by K. F. Breene
Daisy hooked her thumb at Bria. “That’s all bullshit. Sorry for the swear, but honestly, kids my age swear. It’s not a big deal. Anyway, the guy’s mom was a Selkie. Why would he have to run his fingers anywhere if he has sexy magic? But even if that Demigod did give you a tutor, could you trust them? And how much could they actually teach you? Hermes is nothing but a messenger. He goes where he’s told. Sure, it’s through the spirit world, but he doesn’t get to wander around or anything. Someone else’s will is in control. That’s not the sort of tutor you need. You need the free spirit kind, like that murderer who has bad taste in pocket watches.” She jerked her head at the watch resting on the clean surface of the island.
Bria shook her finger at Daisy. “Yes! Big words, or good research. Way to hit the books, kid.” She turned back to me. “The kid has a solid point. Plus, learning how to murder in stealth—”
“I am not going to learn how to murder in stealth,” I barked.
“You have to ease her into things like that,” Daisy whispered out of the side of her mouth. “Gradually. We’ll get there.”
“I can hear you.” I shook my head as the sound of a mini-explosion, like a series of pop guns, invaded the kitchen. “What was—”
From somewhere in the house, Mordecai let out a high-pitched yell, followed by a guttural bellow of frustrated rage. A grin slowly worked across Daisy’s lips.
“Daisy, what did you do?” I demanded.
“Daisy!” Loud thumping preceded Mordecai stomping into the archway between the kitchen and the formal dining room, his chest bare and splotched in what looked like blue ink. His beige slacks were splattered as well. His white shoes probably ruined. Blue drips ran down his face. “This has gotten out of hand!” he hollered.
I pointed at the partial tracks of blue following him to his current location. “You better not have gotten ink or whatever that is all over this house, young man, or I will kick you around the front yard.”
His mouth dropped open and he pointed at Daisy. “She did this!”
“Where’s your proof?” Daisy asked, crossing her arms.
He pulled his hand back so he could point again, a splotch of blue flinging onto the floor. “Your smug smile is the proof! The way you’re always doing this to me is the proof! You… It… I don’t need proof!”
I sighed and angled Mordecai around so he wouldn’t get ink all over my fabulous cream dress. The partial tracks led to the sitting room, where four upright rectangles of clear plastic, like walls, enclosed a puddle of blue ink at their center, the floor also covered in plastic. It looked like a tent with no roof.
“Well…why did you go in there?” I asked Mordecai in confusion.
“I didn’t go in there.” His volume was still too high, but I couldn’t really blame him. “I was just walking through, like I always do, and the sides sprang up around me.”
“How?” Bria asked, working her way around the plastic sides.
“I rigged it like a mine field,” Daisy said, delighted. “When he stepped on the trigger, the mechanical boxes”—she gestured at the nearest small, mostly flat box, painted nearly the same color as the carpet, and from which a pole and two cords, connected to a pole on top, was strung the plastic—“basically launched the pole up and dragged the cords with it. The plastic is attached to the cords. They are so fast that I knew he would just stop and assess for a moment, trapping himself inside. That’s what he always does—thinks before he acts. Easy.”
“I think because I have a brain and should not be ruled by my animal,” Mordecai yelled. The ink was now drying on his person.
“Right. And until you get to the lessons where you actually think and react at the same time, I guess we’re at an impasse.”
“Daisy,” I scolded, “just because you and he are being trained differently doesn’t mean you should take advantage of it.”
“Why?” She blinked those luminous eyes at me, and given he was magical and she wasn’t, and he was a shifter boy with enhanced strength and she was normal teen girl fighting to grow stronger, and given he had an enormous upper hand…
Well, I just let it go. Fair was fair, after all.
“Mordecai, get those footprints cleaned up,” I said.
“Why me?” he whined. “It was Daisy’s fault!”
“Because you should’ve known better than to track ink all over the house. And Daisy—”
“I got it, I got it.” She jogged off to the downstairs bathroom and returned with a couple of large plastic bags. “Jesus, Mordecai, light a match.”
