Asher stirred, and Isabel sobbed aloud with relief. Now to save her.
“Isabel,” I croaked. “Hang on.”
“Jas, heal yourself!” she said.
I stumbled over to the candles. “I have to get you back into your body.”
“I’m fine,” she said. “Jas…”
“No…” I whispered. My own voice was fading as well as hers. My vision blurred again, and nothingness embraced me.
No. I can’t be dying…
Not again.
“Don’t you dare,” said Evelyn’s voice. “If you die, we’re both dead. Stay with me, Jas.”
Greyness surrounded me. Not five metres away were the towering gates of Death, etched against the grey like exclamation The gates beckoned, calling me through to the realm known as Beyond along with the rest of the dead.
“Hey, I’m not dead.” I skidded to a halt, with difficulty. My whole body hurt, which made no sense, because I didn’t have one.
Evelyn hovered before me, her eyes narrowed. “Get away from those gates, Jas.”
“I didn’t come here on purpose.” I felt weak, drained, like that vampire had sneaked up on me. Had that shadowy fury’s claws done more than injure me?
“We’re still alive, Jas,” Evelyn said. “And we have a job to do.”
I gasped, jerking awake on the sofa in Lady Harper’s house. My head gave a throb, and so did my side. I groaned, curled in on myself, and looked up into Isabel’s concerned eyes.
“You’re okay.” I squinted at Isabel. “You shouldn’t be okay. Your soul was separated from your body. Even most necromancers can’t survive that.”
“I’m fine,” she said. “You, however, are seriously lucky.”
“I have nine lives,” I said. “I might be the death of Lloyd, though. I have to get back—”
“Not a chance,” said Isabel. “The others are fine—even Asher, the fool—but you’re not to move until you’ve recovered. That creature’s claw was laced with some kind of poison.”
“Poison? Again?” I groaned. “I’ve officially died so many times I’m stuck on repeat.”
“Lloyd told me not to be worried about you not breathing,” she said, a note of sternness in her voice. “I’m glad he was right.”
She handed me a glass of water and I gratefully drank it, my head resting against the cushions. I still wore my clothes from the day before, and the fury had wrecked all four layers and my only non-necromancer coat.
“I’m sorry I missed your call,” I said. “Evelyn decided to jump in a river and wreck my phone.”
“Sounds like her,” she said. “It’s my fault. I heard the ruckus at the market and tried to help out. That vampire drained both of us, and the next thing I knew, I woke up in that circle.”
“So who was it who summoned the fury?” I asked. “There were three bodies there… necromancers.”
“I didn’t see,” she said. “Keir killed the vampire and your other friends took care of the wraith and the zombies. They’re all fine, Jas. You should be resting.”
I pressed a hand to the tender skin over my ribs. “I showed my face at the market. If anyone saw me, they’ll know I’m alive.”
“I think you have bigger problems.” Isbael looked haggard, like she’d been up all night. I lost over twelve hours in the spirit realm. Again.
“You’re telling me.” I sat up, rubbing the back of my head. “I think I went through a joyride through Death without even noticing. But you… you stayed here overnight?”
“I didn’t want to risk leaving you here alone,” she said. “You were in a bad way. I relit the fire… you’re freezing cold, Jas.”
“You carried me here?” I blinked. “You should be dead, you know. Since when were you secretly a necromancer?”
“Never,” she said, her mouth pinching. Her eyes were tired, haunted. “I’m fine, Jas.”
“Your coven magic can’t stop you from dying,” I said. “Right? Your soul was ripped out of your body.”
“Temporarily,” she said. “It was the only way they could stop me from using my coven leader’s magic. Unlike you, I can’t use it as a ghost.”
I squinted at her sleeves, which were carefully pulled down. “Isabel, what did you do? Did you use blood magic? Is that how you survived?”
She hesitated a second too long. “I did, yes.”
“Isabel, you know…” I faltered, not wanting to bring up what the Whisper had done.
