Tiddly Jinx (28 page)

“What’s happening?” she yelled. “Have you gotten the Pole?”

“No. We can’t get to the priestess,” I shouted back. “She is calling a banshee.”

She started to lower her arms and the column of darkness above her wavered. Her hands shot immediately back up. “I can’t leave. Get the coven.”

We started toward the coven, clearing the remaining undead as we went. I quickly explained to them what was happening. They looked at one another and nodded in unspoken agreement. They stepped from the protective circle and gasped as their hands shot to their ears. “What is it?” Devin asked, ducking left then right as something swished passed her.

“I don’t know.” We headed back to the priestess as fast as we could.

“No!” The panic in Selene’s voice ripped through me.

I left the girls with Sebastian and transported to her. Frost was on her knees and blood gushed from her nose, but her arms stayed stretched toward the sky. Selene was also struggling to keep her hands up as if they were being crushed by the weight of it.

“Jessica. Left,” she managed to say. “Has. The. Book.”

I glanced around and caught a glimpse of her heading toward the priestess. I transported to her and pressed my sword against her neck.

“Drop the book.”

“Get out of my way.”

“Jessica, put the book down.” She tried to move, but I kept the sword on her. “Don’t make me do this.”

“They can’t break her circle, but I can. It’s the only way you will get the Pole back.”

I made my decision in a split second, letting her through as I fell in step with her. “The book could turn you.”

Her jaw jutted out. “Would you rather they all die? Because that’s what’s going to happen.”

When we joined the others, she dropped to her knees and opened the book and flipped through the pages until she saw what she wanted. “I need a bone,” she said.

Corbin turned to the body behind him and tore off an arm then tossed it to her. She laid it in front of her and kept reading, mouthing the words to herself. She rattled off other ingredients she needed and we got them for her as swiftly as we could. The column of dark above where Selene was standing dissipated. I transported to them. Selene was lying unmoving on the ground with Frost and her grandmother, and Lily was still a few feet away. I ran to Selene and took her pulse. She was alive.

“Selene. Selene. Wake up. It’s not over.”

She peeled back one eye. “Did you get the book?”

“Jessica is using it to break the force field.”

“No,” she said, pushing herself off the ground. “She’ll turn.”

I took her arm, helping her up though she leaned on me heavily. “If she doesn’t do it, we’ll lose the Pole.”

By the time we got back, Jessica was already casting the spell. The force field around the priestess shimmered and cracked until it burst in a shower of sparks. The coven went to Jessica and Corbin darted in, scooping up the Pole and narrowly dodging the blind priestess’ hand. Selene took a deep breath and straightened. In a matter of moments color returned to her face and an internal blaze lit her eyes. Her hand shot out, fingers curled in, and the priestess lifted from the ground, clawing at her throat. Selene took several steps toward her.

“Draw me a holding circle,” she said calmly.

Katrina broke away from Jessica and drew a circle on the ground in front of Selene. Sy and Sebastian flanked Corbin, not letting him leave with the Pole.

When the circle was done Selene waved Katrina away and began chanting a spell that sounded vaguely familiar. A tendril of smoke rose in the center of the circle and turned to a flame, then from it stepped Charon.

“Do you have what I asked for, witch?” his voice thundered.

“I offer you the Pole and the priestess who stole it,” Selene said.

Corbin stepped forward, holding the Pole out in both hands. Charon looked at it and then at Corbin. When satisfied, he turned toward the priestess, who was still struggling for breath. “I accept your gifts,” he said.

Three snarling black dogs the size of a small horse appeared. Two of them jumped on the priestess, and Selene let her fall to the ground. The beasts pulled her apart, her screams echoing through the cemetery. The third dog went to Corbin. Selene nodded to him and he placed the Pole on the ground. The dog took it in its teeth, and in a flash of light, all of them vanished with the body of the priestess.

It took a moment for any of us to move, as if we were unwilling to accept something else wasn’t about to happen. Selene turned back to me, collapsing to her knees. “We did it,” she said, a smile taking over her face.

I dropped to my knees next to her and kissed her. “You did it.”

Sy’s laughter carried through the night. “I can’t believe any of that worked! You, cousin, are the luckiest person I have ever met.”

Soon everyone was smiling. Katrina hugged Sebastian who hugged her back before he broke free. Devin and Leslie bent down to hug Selene and me, relief spreading like waves through our small group.

“It’s over. It’s really over,” Devin said, straightening back up, eyes shining with happy tears.

“Not quite,” Jessica said behind her.

Devin jerked, her mouth forming into an O shape before crumbling to the floor. Jessica stood behind her with a bloody knife in one hand and the book in the other. Her body swayed slightly as if she was having trouble staying on her feet, but she raised her now black eyes to us. Selene flicked her wrist, knocking the dagger from Jessica’s hand. I was on my feet heading toward her, but her jaw set and nodded in our direction, a wall of energy slammed into me, taking my breath and pushing me back a few steps and not receding. She had us trapped. Selene gritted her teeth and rose to her feet with both hands held out in front of her. Her face twisted as she moved forward shattering the wall Jessica created, but her arms sagged and she struggled to catch her breath. Jessica didn’t look much better off than her.

Jessica stepped back the book clutched in her hand. She tilted her head to both sides an instant before a man and a half-man/half-animal appeared on either side of her. Slowly her hair lengthened and her jeans and sweatshirt morphed into a long white dress. When she spoke, it wasn’t her voice that came out.