“I came down here so no one would be bothered!” He was back to hollering. “Next time I’ll just do it in your bathroom.”
Daisy snickered. “Go ahead. See what happens.”
Mordecai’s face looked like a thundercloud.
I shook my head, my mood soured, and turned back the way I’d come.
“Where are you going?” Bria asked.
“To change. I really hope this spirit actually wants to train me, because I’m clearly not very good at forcing people to do as they’re told.”
“Hurry up, kids,” Bria said with a determined ring to her voice. “We might need all the help we can get.”
5
Alexis
“Demigod Kieran was pretty sure we’d get some good news from Demigod Nancy on the tutoring front,” Boman said an hour later, standing with Bria and me in the backyard as the sun melted into the horizon.
“Was that before or after he released you and Jack from his office to give them a little alone time?” I blurted, then gritted my teeth and wished I could reel the words back in.
“It wasn’t like that, Alexis,” said Jack, who’d pulled a chair to the side of the yard where the grass met the trees and brought out his book. He was technically off-duty and hated all things spirit, but he’d chosen to hang around lest I do something stupid and get myself killed. Daisy and Mordecai sat next to him, knowing this was a big deal and wanting to be here for it. “Well, I mean, for him. She is mad for him, but he’s playing her for a fool. She’s not the brightest crayon in the box. Kieran is all but certain someone is pulling her strings.”
“And my guess is he’s hoping she’ll pull his string as well.” Frank chuckled, a little removed from our party but no less intrusive. “Don’t worry, Alexis honey, men just need a little room to sow their wild oats. Once he gets it out of his system, he’ll be fine—”
I flung my hand and Frank went flying, tumbling across the grass and through the fence. Hopefully he’d get lost and not be able to find his way back.
“Daisy had some really good points. I’m not so sure you can trust whatever tutor she offers up,” Bria said, spreading out a brightly colored square of fabric at my feet. She dug in her backpack for more Necromancer supplies, including stinky incenses, candles, and even a strangely off-pitch bell I absolutely hated. She was pulling out all the stops for this one.
I traced my thumb across the surface of the pocket watch in my hand, wishing Kieran would call. Or maybe text. I trusted him implicitly. I did. But everyone had gotten into my head, and I just wanted to see his face. To read his eyes. To hear that my misgivings were ridiculous and I had nothing to worry about.
“Even if Demigod Nancy offered someone up, it wouldn’t be the right someone,” I said softly. “I need one of my own kind, or a Demigod of Hades. Daisy was right: I need to learn to wander, not have my destination controlled.”
“No worries, we’ve got this.” Bria sat back on her haunches with her hands at her hips, looking over her setup. “Even the most powerful spirits lose their might when they lose their bodies.” She touched the center of her chest. “I’m a strong level five with my tools and enhancements, trained to control spirits.” She put her finger up, as though pointing at the sky. “Lexi is nearly beyond a level five with Kieran’s bump, in a league of her own, and a natural at controlling ornery spirits. Together we can handle this, no problem.”
“Except he’s a spirit who knows hi
s craft. For all we know, he might be able to yank Lexi’s soul out before she can defend herself,” Boman said, shifting his weight uneasily.
“I have enough safeguards to block him if he goes for my soul,” I lied, wishing it were true. I didn’t have any safeguards. I didn’t even know how I’d know an attack was coming. Hopefully Bria’s equipment would help.
“We’re good.” Bria slid her thumb over a lighter and held the flame to a stub of incense. “You ready, Lexi?”
“I still think we should talk to Kieran about this first,” Boman said, scratching his chest and looking at Jack. “This could be bad news, setting this kind of spirit loose.”
“We tried to talk to Kieran, remember?” Bria’s voice was hard. “He was still in a meeting with Nancy and could not be disturbed.”
“We should have Lexi call, just real quick,” Boman said.
