by Audrey Brice
coven won’t do it again.”
I must have sounded like a crazy woman because Alyssa was giving me a look that suggested as much.
It was no matter, I was on a roll. “Then I’ll ask for Lynn back. If they don’t hand her over willingly, I’m going outside, creating another spirit trap, and taking one of theirs that I’ll use to exchange…”
“Okay, this is crazy. You’re talking about kidnapping an angel and swapping prisoners? Are you fucking out of your mind?”
“Do you have a better plan?”
“Yeah! I say we do what you said and if they refuse to give her over, we contact an arch angel to make them comply.” Alyssa shrugged. “Or we send a Daemon after their asses.”
“I already talked to Uriel. She wasn’t sympathetic. Basically – these guys deserve what happened. Maybe it will teach them to not screw with angels. Or any spirits for that matter.” At a stoplight, I gave her a sidelong glance. “We don’t want to start some kind of Daemonic war either. I can’t imagine any of the other spirits, Daemonic or not, would be sympathetic to the use of magickal spirit traps either.”
“I see your point,” Alyssa agreed. “But you don’t need to be pissing them off by trying to trap them either.”
“I won’t be.”
“But you just…”
“No. I changed the plan – you’re going to do it. But only if I need you to.”
Alyssa’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“I will dismantle the trap, get Kim and Kevin to promise never to do it again, get the angels to agree to let Lynn go, and then I’ll go into the mirror to get her.”
My best friend’s eyes grew wider. “You’ve lost your mind.”
“No, hear me out. If I can’t get back out, you take the copper wire and the crystal outside and make a spirit trap…”
“This is the dumbest plan ever. And what the hell am I supposed to do with a crystal and copper wire?”
“You trap the angel in the crystal in a copper circle. It will keep it trapped.”
She gave me another look. “Did you just make that shit up?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I read it somewhere.”
“Seriously? You read it somewhere?” She sounded exasperated. “And if that doesn’t work and you’re both trapped inside the mirror? Then what?”
“I’m not the only magician on the planet. Talk to Lamont Catrell. He’ll have some ideas I’m sure.” We pulled up in front of Kim’s house.
Again, Kim was waiting outside. This time Kevin was with her. It was still early, not quite seven-thirty.
They both looked guilty. Evidently Lamont had relayed my message.
I got out of the car and immediately asked, “Who constructed the trap?”
Kevin answered. “It was Brandon’s idea. We thought it would be interesting to try it.”
“We need to deconstruct it. I hope the kids aren’t home?”
“They’re at my mother’s,” Kim said quietly.
They both seemed ashamed of themselves, as well they should have.
Kim and Kevin led us back down to the basement temple. Beneath the mirror was a rug. I hadn't noticed it the first time.
He moved the mirror and pulled the rug aside, revealing a wooden disk with a copper sigil inlayed in it. He looked up at me. "We would have used silver, but it was too expensive. Copper is cheaper and it conducts electric fields better."
I looked at the sigil and shook my head. It was the same seal used on a popular television show, but the intent in its making and the placement had worked well enough. Enough to piss off a few angels who were now teaching this coven a lesson in humility (among other things).
Of course now it was up to me to clean up the mess since I took Uriel's response to my invocation as a cry for help.
Kevin pulled the wooden disk from the ground, replaced the piece of carpet, and set the mirror back on it. He looked down at the sigil. "What do I do with this now?"
I shrugged. "Burn it? Actually, I'd remove the copper, recycle it, and then use the wood for kindling."
He nodded at me and handed the three foot by three foot disk to Kim.
She took it. "I'll put it up in the garage so you can get the copper out of it."
Once Kim had left the room with the disk, I felt the energy in the room suddenly change. That was more like it.
"Oh, copper..." Alyssa remarked, now realizing why I'd grabbed a roll of copper wire for a spirit trap.
"So why did you guys do this?" I asked. To be honest, I wasn't sure why anyone would try to trap an angel, unless they were crazy or stupid, or watched too much television. Anyone who worked with angels knew that angels could be rather brutal when fucked with.
Kevin seemed to weigh his response carefully. "Brandon thought it might make for a stronger connection. We use it for Daemonic invocation, too."
