4. Ellis

4

ELLIS

A s I followed Rachel up the stone steps of the small cottage, my palms grew clammy. Everything was riding on this moment. If Maribel refused to help with Xander, we were screwed. There was no plan B.

This was it.

When we made it through the front door, I took stock of the little cottage. There were crystals hung from the ceiling near the door, trinkets and tiny wooden figures lining a bookshelf, and candles on a small table at the window. The entire place felt alive with energy.

“Aunt Maribel, we’ve got company,” Rachel said as she made her way farther inside.

An elderly woman peeked around a corner.

Maribel.

She wore a purple shawl draped around her shoulders that looked handmade and a gray cotton dress that flowed around her ankles as she moved. Her hair was long, gray, and curly, and there was a white feather tucked behind one of her ears. She was thin and short in stature, but there was something large about her presence and an expansive sense of wisdom shining in her eyes.

I lifted a hand in a slight wave. “Hi.”

Her gaze focused on me intently as she assessed me in a way that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“So, you’re the one,” she said, her voice low and soft with an almost ethereal elegance to it. “I’ve been expecting you.”

I blinked, caught off guard by her words. “You have?”

Her lips twitched into a delicate smile, and her eyes seemed to brighten. “Of course. The wind’s been whispering extra loud lately. It told me someone would be coming with a heavy burden in need of dire help.”

Rachel made a noise, drawing my attention to her. Something flitted across her face, but it was gone before I could name it.

She nodded to the grocery bags in my hand. “Bring those in the kitchen, please.”

She started walking, and I followed.

Maribel’s eyes were on me as I walked. I could feel them, but I didn’t shift my gaze to meet hers.

“Tell me about you,” the old woman said in her soft, whimsical voice. “Tell me why you’ve sought me out. What’s the heavy burden the wind has been whispering about?”

I set the grocery bags on the counter beside the one Rachel carried in and turned to face the old woman. I swallowed hard, remembering how much was riding on this.

The Misfit Shifters depended on me.

“Well, my name is Ellis,” I said, keeping my voice steady. “I’m grateful you’ll see me tonight. I’m part of the Misfit Shifters, and I’ve come to ask for your help with a situation we have with another shifter in the community. This shifter,” I said, pausing to look at the little girl on the couch still eating apple chips. I didn’t want my next words to scare her. Then again, maybe she wouldn’t know what I was talking about. “We believe he’s been possessed and we’d like your help—we’d like you to exorcize him.”

Maribel stared at me, her expression unreadable.

“He’s dangerous,” I continued. “To all shifters in town. The spirit inside him has the ability to manipulate and control the minds of shifters. We need your help to stop him—for good this time.”

My bobcat paced under the intensity of her stare, causing even more unease to power through me.

“This spirit you speak of was among the living recently, was it not?” Maribel asked, her eyes narrowing.

I nodded, watching as she tipped her head to the side as though listening to something I couldn’t hear. “Yes. His name was Lucius.”

“I felt a shift in the winds when he came through town before. He had a dark presence to him,” she said. “One that’s now woven through the shifter you’re here about.”

Goose bumps prickled across my skin. This woman was eerily in tune with things.

I watched her cross the small living room to a table near the front window without a word. Once she settled into a chair, she lit a candle, picked up a drawstring bag, and took out the cards inside.

Tarot cards.

I glanced at Rachel, wondering what the old woman was doing. She gave me a look that suggested this was nothing new and made her way to where her daughter sat on the couch. My gaze drifted back to Maribel, watching as she shuffled the cards with the ease of someone who’d done so a thousand times before. She split the deck into three stacks, then combined them back into one before drawing three cards and laying them out in front of her.

The images on the cards meant nothing to me, but she nodded while staring at them as if she’d gathered a deep meaning and confirmation from them. I waited for her to explain what they’d told her, but she didn’t. Instead, she scooped them up and went through the same process again, only this time, she only laid out two cards. She stared at them, soaking in their meaning and wisdom, before pulling a third card. Tension built inside me while I waited for her to speak, to say something—anything.

These cards didn’t look bad. They looked happy. Romantic even.

Her gaze shifted to lock with mine for a brief moment before she scooped the cards up and tucked them away again inside their bag.

“Darkness is hard to shake once it takes root,” Maribel finally said. “What you’re asking for is no simple task. This won’t be easy, nor will it be quick. And if the spirit is truly as dark as I believe, the one he’s using as a vessel might not survive.”

