Romancing the Dead

by Tate Hallaway

  “Fiancé,” I corrected quietly.

  “Fiancé,” Griffin repeated louder.

  Micah’s gaze swept the group as though he were measuring his ability to take us on collectively. When his gaze lit on mine, I had no doubt he could. I squared my shoulders anyway, bolstered by the hand on my shoulder and the nearness of the others.

  Micah seemed ready to respond when lightning struck the house. A sizzling crackle made my hair stand on end, followed by an explosion of light. Someone screamed. A loud boom, like standing in the middle of thunder, shook the walls. Plaster dust fell from the ceiling. Several people ducked, including Micah.

  The lights went out.

  Lighters flicked on around the room. William and Mátyás switched on keychain flashlights. Neither Marge nor Micah had taken the opportunity to disappear dramatically. In fact, both of them looked surprised and startled. Marge whispered to Micah, “Did you do that?”

  A cold breeze tickled my eardrum. “The house is under attack,” it seemed to say. Benjamin.

  Mátyás either heard Benjamin or intuited the same conclusion. “The second party has made their move,” he said.

  Xylia and a couple of other people with lighters lit the decorative candles around the room. Soon we were bathed in a soft, flickering glow. “It’s weird,” William said, after lighting a kerosene lamp Sebastian had on his mantel. “There’s not even any rain, but the sky is kind of green. Only right above us.”

  I peered out the window into the inky darkness. Mostly I saw my worried reflection on the glass, but William was right. I could make out a strange swirling greenish light over the house.

  The airs on my arm prickled. I looked down to see the fine hairs sticking straight up. It was happening again. Dropping the curtain, I shouted to everyone, “We’re under magical attack. We need to counter this, now.”

  I held out my arms indicating that people should join hands. Griffin, Xylia, William, Mátyás, and the others quickly linked up. Marge and Micah stood outside the circle. I could hear a buzz, like the buildup of static, and I knew the next strike was imminent. We could do the spell without them, but . . . Micah was a God. “Get in here,” I said, letting go of Mátyás’s hand to reach for Micah.

  Though surprised, Micah stepped up to take it. “Who is it?”

  The lightning stuck again. The floors trembled. William, who held my other hand, nearly crushed it in shock. Everyone made a nervous noise of some kind, even Micah. “I don’t know,” I said. “But let’s stop this before it gets too serious.”

  I felt something cold settle in directly behind me, like when you wander into a chilly spot in a lake. I knew it must be Benjamin. Apparently, he decided there was safety in numbers too.

  Normally a coven will take months to get to the point where they can work together seamlessly. We didn’t have time. Luckily, magic on the fly was kind of my specialty.

  The wind rattled the windows.

  The room hummed with anticipation. The candles flicked with each exhalation, so that the light pulsed in rhythm with our breath. When we were perfectly harmonized, I began to cast the circle. Starting in the east, I slowly moved in a clockwise direction behind the group, making sure to include Benjamin. I visualized a sphere of dark amber light, like the color of the center of Sebastian’s eyes, forming behind me. At each cardinal direction, I called a guardian. Normally, I brought forth aspects of Lilith, but I could feel Micah’s eyes on me, so instead I chose Hecate, Queen of Witches. In the east, she appeared as a warrior maiden, leaning casually against a two-handed sword. When I reached the south, I met a Hecate with hair the color of fire and bright embers flashing in her eyes. She was full-bodied with the swell of pregnancy, stirring a cauldron in the west. At the north, I saw her as the crone, bent with age, leaning on a staff.

  I went around again. As I passed each covener, I could feel their energy join in the circle. Individual colors swirled in the amber sphere that surrounded us, like the oily sheen of a soap bubble.

  Micah’s energy joined subtly at first, like a tingle at the edge of my fingertips. I wondered at first why he didn’t lend his full strength, but then I felt a familiar presence.

  Lilith.

  She was still with Micah. My heart quickened at the thought of her so near. Mentally, I reached out and was rewarded with the sensation of invisible, icy fingers stroking my hair lovingly. My body ached with longing. I wanted her inside me again.

