Chapter 41

The words just kind of reverberated through my head as if they'd been spoken in another language, bouncing around, not making sense.

Robert was really dying? That wasn't possible. I didn't understand. I was too tired, too blown away that we'd survived Evangeline. That I'd gotten rid of the demon. That Alan, of all people, had helped me end things.

"Robert, no, that's not it." I stumbled closer, a muscle spasming in my left hip.

Crash went to one knee. "I'm sorry, Robert…I'm so sorry, my friend."

"I'm not." His breath rattled. "This…if I'd known, I would have…sooner. You have done me a service, Fae King, that not many could. Your magic is one of few strong enough to end my curse, if timed right."

"Me too," Nancy said. "You needed me too!"

I dropped to the ground next to Robert and scooted so I could put his head in my lap. This wasn't happening, it couldn't be. "Robert, we can fix this. You can't die. You can't leave me."

"No. Let me go," he whispered. "The connection between her and I…it has to die too."

I looked at where Evangeline's body still lay. My heart constricted, and my throat seemed to close on the words that wanted to burst out of me. Denial. Denial. This couldn't be happening.

"Robert."

"Goodbye, Bree. Thank you, for being my friend. A true friend." He smiled and his eyes stared up through me as the last breath left his chest.

Just like that, he was gone. The light in his blue eyes had faded, dulling as his soul went to wherever it was meant to go.

"Robert?" I whispered his name and shook his head gently, as if I could wake him.

Crash put his fingers to Robert's neck. "He's gone. I'm so sorry, Bree…"

"It's not your fault, he...he knew what he was doing." I struggled to speak around the grief clogging my throat. I held him as tightly as I could, feeling the burning need to howl into the night, to scream at the unfairness of losing another friend.

As we sat there, Robert's body slowly dissolved in my arms, turning into sparks that flew up and around us in a swirl, like lightning bugs, until the sparks were gone too, and there was no evidence that Robert had ever even been alive.

I twisted around to see Evangeline's body was gone already, not a mark on the ground. Nothing.

My friends approached one at a time, battered, bruised, and more than a few with wide eyes. But we'd all made it through. The creeper demons were gone.

"They were attached to Evangeline," Penny said, limping harder than usual, blood flowing down her left arm. "When she died, they froze up, and then we could finish them off."

Our group stood there, looking around as if none of us could quite believe that we'd made it through. We'd lost Robert, we were all battered and bruised…but we'd made it.

"That's it then?" Sarge asked. "I mean…it seems kind of…anti-climactic after everything. Like where's the real twist to the story?"

Winnifred whacked him on the shoulder. "Do not go borrowing trouble, pup! We won. With minimal losses. That in itself is amazing, considering what we were up against."

But was it? There was one more issue. I still had the spell to deal with, whether or not Evangeline was here. Because there were others who knew what I was—a cauldron bubbling with ingredients just waiting to be used.

I wanted to finish this, once and for all.

Sarge, Winnifred, Eammon, Kinkly, Damian, Eric and Suzy were all in a celebrating mood, subdued but happy. Hugging, high-fiving.

Only Penny kept her dark eyes on me.

Because she knew what I did, even if the others were acting like it was over. No matter what we felt in this moment, I was still in danger of being used to create a spell for the worst possible reasons.

Louis was still out there.

Remy was still out there.

Bramble was still out there.

And all three of them knew exactly where to find me, and what I held in my body.

"Everyone back to Haven House," I said, my voice cracking. "My friends…my family, you all deserve to celebrate."

A little cheer went up, Sarge scooped up Winnifred, who smacked him on the head. Jinx trotted at his side in her black wolf form. She still held out hope that he might look at her as more than a friend, which was something I understood.

Hope, that is.

I took a step, and something tumbled away from the toe of my boot. At my foot lay a single finger bone. Robert's. It was all I had of him, so I scooped it up and tucked it into my pocket as my throat tightened. Some people would say it was a morbid thing to keep, but the truth was…I still hoped he wasn't gone. That some deity was paying attention to all the good he'd done and would consider him worthy of another chance.

