by Dana Davis
Desert Magick
Phoenix Lights
Book 4
by
Dana Davis
Copyright 2012 by Dana Davis
All Rights Reserved
Published by SynergEbooks
www.synergebooks.com
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For Darryl, as always.
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Acknowledgements
Special thanks to my editor, Lori Kurtz-Larkin,
for her keen eye.
And to my publisher, Deb Staples,
for having patience during several unavoidable delays.
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Paranormal (adj): not scientifically explainable: supernatural.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
Other Books by Author
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Prologue
Twenty-Two Years Ago
Bridgette and Liam zigzagged through the small crowd as they left the funhouse. Many people headed toward the exit, since it was ten-thirty and the place closed at eleven. Music still played from the various carnival rides but most had only a few patrons now. Bridgette hadn’t been able to hear anyone’s thoughts for the past two hours, thanks to the booze Liam had scored for them. Being a witch was cool, but having telepathic abilities sucked sometimes, and even with special instruction from some of the most potent telepaths in the country, she still didn’t have full control over her powers.
Enjoy the peace while you can, Bridgette, my girl. The buzz will wear off soon enough. She just had to be somewhat sober before going home so her mother wouldn’t ground her again. At fifteen, she wasn’t legal to drive, much less drink, but that hadn’t stopped her from taking her mom’s car. She looked older, so the cops never gave her a second glance. Besides, she’d already passed her driver’s ed classes. So what’s the big fucking deal?
She stopped beneath the shadow of a palo verde tree, bringing Liam to a halt with her, flicked her cigarette to the dirt and ground her toes on it. She didn’t smoke regularly, but boys seemed to think it made her look cool so she kept a few around for date nights.
A garish neon sign caught her eye. “Oh my gawd. Look.” She laughed as she pointed to the sign above the small, striped tent.
Madam Zenar
Fortune Teller and Medium Extraordinaire
“Oh now, this is just too damn easy, Liam.” She leaned close to his tall, lanky frame, one of the few boys her age who matched her in height. “You want to have sex with me, right?” He gave an enthusiastic nod. “Then time to show me more of your fun side.” Bridgette lifted her chin toward the tent. “I dare you to use your powers in there.”
His gaze moved up to the sign then drifted toward an opening in the tent that let a sliver of light outside. “No way. Not that. How ‘bout we make out in the House of Mirrors again?”
“I know you’re not some goody-goody. You pick the lock on your dad’s liquor cabinet.” That’s how we got the booze in the first place.
“That’s different.”
“Oh, come on, Liam. She’s a fake. She’s scamming people. Gives us paranormals a bad name. You can teach her a lesson.”
“No one knows about us anyway so what does it matter if she’s fake?”
“Okay, if you don’t want this.” She took one of his hands and placed it on her breast. They were standing beneath the tree with their backs to the receding crowd. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so brazen in public. Liam grunted as his hand gave a gentle squeeze. “Come on, Liam. We’ll act like customers. Then when we get inside, you call up a real ghost. Scare the shit out of her. It’ll be fun. And she’ll probably never scam anyone again. A two-fer.”
“Well…”
“Oh, come on. The place is closing soon. This is our only chance to have some real fun here.” She pressed her body against his, running a hand through his thick blonde hair, and felt him grow hard. “And you get laid. Tonight.”
Liam chuckled deep in his throat this time. “Okay, okay. I’ll do it. But you have to promise never to tell my parents about this or they won’t buy me that awesome car I want.”
Bridgette grinned and made an X over her heart with her forefinger. Boys are so damn easy. She pulled him toward the tent and pushed the flap aside.
Patchouli incense met her, along with light from several candles. A round table stood in the middle of the tent, which looked larger in here than it appeared from the outside. A crystal ball sat in the middle of the table next to what looked like a real human skull.
Gross. She leaned close to Liam. “Whatcha bet she’s wearing gypsy clothes.” He smiled at that.
Before Bridgette could make a comment about the colorful beads that hung from the tent ceiling, a curvy, middle-aged woman stepped through them. Sure enough, she was dressed like a gypsy, down to the headscarf and the plastic bracelets that clanked together on her wrists. She smiled through bright red lipstick. “Hello, I’m Madam Zenar.” Her fake Eastern European accent almost made Bridgette laugh. “You wish to contact a deceased loved one?”
Bridgette worked very hard to keep a straight face. “Yeah, we do.” Liam started to snicker when the woman made a sweeping motion to sit in her chair and Bridgette elbowed him in the ribs. “We want to contact my, um, uncle.”
“The dead are fickle but I’ll do my best to coax him here, child. Please, sit. That’ll be twenty dollars up front. No refunds.”
Why am I not surprised? Well, seeing her piss her pants’ll be worth it.
