Chapter 41

Chapter

Forty-One

The darkness was absolute.

Am I dead?

No, I feel safe. I wouldn't feel safe if I were dead, would I?

I wouldn't be thinking if I were dead. But I don't feel…alive .

I opened my eyes.

I lay in a small circle lit by candles, with an altar in the center. At the top of the altar, in the direction I thought was north, lay a pine branch, a green candle, and a little pile of rich, damp earth. On the right Carly had placed small brown feathers and a cone of incense. Opposite the pine branch, to the south, I saw a white candle and several white feathers. And to the left was a blue candle and a bowl of water. I didn't know the symbolism of these items, but all were elements of nature. Maybe they represented Malcolm's and my natural magic. The pine branch might have signified Sean's forest scent and been intended to soothe me.

As my vision adjusted to my surroundings, I recognized my basement workshop. Carly had made my little circle away from my inlaid circles, which still contained the spellwork I'd drawn in preparation for the ritual intended to capture the spirits and hopefully catch a glimpse of the necromancer.

The only light in the basement came from the candles on the altar, so everything beyond the reach of their little flames was hidden by darkness. Witch magic—white, gray, and black as night—hung heavy in the air, but I saw no sign of Carly or Katy.

I started to sit up, then found I was already sitting without having moved. When I looked down at myself, my body wasn't solid.

Oh .

I was still my astral self. My body wasn't here—at least, not yet. But I felt certain Matthias had guarded it and Carly would put me back together.

Malcolm was nowhere to be seen, though I sensed we'd returned together. Relief washed over me.

A pair of glowing golden eyes appeared outside the circle, as if someone had been sitting in the dark with their eyes closed and then opened them. I knew those eyes immediately. I'd looked into them a thousand times.

"Sean?" I said, tentatively.

He rose and moved into the flickering candlelight at the edge of the circle. He couldn't see me, but he must know where I was by the sound of my voice.

He was naked, as if he'd been in wolf form and shifted back, and then waited for my return without caring about clothes. And again I found I'd moved without moving. This time, I'd gone from sitting to standing near the circle's edge in a blink. My feet had no weight on them, though I felt the basement floor under my soles.

"Alice," he said, his voice all growl.

The anger and grief on Sean's face sent a bolt of pain right through my heart. I fluttered in place like Malcolm did when he was upset. Huh. That felt as weird as it looked.

"I'm so sorry," I said. I didn't have a throat per se, but I still felt as if I had a lump in it. "He threatened to kill everyone in the house. I didn't think I had any other choice. "

"I know." His bones and joints popped and crackled with the strain of holding back his wolf's fury and pain. "Malcolm was listening through the door, waiting to hear what you'd do and trying to figure out how to help. He told me the same thing: you did what had to be done." He flexed his hands. "He also said the spirit threatened to rape you."

I'd had no idea Malcolm was nearby listening, but I was glad he'd reported everything to Sean and the others so they knew what had led to my sudden departure.

"He did make that threat," I said, "but he didn't get to lay a finger on me. And then I put him back in Hell's subbasement to get eaten alive one bite at a time over and over again by some kind of primordial horror for all eternity."

He reached toward the barrier of the circle Carly had made to keep me safe, then remembered neither of us could cross it and lowered his hand. "Don't go where I can't come for you, Miss Magic. I love you too much to be left behind."

"I know." His unhappiness made me ache all the way to my soul. "How long was I gone?"

"For us, it's still tonight. It's not even midnight yet." His eyes looked bruised. "How much time passed for you?" He obviously feared what my answer might be.

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "It felt like a really long time, I think, but time is weird when you're not in your body. Super weird when you're in another realm or traveling between them."

He knew I was making light of the situation so I didn't get lost in memories and emotions. It was, as Carly and Matthias had pointed out, my favorite defense mechanism. But it was the only way I knew how to cope for now, until I had time to process everything.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked.

"Waiting upstairs. I had to be alone down here while I waited for Matthias to bring your…body…home." He scrubbed his face with his hands. "My wolf couldn't bear to hear any voice or smell any scent but yours. Not even Carly. "

I wanted so badly to hold him and never let go. "Well, I'm ready to get back in my body," I said. "Being invisible is fun and all, but I've got a to-do list that requires being out of this circle and able to touch stuff. That includes you."

He didn't smile, but the prickly sensation of shifter magic eased. He retreated into the shadows and returned with his phone in hand. He sent a quick text, started to put the phone in his pocket, and then realized he didn't have one.

I chuckled. "You need some pants, babe."

"I need more than that." He tossed the phone and I heard it thump on something soft that I couldn't see. "Arkady went to stay with Oliver and his wife so Matthias could bring you here."

"How are the Hensleys doing?"

"According to Arkady, she got them calmed down enough to give them first aid and talk about what happened. It probably helped that she brought them amulets made by Carly to protect against any future attempts at possession. How she got there with all the cops and feds patrolling tonight, I don't know, but she did. She said something about her Harley having some ‘after-market mods' she got from Ronan. Know anything about that?"

