Devil's Frost, Spellspinners Series #3 (The Spellspinners of Melas County) by Heidi R. Kling Page A

and he wandered off to join the other warlocks at the edge of the clearing. But first he stopped to pay his respects to Chance, kneeling on his left knee and kissing the top of his swordfinger. I cringed, wanting to pounce on him and kick his ass onto that same slab for doing this.
    I couldn’t believe the things Jacob had said about Lily—I wouldn’t believe them until I heard it from her. Even if she had done this, there had to have been a reason. Lily wouldn’t hurt anyone, especially not someone close to us—and she knew how much Chance meant to me. More than a best friend, he was the brother I never had. The only person in my life who was always there for me. Whom I could talk to, confide in about my struggles with Jacob, and most recently about Lily. He trusted me. Loved me. Loved us all. And his potential as a Spellspinner was limitless. We all loved him. Even the assholes like Jude loved Chance. So why did it have to be him who paid the ultimate price?
    The unfairness of it all consumed me as I watched his still body on the slab of stone. I unsuccessfully tried to swallow the lump of pain and sorrow in my tightening throat and swiped at a tear in the corner of my eye, digging at it with my knuckles.
    “Logan?” Griffin, a newer member of the brotherhood, a half-Japanese, half-Hawaiian warlock, one of the last to pay his respects, rested a warm hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay, brother?”
    “No.” I was a mess. “I can’t…believe this.”
    “I know. It sucks so bad.”
    “I can’t remember anything after I was knocked out.”
    “I heard the head witch, the blonde? I heard she did this to Chance.”
    I nodded. “Do you know how, or why?”
    “It was after they dragged off the witch that hurt you to be questioned by Congression, I guess. I wasn’t there. I helped Jacob and the other guys bring you to the infirmary. Chance was acting weird during your fight, though. I do remember that. His eyes were kind of glazed over, and he wasn’t talking or being funny like usual.”
    Jacob’s red poison had that effect on those he chose to use it on.
    Griffin continued. “The whole Gleaning was effed up today in a big way. Total chaos. The witch Lily…” He glanced at me sideways, and I met his gaze. “She seemed to know you. She revived you, you know?”
    A flash of her face bending over me, a swath of her hair grazing my cheek as she chanted.
    She saved me.
    “It’s a long story,” I said, not sure how much I should admit to. I scanned the crowd and realized that Jacob wasn’t there anymore. Where was he? Was he going after Lily and her amulet? I had to get to her. I tried to stand up, but felt faint. Spinning. Griffin helped me onto a wooden bench. He had an easy, relaxed way about him—must be from growing up on the islands.
    “Give yourself a minute, dude,” he said reassuringly. “You lost a lot of energy back there.”
    I nodded.
    Griffin sat down next to me. “A lot of shit went down that I don’t understand, man,” Griffin said. “And now this.” He gestured sadly toward the slab, and we were quiet for a moment. Then, after glancing around the clearing, he leaned toward me and said softly, “But, Logan, dude, maybe Chance will be the one.”
    My eyes stayed on Chance. “The one?”
    “To revive. I heard he was killed by a dagger. But it didn’t pierce him through the heart. It shot him with a bolt of magic.”
    I recoiled. “I…Really? Who told you that?”
    “It’s going around. What, Jacob didn’t tell you?”
    “No.”
    “Not that it matters much.” He shrugged. “No one has ever been able to locate the cure, or the Cintamana —our version of the much-touted Philosopher’s Stone. It’s managed to evade us for the ages , but they keep on looking. It’s big in my community back home. Since I was a kid, the elders told tales of its unique healing properties, turning any stone to gold and even reviving the dead.If you ask me, that’s all it is—a kiddie story made