“I did. His cell phone went straight to voicemail and I got the same response from his assistant.” I rolled my shoulders, trying to work out the worry. It wasn’t like him to ignore my calls. “It’s fine. We have two level fives, my boost, and plenty of combined knowledge. I don’t even know why we’re worrying about this.”
“But you could use Kieran’s power to help,” Jack said.
“Never mind. Leave it.” My voice was a whip crack. It was now or never. If I waited any longer, I’d lose my nerve. That’s what I was telling myself, anyway.
I slipped into a light trance, welcoming the Line to drift into view, nearly beside me. Its power throbbed in my middle. Around me. I sank deeper, feeling the pocket watch in my hand. Tracing the grooves on the top, and remembering the look of it inside. I let the feeling vibrate beyond the Line. Beyond the veil. Deep into the spirit world, drifting, following the call of the owner. Still firmly rooted in the world of the living, I couldn’t help but wonder how different it would feel to step out of my body entirely, like in those dreams.
My consciousness bumped up against something in the vast emptiness. A smooth something. It felt like a wall. Behind it, I could feel another consciousness move. Spin. Wake up?
Suddenly, something rammed against the other side of the smooth thing. Thrashed against it, like a prisoner trying to get out of a cell. Perhaps it wasn’t a wall but a door, because it trembled and then pushed open a crack. Vileness oozed out toward me. Deviancy. Corrosion. It sucked at me, hooks scrabbling for purchase, trying to pull me in with it.
Trying to use me to pull itself out.
I jerked back, and then I was falling. Or running? Back-pedaling, trying to get away. Trying to leave that place.
I slammed into reality and staggered backward, a divot in the grass catching my foot. I was falling again, but this time strong arms wrapped around me. Kept me from hitting the ground.
“Alexis? Alexis!” Boman set me on the grass gently, leaning over me with worried eyes. “Alexis, are you okay?”
“He’s here!” Bria shouted.
Boman turned, shielding me with his body. I pushed out from under him and backed away, eyes wide, shivering with the remembered feeling of the vile ooze from behind that door. I’d never felt anything like it.
A shape had materialized in the smoke of Bria’s incense. The broad shoulders and defined arms pegged him as a man. He walked across the plane of the Line with a swagger, not drifting aimlessly like most of the spirits I’d called. This spirit was accustomed to crossing into the world of the living.
The dizziness of the spirit world melted away, revealing a very handsome man in his late twenties with dirty blond hair, chiseled features, and half-hooded eyes with a hint of bags underneath, making him look worn out from intense partying. Under the dark eyebrows and black lashes were the clearest blue eyes I’d ever seen. All he needed was a cigarette dangling from his full lips and grease in his hair and he’d be James Dean.
In life, this guy was supposedly a middle-aged man and probably run-down. In spirit, he could be anything he wanted. The guy had good taste, I’d give him that.
He waved his hand in front of his face, as though reacting negatively to the incense. It struck me as odd, though I honestly couldn’t remember if a spirit had ever done that before. Of course, Bria usually didn’t help me when I called someone, so most of the time there wasn’t any incense.
“Now, Alexis, that’s just not right.” My shoulders tightened of their own accord at the sound of Frank’s voice. He’d made it back. “Tit for tat isn’t how these things are supposed to go. You can’t just call a man in to get back at Kieran. Listen, I told you, men like—”
I shoved Frank away for the second time, careful not to take my eyes off the new spirit when I did so. As Frank torpedoed out of the yard, the new spirit gave a sexy sort of smirk and a husky little laugh. “He’s all right. He didn’t mean any harm.”
Bria murmured from where she crouched, raising a bell. A single toll filled the yard, the sound much louder than it should’ve been for such a small item.
The spirit’s form wobbled. His brow furrowed for a moment and he glanced down at Bria. Adrenaline surged in my body, but before I could decide what to do, he was looking at me again. The sexy smirk was back.