"Not the details," I hedged. "But I think he took her shopping at an underground market that sells fae stuff. Probably the same place he bought the gear for his own Harley. You know, like his saddlebags that can hold more than they can hold?"

His eyebrows went up.

The basement door opened. "Here, Sean," Carly called. I heard a quiet rustle from the direction of the stairs.

Sean disappeared in that direction and then returned wearing a T-shirt and jogging pants emblazoned with the pack logo. "Aw," I said in mock disappointment.

"You said I needed pants." He did smile then, at least a little. "I'll spare Carly and Katy the awkwardness."

I didn't think Carly would care one bit, but Katy was eighteen and though she'd seen a lot in her lifetime, a naked alpha werewolf with…generously sized attributes and what was in my opinion a perfect ass might distract her from the work we still had to do.

Three people filed down the stairs. Carly and Katy walked in front, wearing short hooded robes and carrying candles, and Matthias followed cradling my limp body.

Oh, jeez. I'd never seen my body from a distance before. I looked…dead.

Something like panic made me flutter again, this time all around the circle a few times before I made myself go still. Sean growled softly. He'd probably sensed my reaction and wanted desperately to hold me, but we couldn't touch each other. His wolf must be howling.

Sean met Matthias at the bottom of the stairs and took my body from him. They had a short conversation in an undertone as Carly and Katy approached me.

The light from their candles illuminated something I hadn't seen earlier: the quilt from our bed, made into a nest on the floor. I spotted several items of my clothing in the nest as well. Sean must have taken them from the hamper because he needed my scent. The quilt nest had clearly been occupied by Sean's wolf. More heartache. I fluttered in my circle.

"Welcome back." Carly came to stand directly in front of me while Katy went to the work table to gather items they needed. "Malcolm tells us you had a rough time of it down there."

"It's a really bad place," I said. "But I'm glad it exists for people like Little. And Big, when we find him."

"And their master." She looked straight into my eyes. "We will get them, Alice."

Matthias stayed near the stairs. Maybe he was standing guard, or maybe he still felt Sean needed space. He appeared stoic, but his eyes appeared deeply troubled. It had been a troubling night, and it wasn't over yet.

Sean brought my body to my little circle. My skin appeared clammy and gray and my breathing was shallow. Other than the rise and fall of my chest I might have been a waxen figure, or dead.

The appearance of my body gave me the uncanny feeling of having goosebumps though I didn't have flesh. I recalled Malcolm describing that sensation to me before. If nothing else, this episode had given me a lot of insight into what he experienced on a daily basis.

"So, what now?" I asked. "Do I just…jump back into my body?"

Carly chuckled. "Not precisely, no. Do you see the green amulet in the dish of herbs on the altar?"

I found myself next to the altar after only just thinking about being next to it. As much as I wanted my body back, I would miss this kind of quick, effortless movement. "Yep, I see it," I said.

Katy handed Carly a little cup. Carly dipped her thumb into the pot and drew a symbol on my body's forehead in a colorless liquid that glimmered in the candlelight.

"Whenever you're ready, touch that amulet," Carly told me.

I'd been ready since the moment I'd staked Little to the black dirt of Tartarus.

Almost before she finished the sentence, I touched the amulet. Witchy magic flared so brightly that I blinked?—

—and found myself looking up into Sean's golden gaze.

I'd had no sensation of movement, or Carly's circle falling, but I was back in my body and in Sean's arms.

Time had passed because someone had cleaned up the little circle that had protected my astral self and put the altar it had contained away. Carly and Katy were now over at the work table murmuring to each other, and Matthias had disappeared.

"There you are, Miss Magic." Sean kissed the tip of my nose. It tickled, but I didn't mind.

Only a few hours might have passed here, but I'd been non-corporeal for long enough to make the sensations of being in a body feel strange. I ached all over again—a deep, profound ache that seemed to radiate from every bone. But now I even noticed the sensation of wearing clothing, when ordinarily I would have scarcely paid attention to the whisper of fabric against my skin. Even so, there was absolutely no place like home. That went for my body, Sean's arms, and our chaotic farmhouse.

Being cradled in front of others made me self-conscious, so I wiggled to let Sean know I wanted down. He set me on my feet with obvious reluctance, wrapped his arms around me from behind, and rested his chin on top of my head. I'd missed his scent and calming alpha magic so much.

"Thanks for making sure I had the spellwork on me already, Carly," I said. "Sorry things didn't go as planned."

She smiled over her shoulder at us, but the expression was fleeting. "Not according to your plan or mine, but there are other plans at work. Our job is to make the best of what comes our way, and we did. The first spirit is gone, you and Malcolm are back safe, and we think we know who the second spirit is."

"You do?" Startled, I tried to take a step forward, but Sean wasn't quite ready to let go, so I stayed put and leaned against his chest. "How? Who?"

