Chapter 29

Chapter

29

Unfortunately Burger Daddy had been closed due to Al having busted a main water line two days ago. Waffle House, though, was open, working under a limited menu. Elyse's bird and I were at a corner table, the original pattern in the Formica long since rubbed into a haze of bleach and time. The sun was well up, and traffic was surprisingly busy, seeing as only a few nights ago Al had been terrorizing Cincy's citizens. A sense of anticipation, of a long-held breath, seemed to hang over the city now that the demon had been exiled in the ever-after and Piscary had been announced as twice dead, leaving a power vacuum that Rynn Cormel was slated to fill. How bad, I wondered, could it be if Waffle House was still open?

Our borrowed, glamoured truck was outside. Johnny was in the back seat, covered in a tarp. Even if he was spotted, it was unlikely that anyone would say anything. Not in the Hollows.

Elyse had gone to the eat-at bar to order for us since they were low on staff, the last of our dwindling funds in her hand. My shoulders slumped as I sighed, and the crow beside me cocked his head, his sharp attention on the stone around my neck. "Mine," I said, and the crow chortled, bobbing in place like a mad thing. He clearly knew what "mine" meant, and he clearly wanted it anyway.

Waffle House, I mused as I glanced over the all-but-unoccupied restaurant. It had been packed when we had gotten here, but now there was only the old couple in the corner nursing their single coffees and the guy swabbing the floor.

Wincing, I pulled my bag closer to hide it, my eyes watering at the faint but persistent scent of burnt amber. "Hey, Slick," I said, and the bird shifted his attention from Elyse to me. "Can birds smell?"

Again the crow chortled, bobbing his head dramatically.

"Sorry," I added, and he side-walked to the other end of the table.

And yet a smile found me as I followed the bird's attention to Elyse flirting with the man behind the counter. Though cheerful, the strain was beginning to show as the adrenaline of besting first Newt, then Scott wore off, leaving space for the aches and fatigue. Welcome to my world, babe.

Slumping, I stretched my legs out under the table, feeling the bruise developing where Adagio had pulled me out of the ground. Or maybe it was from jumping into the truck, or dragging Johnny into it. My elbow, too, hurt. I hadn't a clue when I'd banged it.

Slick fluttered his wings in excitement as Elyse came over with a tray holding two bottled waters and two baskets. It smelled like warm bread, not pancakes and hash browns, and I sat up, curious. Burgers and chicken?

"Limited menu," she explained as she set the tray down and collapsed in the chair across from me, her hand immediately going to fondle the crow's neck. "I got a hamburger and a chicken sandwich. Take what you want. I'll eat what you don't."

I claimed a bottled water and cracked the top. "Ah, I'll take the burger unless your crow has a problem eating chicken."

"Slick?" she said, blinking to turn her into a high schooler. "Good God, no. Crows eat baby birds all the time." She grabbed a basket and cooed at the bird now at her elbow. "Don't you, my little savage?"

The crow politely took the offered sliver of steaming chicken as I chugged my water. I'd forgotten how thirsty the old ever-after could leave a person. "Ah, thanks," I said, lifting my burger in explanation. "How much do we have left?"

"All of it." She fed the bird another sliver. "I sterilized a vat of water for them in exchange. They have coffee now for the rest of the day."

"Oh! Great." I took a bite, my shoulders slumping. "Good thinking…" The burger might be thin and the tomato slice skimpy, but I was starving and it tasted like heaven. Mouth full, I watched the bird accept a third sliver of chicken, holding it in his foot as he delicately nibbled the edges. "Scott will follow him right to us," I added. "You might not be chipped, but your bird is."

"Yeah, I know." Elyse sighed, wiped her hand clean, and then took the bird's head and forced him to look at her. "Slick, go play hide-and-seek with Scott."

The crow bobbed up and down, then launched into the air, a cry of annoyance rising when he flew into the kitchen and presumably out an open door.

The flash of satisfaction on Elyse's face was almost embarrassing, and I shoved the thin slice of tomato back atop the burger before I took another bite. Waffle House was one of the few multispecies restaurants to serve tomatoes. But Waffle House didn't give a flying flip what anyone thought. "Hey, after we get Johnny on the boat, I want to take the truck back."