  Lightning crashed the roof again. The sound of shingles sliding from the roof ricocheted across the ceiling.

  “Seems she wants to bring the house down on you,” Micah said in his usual droll tone. “You certainly have powerful enemies.”

  “She?” I asked. I quickly rejoined the circle. Taking Micah’s and Mátyás’s hands, the circle was complete. Normally, I’d say some kind of pat phrase to mark the moment, but the energy was tight. I felt the hum of the others the instant my fingers linked.

  Benjamin’s presence was like a cool breeze at my back. I could sense Lilith’s nearness, but her energy was somehow muted. I wanted to search for her, call her in, but I could feel the other building up another electrical attack.

  “Oh yeah, definitely a ’she,’ ” William nodded sagely, and I wondered if he was just playing along or if he really had sensed something. “Another Goddess, I’d say.”

  Everyone’s attention was drawn to the ceiling. I looked too. A swirling cloud had condensed above us. Miniature lightning strikes flashed, lighting the air deep purples and reds.

  Thunder rolled and suddenly, something rained down on us. Hard, small, white pellets clattered in a rush. At first I thought it was hail, but when I shook some from my hair they were obviously—“Maggots!”

  10.

  Neptune

  KEYWORDS: Delusion, Trances, and Mystery

  Panic moved through the circle, and I could feel people starting to pull away. “No,” I shouted. “We have to stay focused. Keep your hands together,” I implored, but it was too late. People frantically brushed at the larvae, trying to get it off themselves. I could feel the circle breaking. The attacker, whoever she was, would have her opening in a minute.

  Electricity sizzled through the air. I cringed.

  “Enough of this,” Micah said, stepping forward. He held his arms out open wide, spread-eagle. The silhouette of a black bird hovered over his heart. Larger and larger it grew until I could swear that I could make out the image of slickly glittering feathers. The bird-ghost-shadow burst into the air.

  A powerful stroke of its wings made the evil maggot-hailing cloud dissipate.

  With Micah distracted, Lilith took the opportunity to show herself. Lilith’s warmth enveloped my stomach. An image began to materialize in front of my face, smoky at first. Strands of her long, gray-streaked raven hair swirled in the gale. Eyes, like burning coals, flashed darkly in the candlelight. If I was going to get her back, I needed to act quickly.

  “Benjamin. Get the intruder. Get Micah!”

  Benjamin acted quickly. I saw a blur as he sped toward Micah. Then, there was a bang, as he passed through Micah’s body. The air pressure dropped. My ears popped. For a split second, I caught the image of a very surprised coyote-headed man knocked out of Micah’s body. Benjamin, however, came out the other side in flames. He shrieked with the sound of wild wind across the prairie and fled through the floor into the basement.

  Micah gave me an imploring look. He looked sick. His eyes seemed sunken, his skin hung loosely to bones, and his hair turned completely white. No, strike that, Micah was dying.

  Just as I started to ask him what I could do to help, the black cloud that was Lilith rushed into my open mouth.

  I breathed her in, nearly gagging on the scent of fecund compost and the taste of death. She filled my lungs until I thought they would burst. Then, she spread outward, sinking back into the recesses of my being. A sensation of homecoming filled me. Lilith glided into my body, softly, comfortably. I felt a sigh of familiarity, and the warmth of kind
red-spiritedness slid through me.

  In that same moment, I saw the ghost Coyote step back into Micah’s body. Micah’s features hardened. His youth returned, and suddenly I understood. Coyote possessed Micah the way Lilith did me, except where She came and went in short bursts, Micah was always Coyote.

  Focusing on me, Micah’s lips lifted in a sneer. Closing the distance between us, he grabbed me by my shirt and slammed me up against the wall hard. Air rushed from my lungs. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you it’s wrong to steal,” he growled in my ear.

  He might be a God, but he was also a guy. So I kicked him hard in the most sensitive part of a man’s body: the knees. He went down with a yelp, just as three of the more burly guys from the coven and William descended on him. They pulled him the rest of the way off me.

  He shook them off easily. “I helped you, and you repay me by taking what is mine?”

