Geist (15 page)

I'm here. 

Ah...Geist. "Geist, we need to get my mom to safety before they arrest her, and I think Rhonda's in there too." This time I just spoke aloud but still in a whisper. 

What does that mean? 

"Arresting? Well it means they come and handcuff her and take her to the jail and question her about the Society and her great-uncle." 

Domas? 

"Yeah, you know about him?" 

Of course. Every Abysmal creature knows of Domas. 

Huh. "You do? Why is that?" 

Before he answered I heard Alice's voice in my ears as if she were standing next to me. "Zoë do you see anything?" 

"No. Do we go in?" 

"Yes. We need to see what it was that Daniel sensed."  

Right. I moved to the back porch, my sword down and my shield up in front of me. I went incorporeal and moved
through
the door. I came into in the kitchen which of course was spotless, though as I looked over the counter into the shop I saw a table overturned and two bodies on the floor heading into the Botanica part. 

I saw Alice enter from the front door. She's moved through it as well. Where was Rhonda? 

"Don't lie to me!" 

Whoa. I had my sword up and my lights on in an instant. Alice held up her sword and shield and made motions for me to tone it down. Whoops. I'd turned on like a lightening bug. I dimmed myself again and we moved to where we'd heard the voice. 

It was the basement. God I hated that basement. That's where I'd found the box of my birthday presents... the one from my dad. The Eidolon...

In fact that voice had
sounded
a lot like my dad. Not that I'd heard my dad a lot during my life. But still. 

I nodded to the door in the kitchen that went under the stairs. I sieved through first and kept myself as invisible as possible as I "floated" down the stairs. 

I really hadn't expected to see what I did. In fact I think I just hovered there with my mouth open as Alice came in behind me. 

The shelves were still there along the back wall. Plastic tubs replaced the boxes I'd half destroyed the last time I'd been down here. They were all clearly marked on the sides: Xmas/Solstice, Thxgiving, Halloween/Samhain, Lamas, Michaelmas, Beltane—wait, what were those for? 

The floor had been cleaned and a gigantic pentagram like the one that was painted on the hard wood in the botanica shop above us had been scrawled in what looked like white chalk. A white candle flickered at each point of the star. In the center of the pentagram sat my mom, her legs crossed, her eyes closed. She looked like she was meditating before a yoga class. 

Just outside of the pentagram stood my dad. He was holding Rhonda up by the neck and shouting at her. 

Several things went through my head in the split second before I went all medieval on my dad. First, what the hell was my mom doing while my best friend was getting strangled by her ex-husband? How was it that my Dad, who is dead by the way, could strangle a witch as great as Rhonda was touted to be? And what the hell was he even doing in the basement of mom's house? 

Now
it was time to go
Warrior Princess
on his ass. I zoomed down the stairs, pulled my legs around and aimed a high kick at his head. 

Unfortunately he'd either sensed me or he'd heard me (my bad—I think I let out a Warrior scream) because by the time I'd gotten there he was gone. Rhonda crumpled into a heap near the front of the stairs and I sent a nice "HELP!" out to Dags before I moved her out of the way. 

Dad showed up again by the pentagram as Alice took over for me and started thrusting, hacking and parrying him. My dad pulled a sword out of nowhere and fought back. Once I knew Rhonda was okay and got an acknowledgement from Dags that they were on their way I rejoined the fight. 

I felt just a little bad because it was two against one in our favor. I'd also noticed that mom never moved and dad never went past that pentagram's circle. 

What I hadn't counted on was Dags himself stomping down the stairs and heading toward Rhonda. 

Oh great. The one thing they were hiding from the Ethereals just walked into a house with one in it. 

Dumbass. 

Lovable. But a dumbass. 

"You!"
my dad bellowed. And I mean he
bellowed
. 

His sword burst into white flame and he started a relentless thrust attack at Alice. She blocked most of them but a few got through and when they touched her, she sizzled. I could actually
hear
it. 

