Chapter 16

G od help us all, the golf cart was ready for its first trip to Bonaventure bright and early. The thing was in worse shape than Harrow’s Chevelle had been before Josie skewered it with a tree, but it ran. Somehow Pascal had convinced the poor old thing to crank, so today I rode shotgun as Kierce gave driving another shot. Had I owned a rosary, I might have been tempted to loop it around my wrist a few times.

Matty elected to walk alongside us the whole way, since that was the golf cart’s top speed.

Well, that, and the rear bench was a nest of springs with no foam or fabric.

“You’re doing great.” He shot Kierce two thumbs-up seconds before Badb snatched a cracker from his hand. “For once in his afterlife, Pascal had a good idea. How do you feel behind the wheel, Kierce?”

“I prefer this to the wagon.” His posture was looser, his grip easier. “I’m less anxious.”

“I don’t blame you.” Matty snorted. “Frankie would murder you for totaling her baby.”

“I’ve been thinking about why this works.” I ignored my brother. “Maybe it’s the openness of the cart?”

Not quite the same as trotting along with nothing but a horse beneath him, but still. Baby steps.

“Hmm.” He puttered along without a hitch. “You might be right.”

“It does happen occasionally.” I tested the rusted bar in front of me, the flaky metal one good push from breaking. “Pedro will have a cow when he sees this with his own eyes.”

“You mean with my own eyes?” Matty patted the side panel. “He lives for a challenge.”

The Suarezes would take on the project as a matter of pride in the family name. Pascal guaranteed their cooperation when he ran the idea past me first. Paco and Pedro would refuse to lose face if he couldn’t deliver, so they would be happy to help. As if I could ever think badly of any of them.

“I need to touch base with Carter,” I announced as we rolled into our usual parking space.

“Call her.” Matty waved Kierce on. “We can handle the switch today.”

As anxious as it made me to turn care of my brother over to someone else, I trusted Kierce to get Pedro seated in Matty. And besides, I would prefer Matty not learn that I had fallen into old habits and dusted off my old breaking and entering skills last night.

While Kierce handled my morning tasks for me, I dialed Carter. “Hi, um, there.”

“Hi, um, there to you too.” She sighed. “Why do you sound so guilty?”

“Have you had a chance to look into the GWC yet?”

“There’s not much information out there on it, so we’re meeting with a club rep later today.”

“So, here’s the thing.”

“Oh God.”

“I received a tip about the GWC that prompted me to invite myself through the back door of the community center on Talahi Island.”

“You broke in?”

“Nothing was broken,” I rushed to assure her. “We— I —located a locker the club uses to hold their materials between meetings and found a chapter handbook that might interest you.”

“Fuck.”

“The official line is—” I cut through her negativity, “—GWC is a group of like-minded women who meet monthly to teach healthy lifestyle choices, encourage civic involvement, support women’s arts and education, and advocate for children. They also offer aid for victims of domestic and sexual violence as well as promote awareness and prevention within the community.”

“Okay, I’ll bite.” Her voice thinned. “What’s the unofficial line?”

“That Rosalie Morgan started a halfway house thirty years ago for abused women in honor of her little sister, Patricia, who was attacked by her husband and left for dead. Patty’s Place is where women go to get back on their feet away from the people hurting them.”

“Okay.” She exhaled across the line. “We’ll subpoena their records and get a member?—”

“The roster was stuck in the back of the handbook,” I said meekly.

For a moment, Carter was so quiet I worried the call had dropped, but then she made a noise like she was sucking her teeth. “Did you recognize any of the names?”

“Every one of your missing persons are listed. Including Officers Kim and Tate. No mention of Tameka or Keshawn, but there are aliases aplenty. Lots of Mary Todd Lincolns for some reason.”

I wasn’t the best with presidential history, but I did know one abstract factoid about Mary Todd Lincoln. She was known for a photo taken by William H. Mumler, a spirit photographer, in the 1800s. It depicted her late husband, Abraham Lincoln, standing behind her with his hands resting on her shoulders.

“She was a women’s rights advocate,” Carter mused, her tone thoughtful.

“There are so many Marys, I doubt we ever match all the names to faces.”