“When that evil Ancient used me against my will?” she said. “I wanted to make sure it would never happen again. I knew my coven’s magic wasn’t a guarantee of survival. An Ancient’s magic killed my original coven leader.”
“Really?” I hadn’t known the circumstances of Isabel’s rise to leader of her coven. “I’m sorry.”
“I was powerless to stop it.” Her eyes glittered with tears. “Besides, Asher told me this type of magic used to be commonplace before the invasion. The mages and everyone who associated with them might have wanted to spread the idea that blood magic has always been dark magic, but it’s not true.”
“I wouldn’t call it evil,” I said. “Just dangerous. But that’s coming from a Hemlock witch, so…”
“Yeah, you can’t talk.” She rubbed her wrist in an unconscious movement and gave me a smile. “I know you’re worried, Jas, but you can’t protect everyone.”
“Don’t I know it.” In her position, I might have done the same. “How did the blood magic bring you back from the dead, though? I didn’t know it could do that.”
“It didn’t,” she said. “I got the idea from Ivy. You know she and Vance wore those marks so that if he ended up under the enemy’s control, she’d be alerted and the mark would stop him hurting anyone?”
“Yes…”
“I have one that reacts if I’m possessed or otherwise lose control of my body,” she said. “It’s set on a timer to give me a mild shock, which woke me up. If I ended up under the control of one of those runes again, it would do the same.”
“Damn,” I said. “I’d never have thought of that. Asher’s idea? He’s okay, right?”
“Yes, he is.” Her mouth tightened. “He got hurt trying to save me from that monster. I’m the one the vampire and his friends targeted.”
“Because of me?” I asked.
“No. They… well, they sensed the blood magic.”
“What?” I yelped. “Isabel.”
“I didn’t know that, did I?” Her eyes gleamed with tears. “I’m sorry, Jas, I just… these aren’t humans we’re up against.”
“I’m not blaming you,” I said. “Believe me. I’m the walking nuclear weapon here. But if you have a target on your head because of that magic—”
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “My coven leader magic would have worked in any other scenario. Anyway, I’m not the one who died for twelve hours or more. Jas, I don’t know if you actually do have nine lives, but you need to be careful with them.”
Not sure that’s possible. I’d drifted towards the gates of Death without being aware, and every time I went into the spirit realm, I lost more time. Maybe my nine lives had a limit after all.
If I died for real, what would happen to Evelyn then? And Keir?
“I’ll keep that in mind next time a monster from another dimension tries to turn me into wallpaper.” I swung my legs over the sofa’s side. “I need to clean up. What time is it?”
“Seven in the morning,” she said. “You’re not going back to Edinburgh, are you?”
“No, I’m going to shower. Want to borrow some of my clothes? They should fit you.” Isabel was an inch or two taller than me, but she had a similar build.
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’m staying in a hotel while I’m in Edinburgh. I’ll change when we get back.”
“If you’re sure.” I traipsed to the bathroom after picking up a clean outfit from my rapidly shrinking pile of clothes.
Once I’d washed the blood off in the shower, I checked on my wound. The
bleeding had stopped, and in an hour or so, I’d be fighting fit. Not that I looked that way. I rubbed steam off the mirror, frowning. How could I have such heavy circles under my eyes when I’d been asleep for so long?
“I’m not dying,” I told my reflection. “I have a job to do. Like Evelyn said.” Speaking of whom… “Hey, Evelyn. You there?”
No reply. I tapped the spirit realm and found myself alone. Where was she?
I finished dressing and ran out of the bathroom. “I think Evelyn’s gone walkabout again.”
Isabel frowned. “Is she in the forest, do you think?”
“Worth checking.” Evelyn had saved my life, and yet it disturbed me how off-balance I felt without her snarky presence at my side. She hadn’t helped me out during the fight with the shadowy fury, and it wasn’t unusual for her to disappear for a while, but after my experience at Death’s gates, being without her made a pit of unease open in my stomach.
Once I’d put on my coat—opting for my old necromancer cloak, since my spare coat had been skewered by the fury’s claws—Isabel and I left the house. Our footsteps crunched in the frost-covered grass. “A goblin attacked me last time I was here. Cordelia implied something weird is going on in Faerie, too.”