Bridgette dug into her pocket, pulled a twenty out, and laid it on the table as she sat next to Liam. She’d inherited several million from her father after he died but she hated wasting it on stupid crap. Liam hadn’t said anything more and she suspected he was already trying to contact the other side. For all Bridgette knew, there could be several spooks in the tent right now. With Liam’s help, they could show themselves to her. And most important, to Madam Zenar.
The big fat fake.
Madam Zenar’s bracelets clanked together as she took the twenty off the table and tucked it between her ample breasts. Bridgette wondered if those were fake too. “Is your friend all right?”
Bridgette’s gaze flicked to Liam, who had his eyes closed now. Time to bring on the bullshit. “Oh sure. He’s just really into this stuff. We saw a séance on TV last night. Don’t we close our eyes?”
The woman smiled and seemed to buy what Bridgette spouted. “It’s not necessary.” Madam Zenar held out her hands toward them, palms up. “Hold hands, please.”
Liam opened his eyes and took her hand in one of his and Bridgette’s in the other. He gave a sly look to Bridgette and nodded. He’d already made contact with someone.
Good. Let the fun begin.
Madam Zenar
made a show of mumbling and rocking in her chair as she gazed into her crystal ball, which Bridgette guessed was just cheap glass. Again, she had to stifle a laugh. Of course, this fake medium was so into her own act, she probably wouldn’t have noticed a monsoon if it blew her tent away.
Eyes, heavy with dark liner, came up and locked onto Liam’s gaze. The two stared at one another as she continued to chant. Liam’s hand trembled in Bridgette’s. She started to say something when he began to sweat.
Suddenly, Madam Zenar and Liam let out ear-piercing screams. The woman grabbed the skull from the table with trembling hands and fled before Bridgette could stop her.
Liam’s eyes and head rolled back and he shook with convulsions. Then he collapsed.
Bridgette reached out for him as he fell. “Liam!”
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Chapter 1
A Touch of Evil
Bridgette’s hands trembled as she sat in the community room at the mental hospital. If not for the bare, high windows, and the patients wandering around, the cheerful colors of the furnishings and walls would make it seem like an aging pre-school.
It’s just Liam, you idiot.
The gaunt man sitting in the orange chair across from her had been in a near-comatose state for twenty-two years, not able to do much of anything on his own, and Daisy had somehow brought him back with her during her recent return from the afterlife. At least that was Bridgette’s theory. She let a chink of her mental wall slip down, enough to focus on Liam’s thoughts. Frenzied thoughts from other patients filtered in, as usual, but she could ignore them for a few seconds.
Disappointment and fear bubbled up as she eavesdropped on his internal world. Whispers she couldn’t make out accompanied Liam’s thoughts like a faint shadow in moonlight. There’s something dark in him. He was back among the living but he didn’t seem whole. Chaotic thoughts from other patients pierced her mind, threatening to give her a headache, and she slammed a plug into her mental wall to shut them out.
If it wasn’t for me, he’d be a normal guy. I’m the one who goaded him into using his powers that night. On a necro for fuck’s sake!
Of course, neither of them had known Madam Zenar was really a necromancer. They’d thought she was a fake medium, a carnival act to delight mortals, and what started as a prank had turned into a nightmare. Alcohol severely hampered telepathic powers at that age and Bridgette hadn’t been able to read anyone’s thoughts or else she might’ve known the woman was dangerous.
Guilt bubbled to the surface and she shoved it down. You were fifteen for fuck’s sake.
Had Daisy really pulled Liam back from whatever abyss he’d been hiding in all these years? I’d bet my best sandals she had something to do with it. She needed to figure out what this darkness was she sensed in him now. She had to. She owed him that much.
She also worried about Daisy. Following the final trip back from the afterlife, her cousin had died for several minutes. Mrs. Ferdinand had warned that a surviving witch could go mad from crossing over. Bridgette remembered visiting Mrs. Ferdinand’s grandmother in this very hospital when she was a kid. Her mom had never told her why the woman had been admitted here, but now she knew it was because of a crossing over ritual.
“You look so old, Bridgette.” Liam’s voice brought her thoughts back to him. His once blonde hair had so much white in it and he had lines around his eyes and mouth. He looked at least ten years her senior, even though he was barely thirty-eight.
There were no other patients in the room now and Hattie stood nearby, watching. The woman had told Bridgette that Liam still thought he was fifteen.
Thankful for the privacy, Bridgette clasped her hands to hide her nervousness and forced a smirk. “Yeah, you said that, Liam.” Will he ever forgive me?
He smiled but it didn’t seem to reach his eyes. Not at all like the boy she remembered from their teen days.
Well, what did you expect? That he’d be exactly the same after everything that happened? The Fates only know where he’s been and what kind of crap went on in his mind all those years.
“How’d you get so old?”
Hattie moved forward and placed a hand on Liam’s shoulder. “We can talk about that later. Why don’t you tell Bridgette the last things you remember? What you told me.”
“I’m in the hospital?”
