I nodded. We all went, even Erasmus, whose expression was muted. Nick led with the scryer, which glowed faintly, pulsing in and out. It naturally led us into the woods. All traces of the sunset were gone, leaving us in near blackness. Doc had the presence of mind to bring a flashlight, but that only illuminated the treacherous forest in slim beams and flashes.
I kept looking down at the crossbow. It hadn’t armed itself. I guessed that was a good thing, but I still wished it had. I didn’t feel safe, even with everyone surrounding me, even with Erasmus nearby sniffing the wind in a disturbingly animal-like way. Jeff was doing it too, seemingly unconsciously.
“Jolene!” I called. Then the others began calling out her name. Nothing.
Whatever path Nick was following led downward. We stumbled and helped each other over the stony trail, through tugging brambles and dried ferns. Even through the noise we made breaking every twig put in our path, I could hear the sound of running water. I hurried, overtaking Seraphina and Doc. I was right next to Nick, scouring the path ahead, listening with sharpened ears.
Trickling and running water. I shook my head. The siren song of the water was strong, but I managed to slough it off. Somewhere below us was a pond or a bog. I could hear the frogs now. Strange. Didn’t they go dormant this time of year? The trees thinned to saplings. I nearly slid down the leaf-littered slope, but caught myself, arms outward like a surfer. Rotted logs and rocks surrounded the slow-moving creek, which spilled into a quiet pool. Something was standing in the middle of it. I swung the crossbow up to my shoulder and aimed…but it still hadn’t armed itself. What the—?
It wasn’t the kelpie. A shadowy figure stood in the middle of the knee-deep pond, just standing there, its back to us. But it wasn’t until Doc swung the flashlight’s beam that I recognized it.
“Jolene!” I dropped the crossbow and plunged in, splashing water up all around me. Cold seeped in through my jeans and shoes. Another splash behind me and Nick was closing on her too. I got there first and grabbed her, turned her. “Jolene!” I yelled to her blank face.
She blinked slowly, then her lids fluttered, and finally her eyes seemed to register who I was. She looked down, perplexed. “What’s going on?”
I led her out of the water, Nick on her other side, helping keep her balance. We rushed up to the mud at the edge of the pond, where she began to shiver. She was only wearing her sweater and had left her coat behind. Nick whipped off his and draped it over her shoulders.
“You’re okay, squirt. You’re fine.”
“But…what am I doing here? And I’m wet.”
“The call of the kelpie,” I told her. “Maybe you looked out the window.”
Her hands came up to her mouth. “Oh my God! I didn’t mean to.”
“I know. It’s okay.”
Nick and I helped her up the rest of the way from the pond. Doc took hold of her icy hands.
“We’ve got to get you back to some warmth. Come on.”
Doc led the way back through the woods. Jolene was shivering from more than the wet and cold. That much I could tell. She kept glancing at me. I tried to give her reassuring smiles, but I was worried too. When we got to the highway, I let Doc take her hand while I dropped back to talk to Erasmus.
“What happened? Why didn’t it come for her?”
“As with the succubus, the kelpie has become attuned to you. Not that other women and girls are necessarily safe. But it’s clear that you are now the main target.”
“Great. It wasn’t anywhere near. The crossbow never armed.”
“As I suspected. But you are just as vulnerable as any female. More so, perhaps.”
“You’ll have to make certain I don’t go wandering off at night.”
“I will.”
It was the last thing he said for most of the night. I dressed Jolene in my old sweats and bundled her in every quilt I had on hand, letting her warm by the fire. I put her clothes, Nick’s, and my wet ones in the dryer, and gave her hot tea, before we sat around the pentagram in my shop living room to discuss the problem.
With plans getting kicked around, it also seemed the right time to let them know about the seal in the janitor’s closet.
Doc pinched his lip and squinted. “I’ve known Dan Parker for decades. He’s harmless.”
I shook my head. “Maybe not so much anymore. I wonder if a demon or god offered him something.” I looked to Erasmus and soon everyone was staring at him.
