“Are you ready to head downstairs?” she finally asked, breaking the silence, which she realised Adam was in no hurry to end. Wallowing in their pain could be dangerous, however, so she dragged them back from the edge of the depression and stood up, rolling her spine so that it cracked somewhere around the middle and yawning.
“You shouldn't do that.” He answered. At her questioning glance, he waved absently at her as if to indicate the movement she had just performed. “It can damage your spine.”
Lila smiled, pulling back the spell she'd cast on the room in order to silence it. “Yeah, yeah – you're starting to sound old, by the way.” she teased, waiting for him to stand up too before walking out of the room. As they came downstairs, the others were greeted with a fairly normal conversation in comparison to the one they'd had in private. Adam scoffed at her goading, saying that back in his day, kids had more respect, which had her almost doubling over with laughter the more she imagined him repeating that in an old man's voice. She didn't mind being called a kid – they all respected her, she knew that.
The three witches in the living room looked surprised to see Adam laughing, but also grateful at the same time. At some point they had all changed into their regular clothes, leaving her as the last one looking like she had just crawled out of bed. “Oh, great.” she pretended to be offended. “Leave me looking tardy. Thanks, guys!” she grabbed her stuff and flounced off. A peal of laughter followed her down the hall as she cat-walked down to the nearest bathroom, the one by the front door. Letting the door close behind her, she quickly stripped off the pyjamas she'd put on last night, hoping they'd be good for another night. Oh, the glamorous life she was leading.
Moments later she emerged, wearing the same hoodie from yesterday pulled over a new, black t-shirt emblazoned with a nerdy comic joke involving Star Wars and alcohol, one that even she got despite never having seen the films (which, Troy proclaimed, was an absolute travesty). She had a new pair of jeans on despite her belief that jeans could be worn more than once – this was purely because she loved wearing clothes when they were new – t-shirts still had that soft, clean feeling, jeans were a new experience in patience as you sought to stretch out the denim.
Her hair was wild again, yet still luxurious, and she'd given up on taming it this time, not even bothering to pull it into a pony tail. Before anyone could even speak, she jabbed a finger in their direction. “Shut up. Nobody even mention the hair. Seriously.”
Elsie snickered, but a well timed glare had her holding her hands up in surrender. Sweeping in with the ease that only she seemed to possess, Sadie clapped her hands together. “Right, then... Places to be, rituals to perform. Good to have you with us, Adam.” she gave him a killer grin, reminding Lila of the crush her friend had on the boy. She rolled her eyes, her earlier sunny disposition tempered by the fright she'd seen in the mirror. Still, there were worse things to see in the mirror, she reminded herself, and that took a little fire out of her irritation.
“Here's one I made earlier.” Troy joked, lifting up the bag so that they could all see it. “Ritual stuff. Sadie told me what we needed. She also filled me in on everything that happened on that car ride. At least now we know why you were so late in getting here.” he tutted like she were a child who had misbehaved. “Really, Li'? Random trips into Death? In the car?” he scolded.
Lila began to protest that she had no control over it sometimes, when she caught sight of Adam and stopped that defence in its tracks immediately. He really didn't need to know how easy it was for someone to be pulled out of their own body even with wards in place, and he definitely didn't need to know it at that exact moment. Changing the subject abruptly, she looked at Adam. “Will you take us to your coven grounds?” she asked; they weren't technically supposed to visit where the other covens did their magick, but there was no doubt that the ritual they needed to perform would work best there. She also doubted that Adam would refuse her, given that the faster they got through this and the better it was cast, the sooner they could focus their full attention on bringing Rose back from wherever she was stuck.
Adam nodded, though the thought did seem to add a little more stress to his features – she understood. She wasn't exactly relishing the thought of telling her own coven that all five elements would be cast on their coven grounds. Most of them had been raised on the same belief Sadie had, that casting all five elements at once could be dangerous at the best of times, which was why the coven leaders went to Waterloo, in the central point of the pentagram where protection was offered from each direction.
After a short discussion about transport, they all filed out of the house and got into their assigned cars; the girls were in Lila's car, the boys in Adam's. While it meant returning to pick up Elsie's car, one car following another was less suspicious than the procession they'd had before, especially in a town full of witches who were on edge, to say the least.
Chapter Nine
The ritual had been brief, surprisingly lacking all the pomp and circumstance which normally accompanied official rites. What they did have to show for it, however, were matching cuts on their index fingers, their blood offering small but meaningful. Elsie had her finger in her mouth, looking grumpy at having had to do it. No one commented, though, as it was apparent that the redhead felt this way every time she had to draw blood. Not everyone enjoyed it, and Lila briefly wondered if the fire witch would try to only use rites which avoided the use of blood-letting, with the exception of the major festivals, where not doing so would be an insult.