“Oh, that’s Ivy’s area,” said Isabel. “Yeah, an uprising of sorts in the borderlands. Shouldn’t affect things here, but if they attack the Ley Line, the mages will take the hit.”
“I have no idea what they’re thinking, trying to claim the place as their own.” I shook my head. “The mages barely survived the last war with Faerie. Surely even Lord Sutherland isn’t that much of an idiot.”
Isabel made a small noise. “I’m starting to suspect he might have contacted one of the other gods.”
“Question is, which?” I halted on top of the shimmering spirit line, running through the hillside. “All right, no funny business this time, Cordelia.”
“She didn’t give me any trouble earlier,” Isabel said. “Cordelia?”
The hillside vanished, transforming into the dark cave. Green light filtered in from the glyphs snaking along the walls like living spiderwebs, and Evelyn floated in front of Cordelia.
Both of them stopped talking when Isabel and I appeared next to them.
“There you are, Jacinda,” said Cordelia.
I turned to Evelyn. “You might have warned me before you ran off. Since you know, we both nearly died last night.”
“I was most concerned to hear the news, Jacinda,” said Cordelia. “Evelyn has told me of her experiences yesterday.”
“Our experiences,” I corrected. “I was there, too, remember? What was the deal with that shadowy fury?”
“The beasts from the otherworld are awakening,” she growled. “Some were banished thousands of years ago, some more recently. Others still may exist in other realms, in liminal spaces… pieces of their power lie scattered around, even in the faerie Courts, as your friend Ivy Lane knows well.”
“Oh, that’s just bloody perfect,” I said. “How are normal people supposed to defend themselves against those monsters? I can’t stop them now the mages are marching around the Ley Line like they own it.”
“Then you must bring the mages to justice as soon as possible,” she said. “It’s imperative that you stop Lord Sutherland from waking the gods. Why did you not challenge him when you had the chance?”
“Because Evelyn stopped me.” I cast her a disgruntled look. “Besides, Lord Sutherland is carrying one of those soul-stealing devices—you know, the imitations of the Ether Converter. And he tried to recruit Ilsa, too. Why would he need her on his side?”
“To ensure nobody opposes him, perhaps,” she said. “He cannot see the forces of life and death, nor grasp a fraction of the power you have, Jacinda.”
“Look, there’s only one of me,” I said. “Okay, two, technically, but I’m being attacked in multiple directions at once. Cordelia, why in hell did you decide creating symbols that can summon shadowy monsters was necessary? Are you and the furies poker buddies on the weekends?”
Isabel shifted beside me. “That ritual isn’t just a summoning,” she said. “It’s also for communicating. Like necromancy. Isn’t it?”
“Communicating?” I whipped around to face Cordelia. “That was a joke, but did you and the furies—?”
Her expression stilled. Silence filled the cave, and words rose to my tongue. Words which, if spoken, would change everything.
“The Ancients weren’t always your enemies, were they?”
Cordelia didn’t respond.
“You and the Ancients had a falling-out and started a war, didn’t you?” I asked. “That’s why you’re being so stingy with information. You used to work together. You and the Ancients.”
I should have guessed. Their bitter history went back a thousand years. The last war had led to Cordelia and the others being eternally imprisoned in rock and tree. Yet they were both forces of nature, wild and unrestricted. My magic reacted with familiarity when faced with another Ancient’s power, and hatred that deep-seated didn’t spring up out of nowhere.
“The origins of the conflict do not matter,” she said. “All that matters is bringing the Ancients’ attempt to take over the magical world to an end.”
The cave began to fade. Oh, no you don’t. “Hey!” I shouted. “You’re running away again, aren’t you? What are you afraid of, Cordelia?”
“Jas,” whispered Keir’s voice.
I spun on the spot, the forest fading around me. “Keir? Are you okay?”
The cave disappeared, leaving me stranded in Edinburgh. I reached out for Keir, and found nothing, the merest trace of his presence.