Crash slid an arm around my waist, and I leaned into him. "It isn't over yet, is it?" he asked quietly. "I see it in your eyes, my love."

I shook my head. "No, no it isn't. My cousin is still out there, Crash. Remy. Louis. Bad people who want to do bad things."

As long as there were players out there, they could screw everything up. If you thought I was going to say Remy was my biggest fear, you were wrong. He was a problem, sure, but I had a feeling he would show up another day. When we least expected him.

No, the bigger issue was Bramble. Because if she got a hold of me, she could still cast the spell incorrectly and open the world up to the demons. Which meant I had to beat her to casting the spell.

The question at hand was where exactly did I beat her to it? Because I was certain as could be that the fairy ring was not where I needed to cast the spell. A feeling I couldn't quite put my finger on, a certainty like so many gut instincts I'd followed that there was something I was missing.

But no matter how I looked at things, I wasn't sure where the hell else it could be. I clung to Crash and made my feet move. "To Haven House, for a little while."

* * *

Haven House wasa riot of lights in the darkness by the time we caught up to the others, the sound of laughter and cheering pouring out from inside.

Corb sat on the bottom step. Even for a ghost, he looked down in the dumps. "Crash, I'd like to talk to Corb a minute."

Crash pressed his lips to my temple. "I'll be just inside the door and leave it open a crack. Call me if you so much as suspect anything…."

"You don't trust me with her?" Corb asked sullenly. "I love her too, you know."

His words dug at me, but Crash didn't seem overly bothered. "It's not you I don't trust, Corb. It's Bramble. Or Louis. Or Remy. They could be anywhere."

He stepped past Corb and let himself into Haven House to a big cheer that turned into a chant of "Crash, Crash, Crash!"

That seemed…excessive. Crash laughed at something, and the door shut tightly behind him.

"He forgot already?" Corb asked as we stood on the bottom step. "Didn't he literally just say that danger could be anywhere and that he'd leave the door open? What's wrong with him?"

I saw something move across the window inside the house, just a shadow of a cat. "When did we get a cat?"

Corb grabbed at me, as if to yank me low, but his hand passed right through me.

"Get down. That's Bramble! She was a cat before. She's in there!"

Poop on my shoe, that was really ducking bad timing. My heart that I thought had been exhausted started hammering again.

I thought we'd have a little bit of time. Even an hour would have been enough to regroup. Hell, I'd have taken a solid thirty minutes.

I dropped to a crouch, wincing at the pull on my hamstrings. I was stiffening up already from one fight, and diving into a second. And then the realization hit me.

"This is not good. She could have wiped everyone's memory already!"

"Likely," Alan said from my other side. "She doesn't seem the type to take chances."

I hated that I agreed with him.

"Listen, I think I know where you have to cast the spell." Corb paused. "That's…that's what I've been thinking about. And if you do that, then she can't…she can't ever use it again, right? We'll all be safe. It has to do with me, Bree."

I looked at Corb, really looked at him. He said he loved me. Maybe the most he'd ever been able to love anyone. He was part of the spell, too. And he'd been killed for that spell for that love.

Siren's cave. I had to have a piece of his heart for the spell to work, and as I stared at him, I knew the answer. The certainty of it flushed me with more hope than I would have thought possible.

"The cemetery. There are hundreds of unmarked graves."

He nodded. "That's where I first realized you had my heart, where I first kissed you. But you need Alan too, I think. I've had nothing to do but think, while all of you have been running off, saving the world. And Alan, you have to let her draw blood from you using that blade. Just like the creeper demons, a demon blade can draw blood from a ghost. It's the only thing she's missing."

I fully expected Alan to splutter and tell me that I could get stuffed. "Well, let's hurry it up then," he said with a sigh. "No point in dawdling."

Just like that? I found myself staring at my ex-husband. "Death has done something to you."

He snorted and put his hands on his hips. "I know, it's ridiculous, I find myself actually thinking about others. Thinking about what could have been, and I"m wracked by one thing I never felt in life!"

"What's that?" I couldn't help asking.

"Regret," he said forlornly. "So, let's not add to the list of regrets I have. Let's get to the cemetery and do this thing, and then the world will be safe, right? That would make me a hero too."