Lila turned her head away from Troy and Adam, the former trying to convince the latter to put his finger in his mouth for him. The mood had lightened considerably during the time since they'd left the house, and she could tell a big part of this was because Adam had, for the moment, been separated from his troubles, his worry for his little sister. It was a good thing, as Lila was a firm believer that worrying about something made no difference to the eventual outcome. It was far better to busy yourself with what you could do instead of worrying about what you couldn't at that precise moment.
It seemed that the others shared her views, as they were all joking around and making fun of one another as if they didn't have a care in the world. She knew they were all worried about the the things to come as well as the things in the past, but to look at them, you wouldn't think it at all. This was especially impressive to her given that she knew Adam had to be looking around his fellow witches and wondering who the culprit was in harming his little sister. His self-restraint was impressive, and Lila made a mental note to bring this up to him later.
It was almost nightfall by the time they pulled up to the house again, the day wasted on more shopping, or as Troy called it, 'retail therapy', and a few hours spent in the local arcades, which was completely pointless in their quest but absolutely necessary to their mental health. Lila felt safe in the knowledge that whatever the spirits had planned for them, it was done with London, so they were safe for the moment to take a brief respite, one that they would surely have lost their heads without.
That didn't mean, however, that they were willing to waste an unlimited amount of time on their follies, as they proved by siphoning out into different cars back at the house. Adam switched into the SUV, Sadie moving in to sit behind him and stretch out her legs along the back seat. No prizes for guessing why she'd chosen to join him on this journey – between her crush, being a shoulder to 'cry' on and a distinct lack of hopping into death, he was a far more attractive prospect than being with Lila. Elsie chose to drive her own car again, promising that she'd drop it off when they got to her place, leaving Troy to jump into the car with Lila, shifting her over into the passenger seat.
“What? Can't have you fritzing out into la-la land behind the wheel, can we?” he asked; Lila saw the premise behind this and briefly wondered if her powers would even out once their current crisis was averted, or if she'd forever be banned from driving. At the very least, she could see herself being banned from ev
er driving alone. It had never occurred to her before, but her power had the potential to capture any moment, steal her away from her life at the worst of times. Most spirit witches had an inkling of when something related to death was about to happen to them, but Lila never had – she found it entirely too easy to switch between the worlds of life and death, even before she'd warded herself.
“Thanks.” she replied to the blonde boy, who gave her a kind-hearted smile in return, his blue eyes seeming even brighter than usual. It was clear that he was beginning to feel truly accepted by the group, and she wondered how much of that was down to the playful conversation they'd had at dinner the night before. Lila certainly hoped that she'd played a part in bringing out this side of Troy, which was inherently likeable.
“No problem.” he answered, taking a moment to figure out how to turn on her car's sound system. Muttering about her lack of phone port or iPod dock, he finally figured out how to work her oh-so-antiquated CD player, making a surprised sound as soft rock poured out of the speakers. “Nice. I had you pegged for a country-and-western kinda gal.” he mused, making her shake her head so rapidly that her wild brown hair bounced from the motion.
“Don't insult me. I can't stand Country-and-Western music. I mean, I know people who do and all, it just bugs me. My dad got me into this kind of stuff, this and old eighties stuff like Pink Floyd and The Who.” Lila answered, feeling a bitter sweet twinge mentioning things she and her father had shared. It was more than likely that she would always feel this way, but she hoped not. Others seemed so much more competent at letting go, and she couldn't tell if they just weren't as close as she had been to her parents or if they were simply more emotionally stable.
Troy smiled at the mention of her father, even as he put his hand on the back of her chair to help him turn round as he reversed. It almost seemed like he didn't trust her mirrors to be modern enough to help. “It's nice that you shared that with him.” he replied, pausing in his sentence to shift gear and move forward once the car was clear of the driveway. “I didn't really share that stuff with my parents, or at least they didn't share it with me. They were so busy being oh so prim and proper that they forgot kids really just want love, not a bunch of rules and the perfect etiquette for every situation. Trying to talk to normal kids after you've been raised like that, it gets kinda difficult at times. Even though I've got the kids at my school, it's a private school. Most of them have the same manners as I was raised with, and acting otherwise gets you looked down on in a big way.” he explained. “Since I turned sixteen I've been hanging around regular places to learn how to fit in, but sometimes I don't get it right. As you saw.”
“You're really not that bad.” Lila assured him. “Seriously; the only thing you're guilty of sometimes is taking the joke a little bit too far, but I don't actually know anyone who hasn't made that mistake at one point or another.”
He looked a little relieved at that, taking his eyes off of the road to thank her. It was only a split second, but something prickled at Lila's senses and she gave a loud cry of fear as a truck came hurtling around the corner doing at least twice the speed it was supposed to be doing. Giving a hard yank at the steering wheel, she was relieved that Troy's instinctive reaction had been to put his foot down on the accelerator. The combination of their movements resulted in them being mostly out of the way when the truck hit them, colliding into the back of the car and spinning them wildly for a moment.