Elyse went still. "Why?"

"Because it's not ours?" I said, thinking it was a child's question.

"We got it running," Elyse said between bites of her sandwich. "No one wanted it."

My breath went in and out. "Just because we got it running doesn't make it ours."

Elyse's brow furrowed. "How about sleep?" she said, clearly annoyed. "You got sleep scheduled in there anywhere?"

I pushed away from the table, water bottle in hand. "I'll take care of the truck if you want to crash in the library."

"No, I'm good."

I bet. I stared out the tall windows, watching humans and other day-loving citizens filter into the streets. There'd been too many sirens the last few days. Too many fires, too many threats. Al, though, was back in the ever-after.

"What I really want is to see you rekindle that charm," she said. "If we hadn't nearly lost our souls in the ever-after to get it, I'd say you were making it up."

I stared at Elyse, her mouth full as she chewed almost belligerently. "I'm not making it up."

Swallowing, Elyse leaned in closer though there was no one around who could hear. "If it could be done, the coven would know how to do it."

A smile quirked half my mouth. "Maybe the coven did, and everyone who knew died before they could show you." Which wasn't true—it was a demon skill—but the reminder that the coven had probably lost a lot of skills from untimely attrition might bring her pride down a notch.

"Okay." Elyse set the last few bites of her sandwich down and wiped her fingers on a thin, almost useless napkin. "Show me."

"Now?"

Elyse mockingly gestured at the all-but-empty restaurant.

She wasn't wrong, and I drew the defunct charm from my pocket. Elbow on the table, I cradled the ancient amulet in my fingertips. Elyse inched closer, shifting to hide the table from casual view. Yeah, I'd be interested in the impossible thing that might get me home safely, too.

"As I was told, you're basically refilling the remnant shadow of energy that the original spell left in the metal," I said, and Elyse nodded, focused on it with an eerie intensity. "You couldn't do this with a wooden amulet. The surface decays and the pattern is lost. But you have to be delicate. Energy taken straight from the line will break it. You have to use the energy from your aura, and you can't do it all at once. You have to layer it shell by shell."

"Shell by shell?" Elyse questioned, making me wonder if she had the background for this. "You mean you separate your aura into its shells?"

"Exactly," I affirmed. Amulet in one hand, I used the other to physically draw my aura off my fingertips, pushing it up past my elbow. The naked flesh ached, sort of like having the flu, and I wondered if I should have put myself in a protection circle. An aura was a person's first line of defense, and I had just bared myself to whatever psychic ill might be stuck to the underside of the table. But it was a Waffle House, and I figured I'd be okay.

"Ah, did you just…" Elyse started, and I nodded.

"You'll get more out of this if you use your second sight." And with that, I shifted my entire aura to a clear red.

I knew she was watching when Elyse exhaled with a soft sound. "Oh, wow."

Holding everything as it was, I glanced up at her. "You know how to separate your aura into its shells?" I asked, and she bobbed her head, her attention riveted to the amulet perched in my fingertips. The old metal felt colder, and I stifled a shudder as I allowed a thin trace of my all-red aura to spill down my arm and puddle in my hand just under the metal circle. It wasn't touching it yet, but I could feel the metal wanting to join with it. Which was a relief. If I had a light enough touch, I could rekindle it. Until just that moment, I hadn't been sure.

"Yes, I've done that," Elyse said, attention fixed to the amulet. "Not what you're doing," she quickly added. "But I've used auras in a few spells. Yeah."

Annoyance flickered through me. A few spells, she said. Probably ones that were illegal for the rest of us. "Okay. Well, every artifact holds a memory of the maker's aura," I said, feeling like Al as my words found an instructive patter. "If you can ease that energy back into it, a layer at a time, it might rekindle. Red is the first color, and you follow the chakras on up."

Breath held, I allowed the aura in the cup of my hand to rise, bathing the amulet perched on my fingertips. The thin trace enveloped the old metal, the single wavelength of energy setting it to ring a beautiful, very much subliminal chime. My breath eased out. Pierce had taught me this. And then he had died trying to kill Ku'Sox. The guilt was old and not warranted. I had told him not to. The pain that Ceri, Ray's mother, had died along with him…That was harder to let go.

