I didn't know what to expect from Mom. That was probably the point. She was sneaky. We needed a plan if we were going to stand any chance of winning or at least not making a complete embarrassment of ourselves.

I didn't know what I could add here. What use I could be.

Mom for her part, was drawing a circle in the snow with a tree branch. Then stood there in the middle with a big grin on her face and hands tucked completely into her coat pockets. The coat she didn't need.

Jarec was pacing in a half circle in front of her. Probably trying to cook up his own plan. We couldn't really share ideas like this, not without risking her hearing them.

Another inconvenience.

I was hanging back, trying to stay out of Jarec's way. As the only one of the three of us who couldn't deflect a stray fireball confidently it was probably for the best for everyone. But I hated the idea of not helping at all. Not when I had information that was probably Jarec's only real hope.

Mom was almost perfectly still. Just waiting for Jarec to try something. It was a little strange to see her still. The only thing moving was strands of her hair in the wind.

None of my skills translated to being able to help here. No matter how much I wanted to. My magic was useless. I was just going to get in the way.

Mom and Jarec had made it sound like this was a normal thing covens do. That families here do.

I knew there wasn't any real pressure. What would staying out of this really change? Jarec already knew I was useless in a fight. Vivian already knew that too.

Ruby might not know that, but I doubted her opinion of me hinged on fighting prowess. The only person I could ever take in a fight was George Archer, he'd always been bluster hiding behind a track record, no matter how good knocking him on his ass had felt.

Jarec finally did something.

Paper. Of course it was paper. Not the origami squares I'd seen him with earlier. Something closer to confetti, triangles of all colors swirling around him like a whirlpool, suspended by small bits of blue light. Jarec Blue was just a few shades darker than Echo Blue and Hearth Blue.

I couldn't see his hands, the paper swarm was blocking my eyeline.

I clenched my fists tight and tried to think what I could possibly do to help. My magic was useless. There was nothing I could do that Jarec couldn't do better.

Except…maybe…

Jarec's paper started to move. A tidal wave of colors and delicate points. Mom just stood there as it overwhelmed her, blocking her from my sight.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

When I could finally see her again she was dancing with the paper, not as elegantly or with the same gross look as when she danced with Dad. She dodged around the paper while keeping her hands where they were and staying within the circle she drew. Infuriatingly perfect.

But there was one thing not even Mom could change. Not even she can cast two spells at the same time. And I could see the tiny hints of yellow around her.

She was doing something, even with her hands hidden.

Sneaky.

But distracted.

I knelt down slowly into the snow as she kept her eyes on Jarec and his confetti swarm. Something moved near my hand. White. A little white origami frog.

I winked at it, hoping it conveyed something of the meaning to it to Jarec. "I think I have a plan if you can keep her as distracted as possible."

The frog nodded back in a tiny jerking motion.

I gathered up some snow in my hand and started packing it together in the way I'd done plenty of times. I could probably make the shot from here. My target wasn't moving much.

Once I was comfortable with my snowball, I slowly started to stand up. I didn't want any sudden movements to take Mom's attention away from what Jarec was doing.

I had this. Probably.

I took a deep breath.

Slowly Serafina.

The paper around Mom sped up, swirling around faster and faster. Mom was still dodging with minimal effort. We just needed to get her to remove her hands from her pockets.

I wasn't a stranger to snowball throwing. I was comfortable. It was barely any different than throwing one at home. I even had the same target.

Mom stopped moving entirely as the swirl of paper tightened around her. The wall was becoming thick enough that it was getting harder to see her. But I could still make the shot.

I glanced at the frog. Hoping for some kind of signal that it was go time. I couldn't hit Mom with all the paper in the way and I was only mostly sure Jarec knew what I was up to.

I didn't see Jarec snap his fingers, but I could hear it. Loud and clear and coming from the wrong direction. He was standing far on the other side of Mom. It took me a moment to realize the sound had come from the frog.

I took the shot, throwing the snowball with everything I had.

Another snap, from where Jarec was actually standing and not nearly as loud to me. Then Mom was surrounded by blue fire. I held my breath as I could only stand and watch my snowball fly towards the flames, putting all my hope on Jarec.

Our hope, really.

The flame was clearing, I only got a brief glimpse of Mom's amused face before-

Splat! Right in the face!

The blue flames surged again. But then in an instant cleared completely. Showing Mom wiping snow off her face with her hands.

"We win!" I yelled.

Jarec was laughing. Triumphant.

Mom was grumbling as she finally cleared off the last of the snow. "Very well done. I was wondering when I'd see some classic Hearth spells from you. Serafina makes it sound like you never use them."

Jarec shrugged, "I like keeping surprises in my back pocket."

I didn't like the smirk on Mom's face. It was too mischievous. I didn't trust it. She was either up to something or knew something we didn't. Probably both.

Jarec came over to me as Mom skipped off back to go flirt with Dad or something.

"Do you think she might have let us win?" He mumbled lowly as he picked up his little frog.

"It's possible," I considered. "I can't say for sure though. I'd give it a fifty-fifty chance either way.

He didn't look happy about that and I couldn't blame him. I'd feel worse if I'd lied to him though. "We'll just have to try harder next time."

"Better teamwork," I said. "More practice."

He nodded. "Next time we'll make her duel us for real."

"I think we're several years too early for that, but I'm willing to try."

"Too early to just give up."

"Maybe by the time I can actually cast spells like everyone else we'll have a real strategy."

"Next time."

But there was nothing stopping us from trying. Stopping me from trying.

"Next time," I promised.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.