He shuffled. “I do not know. There could be any number of things that a mortal is vulnerable to desiring. If he used a ritual to summon the right demon, he could, theoretically, ask for anything. He may not get it in quite the way he imagines it. The denizens of the Netherworld are notoriously literal.”
Doc scratched his head. “But what could Dan Parker possibly want?”
“A girlfriend,” said Nick. He shrugged. “Or…boyfriend? Hey, everyone needs love.”
“But he didn’t summon love,” said Erasmus angrily. “He summoned an assassin.”
“Maybe he had to,” offered Seraphina, “in exchange for his request. I don’t think another demon can summon Andras.”
Erasmus nodded thoughtfully. “That could be so. Andras would need a human to do the summoning. But why would a demon wish to do so?”
“To get rid of me,” I said flatly. It didn’t even shock me anymore. “Look, we’re all thinking it. If they get rid of me before I close the Booke, then more creatures get out and there’s more hell on earth. Isn’t that what these Netherworld guys want?”
“This is ridiculous.”
We all turned. Jeff was standing the farthest from our group, even farther away than Erasmus. “Are you listening to yourselves? This is insane. Kelpies, demons, assassins…w-werewolves. It’s crazy. It’s a dream, right?”
Uh-oh. Jeff was losing it. He wasn’t adjusting as well as everyone thought.
“Jeff,” I said carefully. “You’re right. It is crazy. I’ve had nearly two weeks to adjust to it. And, well, I’m still not adjusted. It’s not going to be easy, but—”
He raised his hands to his head, clutching his hair. “You don’t know what’s going on in my mind. It’s like two worlds overlapping, each constantly shifting my attention. There’s the man world and the wolf world. And the wolf world wants me to…to…to run! To go! It wants the taste of blood, and Kylie…I’m a vegetarian!”
I moved toward him but he shied away. The amulet had fallen out of my neckline again, my silver necklace.
It was Erasmus who approached him. “I know. You must grasp onto your rational side, Mr. Chase. And when it’s time, I will run with you. When you need your wild side, I’ll be there.”
“Why would you do that? You were ready to eat me.”
He raised his chin and sniffed. “It’s important to Kylie. So I’ve decided not to hurt you. And I can keep you from hunting others. But for now, you must grasp your humanity. Hold on to it.”
Jeff rubbed his arms and leaned against a shelf. “All right. I guess I can try.”
I smiled. “Thanks, Erasmus.”
“Even though we Netherworld inhabitants would rather wreak havoc?”
He was throwing my words back at me, but I stood my ground. “Well, isn’t it true? That’s what demons want, right? To run free, cause a ruckus?”
“Not…all.”
“But isn’t that why my grandpa warned me about the door being opened? Come on, Erasmus. Admit at least that much.”
He bristled. “I admit nothing. I am bound to the book. I can do nothing in any case.”
Nick folded his arms over his chest and got up close to Erasmus. “But if the book isn’t closed, you get to stay out and play. Isn’t that right?”
Erasmus scowled and shot a glance at me.
“Yeah, she told us. We’re her coven, you know. So which is it? Maybe you summoned Andras to do your dirty work.”
Quicker than a breath, he was in Nick’s face.
“You whelp! Haven’t we just discussed the fact that a demon cannot summon another?”
“So you coerced Dan Parker.”
“I cannot enter hallowed ground.”
“His house, then.”
Gritting his teeth, he glared at me. “Is that what you think?”
“Hey,” said Nick, tapping Erasmus’s shoulder. “I’m the one talking to you.”
Lightning fast, Erasmus grabbed Nick’s wrist from his shoulder and twisted. The kid yelped.
Both Jeff and I lunged forward. “Erasmus!”
The demon scowled, shooting glares between us. He snarled back at Jeff, who was making warning animal noises.
I raised my hands. “Chill! Jeez, let’s all just…step back for a minute. I don’t think this has anything to do with Erasmus. He’s been helping me. He really has. It’s the Ordo we should be concentrating on. After all, isn’t it more likely that they threatened Parker?”
Seraphina never really turned down her glare at Erasmus. “But the Ordo can summon any demon they want. Why would they need Mr. Parker’s help?”