"It takes a fine touch," I said as I shifted the red puddling in my palm to orange. "Too little won't invoke the charm." A second tone joined the first as almost all the red in the amulet shifted to orange, leaving only a thin trace of the original color remaining.

"Too much, and it will break." I shifted my aura to yellow, frowning when the new tone rang with a discordant harshness. I had only applied three shells and the amulet was full. I had begun with too much red and would have to start over.

Frustrated, I pushed all the energy off my hand and set the amulet down.

Elyse stared at it on the faded Formica table, wisely not reaching for it. "Why did you stop? You want me to do it?"

"No!" I barked, then softer, "No. I was just getting a feel for how much energy it will take to reinvoke it. I started with too much, and those three shells had reached its carrying capacity. Any more, and it would have broken completely."

Elyse cocked her head, studying it. "How many shells does it take?"

"Six or seven, depending on the finesse of who made it."

Her brow furrowed. "If you don't want to tell me, fine."

"Elyse, it's an art, not a science," I protested, and her frown deepened as she fiddled with her drink. "Whoever made this had a very light touch. I had assumed it was a demon, seeing as it's a demon charm, but now I think it was an elf." I picked it up, studying the invocation words engraved on the outer rim. "An enslaved elf," I added, setting it down again. "This needs more concentration than I can probably find at a Waffle House."

Across the street, a black shape flew straight down the road, Scott in hot pursuit.

"But I can try," I added. Good bird.

"I'm not some kind of wannabe dilettante," Elyse said, clearly insulted. "I have practiced dividing my aura into its separate components since I was ten. I am not a kid."

My eye twitched. "Have you ever done this?" I said, angry. "Anything at all like this? You tell me you're not a kid. Well, you certainly aren't acting like an adult."

Elyse's lips parted. "Did I not drive off a high member of the council without him realizing who either of us were?"

"You caused severe structural damage to two buildings and a parking lot. You couldn't wait to use your big guns to impress me."

"I was trying to cow Scott!" she barked. "How does that make me a child?"

I leaned in close, annoyed. "It's not what you did that's the problem. I'm saying only a child would think that what you did was okay." Because she clearly thought it was.

"Well, what would you have done?"

I picked up the amulet, worried she might make a go for it. "Other than what I did? Circle him, maybe? Knock him out with a kick? Make him temporarily blind? Give him bad luck? You, in your infinite wisdom, decided to damage two buildings and a parking lot. Fine. It's a choice. But only a child doesn't acknowledge that you stomped all over everyone who works or lives in those buildings, then went on with your life as if their pain and monetary interests don't matter."

Elyse stared at me. "You think I should have let him catch us? It's just a couple of buildings and a parking lot!"

I rubbed my chin, exasperated. "You are not listening," I said, feeling like a demon as I pitched my voice low. "You are so privileged that you can't comprehend the chaos you leave in your wake. Most people who do crap like this are reminded with jail time or fines or restitution. The Turn knows I am. But not the coven, no," I added bitterly, and maybe a little enviously. "Under the auspices of protecting us, you are allowed to create havoc with no consequences. None."

A little chuckle eased from her, and her anger vanished. "Oh, my God. You're jealous."

Maybe I was, but that wasn't the point. "Listen. To. Me," I said, every word a hammer. "You use spells and charms that others can't. And then call yourself more skilled? I don't think so. You have put everyone at the bottom of a hill while you stand at the top and say you're better. Try working with what we have before labeling yourself an elite."

Elyse's air of self-righteousness faltered, then returned.

"You know what?" I said, tired of it. "Fine. Try it." I held the charm out to her on the palm of my hand. "Knock yourself out. If you break it, I'm not waiting for you. You take the long way home with Kisten."

"No." She lifted her chin defiantly. "I want to see if you can really do it."