Of course, Alan would consider how this framed him, but I didn't really care. He was willing to help and after everything, I knew this was his chance to make things right. I hoped.

"Don't go in the house, Corb," I said. "I don't know if she can erase your memory as a ghost, but let's not take the chance."

"I'll stay outside, and I'll warn Dr. Mori if he comes around." He smiled. "Good luck, Bree."

I was going to need all the luck I could get.

I turned and ran from Haven House, the last place of safety I'd known, and straight into the dark night with my ex-husband. Himself…Himself was about to save the damn world.

Colonial Park Cemetery was quiet,more so than usual. As if the moonless night was adding to the eeriness, telling humans to stay away from the magic brewing there. I didn't know how long Bramble was going to wait before she stepped out of Haven House and went looking for me. I had no distractions to lead her in a different direction.

Nothing but me and a spell that I wasn't sure I could do.

Alan paced alongside me as I worked my way through the graveyard to the spot where Corb had kissed me.

I kicked off my boots, and my feet immediately began to tingle, like a low level of electricity was buzzing up through my soles. This was the place, even just standing there I could feel the workings of the spell trying to come to life, pushing its way through me.

Come to life…that's what the spell was about. Bringing a ghost back to life. Vesuvius had been trying to bring his long-lost love back to life. I glanced at Alan. "I don't know what will happen when I take the blood from you."

"I…I think I will move on," Alan said with a shrug. "My penance will be done. And…I am good with it. Moving on that is. I've helped, right? That should count for something."

Penance. For being a terrible person in life. In death, he was helping me save the world. I didn't love him, I hadn't for a long time now. But I saw him…and I saw that underneath it all, he maybe did love me a little. Enough to try, even if it was at the last moment.

"Thank you, Alan. For being the man tonight that I always believed you were in my dreams."

His eyes shot to mine, and they glittered with a mysterious liquid that I would have said were tears if it had been any other person.

I pulled Nancy from my belt loop. The demon blade had been incredibly quiet through all this. "You can draw blood from Alan?"

"Yup. But one cut, and the blood won't stop, it'll open him right up. So he's right—he'll get a chance to move on."

Alan nodded. "I'm ready."

I leaned over and nicked Alan's wrist with the blade.

The blood that flowed from him was not red, but a bright, glowing white as it swirled around us.

"The blood of a ghost."

I froze and did a slow turn to see Bramble right behind me. She didn't have any of my friends with her. She hadn't thought to bring them for blackmail.

I was going to count that as a win.

What sucked the big one was that there was no one else here to help keep her busy. All my friends were trapped by whatever memory-erasing spell she had cast on them.

I blinked. I was an idiot. "Bramble, one more step, and I'm going to unleash the dead on you."

Her eyebrows shot up. "You aren't capable."

Alan groaned. "Hurry, Bree."

Everything slowed down and sped up at the same time. Bramble launched herself at me. I grabbed her wand from my pocket and called up my own power. The ground beneath me shook and twenty sets of arms shot out and grabbed at Bramble before she ever reached me. Holding her up so she couldn't touch the ground, couldn't break free.

The strength of the wand amplified my own abilities, refining them, making them so intense I could feel every finger of the dead holding Bramble.

"No!" She shrieked.

I flicked my hands, and her arms were yanked behind her, and her head grabbed, a hand snaking around to cover her mouth. The last thing I needed was her interrupting this.

I reached for Alan and took his hand, his blood flowing over my fingertips. Bramble let out muffled shrieks and fought the undead who held her tightly, but I did the only thing I could think of. I pulled Robert's finger bone free of my pocket and held it in my other hand as I began to speak the spell.

If I couldn't bring Gran back, maybe…maybe I could bring my friend back.

My voice echoed through the night.

Of demon skin and angel wing

Of stolen cross and healing spring

Blood of a ghost, and an unmarked grave

Soul of a witch, and a siren's cave.

I bind thee swiftly neath the darkest night

Those who've died shall have their sight

Of death and power, of magic and pain

I call to those slain

And raise anew to give them life

One last line to seal this spell

A soul whose blood has tasted hell.

