12. Ember

12

EMBER

I wiped my face again, running my fingertips over my lashes lest they betray me by holding on to the evidence of yet another emotional outburst. Patrice was crouched near a flower bed, a pair of garden shears in one hand, a bundle of herbs in the other.

I paused on the sidewalk, touching Ash's shoulder and leaning toward her. "Do your thing and see if you can find it while we're talking to her. I want to know if it's here before I bring it up."

Before Ash could respond, Patrice rose and turned toward us. She gasped, dropping the shears and bending to pick them up, her gaze darting around us. "You startled me."

"Sorry about that." Ash strode up the walk, and I followed.

"Is it just you two?" Patrice leaned to look behind us.

"Don't worry." Ash picked up a piece of rosemary she'd dropped and offered it to her. "We know the guys make you uncomfortable, so we left them at home."

"They don't…" She accepted the fallen herb. "They do, but only because they're demons."

"I get it," I said. "It's hard to trust the royal elite of a species we've been tasked to eradicate."

She let out a breath, her posture relaxing. "They don't belong here."

The sigil on my arm heated, making me thankful for the jacket covering it. "No, they don't." Good goddess, they did not. "But we can't save Salem without them. Can we come in? I'd love an update."

Patrice smiled. "Of course. Tea?"

"I'd love some." Ash took the bundle of herbs from her, and I followed them up the porch steps.

While Patrice busied herself in the kitchen, I gave Ash a questioning look. She shook her head, but I couldn't tell if she meant the amulet wasn't there or if she hadn't tried yet.

"Have a seat." Patrice gestured to the breakfast table before turning on an electric kettle and taking three mugs from a cupboard.

Ash sank onto a wooden chair. "How are things going on your end?"

I took the one next to her. "Is everyone still alive with their hearts intact?"

Patrice froze before slowly turning toward me with a furrowed brow. "We've had a few injuries. Hearts?"

I explained what we'd learned about the fae eating hearts to gain the witches' power. "Has anyone fought one?"

She added tea bags to the mugs and filled them with water. "We've come across a few." She set the cups on the table and sat across from us, clutching hers with both hands. "I'm not supposed to tell you…"

I arched a brow. "Tell me what?"

She sighed, her expression one of shame. "We can't kill them. We've tried, but they're too strong. Now, when we find one, we run away." Her brows drew together as her gaze bounced between Ash and me. "I know we're letting you down, but…"

"It's okay." Ash reached across the table to put her hand on Patrice's. "They're hard for us to kill too. Keeping your distance is the best thing to do, especially now that we know what they're here for."

Patrice pulled from her grasp and dipped the tea bag up and down in her mug. "We can handle the rest. Imps, lesser fae, even a midlevel demon or two."

"I know." I sipped the tea and tried not to cringe. Chamomile was not my favorite. "You're doing great. Spread the word that the new protocol is to contact one of us when you run into a scout or soldier."

I moved my leg beneath the table, hitting my knee against my sister's as a reminder of why we were there.

Ash cleared her throat. "Do you mind if I use your restroom?"

"Not at all." Patrice's smile was warm and genuine, and I was glad we could put her at ease. At least about avoiding the upper fae.

"Did Chrys's mom give you any new information? I don't think she had gone through her things before we found the shard of amulet at her apartment."

"No." She folded her hands on the table. "She blamed you for the break-in. I didn't tell her about Chaos and Mayhem."

"Good. No one else needs to know who they really are. We'll be sending them on their way soon enough." I tried to ignore the stab of pain in my chest and took another sip of flavorless tea. Coffee was so much better.

Ash returned from the bathroom and gave me a tiny nod before returning to her chair. "So this amulet… We have to find the rest of it before we can summon Discord and put an end to all this terror."

"Do you have any idea where it might be?" Patrice lifted her mug with both hands and took a long sip.

"That's the main reason we're here." I rose and carried my half-full mug to the sink to dump it. "I had Shade and Miles scry for it, and they think it might be in your house."

"Here?" Her face pinched. "Why on earth would it be here?"

"Maybe you have it but don't know what it is?" Ash set her empty mug in the sink. "You've got a lot of stuff in your basement."

"I think I'd know if I had an amulet forged in Hell. I don't practice dark magic. Ever." Patrice padded into the kitchen and rinsed our mugs.

"It could be shrouded. Disguised as something else." But hopefully not as a vibrator like the piece in my bedroom.

She stopped rinsing and turned to me. "If I've had it all along and didn't know, I would feel terrible. But I really don't think it's here. I bet whoever shrouded it put a deflection ward on it too. A spell to make you think it resides somewhere it doesn't."