“We pulled surveillance from the community center, but the cameras facing the building are dummies, and the ones from surrounding businesses only record static in that direction. We’ll be lucky to get any faces. Names will give us somewhere to start.”

“I don’t suppose you noticed anyone digging up a tree?”

“On the recording? No. Should I be concerned about a missing tree?”

Well crap. So much for an easy answer. “No? I don’t think so. It’s probably unrelated.”

God, I hoped Ankou wasn’t tangled in this mess.

A voice called for her in the background, and Carter sighed. “Let me know if that changes.”

“Will do.”

A memory of the purple ribbons on Pink Panic surfaced in my mind, and I Googled to see what the color signified. Several illnesses and causes shared it, but the one that caught my eye was domestic violence.

Proof the Ezells supported abuse awareness and prevention had been there in the paint job all along. That, paired with the brochure, had me second-guessing myself. Had Tameka been a victim of abuse?

At the time of her death, she was single. Her only serious relationship had been with Keshawn’s father. But since Keshawn had never met Tey Rose, and Tameka severed contact with him years ago, I let it go.

Had her advocacy been her link to the other missing women? Or had her past led to her abduction?

Pedro and Kierce exited the men’s room, interrupting my jumbled thoughts, and Pedro’s jaw fell open.

“Ay, dios mío.” He winced at our ride. “That’s the ‘small side job’?”

“That’s her.”

“Does it handle better than it looks?” His fingers twitched with the urge to get started. “Kierce, you like it?”

“I prefer it to the alternative,” he said grimly, no doubt flashing back to sitting behind the wagon’s wheel.

“He made the drive without any hiccups today.” I let Pedro climb in next to him while I took up position on the driver’s side, the better to coach him while I walked home. “This is a better investment than the car.”

“You might be right, mija .” Pedro’s expression shifted into thoughtful lines, and he tapped Kierce on the shoulder. “The car would still be a worthwhile investment. If you’re ready to upgrade when the time comes, you can. If you prefer the golf cart, you can keep it and sell the car for a profit.”

Having seen the tree trunk at Bonaventure stuffed with gold, gems, and cash, I knew money wasn’t a concern of Kierce’s. But I wouldn’t steal Pedro’s excitement to work on a new project car if Kierce had no objections.

“I like the idea.” Kierce offered Pedro a hesitant smile. “Options are good.”

“There we have it.” Pedro rubbed his hands together. “We’ll overhaul both vehicles.”

For a man who worked on cars for a living, his excitement at the prospect of more work was endearing.

We made it halfway home before a flicker of purple caught my eye, and Vi fell in step beside me.

A new crucifix adorned her neck, no doubt a gift from a client. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Good morning to you too.” I checked her over, but she could manipulate how she appeared, which meant I couldn’t gauge her health based on her projection alone. “How are you feeling?”

“I drank a pot of chicory coffee this morning and ate my weight in fresh beignets.” She did a little dance. “I feel like a new woman.”

“That’s the caffeine and the sugar talking.” I couldn’t help the pang of longing that pierced me to be so far from her I couldn’t bask in her comforting warmth whenever I was on the receiving end of one of her legendary hugs. “Not to be a party pooper, but didn’t we agree to a nice, safe video chat?”

“Some things are best taught in person.” She fidgeted with her bangles. “I can’t get used to the sight of you. You’re so bright. Makes me wish I had worn sunglasses.” She drew a circle with her finger. “But there’s darkness too. How does it shine so?”

“The halo thing?”

“Your soul.” She clucked her tongue. “We need to get you upstairs and into bed to begin.”

Sure enough, we had already reached the shop. I hadn’t noticed the looseness in my gait as my muscles stretched during the short walk. I needed to start running again. Get back into a routine. So much was clogging my brain with no way to flush it with my schedule so packed with such dire tidings.

Pedro inclined his head to Vi in a show of respect then set out for the garage.

Josie wouldn’t be here for an hour or so yet, and after last night, her absence ached like a sore tooth.

“I examined your dirt,” Vi said as I hit the stairs leading up to the apartments. “There’s so much divine contamination, I couldn’t sense any other energies or magics.”

“Thanks for checking.” I let us into my apartment, holding the door from habit. “I appreciate it.”