No. There must be a mistake.
I tried again, and his spirit appeared, then blinked out. Like he was dying.
“Evelyn—tell Isabel I’ll be back!” I didn’t wait for her answer, but I broke into a run across Waverley bridge, towards the flickering trace of Keir’s presence.
9
I kept running, my feet pounding on the pavement. Keir’s presence flickered on the edge of my vision, barely alive.
I reached his flat and hammered on the door, but it didn’t open. I called my magic, coaxing the wards to move, and let myself inside. Closing the door behind me, I followed the faint flicker of light and found Keir crouched beside his brother’s bed. His eyes were closed, his body still.
I plunged into the spirit realm, following his fading presence. To my alarm, Keir hovered on the brink of Death’s gates, the same way I had when Evelyn had woken me up this morning.
“Jas,” he said, his voice quiet and echoing.
I caught his hands in mine. “Shit. I’m sorry. I did this somehow… you have to come back with me.”
My vision flickered as he drained me, fast. The world turned cold. Ice flooded my veins, and my knees hit the floor, my heartbeat slowing. I’d given too much already.
I was going to die.
No… stop.
Another pair of cold hands shoved me aside. Evelyn took my place, and Keir’s vampire touch latched onto her. Gradually, faded back into view in the spirit realm, his features becoming clearer.
In the real world, my eyes flickered open. I’d fallen to my knees beside him. I took his hand, which was still icy cold, and gave it a squeeze. “Keir?”
“He’s fine,” said Evelyn. “Give him chance to recover before you start shaking him.”
“He nearly died.” I shivered, horror coursing through my blood. “How—how did that happen?”
“If I had to guess, it might be because you spent most of last night half-dead,” she said. “It pulled him close to the edge, too.”
“But—it’s not the first time I’ve died since we were bound.”
I wrapped both of my arms around him, sharing what little body heat I had to spare. I can’t keep doing this. Courting death alone was bad enough, but with Keir’s life tethered to mine, and Aiden dependent on him… Evelyn was wrong. I couldn’t untangle my life from my frie
nds’ if I tried.
“Let me guess,” I said to Evelyn. “You already knew the Hemlocks and the Ancients used to be friends and not mortal enemies, didn’t you? Cordelia told you.”
“I guessed, like you,” she said. “Also, I had more than twenty years to ruminate in solitude on the relationship between my coven and the gods.”
“All right,” I said, surprised at her snappish tone. “This is all new to me, you know. I guess they thought I’d be even less likely to embrace my role as the Hemlock heir if I knew the truth. How far back does it go?”
“I’ve only been around for a few decades, not centuries,” she said. “I only know as much as Cordelia told me. The Ancients tried to destroy this realm over thirty years ago, and in preventing that, Cordelia and the others were bound to the forest. As for their prior history, it’s irrelevant.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” I said. “Since their history is what started this mess. I sure as hell didn’t. Nor did you. Why do you think it’s your duty to end it, then? What’s in it for you? Even if we win, we’re still bound together.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I have never had the luxury of choice, Jas. My entire life revolved around being the Hemlocks’ heir. I never expected the responsibility to rest entirely with me, as I wasn’t the only Hemlock witch with magic. I’m just the only one who survived.”
Her words dripped with bitterness. I could understand where she was coming from. She’d been alone for a long time, bound to me but unable to interact with the waking world. No wonder she’d lashed out and tried to steal my body not long after she awoke.
Keir groaned, sitting upright. “What in hell just happened?”
“Keir.” His name stuck in my throat.
Evelyn gave me a long look, then disappeared. It wasn’t the first time he’d fed on her instead of me, but an unpleasant feeling stirred inside me.
“Jas.” Keir leaned towards me. “Are you okay? What are you doing here?”
My voice was quiet, my heartbeat quick. “You nearly drifted through the gates of Death. Because of me.”
“I wasn’t dreaming?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Last thing I remember, I was sitting here watching Aiden. I must have fallen asleep.”
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