Fighting the urge to roll my eyes I just said, "And you agreed."
No, it wasn't a question. I was simply being honest. One guy had the brilliant plan to try to get more spirits to appear in the mirror, or manifest to physical appearance, and everyone else agreed without thinking of the possible consequences. That's usually how it happened.
Kevin didn't say anything, just gave me a helpless look. That, of course, told me everything I needed to know. Kevin was easily led and it seemed Brandon, who had obviously disappeared when shit got real, was the one running the show. As well as the one who was absent when it came time to clean up the mess.
I turned to Alyssa. "All right. I'm going in. When I find Lynn, I will bring her straight out. If I'm not out within an hour, I want you to call Lamont and Mike, and as a last resort, you guys will have to build a spirit trap and try to trap an angel in the crystal."
Alyssa shook her head. "Do you even know if that will work?"
"Nope." I was doubtful. Really doubtful, but it was the only solution I could come up with, and no one else had offered an alternative. "Just remember your intent when making it. To trap an angel for a prisoner swap. Seriously."
"Fuck..." Alyssa was not happy. I could tell by the way she glared at me.
"I know, you're totally risking your karma for me, but I'd do the same for you. If you want, you can go in..."
"I believe you have already been introduced. I haven't. Besides, angels aren't really my forte. I'd probably burst into flames." She frowned. Her usually cheery demeanor was gone.
"Well, with any luck this will work..."
"And if it doesn't?"
"You'll have to cross that bridge when we get there. That's why I said you should call Lamont and Mike. I think between the three of you, you can figure something out." Evidently I had more faith in the three of them than Alyssa did.
She didn't say anything - just kept frowning.
I looked at Kevin who seemed okay with whatever we were doing. "Why don't you go call Brandon and have him come over. When this is done, I want to have a talk with the three of you."
Kevin looked surprised. "Okay."
Alyssa gave me a questioning look.
I didn't elaborate, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that I intended to give them all a good ass-chewing once I had Lynn safely back in this world. If I could get Lynn back and if the angels didn't decide to keep me, too.
Kim, having delivered the spirit trap to the garage for dismantling, came back down the stairs and into the temple.
"Everyone ready for nothing?" No one responded. They all just looked at me. I looked at Kevin. "Open the temple and call the watchtowers."
The surprised look in his eyes told me he hadn't expected me to say that.
"Is that a problem?"
"Uh, n-n-no," he stammered. As if I'd cracked a whip, he suddenly got very serious and set to work, constructing the ritual space and speaking the invocations, or evocations as he called them.
I didn't care what he called them as long as the angels showed up and opened the mirror to their realm so I could get
in. I was all business when it came to magick.
When he finished his invocations I found myself standing in front of the mirror. Nothing was happening. "Don't tell me this shit isn't going to work without that damned spirit trap..."
My mind raced to the possible implications that the copper energy conduit was necessary to open the portal.
Alyssa interrupted my thoughts. "Maybe you should invoke Uriel, then do the invocations of the watchtowers yourself..."
"Fair point." I waved Kevin off, out of my way. I stood in the center of the temple and took a deep breath, my arms raised. "“I invoke thee, Uriel to stand on my left. I have dismantled the spirit trap as you have requested. Please open the gateway to your realm that I may bring Lynn back to this world where she belongs.”
I felt a slight rustle of air and heard a whoosh on my left side. The angel’s presence filled the room. Then, in a brief panic I realized I didn't know the Enochian invocations by heart. I needed a book or something, but then I felt a warm feeling envelop me, and my body hummed to the energy of Uriel. The words began to come from my lips as if I'd known them forever.
My feet carried me to the East, "ORO IBAH AOZPI BATAIVAH."
Then I moved to the North, "MPH ARSL GAIOL RAAGIOSL."
Over the West, "MOR DIAL HCTGA ICZHIHAL."
Finally to the South, "OIP TEAA PDOCE EDLPRNAA."
My head felt fuzzy with euphoria and the world suddenly became surreal. I saw the glass of the mirror ripple like water as the portal opened.
"Join us," a voice hissed.
I couldn't say anything. It was as if my body was possessed and I had no control over my voice, or my legs. I felt my feet carry my body toward the mirror, completely oblivious to