“Yes, but you’re getting better now.” Hattie offered him the cheerful smile she often used with patients. “Just tell Bridgette what you remember. It’s okay. You won’t get into trouble. I promise.”
“Are my parents here?”
“Not yet.” Hattie focused on Bridgette. “His memory’s still a little shaky in places. Go on, Liam. Tell her your last memories.”
Liam’s blue eyes moved to Bridgette then down to the small table between them. He scrunched up his face and his gaze grew distant. “I remember us going on a date. A carnival. When we got there, we sat in the car, smoking and drinking.” His gaze came up for a moment. “You brought the smokes, Bridgette. I stole the booze from home. We weren’t supposed to be driving without an adult.” He twisted to look up at Hattie, who stood next to his chair. “Is my dad mad?”
The short woman patted his back. “No, he’s not mad.”
“Okay, good. Um, then we went inside. The carnival, I mean. I tried to win a stuffed bear for you, Bridgette.”
“Yes, I remember.” She swallowed when a lump formed in her throat. You’re not going to cry, damnit. Keep it light. Don’t panic him. He’s been through enough. She forced a smile. “You suck at ring toss.”
He frowned. “Hey, you didn’t do any better.”
She gave a genuine smile this time. “Yeah, we both suck.”
The corners of Liam’s mouth turned up, but again the smile didn’t seem to reach his eyes. “After that, we made out in the House of Mirrors, then again in the funhouse.” His blue eyes met hers for an instant then moved back to the table. “Sorry if you didn’t want Hattie to know that.”
In that moment, Liam sounded like that fifteen year old boy Bridgette had once dated. “I don’t care if Hattie knows. You can tell her everything.”
“Okay. If you’re sure. Won’t your mom be pissed?”
“Let me worry about her.” She’ll probably skin me when she finds out.
He nodded. “Well, the park was closing soon and we had to find one last thing to do.” He seemed to go inside himself and Bridgette held her breath, not wanting to lose him again. But his eyes finally came up and focused on her. “We went into Madam Zenar’s tent, remember?”
“Yes, I remember.” I wish the hell I didn’t. “Fortune-Teller and Medium Extraordinaire.” I’ll remember that name the rest of my fucking life.
“Yeah. She had some ugly crap in that tent. Remember the skull on the table next to her crystal ball? Freaky.” He looked at Hattie. “I think I saw a spirit there.”
Part of Bridgette didn’t want him to remember anything more about that night. She had never told anyone that it was her stupid idea. Liam’s parents and the paranormal healers who tried to help him thought he was just a cocky teenager, who did too much too soon with his powers and frightened himself into a stupor.
I’m the one who bribed him into scaring the crap out of Madam Zenar. Like any teenaged boy, he’d wanted to impress her. And get into her pants. So he went along. It wasn’t until several years later that Bridgette realized Madam Zenar must’ve been a necromancer. That skull should’ve been a tip-off. Necros sometimes used items belonging to the dead to make contact with the other side. Why didn’t I see that? Because you were too young and cocky. Something had happened between Madam Zenar and Liam. Something that scared the shit out of them both.
Liam’s doctors tried everything to bring him out of the near-comatose state he fell into, but nothing worked and he’d needed twenty-four hour care. With younger siblings at home, his parent’s couldn’t take care of him so they put him in the youth wing of this mental hospital. Once he was an
adult, they moved him to this wing, where the most severe paranormals were housed. The ones considered untreatable. A few mortal patients lived here but the entire staff consisted of paranormals, like Hattie. Liam got the best care and Bridgette visited him whenever she could, trying to assuage some of her guilt. It never worked.
“Oh,” Liam said, bringing her from her thoughts again. “I remember that it got really foggy that night and I couldn’t find you.”
Foggy? That’s what Daisy said about the afterlife. Part of him must’ve been there. Somehow. All these years. Daisy must have seen him there. Maybe that’s how she brought him back. But how the hell could he survive like that? She couldn’t imagine straddling the two worlds, the living and the dead. She studied those blue eyes again. What the hell happened to you, Liam?
“Next thing I remember, I woke up here.” He lifted his hands and studied them. “Like this.” He gave Bridgette a frightened look. “I’m only fifteen. Why do I look so old? Why do you? What happened to us?”
She swallowed, not knowing what to say to a thirty-eight year old man who still thought he had his whole life ahead of him. Hattie waved at her not to say anything and relief filled her. I’m such a chicken shit. Truthfully, she didn’t know exactly what had happened that night between him and the necromancer, but she was pretty certain part of him had gotten trapped on the other side. She had to tell Daisy about Liam. I don’t think she even knows she brought him back with her. But maybe she remembers something from her afterlife trip that will help.
Liam got his feet and Bridgette eyed him. “Where’re you going?”
He looked at her for a moment like he didn’t recognize her. “Outside.”
Her heart tripped. “Do you remember our talks in the courtyard?”
“What talks?” He started to walk toward the door then turned and gave a confused look to Hattie.