  “Yours? Lilith was mine first.” Oh my Goddess, that sounded childish. I stuck with the theme. “Finders keepers.”

  “I need her,” Micah said, and I saw that desperate look flash, momentarily, across his eyes.

  “You need to get lost, pal,” Griffin said.

  Mátyás stepped between Micah and me. “Yes, I think you should be going.”

  Micah eyed the men suddenly surrounding me with a look of derision that clearly implied they were all boys compared to him. He let out a patronizing chuckle and said, “We can talk about this later, Garnet. Privately.”

  He stomped out.

  It was difficult to release the circle we’d created in any kind of controlled way. Though everyone resumed their spots and did their best to focus on the task at hand, the energy was chaotic at best. I could hardly concentrate myself.

  The circle collapsed in on itself with a wobbly thump. The guardians stepped backward into a mist with disapproving looks on their faces.

  Everyone in the coven started talking among themselves. Someone produced a Tupperware container filled with chocolate chip cookies, obviously meant for the “cakes and ale” section of the ritual.

  Mátyás handed me a cookie. “Well, that didn’t go as we planned, did it?”

  “No,” I said. I leaned against the wall and watched the coven as they broke up into small groups and started debriefing among themselves. William and Griffin appeared to be engaged in a debate about something, and Blythe seemed to be catching up on everything she missed from Xylia and some of the others. I bit into the cookie, barely tasting it. “But I guess the second party revealed themselves.”

  “They did?” Mátyás asked. “Was it someone here?”

  “No. I don’t think so. I would have felt a power surge from someone as I cast the circle, even without Lilith.” I touched my stomach reflexively, gratified by the feeling of her heaviness just under the surface. “I’m pretty sure everyone here was fighting against the attack, even Micah.”

  “But not Marge,” Mátyás pointed out. “She slipped out early.”

  She had? I’d been so focused on Micah’s participation, I didn’t even track to see if Marge had joined or not. “You think she’s the second party?”

  Mátyás shook his head. “No, it’s someone outside this coven, like you said. Who else did you say wanted you dead? One of Father’s ghoulfriends?”

  “They’re not supposed to practice magic.”

  Mátyás licked chocolate from his fingers. “Someone’s a rule breaker.”

  I had to agree. “I wonder who,” I said.

  Mátyás shrugged. “Did you ever call the ghouls?”

  “I met one,” I said. “Two actually. And his accountant.”

  “Walter? I love Walter,” Mátyás said with a nod and a fond smile. When I gave him a curious look he added, “What? He administers my trust fund.”

  I nodded absently. Lilith shifted inside me, settling. Having been without her for so long, I now noticed how her presence heightened all my senses. The subdued colors of Sebastian’s living room glowed in the flickering candlelight. I could smell the faint scent of red rot from the ancient books that filled the shelves and a trace of someone’s sandalwood perfume. The soft murmurs of everyone talking washed over me gently, like waves lapping the lakeshore. I was more aware of my body: the tautness of skin under my shirt, the ache of the scrapes on my knees.

  Magically, the sensations were even more intense. Without even intending to I could see the auras of everyone in the room. William’s deep purple, the brassy flash of copper that was Griffin, and Xylia’s dappled mossy green, all swirled together in the air.

  How had I ever lived without her?

  “I took the liberty of ‘borrowing’ something from Marge’s purse,” Mátyás said conspiratorially.

  I looked at him. “What are you talking about? Why?”

  He held up a comb. It was one of those black, utilitarian types you find next to the tiny tubes of toothpaste in the travel section of department stores. “For you,” he said, handing it to me. “To help me focus tonight.”

  I looked at the unremarkable thing. It had a few strands of curly gray hair stuck in the teeth. “Are you saying you stole this from Marge? And what am I supposed to do with this thing, exactly?”

  “I can’t really control whose dreams I enter,” Mátyás explained. “I can reach out to my parents, but we’re connected by blood. I’ll need you to help me direct my abilities tonight so we can see if Marge dreams about where she might have stashed Father.”

  I looked at the comb and at Mátyás. “Do I know how to do that?”