“Surprise, I’m your leak. You will forgive my friend, he likes to talk.” She motioned to the man on her left. “Hope we didn’t cause too much trouble.”

I stepped to Selene’s right and Corbin flanked her left side. Sebastian, Sy, Katrina, and Leslie grouped behind us as we faced off against our friend.

Her finger twitched as she accessed our strengths and weaknesses which she knew better than any enemy we ever fought before. Her eyes settled back on Selene and she winked. “We’ll finish this another day, changeling. You have my word. Thanks for the book.”

She held out her free hand and the dagger reappeared in it. Wiping the blade of the knife on her dress over her stomach in an “S” shape, she said, “See you soon.”

She mumbled strange words I didn’t recognize and all three of them disappeared.

KATRINA AND LESLIE SCREAMED. I was the first to make it to Devin, who had a trickle of blood sliding down the corner of her mouth, but she was still alive. My hands sought the wound on her back, trying to heal her, but I was too weak. I had used too much magic tonight and I was weak.

“Just hang on, Dev. We’ll fix this.”

Her mouth moved silently and her eyes stared blankly. Leslie and Katrina dropped down beside her and I looked to Cheney, who had already moved next to me.

He laid a hand on her and pushed healing energy into her, eyebrows drawn close together with concentration and effort. Finally he pulled back and shook his head. “I’m sorry. She’s too badly injured. I can’t save her.”

Leslie collapsed in tears over Devin’s stomach. Katrina took one of her hands and I brushed the hair from her face, almost blinded by the tears pouring from my eyes. Devin’s lips moved again, only this time sound came out. “Save her,” she said. “Promise you’ll save her.”

“I will. I’ll bring her back,” I said, my voice breaking. “I promise.”

Devin closed her eyes and released her last breath.

No one moved or spoke. We had won the battle tonight, but the war was just starting, and already the losses were more than we could have ever realized. Cheney went to check on Lily and came back with her and Frost.

“What’s going on?” Frost’s voice broke the silence.

She stood next to Corbin, leaning on him for support. He looked at her, shocked, then back at me with accusatory eyes that I ignored. There would be no more killing tonight.

“Did you get the Pole? What happened to the priestess? Do you need me to close the tear here?”

“Shit,” I said under my breath. I had forgotten about the tear. “Do you have enough strength?”

She sighed. “Probably not. I’ll get it tomorrow.”

Cheney helped me to my feet while Sebastian helped Katrina, who looked stricken, and Sy helped Leslie, who was still inconsolable. “The Pole is back in the underworld and the priestess is dead,” I told Frost. “Thank you for your help.”

Cheney squeezed his arm around my shoulder. “Let’s go home.”

“What about my payment?” Frost said before we could transport.

I looked over my shoulder. “The book’s gone, too.”

Her face fell. “What do you mean it’s gone?”

“Jessica took it. She’s possessed or evil or…I don’t know. But she has the book and the voice of one of the spirits who spoke to me in the crypt. They’re gone.”

Frost looked down at her hands. “I was going to heal myself, take the curse away.”

I looked at her. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that wasn’t how it worked. Dark magic was strong, but not stronger than blood magic. She couldn’t change being a necromancer. She was born that way. I closed my eyes for a moment and nodded my sympathy to her. If only she had told me that days ago rather than allowing her pride to hide it. “I’m sorry,” I said.

With that, we all went home, leaving Frost and Corbin to fend for themselves.

We couldn’t find Jessica. She was gone. It took a while to figure out what she said, but our best and only guess was that she had cast a spell to do some sort of transportation and used Devin’s life to fuel it. My instinct was to go after her, but judging by the tired, run-down faces surrounding me we wouldn’t stand a chance—not to mention I wasn’t sure I could capture her without killing her, and we had lost enough people tonight.

Cheney held me and I tried to sleep, but it was no good. My mind wouldn’t rest. I slipped from the bed and out the door. I roamed the castle, but the more I thought about what happened tonight the more I felt like I was suffocating. We sacrificed my grandmother. Who does that? One of my best friends killed the other. I had betrayed in, one way or another, just about everyone who had set out to help me.

I made my way into the garden and sat on the bench with my knees under my chin.

“You didn’t uphold your end of the deal,” Corbin said behind me. “The necromancer is still alive.”

“And she’s going to stay that way,” I said.

He sat down next to me. “You’re feeling what I’m feeling, aren’t you? That’s why you’ve been making some of these decisions, like letting your grandmother sacrifice herself.”

“I wish I could blame that on you, Corbin, but I’m not.”

“You’re lying,” he said softly. “Apparently to yourself. You were half dead when the Erlking helped you back to the priestess. You were barely standing on your own, but when I touched the Pole, you healed. I was conduit. The connection does go both ways.”

Oh crap. Was he right? I replayed the moment in my head. When he took the Pole I suddenly felt stronger, more powerful. I thought of all the other moments and changes I had been feeling. I was angrier, more prone to violence. I blamed it on my exposure to the book, but maybe it had nothing to do with the book at all. Maybe it was Corbin I was channeling and mistaking for my own emotions. I looked at him and he nodded. “This sucks.”

“It’s not so bad,” he said.

“I don’t want you in my head, Corbin. I want to just be me. I want to get married to Cheney, have our baby, and live happily ever after. Do you honestly see a place for you in that plan if you don’t want to just be friends? Because I can’t and I’m not willing to give up the rest.”