"Do you mind if we look?" Ash moved toward the pantry door and rested her hand on the knob. "I sense it in the basement."

"Of course." She dried her hands on a dishtowel and stepped into the pantry when Ash opened the door. A shelf hiding the entry stood near the left corner, and she tugged it, swinging it open to reveal a set of stairs. She flipped the light switch and made her way down, pausing at the bottom of the steps.

"I haven't been down here since…" Patrice took a deep breath and kept moving.

To the left lay her work area. Massive bookcases held jars of powders, oils, and who-knew-what else. Bundles of herbs hung from a string stretched across the low ceiling, and the aromas of sage and patchouli greeted my senses, reminding me of a demon I didn't have time to think about.

"What does the amulet look like?" she asked.

"It's a red stone." I made my way to the shelving units and scanned the contents. "Opaque, unassuming."

"My crystals are over here." She opened a cabinet filled with rose quartz, black tourmaline, jade, and every other stone imaginable. Grabbing a translucent crimson one, she offered it to me. "This is red adventurine." She grabbed another one. "And this is garnet."

I accepted the stones, pretending to examine them before handing them back. "The amulet is a different shade."

"In here." Ash turned a corner, disappearing into the unfinished section of the basement.

I followed her inside, but Patrice hung back in the doorway. Who could blame her? She'd nearly died in this room.

Ash rummaged through her bag and pulled out a trowel before lowering to her knees and digging in the back corner. I stood over her, watching as she moved the dirt aside with confident movements.

Six inches below the surface lay the rest of the amulet.

"It's here." I looked over my shoulder at Patrice, and she sucked in a sharp breath, bringing her hands to her mouth.

Ash scooped the amulet shard into the trowel and lifted it, revealing a silver chain attached to the top of the stone. "Chrys must have used it to keep her subdued. The spell on those roots was strong beyond compare." She dropped the necklace into a plastic bag and sealed it before sprinkling a premixed potion on the container.

"Vessel tight, vim bright, hold the magic until the end of our plight," she said. "As I will it, so mote it be."

Patrice sobbed, her knees buckling beneath her as she leaned against the door jamb. "I'm so sorry."

Ash dropped the amulet and the shovel into her bag and rushed to Patrice's side, taking her by the arm and helping her out of the room. "You have no reason to apologize."

"But I remember now," she said as my sister helped her into a chair.

"What do you remember?" I stood in front of her, fighting the urge to cross my arms. Patrice was sensitive, a healer. Demanding answers would only make her…

She dropped her face into her hands and cried.

Ash gave me her infamous shut the eff up look and rested a hand on Patrice's shoulder. "Take your time. It was a traumatic experience."

She sniffled and nodded, wiping beneath her nose before lifting her head. "She'd cast a binding spell on me, but not like the one we normally use. It squeezed me like a snake. I thought my bones would be crushed."

Didn't that sound delightful? "I'm so sorry you went through that. I should have known it was Chrys. There were clues."

"Were there?" She sob-laughed. "I didn't notice any."

Ash rubbed her back. "Hindsight is always crystal clear."

Patrice took a deep breath and blew it out hard. "She took me in there, to the dirt floor, and called the roots from the ground to trap me. Then she took off the necklace and used her magic to create a hole where she buried it. As soon as she did, dark magic started seeping into my skin."

"Sounds like Chrys." I paced behind her.

"She told me she'd be back for me and the amulet, and that's the last thing I remember until you got me out." She stood and touched Ash's elbow. "I'm okay. Let's get out of here."

We followed her upstairs to the kitchen. Ash filled a glass with water and offered it to her, and Patrice guzzled half the contents before setting it on the counter.

"What will you do with the amulet?" she asked.

"Put it back together, summon the final demon prince, and break the curse Isabel started four hundred years ago."

She wrung her hands. "Do the demons still plan to take revenge on Isabel's descendants?"

I looked at Ash. Her lips formed a thin line, and her shoulders inched toward her ears. "I think so."

Patrice pressed a hand to her chest. "Goddess help them."

I shrugged. "It's them or our entire coven. Our whole town. Thanks for the tea. We'll let you get back to your gardening." I jerked my head toward the door and strode outside, but Ash didn't follow.

Five minutes passed before she joined me on the sidewalk. "She feels awful."

"I can imagine."

We walked two blocks in glorious silence before the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I looked at Ash, and her brow furrowed. We stilled, feeling the energy around us, but I didn't sense any type of threat. The sensation felt earthly. Positive.

"What is that?" I asked.

"I…" She tilted her head. "It's the ether…the veil. It feels different."

I opened my senses, letting the vibration wash over me and through me. "Does it feel…stronger?"