He jerked his head, indicating Bria. “A Necromancer, right? She’s strong. That little trick would’ve brought a lesser spirit to heel nicely. But for me, it was just a prod. She’s telling me to mind my manners.” His eyes sparkled devilishly. “Is that what you want from me? Me to mind my manners?”
I stared at him stupidly. He was a helluva lot more confident and…present than any other spirit I’d dragged back. It was almost like he hadn’t been there long.
Except it had been fifty years.
“You have my pocket watch,” he said, hooking a thumb into his jeans pocket. He didn’t take his eyes off me, and it was doing weird things to my belly.
“Haven’t you heard the saying ‘can’t take it with you’?” I asked, bending to retrieve the watch from the grass where I’d dropped it.
“You got him by the soul, Lexi?” Jack asked, leaning forward in his chair.
“They care about you.” The man jerked his head at the guys. “They think of you like family.”
“They are like family.”
“They’re worried for your safety.”
I barely kept from gulping. Tingles worked through my limbs. I tried to play it cool, like the new spirit was doing. “They don’t realize I’m not in any danger.”
His sexy smirk changed ever so slightly, like he knew a secret that I didn’t, and it was tickling him to no end.
Vertigo overcame me. The floor dropped away, but I didn’t move. The sky spun. My stomach swirled, and suddenly something was grabbing me. Digging into my chest. Scrabbling to get at my most precious commodity. My soul.
Power blistered through me, mine and Kieran’s and the Line’s, slamming into the spirit and shoving him back to his hidey-hole. But before I could disengage, I was ripped away with him, dragged deep, deep into the spirit world. It felt like I’d lost my body. Like I’d lost my sense of self. My whole awareness consisted of a presence, my own and another.
It seemed eerily familiar.
Something pulsed in my spectral body. A familiarity that grasped my very soul. A lifeline.
Panicked, I clutched it with everything I had. My connection to the soul who was dragging me severed, broken in two and swished away into the ether. Floating, terrified, I stopped in the nothingness, deadly alone.
6
Kieran
Terror ran through Kieran’s body. Not his terror, Alexis’s.
He sat forward on the couch, spilling his drink and then dropping the glass entirely. She had winked out of his mind’s eye, like the other times she’d somehow drifted into the spirit world.
“What’s the matter?” Nancy asked, her shoes on the floor and her legs curled up under her, nearly facing him on the couch.
He pushed to standing and grabbed his phone out of his pocket. While he waited for it to power up, he jogged to the door and p
ulled it open, seeing Maureen sitting at her desk and Thane sitting at Red’s. Red must’ve gone home.
“Did anyone call for me?” he asked in a rush.
Thane stood from Red’s chair, his face a mask of concern. Zorn bent around the far corner, from which he’d been watching Nancy’s people down the hall. The rest of his guys in this building would be running toward his office, having felt his alarm.
“Did anyone call for me?” he demanded again, impatience gnawing at him with each moment Alexis stayed off his radar.
“What is the matter?” Nancy walked up behind him, fixing her clothes as though she’d just put them back on.
He clenched his jaw in annoyance. She was doing that for show. Trying to give everyone the wrong idea. It wasn’t for manipulative reasons, either. She wasn’t smart enough for that. This was just…what, desperation? Whatever it was, it wasn’t important right now.
“Yes, sir,” Maureen said, her limbs shaking as she pushed up to standing. “M-Mister Jackson called and asked if—”
“Did Boman call? Bria or Alexis? Jack?”
“Oh yes. S-sorry, sir. Yes, Boman called for you earlier—said to call him back as soon as you could. And Alexis did, yes, but she didn’t leave—”
Kieran peeled away, his heart thumping. His phone screen was just populating, and he tapped on the phone icon at once.
A strange tug within his center took his breath away. He reached out to brace himself against the doorframe. It pulled uncomfortably, as though someone had attached a string behind his ribcage and was dangling on the other end of it, threatening to pull his center out through his sternum. His knees weakened with the intensity of the feeling.