Thus shall the spell be cast and life gifted to the dead."

The words flowed from my lips as tears tracked down my cheeks. Tears for Robert. For Corb. For Bridgette and Ivan. For all those who'd gotten caught up in this spell. Tears for my Gran. For Alan, even. Tears dropped onto the ground at my feet, soaking the grass as the last of the spell fell from my lips.

I looked at Alan. He began to sparkle, turning into bits of light, just like Robert had. "Goodbye, Alan, thanks for being the hero."

He smiled, and I saw him as I had seen him all those years ago—handsome, smart, driven. "Goodbye, Bree. Good luck with that ugly thug you love." And he winked, laughed, and disappeared into a shower of colors on the night air as Bramble thrashed and fought still. She managed to get her face free of the hand covering her lips.

"You fool! We could have controlled the demons! That is the power of the spell and now you've gone and ruined it!"

I turned to face her as the bone in my hand heated up. I let Robert's fingerbone drop to the ground. It sunk under the sod, and the last connection I had to him was gone.

My cousin still had to be dealt with. Lucky me.

"I don't want to control anything, least of all demons, Bramble. I want the people I love to be safe. You stole all our memories all those years ago, didn't you? Mine and Gran's. Missy. All except Penny?" I tipped my head. "Why?"

Her glare said it all. She was not the girl that Gran remembered. "I would have been the First Witch. I tried to take you with me, but Gran sent you away as soon as I wiped your memories of me. And no matter what I did, I couldn't dig out of her mind where she'd sent you."

Gran had been protecting me from my own cousin. All this time.

I looked around us. "The spell was done correctly. Otherwise, I think we'd be overrun with demons by now."

One of the hands protruding from the earth gave me a thumb up and I laughed. Glancing at his headstone, I said, "Thank you, Paul Winston the third. Much appreciated."

I couldn't just let Bramble go. The question was, what did I do with her?

The sound of footsteps behind me turned me around slowly. My heart…oh my heart wasn't sure if what I was seeing was real. "Robert?"

He was grubby, like he'd just pulled himself out of the earth. "In the flesh, my friend."

He caught me in a hug, and I held on tight. "The spell worked. It really worked!"

"It did. I had a…a choice. I could stay, or I could come back." He pulled back from me a little. "I think you will need a friend, Bree."

I grinned and stared up at him. "We all need a friend like you, Robert."

"Gag me with a fucking spoon!" Bramble screeched. "Let me go, you twat!"

I turned and faced her, shrugged, and looked at the wand. "What do you think will happen if I snap this in half, Robert?"

Her gasp was like music to my ears. I handed the wand to Robert so he could have a look at it.

"Well, two things. The backlash would be pretty strong. It would probably knock her out, might even kill her."

I nodded. "Anything else?"

Bramble's laugh caught me off guard. "You don't even know, do you?"

I stared at her, a cold shiver rumbling through me. "What do you mean?"

"Break the wand. Fine by me." She sneered. "Even if it kills me, your life as you know it is over."

You know those people who hesitate when dared? Yeah, I'm not one of them. I snapped that damn wand in half, while she was still laughing.

The backlash was…intense. The power erupting from the broken wand sent all three of us flying backward in all directions. I hit a gravestone with my knees of all things, flipped over it, and landed flat on my belly.

With the wind knocked out of me, I lay there for a minute taking stock of my current life choices, like snapping a powerful wand. Maybe I'd been hasty.

Groaning, I sat up.

"Robert?"

He let out a low moan from my right. "Gods, I forgot how much having a real body could hurt. Are you okay, Bree?"

I pushed slowly to my hands and knees and then my feet. I grabbed hold of the gravestone for support. "Yeah. Wobbly but okay."

Robert made his way to me, and together we searched the graveyard for Bramble. There was no sign of her, and no sign of a cat that could be her. She was gone. For now.

"I say we go back to Haven House." I stuck my arm through Robert's, as if we were strolling on a promenade. "And we can have the best celebration ever."

He smiled down at me, blue eyes sparking with life. "Agreed."