“I don’t know. We need to find that out. That’s…that’s where I was going when you guys called me.”
“By yourself?” said Doc, aghast.
“Well…Erasmus was with me.”
That didn’t turn out to be the most compelling of arguments, judging by Doc’s expression.
“Look, it’s just that I’ve gotten all of you mixed up in things that, well, frankly, none of you should be involved with. It’s deadly. I don’t know that I want to risk your lives anymore. I mean…look at Jeff. If he hadn’t come looking for me, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Doc looked ready to pitch a fit. “Don’t you think that’s up to us to decide?”
“No. I don’t. This is all new to you, this level of magic. And though you’ve all done a bang-up job so far, I don’t really know how much worse it’s going to get. And the Ordo isn’t just a stumbling, bumbling biker gang anymore. They’ve got real power, just as much as you have, and they aren’t afraid to use it. Or more mortal means. They didn’t use magic to beat up Jeff. They aren’t kidding around.”
Jeff growled.
“I’m not afraid of those boys,” said Doc, chin high.
“Well I am. I’m afraid of what they might do to you to get to me. I can’t do what I have to do if I’m worried about what’s going to happen to all of you.”
Everyone fell silent. The fire crackled. Someone shifted. Jolene sneezed.
Quietly, I said, “I have to go to Hansen Mills and see what I can find. And I just want it to be me and Erasmus. If something happens to me, then…well. I hope you all will carry on and get that Booke closed.”
Nick stepped forward, still rubbing his wrist and staring daggers at Erasmus. “I can’t believe you. After all we’ve been through? You’re just upping and leaving? We’ve been trying to help you.”
“I’m not leaving. And I’m not ungrateful. I’m just trying to do my job and not let anyone else get hurt.”
“If you’re determined to do this,” said Nick grumpily, “then you have to at least let us make a charm bag for you.”
“I want to do it,” said Jolene. She looked small and fragile wrapped in her cocoon of quilts, but she seemed earnest as she pushed her glasses up her nose. “It will only take a few minutes. And then Nick will have time to analyze the EVP from last night.”
I’d forgotten. Nick was going to break down the sounds around my grandpa, see if he could get a fix on the other voice on the recording. Seemed sensible enough. I lowered the crossbow and sat on the chair arm. “Okay.”
Nick hurried to a messenger bag he had left in the corner and dragged out his laptop. He sat it on a small table and knelt before it. Taking a USB cable, he plugged it first into his phone and then into the laptop and commenced typing on his keyboard.
Jeff moved toward me, cautious of the silver. “You’re not going to let her, are you?” he said to the room.
Nick snorted. “You of all people should know that once she makes up her mind, you can’t stop her.”
“Then I’m going too.”
“No, you’re not. Erasmus is. He can do things you can’t.”
“I can do plenty…now.”
“Can you be invisible? Can you detect other demons? Can you teleport me?” He blinked, stunned. “I appreciate it, Jeff. But I’m doing this. With Erasmus and no one else.”
Erasmus strutted only a moment before I stared him down.
Jolene shuffled toward her backpack but Seraphina intervened. “I’ll help you. Tell me what you want.”
“Okay. If you could bring my backpack, most everything is inside. But I will need some of Kylie’s herbs.”
I nodded. Seraphina already seemed to know what she wanted. I supposed they had done this before. She first dropped the backpack in front of Jolene, who rummaged around, pulling out a large white candle, a square of purple cloth, and a bottle of salt. Seraphina went to my sideboard and opened drawers: sage, lavender, and rosemary.
Jolene lit the candle and laid the cloth flat on the pentagram. Carefully, she took a pinch of the sage and crushed it a bit through her fingers, letting it fall in the center of the square of cloth. She did the same with the lavender, and then the rosemary. “Sage is for purification,” she told me. “Lavender for relaxation, and rosemary to repel negative spirits. I’m adding sea salt for an earth element. We’ve already got plenty of water element around us.” She bound it up gently in the cloth, brought up the ends, and twisted the top till it looked like a small sachet. “Kylie, do you have a red ribbon around?”
“Um…I don’t think so.”