After climbing in bed to prevent my body from taking a nasty tumble, I settled in for instruction.

“This path is fraught with dangers, cher . I wish you didn’t have to walk it, but I’m not surprised to find us here. You must gain control over your astral self. Otherwise, demi or no demi, you’re going to end up adrift. Trust me when I say you don’t want that.” She pursed her lips. “I wish we had another place to begin, but I’ll stick by you. All you need is an anchor. A person who can bring you back to yourself.”

“I will anchor her.” Kierce sat on the mattress beside me. “And if I fail, I will fetch her brother or sister.”

The doubt undercutting his confidence made me determined to prove to him that he was enough. That I trusted him to watch over me and to do whatever it took to revive me. “It won’t come to that.”

A soft clicking noise announced Badb’s arrival, and she perched on my shoe, eyes hooked on me.

“She says she’s got this.” Kierce’s lips twitched. “She also wants me to remove your shoe, just in case.”

“I would rather put my faith in you than wake up without a toenail.” I had been on the receiving end of her loving ministrations during nightmares, and my big toe throbbed thinking about it. “I appreciate the offer, Badb, but I’ll keep my shoe on for this one. Between the two of you, I’ll be fine.”

With a ruffle of her feathers, she seemed to accept my decision, but she kept her perch.

“Kierce.” Vi stood over me. “Hold Frankie’s hand. Tight. You want her to feel it.”

Lacing our fingers, he sharpened his gaze on me. “I won’t let go.”

“Close your eyes, Frankie.” Vi softened her voice. “Let yourself drift. Don’t think. Just feel. Let the floating sensation you experience before falling asleep wash over you. As you relax, allow the weightlessness to lift you. Higher and higher and know that I’m right here.”

Lulled by the cadence of her voice, I did as she commanded and let myself go.

Gravity fell away, bit by bit, and I tingled with the same prickling awareness as when I visited Dis Pater.

“There you are.” Vi crushed me against her chest, delighting me to learn two astrally projected souls could touch. “My girl.” She kissed my cheeks. “You’re doing great.”

Slowly, I opened my eyes to find myself a foot or so above my body. “That is so weird.”

“Be quick and be careful.” Kierce locked gazes with me. “Don’t push yourself.”

Weirder still that he could be holding my hand but also watch my soul hanging out above him.

But cool. Very cool. And…safe.

His ability to view me in any form made me feel safe.

“He’s right.” Vi broke into my thoughts with a sly grin. “We should get going.”

“How will we get there?” I brushed my pants but let my arm drop. “The dirt is in my pocket.”

“Kierce, bébé , I need you to sprinkle the dirt over your joined hands.” She tapped the side of her nose to draw my attention. “As long as your physical body is in contact with the foci, you’re golden.”

A distant tickle in my palm was all the feedback I received from his following her orders.

“Now, Frankie, give me your hands.” She held them to her chest. “Close your eyes and focus on the place you want to go. Remember how it felt, how it sounded, how it smelled.”

Reality warped around us. I didn’t have to see it to know. I had gotten used to how it felt when Dis Pater summoned Kierce. So, I wasn’t surprised when I opened my eyes to discover we had left the house. It was exciting to realize we had actually gone where I wanted us to be.

Without the metaphysical hook inserted in my middle, yanking me willy-nilly up the coast.

“Look at that.” She pinched my cheek. “You’re a natural.”

All the yo-yoing between here and Manchester-by-the-Sea was to thank for it, but I was still proud.

“Wait.” I turned a circle. “We’re inside the ward?”

“That’s where you wanted to go, so that’s where we went.”

“Huh.” I spotted the barrier three feet to my left. “I expected it to repel us or for us to have to walk through it.”

“That is the power of your magic.” She anchored her hands on her hips. “Your young man ought to feel better about you flitting around the country after this.” She chuckled. “He’s the cutest thing. There’s tension in him, though. Like he’s an egg about to crack.” She cocked an eyebrow. “Wonder what that’s about.”

“Let’s explore.” I sidestepped the question. “We don’t have long.”

Chuckling, she followed behind me while I picked a direction and started walking. Sort of. I was lifting my feet and planting them on the ground, but there was no tactile feedback in my legs or sounds of leaves crunching. The sensation was bizarre and made me wonder if this was how the dead experienced locomotion.