  “Improvise. You’re good at that.”

  11.

  Pluto

  KEYWORDS: Disappearance, Kidnapping, and Crime

  After all the excitement of the magical attack, it was difficult to get people to leave. Everyone wanted to quiz me about who might be so desperate to kill (or at least fry Sebastian’s shingles) and to get details of what was going on with Micah.

  “So he stole Lilith,” William repeated, after I’d explained it to a new group of curious coveners. I was beginning to think I should have just issued a statement as if for a press conference. I was getting weary of repeating myself to each new group that came up to me. This must have been my sixth time through the whole thing.

  I nodded, taking a sip of iced tea. We’d raided Sebastian’s pantry for snacks. A lot of people had gotten the munchies after all the magical energy we’d expended. I’d owe Sebastian a week’s worth of groceries once we found him. Goddess, I hoped he was okay. I prayed Mátyás and I would be successful tonight.

  “Why?” William asked. “To what end?”

  “What?” I blinked, having lost track of the conversation.

  “Why did Micah steal Lilith? What purpose did that serve?”

  It was an excellent question and one no one had asked me before. I frowned, considering. “I don’t know,” I admitted, though I remembered how old and exhausted he’d looked when Benjamin had knocked Coyote out of Micah for a moment. “But I think maybe he needed Lilith’s energy.”

  “Like a battery recharge?”

  I shrugged; that seemed as good a metaphor as any. “You wouldn’t think a God’s energy would run down though, would you?” I thought of my own resident Goddess. Was I in danger of tapping her out some day? Micah and Coyote seemed to be closer linked than I was to Lilith. In fact, they seemed almost merged. Was it possible that they needed more energy to sustain that bond? Or, if Coyote was more on the surface, perhaps existing that way siphoned off this godhead somehow.

  “Lilith seems more powerful the more you use her. Or, maybe more in focus.”

  It was true that I’d learned to tap Lilith’s power for little bursts of strength or magic.

  “Maybe the Gods need magic,” Griffin said. He’d wandered up to join our conversation. He was chewing on a peanut butter sandwich. “Like we need food.”

  “So you’re saying Micah’s God has run down because he’s not a sorcerer? He’s not feeding it magic like Garnet does with Lilith,” Willia
m said, sounding ready to debate Griffin again.

  “No,” Griffin said, “I wasn’t. But that’s a good theory.”

  It was.

  “I’m ready if you are,” Mátyás said with a yawn. “Actually, I could have slept several hours ago.”

  We’d decided that since we didn’t know when Marge went to sleep we might as well let everyone trickle off in their own good time. I had no idea it would be near dawn, however. I said good-bye to the last straggler as the sky was brilliant indigo, glowing with the hint of the sunrise to come. With nothing else stirring, the chirpings of tree frogs and sparrows echoed loudly over the cornfields.

  I gripped Marge’s comb in my hand. As I walked back to the house, the breeze brought the scent of cow manure and clover. My shoes made dark patches in the dew-covered lawn.

  Mátyás lay down on the couch. He had a pillow and some blankets; he’d been sleeping there since arriving in the States. I perched on the glass-topped table. “I’m not feeling very sleepy with you staring at me,” Mátyás said.

  “Should I go in another room?”

  “No, you need to be in here to help direct me to Marge.” He scratched his eyebrow. “Maybe you could sing?”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  He looked embarrassed. “It used to work when I was a kid.”

  I tried to imagine Sebastian singing to Mátyás as a child. It was strangely easy. Sebastian had a beautiful voice. He sang in the shower. Usually in German. “I don’t think I know any traditional Austrian songs,” I said, “though I could chant. It might help start the spell.”

  “Sounds nice,” Mátyás said.

  Feeling a little sheepish, I started to sing. I picked something simple. “We are a circle, within a circle.” It was a song I learned when I first started practicing witchcraft. “With no beginning and never ending,” the line repeated endlessly. It was meant to help bring a person to a trance state. The way Mátyás’s eyes were drifting closed it seemed to be working. It was time for me to try to nudge him in the right direction.