beginning of something Lily started to draw. “What could it mean?”

Blood shed. Forgiveness and sacrifice. Magic restored.

“Megan, what are other definitions for the word ‘restored’?”

“It means, to reinstate, return to, bring back to its original state. What are you thinking?”

“How do we bring magic back to its original state? To the beginning?” Sienna’s heart sped up. “What if that oval is the top of the bowl used for the curse? What if we have to bring back what happened before? The day the curse was created. We have the bowl and the dagger. That can’t be a coincidence.”

“Lavender!” Megan gasped. “That was the flower John said was in the bowl that day.”

Sienna grabbed Megan’s hand. “What if we write a new spell to counteract the curse? We have a witch to help us.”

They both turned to Tessa.

Tessa’s mouth dropped open. “Wait a minute! I don’t have any powers.”

Megan shook her head. “When you touch the scroll, the words change to English. John said you’re a scribe witch. That has to mean something.”

Sienna reached for Tessa’s hand too. “We have to try. If we don’t, John is going to sacrifice himself. I can’t let him do that if there’s another way.”

Tessa nodded and the three of them ran to the office. Sienna opened the door, expecting John to be waiting in the room, but it was empty. Thank goodness. She didn’t have time to explain things right now, especially since he would fight her on this. Megan pushed everything off the top of the desk. Then she opened the safe and took the bowl from its box and set it on the table before pulling the scroll out, removing it from its protective plastic sheath and laying it on the desk as well. She rummaged through the desk drawer and then held out a pen to Tessa.

“What are you doing?” Tessa asked.

“I think you need to write the new spell on the original scroll.”

Tessa’s hand shook as she took the pen. “Okay. But I don’t know how to do this.” She placed her left hand on the scroll and the words changed so that they could read it.