“There’s a fire.” Vi indicated smoke curling up toward the moon. “We ought to check there.”

Necromancers tended to have excellent night vision, and mine had improved upon my death. That must be why I hadn’t noticed the darkness. “Did we lose time?”

“No.” Her mouth drew tight. “There’s magic at work here.”

Music blared, and laughter rang out into the night. Two grills sizzled with food, and a cooler full of drinks without ice sat open to anyone who wanted one. Around the bonfire, more than a dozen women set the pace for a wild dance with preteens of both genders. Most far younger.

There were more women than there were missing bones, which meant the bulk of them must have been inside before the ward shot up around them. Otherwise, there would be no bones left in the pit.

“Look at their faces.” Vi sucked in a breath. “Bon Dieu.”

Bruises blackened a few eyes. Scabs crusted split lips. A few wore casts, and all were scarred. Whether inside or out. The joyful act they put on for the children dimmed farther away from the roaring fire.

That was where I went to hear the topic of conversation among two women, likely in their sixties.

Mirrors of each other, I must have found Rosalie and Patty. But which was which?

“It’s not safe,” one twin was saying. “How can we take in more when we’re all in danger?”

How were they in danger? From what? That ward was as good as it got.

And these women? They had to be our missing victims.

“That thing killed Genevieve.” She made the sign of the cross. “Ate her breasts to pelvis.”

The thing in question must be the mystery beast, but this location was a good thirty miles away from the abduction site. Why would it follow them out here? Unless… Had they taken something from it?

Please don’t be a cub. Please don’t be a cub. Please don’t be a cub.

“Five women,” she croaked when her sister remained silent. “We’ve lost five and counting.”

Ears ringing with the horror of learning the beast had killed so many, I couldn’t make it make sense.

“There was always going to be a cost,” the second finally murmured. “This is the price we pay for freedom.”

As it sank in that they were allowing these deaths to continue, my skin crawled with the wrongness of it.

The Morgans wouldn’t have spent their lives saving victims only to victimize them.

Plenty of folks got their jollies taking advantage of others, but the Morgans had created a trusted name for themselves through a lifetime of dedication to a cause. Power corrupted, yes, but their morals wouldn’t decay so quickly after achieving their ultimate goal. Would they? Not to say living in isolation, a breath away from death, wouldn’t unravel the strongest moral fiber. But this? It didn’t sit right with me.

“Human sacrifice wasn’t a part of the bargain,” the first twin argued. “We can’t welcome more women into the commune if we can’t protect them. Do you know what they’re calling this place? Commune Doom .”

A community populated with women here of their own free will, perhaps, but kept ignorant of the cost.

“We stole the bones.” The second one eyed her sister. “There’s no going back.”

Yep.

We had found our thieves.

But how had they known the bones were Alcheyvāhā? Had they known? Or had they only recognized them as powerful enough to protect this community they were building? Had the discovery sparked the idea? Or had they been searching for a solution to make their dream a reality?

A slow churn started in my gut as pieces began clicking together in my head, creating troubling connections between the missing god tree, the missing bones, and the missing women.

“We could return them,” the first twin pleaded. “We could pray and beg forgiveness.”

“He doesn’t forgive,” the second said, “and neither will They.”

God? Or gods? I definitely heard a capital H and T in there.

“I’m going to bed.” The first twin shook her head. “There’s no reasoning with you when you’re like this.”

“Make sure you eat before you go to sleep.”

Hand over her stomach, the first twin rose and muttered, “I’m tired of eating apples.”

“Eat,” she said again, and her insistence prickled my nape.

“Fine. I’m going.” The first twin trudged away. “May their deaths be on your conscience.”

Long after they were gone, the second remained, gazing into the fire. “I have no conscience.”

Determination had taken its place, sunk its roots so deep in her soul that nothing but the iron will to live at any price remained. I recognized it. Easily. I had seen it in the faces of street kids when I had been one of them. But I had been lucky. I had Josie and Matty to grind down the calluses left by the world before the soft skin beneath them became titanium.

Their conversation convinced me of one thing. It was Patty I was staring at and Rosalie who had left.