All she could take in was the darkness around them and a few lights outside the window spinning round and round with dizzying results, the feeling that she was going to throw up, and then the sensation of being thrown forward as they pitched over the guard rail and on to what in reality was a very shallow slope but to Lila felt more like flying down a roller coaster. Between the collision, Troy's foot still on the accelerator and the slope, they hit a tree at a high enough speed to render her unconscious, the air bag flying up into her face and her last thought being that the bag felt so soft, like a pillow.
Being in an accident is a confusing, disorientating experience, particularly when you drift in and out of consciousness. Dreams of normal family dinners were punctuated with flashes of paramedics above you as they pulled you from the car, the happiest moments in your life mixed up with pain and suffering. In one of these moments, she vaguely remembered Troy sitting in the back of an ambulance with her, wincing every time the vehicle braked for traffic lights or to allow someone to cross.
She came around just before they opened the back doors to take her into the hospital, much to Troy's relief. He leaned over her, assured her that he had called the others and that she was going to be okay. Lila attempted to stay awake, aware that she was more than likely concussed, but the lure of the darkness was too much, and she allowed herself to slip out of consciousness once again. It was at this point that her soul decided to jump ship, pulling her temporarily into death in another one of its unwanted shifts.
Lila found herself in a representation of the hospital, still tethered to her body but momentarily free to wander around. She didn't have to go far to meet her first obstacle; the hospital was flooded with spirits, who gave her no more than a cursory glance over before returning to their mulling. It was so unusual to be connected to anyone else's version of death that Lila almost panicked, before remembering that none of them could take over her body. She was well protected, with even more than the customary wards on her body thanks to her firm grasp of Spirit.
“Took you long enough.” A voice came from behind her, sounding oddly disconnected from everything around them, and Lila spun on the spot, ready to protect herself from whatever had come from her, sure that it must be malevolent given her most recent interactions. What she hadn't expected, however, though in hindsight she really shouldn't have been surprised, was to see none other than Rose standing behind her, arms folded as she reclined against the wall. Running to her, she threw her arms around her as if they had been friends for life, not just for a little over a day. Rose patted her back awkwardly, giving a self-conscious grin. “So, what are you doing here?”
Lila had to think for a moment, before nodding firmly. “Car accident.” she answered. Rose grimaced in response. “You're not actually dead are you? Because that'd suck.” the young witch asked, her opinion making Lila chuckle softly.
“No, I'm not dead. Just temporarily shaken loose. I can get back to my body any time. How did you get into my version of death?” she asked. Rose frowned in confusion.
“I didn't. Doesn't everybody share? I've been seeing people everywhere.”
At her words, Lila felt a prickle of unease go up her spine. “No. They don't. This is bad. I don't know what it actually means, but it's bad.” she frowned. Grabbing Rose's hand, she ignored the squawk of protest. “Stay close to me.” she warned. “We're gonna try and get you back to your body.”
“Good luck with that.” Rose grumbled. “I've been trying since I got here. Even tried to leave, thinking if I could get home then you'd be able to find me.”
Lila smiled sympathetically. “Doesn't work like that. People can walk for miles after they die, but most are tethered to the general vicinity of their body when they're only in a coma. That's why there's so many here. Most of them will have died here, but some will be in comas. Though I have no idea what's going to happen now that their worlds have crossed over. There's a lot of vulnerable people lying in beds right now.” she frowned, adding a sense of urgency to the situation.
Keeping away from the other spirits, they weaved down the hallway, using Lila's tether to life to avoid falling into the trap of false hallways which would lead back on themselves and trap them in an endless loop. Given that Lila had never been to this hospital before, it was a confusing enough journey as it was. They had almost made it (reading the signs was surprisingly helpful) when Rose gave a yelp and Lila looked back to see that a male spirit who appeared to be in his late forties had grabbed the young teen around the waist.
“Not you.” he growled
, refusing to let go of her. Lila dropped her hand and whirled to face them fully, assessing the situation and trying to figure out how she was going to take down a man twice her size without her powers, which were temperamental at best without the full link between her and her body, something she couldn't establish thanks to the concussion which was affecting her.
“Hey. Hey, meat head.” she goaded, waving her hands to catch the man's attention, as he seemed to have an almost singular interest in Rose. Almost like he was sent here to stop her returning to her body, Lila thought. It was a disturbing idea, since it implied that someone was controlling the spirit, and after death most spirits who wished harm were simply working for their own selfish goals, whether that was a return to life or a need for revenge. They almost never took orders from anyone, much less the living, which suggested that they were dealing with someone who had enough power to control him against his will from the living side. All this time, she'd been under the impression that the hex bag left under Rose's bed had simply weakened her and drawn attention to this, luring in a spirit who had yanked her out of her body for its own selfish reasons, but this new evidence suggested that the hex bag had simply been a marker, telling the dead servants that this was the one to take, the one surplus to requirements.
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