“String?”
“Yeah. In the kitchen. The drawer by the fridge.”
“I’ll get it,” chirped Seraphina.
She soon returned and helped Jolene tie up the tiny pouch with a small length of the white cotton string.
Jolene pulled a marker from her bag and drew a crude triquetra on the side of the small pouch and then held it over the candle flame. “I’m consecrating it,” she said in explanation. “Ideally, this should have been done in the middle of a waxing moon, but we don’t really have time.” She turned it a few times and I could plainly catch a whiff of the blending aromas. The smell of warmed sage, rosemary, and lavender was relaxing and reminded of home.
“There,” she said. “Keep this with you.”
She passed it to Seraphina, who tried to pass it to Erasmus, but he shied from it like a gardener runs from a hornet. Must be the salt. I remembered that salt was one way to keep demons away.
Exasperated, Seraphina walked it over to me and placed it in my hand. “Wear it, put it in your pocket. Keep it on you.”
“Okay. Thanks, you guys.”
“Nick,” asked Doc, “how is the detecting coming?”
“Almost got it set up. And here we go.” He clicked a button on his keyboard and the display showed several vibrating lines. “I’m adjusting the masking element, which should get rid of most of the background noise, but I’ll need to fine-tune it as it goes along.”
The laptop speakers again played the message: sssssssHELPssssssssCAN’TsssHOLDssssssssssOFFsssssssssssssBESILENT!sssssssssssKYLIEssssssssssssssssssss
I hugged myself. The sound gave me chills.
“Let me try this…” The vibrating lines separated and didn’t seem as one anymore. They split, growing apart.
………..HELPssssssssCAN’T…..HOLD………OFFsssssssssssssBESILENT!………KYLIE…….ssssssss
“Better. If I try this…”
…HELP…….CAN’T…..HOLD….OFF…..BESILENT!…KYLIE….
“Okay, so the hiss is gone. Let’s concentrate on that other voice.”
Over and over on the speakers we heard, “BESILENT!” Nick adjusted, elongated, switched more switches. “BESILENT!…BESILENT!…BESILENT!…BE SILENT! BE SILENT!…BE…SILENT!…”
He adjusted
the pitch and suddenly the growling voice was unmistakably female.
“Wait,” said Erasmus. He glanced at me. I was on the verge of understanding and knew it the moment he said it. “Shabiri.”
The Ordo’s demon, summoned for the purpose of doing their own evil. The yin to Erasmus’s yang. Or something like that.
“Wha-what is she doing?” I asked. “Why is she doing that? How is she doing that?”
“That is a very good question,” he said. “Shall we find out?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Erasmus transported me again to Hansen Mills. It was later now and the highway was a bleak, wet ribbon of black threading into the misty woods. It was quiet except for the sound of raindrops dripping from the trees and the occasional forlorn call of an owl, softly hooting.
I got out my phone and punched in Doug’s name. Sure enough, an address and a map came up. I turned down the volume on the phone as it read me directions aloud.
“A most unique contraption,” murmured Erasmus.
“It’s pretty handy.” I held the screen forward and followed it. We walked along the highway until I was afraid we’d fall into the ditch full of water. That was the last thing we needed. Instead, we climbed the verge along the road, which raised us up considerably. It gave us a good vantage too. I could clearly see a long way down the stretch of road.
I was so absorbed in watching the highway and my phone that when Erasmus’s voice broke the silence, I nearly slipped down the slope.
“What is your plan once we get there?”
“Plan?” Well, shoot. “Um…I don’t know. I thought we’d look around a little. I doubt Doug summoned any more vortexes in his living room. He might have an outbuilding, like a barn or a shed.”
“I shall be on the lookout for Shabiri.”
“What’s with the two of you anyway? Have you…known her long?”
I could still feel her breath at my ear. Her arm had wrapped around my neck and squeezed just that little bit. She had warned me. But demons lie. Should I have believed her?
“You must never, ever give your heart to a demon,” she had said. “Oh, I can see it in your eyes, my dear. Erasmus is seductive, I’ll give you that. But it only makes the game that much more delicious.”
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