"Malcolm heard the spirit who possessed Oliver call himself ‘Little' and the other spirit ‘Big,'" Sean told me. "I gave that information to Ben. He dug up information on a pair of cousins from the late 1700s and early 1800s called the Harpes—Micajah and Wiley Harpe. They were known as Big Harpe and Little Harpe, and historians think they probably killed dozens or even hundreds of people. It's just a theory, but?—"

"But it fits," I finished. "The clothes I saw the spirit wearing looked like they were from that time. And the evil and lust for killing I feel in them…that fits too."

"If we're right, we can summon the second spirit," Carly said. "We have the name he went by and his birth name."

"Where's Malcolm?" I asked. "Did he tell you we met the necromancer down there? "

"He's upstairs talking to Liam," Sean said. "He said the necromancer wore a hood and mask."

"He did, but I think his voice sounded familiar, like I might have heard it somewhere." I told them about our interaction. "It's not much to go on," I added. "I can't even say I've met this man in person. In fact, I'm pretty sure I haven't."

"So someone you've heard talking on the news, maybe?" Sean suggested. "Or seen at an event?"

"Maybe. It's just an inkling right now. I think I'd recognize the voice if I heard it again, but that won't help us find him. He said he'd be coming for my heart, so I suppose he might seek us out if nothing else."

Sean kissed the top of my head. "Could you not casually reference the removal of your heart?"

"Sorry. Yes, okay, no more offhand comments about my heart. What time is it?"

Sean glanced at his discarded phone, which lay on the quilt nest where he'd tossed it. "Eleven fifteen."

I'd left our house at around nine p.m., driven to the Hensley home, journeyed to and from Tartarus, and gotten back in my body, all in about two hours. My sense of time was so out of whack that he could have said literally any time of day and I would have accepted it.

"Carly, what do you need me to do?" I asked.

She stirred something in a goblet and brought it to me. "Drink this, please."

I eyed the cup. It didn't smell bad, but it didn't smell very good either. "Eye of newt tea?"

"Tea, yes. No eye of newt in this one." She touched my hand. "You can't have any of the spellwork on you that you drew earlier. Broken or used spellwork isn't good."

"No, it isn't." I knocked back the lukewarm tea and handed her the cup. "But is there time to draw it all again?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Do you think you're going back? "

All over my body, wherever I'd drawn spellwork, the remaining spells broke and the magic they contained evaporated in puffs of parchment scent. Strange dripping sensations made me think the spellwork I'd drawn on my skin with marker had turned to liquid and was running down my chest, arms, and legs.

"You're not going back there," she continued as I grimaced and rubbed my arms to ease the discomfort. "Someone else will go."

"Who?" I demanded.

The answer came from behind us. "Me."

I turned to see Malcolm and Liam at the bottom of the stairs. But it wasn't Malcolm who'd spoken—it was Liam.

"No way in hell," I stated, well aware of the irony of my phrasing. "I'll go again. I just need to re-draw?—"

"Alice, you're not going." Carly's expression hardened. "You won't survive another round trip. We made this decision before you woke up. We discussed it and Liam volunteered."

"I can do it," Liam said before I could protest them making a decision without me. "Miss Carly explained what I need to do and how to do it, and Malcolm told me what it's like. I'm not afraid."

"It's his choice, Alice," Malcolm added, his tone firm, which was an unpleasant surprise. "He's tethered to this house and he'll have Carly's spellwork too. He'll make it back."

They'd united in this decision, and they'd all had time to come to peace with Liam's choice, but damn it, I'd just gotten him away from Moses. I hadn't pulled off that minor miracle for him to risk himself like this—or for Malcolm's heart to get broken again. I didn't say any of that aloud, but they probably all knew what I was thinking.

"I volunteered because I don't like evil any more than you do, Miss Alice," Liam said. "We all read up on these Harpes. They don't deserve to be up here and I can help put this other one back where he belongs. Don't ask me to do nothing when I could do something."

"Don't forget that we need you here," Carly added. "You said this master of the dead knows who you are and wants your heart. He'll seek you out. We may have to fight on two fronts, and your pack isn't suited to either battle. A necromancer and this spirit are matters for witches and mages."

Sean didn't seem pleased by that assessment, because no alpha werewolf wanted to hear their pack wouldn't do well in battle, but Carly was right: this wasn't the kind of fight for our pack. If we'd needed teeth and claws or brute strength, or even superior numbers, sure—give me our pack any day. But this face-off was going to be about magic and a different kind of power.

Plus, the necromancer wanted to put my heart on a hook and walk around with it hanging on his staff as a trophy and source of power. That made any interaction with him extremely personal. If he came tonight, or whenever he came, I wanted to be here waiting.

That didn't mean I liked anything about the idea of Liam facing the kind of danger posed by Big, the fall itself, or the horrors of Tartarus, but it wasn't my call to make. And maybe more to the point, if I were in his ghost shoes, I'd be chomping at the bit to rid the world of this evil too.

"Whatever happens, get back here to us," I told Liam. "Even if it comes down to you or him, come back and we'll work out another way. We want you to stick around."

"Yes, ma'am," he said with a smile and a little tip of his cap. "I'd like to stick around too."

The cap thing was cute, so I let him get away with the ma'am .

This time.