“We should see what else we can learn.” Vi drew her shawl tighter, as if the conversation had chilled her. “We only have the next ten minutes before Rollo gets more insistent and Kierce begins to fret.”

“You’re right.” I walked away, brain whirring. “I need to find Keshawn and Tameka.”

With that goal in mind, I searched the faces of the gathered women, but recognition failed to spark.

About to give up, I experienced a twinge in my chest, a pull angling me to my right.

“Frankie.” Tameka’s eyes rounded as she noticed me and then Vi. “How did you…? Never mind.” She waved for me to follow her. “What matters is you’re here. Let’s get away from all these eyes and ears.”

She led me into the shelter of the trees, but I had to stop her there. “I don’t have much time.”

“I wanted you to know I didn’t plan this. I meant to honor my contract.” She worried a ragged fingernail. “Keshawn panicked that day. I’m all the family she has, and she couldn’t deal with losing me. Her actions were impulsive and wrong, but they came from a good place.” She placed her palms together in prayer. “I’ll do anything to make this right. Please don’t punish her. She’s a good girl. She’s just hurting.”

“I can’t get into that right now.” I needed facts, and fast. “What is this place?”

“Two minutes,” Vi said softly, and I ground my teeth, eager for answers.

“The Morgans wanted to go bigger than their club support network and halfway houses. They wanted to establish a sanctuary where women could escape their abusers. They found a bone with magical powers and used it to anchor a ward around this place, but then women started dying. Inside the barrier. There’s no cell reception. We can’t call for help. If you don’t get us out of here, we’re all dead.”

Bones of divine beasts go missing, and the women in possession of those bones are killed.

That was not good. Very not good. Extremely not good.

“What about the Morgans?” I cut my eyes toward the bonfire. “They can’t get you out?”

“There’s a second ward in the center of the commune. The Morgans pitched their tents inside it.”

The sisters had built in another layer of protection for themselves, which made them look guiltier.

Pressure on my hand alerted me my time was spent. “Can you think of anything else?”

“Not really. Except for one thing. There’s some kind of tree?—”

“An apple tree,” I hazarded a guess.

“Yes.” Her brow pleated. “How did you know?”

“I overheard the Morgans talking.” I exhaled. “Whatever you do, don’t eat the fruit.”

“No worries there.” A laugh burst out of her. “The Morgans won’t share.”

The nature of the Morgans’ work, their eagerness to help others, would have made it easy for Ankou to tempt them through pleas to their god. The blasted thing had been planted right across the street from where the GWC met. This had to be it. Ankou’s tree. We had found it.

“Okay.” I filled my lungs to buy a moment to think. “I’ll see what I can do from the outside.”

“Please.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I want Keshawn out but?—”

The purple swirl of energies surrounding Vi engulfed me as she took my hands in hers. “We have to go.”

“Please don’t leave her here.” Tameka lunged for me. “I don’t want her to be next.”

More warmth, more pressure. Kierce was signaling me, and I couldn’t ignore him if I wanted him to trust me the next time. As much as I wanted to linger, to learn more, I took one look at Vi and withered under her knowing glower that warned she would cross state lines to paddle me if I didn’t follow her orders.

“Let him bring you home” was all she had to say before a weighted layer of reality settled over me.

Opening my eyes, there was Kierce, his fingers laced with mine, his lightning crackling over our knuckles.

“Hi,” I rasped, glancing around for Vi. “Where is…?”

A text chime echoed through my head as I settled into my body. Kierce put the phone in my hand before I could ask him to pass it to me. I struggled with holding it, my fingers weirdly numb. After a frustrated nod from me, he took it and read the message.

“Vi made it home safely. She’ll call you in four hours and warns you better sleep until then.”

“Thank God,” I mumbled, tingles spreading through my body as my limbs woke.

I had so much to say, so much to tell him, but unlike when Dis Pater summoned me, I was ragged with a bone-deep exhaustion. Vi must have known to expect this, but she let it sneak up on me. Which was fair. Had I known a fight was ahead of me, I would have prepared for it. I would have battled it, for a moment or two at least, when it was clear I required the prescribed rest.

As it was, I could only curl around Kierce’s arm and sink into the welcoming darkness.