I closed my fingers about the amulet and drew it close. "Good choice, but if I thought for an instant that you have the skill to duplicate this, I wouldn't let you even watch. The coven didn't lose this ability. They never had it, and they never will." Anger flickered over her as I pushed the aura from my hand again, and a warning of achy pinpricks flooded my arm. "You don't have a delicate enough touch. It's a demon thing," I added, just to piss her off.

Ignoring her huff of disbelief, I shifted my aura to red again, sending the lightest trace down my arm, so light it felt like a butterfly kiss. Exhaling, I allowed it to find my palm, rising to envelop the waiting charm, sending the old metal vibrating with a chime so faint it was almost not there. This, I thought, might work , and I shifted my aura to orange.

A second chime joined the first, only a rare sliver of red lingering against the sunset-colored haze in my hand. Already I knew it was better, and my head ached from the pressure of holding the full flood of my aura back.

Yellow was next, clear like sunlight as it washed through the light haze. The orange vanished under the living glow as a third tone melded to the others. A faint itch of building power crawled down my spine, aching for me to free it.

I quickly shifted my aura to a healthy green, startled when the resonating metal pulled it in more than the others, worrying me that I might not have left enough space. The tone became richer, deeper. Pinpricks stabbed at my hand, and I tensed, my heart aching with someone else's longing to see living fields. It was the maker of the amulet, and my brow furrowed as the definition between me and whoever had twisted the amulet began to blur. There were no cracks in the amulet, no threat of the harsh, discordant tone that I'd heard before, each sliver of aura slipping in as if it belonged.

Blue, I thought, desperate to have this done, and pinpricks painfully stung my arm. My aura resonance shifted, cramping my fingers as another tone melded with the rest, aching through me with the feel of angel wings beating upon the air. It was a good ache, a thunderous ache. I blinked, trying to focus as the amulet found a darker hue.

I was almost done, and I struggled to see past the muffling haze. I felt myself breathe, power cramping my lungs as I shifted my aura to ultraviolet. Elyse gasped. It was as if living smut had snaked down my arm, pooling under the glowing amulet but refusing to blend. Softly, surely, a whisper of it reached up to the metal as an identical haze stretched down.

And with a ping, the two threads met and the amulet rekindled. The separate shells of aura wrapped separately around the amulet had blended. It had needed only that one last color as a catalyst.

I gasped, fingers spasming open as a pulse of energy cramped up my arm like lightning.

"No!" I cried when the amulet slipped from my numb fingers and fell.

Elyse flung out a hand, catching it as her eyes met mine. "Rice crackers," she swore mildly, wonder filling her expression. "You fixed it!" She stared down at it in disbelief. "This is amazing. The lost magic we could find again."

I couldn't smile, couldn't meet her relieved expression. The heartache of the elf who had originally created it was still echoing in me, his anger, betrayal, revenge, and longing slowly blurring into one emotion of despair.

"Sure," I rasped, fingers trembling as I reached for my water bottle. "Knock yourself out. But if you don't do it right and try to seal it with too little or too much energy, it will break. You can't rekindle a charm once broken." I took a swallow, draining it dry. "Like I said, I wouldn't have shown you if I thought you could do it."

Elyse lifted her chin. "I might surprise you."

I was tired, relieved, slightly angry, and feeling a lot like Al trying to explain something to me. "Yep, I would be. Don't lose it."

Her fingers closed possessively over the charm, and a flash of annoyance crossed me. All of a sudden, I couldn't handle her attitude anymore, and I stood. After she had saved us both from Newt, I had somehow expected more from her…and I wasn't seeing it. She had busted two buildings and a parking lot when a simple hold spell would have sufficed. Worse, she thought it was her God-given right to do so and walk away. Like a demon.

My eye twitched as I put my bag over my shoulder and looked down at her. "Let's go. I want to get rid of the robes and we need to get Johnny on the boat. I have a few hours before they find him, and I'd like to spend them sleeping before we have to cremate him instead of Kisten."

Elyse stared at me, clearly startled when I snatched up our baskets and paper napkins, wadding everything up into one mass as I took it to the trash and shoved it in. Arms swinging, I headed out to the truck, sure she would follow.

She might be holding the amulet, but I was still her ticket home.