On the third hit Alice cried out and Dags actually doubled over as he was trying to get Rhonda out of there. Shit. This wasn't going to do.

You are stronger than she is. 

"Geist, this isn't the right time—" 

You can defeat him easily. Simply use your strength. Draw from the Throne and destroy him with abysmic essence. 

Destroy him? Since the start of this I don't think I'd ever considered actually destroying my dad. Making him feel
bad
, yeah. But destroy him?
"Geist, he's my dad."
 

He is simply the vessel used to create you by divine plan. He is a tool. 

"I can't destroy him." 

Maim him. 

"No..."
but I realized if I couldn't do the things Geist was talking about like killing and maiming, was it was possible to just hurt him? 

I had to try. 

Dad was heading toward Dags just as Joe came down the stairs. He fired a few rounds into my dad—but they went through and impacted on the floor.
Stop it or you'll hurt my mom!

Joe looked past me to the circle and Nona seated inside. I'd overshadowed him once, so hearing my mental scolding was pretty easy for him. 

Sorry
, he returned. 

Dags stumbled with an unconscious Rhonda as Joe reached him and the two tried to go back up the steps. Dad managed to get close enough to strike before I could hack at his back with my own sword. Joe went backwards into Rhonda and Dags and they went down like bowling pins. 

My dad turned and looked at me as if to say, "Oh, you're still here." Of course he didn't know it was
me
. 

I took a step back, taunted him to come at me. 

He fired up his sword. 

Well I fired up mine right back. And the flame burned...black. 

It was a contrast. A black flaming sword and a red one. It looked cool as shit. But now wasn't the time to entertain my inner-geek super-hero loving self. My dad's expression was priceless. He was a beautiful man—hell he made Antonio Banderas look ordinary in comparison. So the look was almost cute. 

Almost. 

He yelled out something in that weird language—the one Mephistopheles said was the old tongue.

And I understood it. 

"Behold the divine hand of the Seraphim!" 

That's what he'd said. 

I have given
you
that ability. Now, use the Phantam's, Zoë. Put him in his place. He is the right hand of your enemy. 

"My enemy?"

The one that wishes to keep you and the Grimoire separated for all eternity. 

That thought irritated me. Being with Dags. Touching him and not being able to feel him. Being locked inside that damn throne, away from EVERYTHING! 

I spoke out in the same tongue and my voice carried throughout that tiny basement. 

"
You
bow down to the power of the Phantasm, the hand of Kings, and the wielder of the Universe!" 

The flame of my sword grew even darker as I charged at him. My yelling had caught him off guard and I was able to rush a thrust into his chest and
through
it. He screamed out in agony, threw his head back, and vanished. 

The sudden silence was deafening. Alice was gone but somehow I knew she was inside of Dags. He was picking Rhonda up and lifting her into his arms. 

Joe stepped up. "Hey, you want me to do that? The girls just did some serious fighting—you've got to be exhausted." 

But he shook his head. "No...it hurts a little where Alice was stabbed...but I'm okay." He moved around Joe, took the first step, leaned down to kiss me, and then moved up the rest of the stairs with Rhonda in his arms. 

"Well...that's different," Joe said and looked at me and then past me. 

My ears popped and I stuck my pinky into one of them. That's when I felt a hand slap on my shoulder and a firm hand turned me around. 

I was facing mom, nose to nose. And she looked pissed off. 

"Zoë—when your father finds out it was you that just kicked his ass—this whole mess is just going to blow up in your face." 

Damn I love this woman. I wanted to kill her sometimes...but I do love her. 

"I missed you too mom," I said in a tired, meek voice, and the whole
Princess
Warrior
thing vanished. It was just me, in a hoodie, jeans and sneakers. 

Her eyes were red-rimmed and she had her arms around me. 

Arms...around
me
. 

I was in my mom's arms again. 

There was nothing to stop the water works. 

Nothing. 

"I love you, baby girl. I love you so much." 

-23-

Who Is That Witch? 

There wasn't enough time. 

I wanted to stay in her arms forever and never let go. But her Botanica and Tea Shop had become too dangerous. My dad might have be gone for the moment—but there was no guarantee he wouldn't be back; and with reinforcements. 

To be more economical with space—especially in the Scooby Van—I slipped back inside of Dags as Joe stepped up to help mom out of the house. Jason, Daniel and TC (where did he come from?) took up positions outside the house and stood guard as we moved to the curb. It was dark now, but the streetlights illuminated a really creepy fog all over the yard that hid the other houses from view. The van abruptly came around the corner and squealed to a halt right in front of us. The door opened and Dags ducked in with Rhonda in his arms. 

Nick was driving! 

Once everyone was in, with Jason climbing in the front with Nick, the door closed and we sped off. I thought I heard police sirens coming closer. 

Dags put Rhonda on the stretcher as Joe crowded down beside him. 

"Is she okay?" 

Dags shook his head. "I don't know. I have to check." 

Alice looked a little dimmer than usual and insisted she was fine when I opened my mouth to ask. "It's okay. Remember what I said about him healing? We've all been lucky his inability to access the book didn't take it away. But once he does this I'm afraid the world in here is going to suffer a blackout." 

"Blackout?" 

"It's very trying on him to heal, Zoë. He uses his own power. Remember what happened when you used it? He's going to need sleep." 

I turned back to the screen to watch. 

Rhonda's neck looked terrible. It reminded me of what my own neck had looked like after Mitsuri had attacked me in my kitchen back in November. I thought at the time I was going to die, half in and half out of my body. My dad had an unearthly strength, and for all of Rhonda's magic she was still human. 

Joe had two fingers at her neck and he hissed. "It's weak." 

Dags edged Joe out of the way and gently put both of his hands on her neck to either side. The contact made me aware of her breathing. It was ragged and strained. 

"Dags?" 

I knew he was frowning. I didn't have to see his gentle face. "He—I think he crushed her windpipe. She's suffocating." 

"That son of a bitch—" 

"Joe—" Jason said from behind us. "Move away. Let Dags have some room." 

But Joe had his hand on Dags' arm. Dags looked directly at him and I saw the panic and desperation in the detective's eyes. I don't think I'd ever seen him so worried. Or upset. "You can heal her. I saw you bring someone back from the dead, remember? You can heal this." 

Alice's light dimmed again and I turned to her. "What's wrong?"

"If he's going to do this, Zoë he's going to need our help." 

Oh hell. 

But what did Joe mean he'd seen Dags bring someone back from the dead before? 

He could raise the dead? 

That was 'effed up. 

When did that happen? 

Yes...he did. I see it now. 

I jumped a little. I wasn't expecting Geist to pop up.
"Woof...you see what?" 

There was a pause. He didn't manifest nearby. It was only his voice. Joe's voice.
This is very interesting.
 

"What?" 

But Geist didn't answer me. 

"I'll do my best," Dags was saying. 

Uh oh.

"Geist...what you did before when...you healed Dags' side...can you do it again? With Rhonda?" 

I can channel my power through you, if that will help.

"Will it fix Rhonda?" 

We can try. 

I watched Dags' hands glow with an eerie blue and white witch light from inside—as if his bones were on fire. I knew he'd closed his eyes but I could still see what he was doing. 

I felt Geist's warmth and stepped forward. 

"Zoë—don't!" Alice hissed. 

I waved her away. I remembered that time Rhonda had been shot in the warehouse and I'd stepped inside to heal her wound. This was so similar, only instead of a bullet hole I could see her crushed windpipe. 

They told me my power couldn't heal...but I
had
healed before. I had! 

Yes. You have. So heal again. I will help you. You and the Guardian will work as one.

Suddenly I was rushing forward down toward his hands...and Dags was with me. Dags and I were
together
flooding the entire area from her chin to her sternum in that eerie light. I watched her windpipe straighten. The blood returned to where it needed to be. Her breathing eased, and her heart slowed to a relaxing rhythm.