Her gaze locked onto mine, and I could feel the weight of her words.

“I understand,” I assured her.

“Do you? Do you understand the potential cost of what you’re asking?”

The chance that Xander might not survive.

I nodded. “I do,” I said, meaning it. If we didn’t go through with this, then Xander was as good as dead anyway because Lucius couldn’t be allowed to follow through with whatever evil he was here to continue. “I don’t have a choice. This has to end.”

“Very well,” Maribel said. “I’ll help you by performing a ritual to pull the darkness from the shifter. But first, you’ll need to gather some things for me.”

I exhaled a slow breath. She’d agreed to help, which meant I’d succeed and we were one step closer to sending Lucius away for good this time.

“What do you need?” I asked.

“The vessel is a bird shifter—a raven—is he not?”

I blinked, stunned she knew. “Yes. His name is Xander.”

Maribel nodded. “I’ll need sage for cleansing, salt for protection, spring water for purity, and soil from Lucius’s burial site,” she said, her voice firm yet soft. “And you’ll need something from Xander—a feather from his raven form. Ravens are tied to the dead—to the spirit world. That’s what holds his connection to Lucius. He’s the messenger and the vessel.”

“The messenger and the vessel?” I repeated.

What did that mean?

“Exactly. Ravens are messengers of the dead, which could explain why Xander, a raven shifter, was the perfect vessel for Lucius’s spirit to return in.”

My head spun.

Had Lucius known this? Was that the true reason he’d chosen Xander as his second in command?

Even if it was, it didn’t matter. Lucius’s spirit would be pulled from him soon enough and sent to where it belonged. There would be no coming back from this.

“I’ll get what you need,” I promised, even though I knew getting a feather from Xander’s raven wouldn’t be easy.

“Good. Rachel will accompany you,” Maribel added, glancing toward her niece. “She knows the quality required for each item.”

I glanced at Rachel, noticing the unease flicker across her face. Still, she nodded in agreement. I didn’t blame her. Maribel didn’t seem like someone you argued with. Beneath her whimsical, enchanting exterior, there was a sharper edge, one I had no desire to encounter.

“We’ll start gathering what’s needed tomorrow morning,” Rachel said. “Depending on how this storm unfolds.”

Maribel waved her words away. “The storm will drift by soon, leaving hardly a trace behind.”

I admired the woman’s confidence, but that wasn’t what the weatherman said about it. Rachel appeared to feel the same.

“Tomorrow morning, then?” she reiterated.

“Sounds good.” I nodded.

“I’ll meet you at the grocery store at nine.”

“I’d rather pick you up. If that’s all right? No sense in us riding around in two separate vehicles and wasting gas,” I said. “Plus, you have that donut on.”

“Right. Okay,” she said before shifting her attention to Maribel. “Can you watch Serenity for me? I don’t feel comfortable bringing her along for something like this. Xander seems dangerous.”

She was right to think that.

“Of course,” Maribel said, walking toward where Serenity sat beside Rachel on the couch. “We’ll have all sorts of fun—just like always.”

“Yay!” Serenity shouted, standing to jump up and down on the couch.

Rachel scooped her up. “None of that. We don’t jump on the furniture.”

Maribel took Serenity from her, a wide smile stretching across the old woman’s face. “We’ll dress up in feather hats and have a tea party with hot chocolate and graham crackers.”

“Yes, please!” the little girl shouted.

I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face.

Rachel shook her head and then shifted her attention to me. “I’ll walk you out.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” I said, once we were at the door.

“We’ll head to the grocery store first and pick up the salt I know she’ll want for this.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem. See you in the morning,” she said with a slight smile before heading back inside, closing the door behind her.

Laughter erupted from inside the cottage and I stood there for a moment on the stone porch, smiling.

Until the rain started soaking through my clothes.

I darted to my truck, dodging the droplets, while feeling a wave of relief wash over me. Maribel had agreed to help, which meant we were on track to putting all of this Xander and Lucius crap behind us finally. Also, I’d get a chance to see Rachel again tomorrow.

I couldn’t explain the pull my bobcat felt toward her, but it was undeniable. Who was I kidding, there was a desire to spend more time with her building inside me as well, which made me hope Maribel was right about the storm.

Climbing into my truck, I slammed the door shut and fired up the engine. Before heading out, I sent a quick group text to the others, letting them know Maribel had agreed to help and listing the things she needed me to gather. It was what we’d all been hoping for, and I wanted to share the news with them as soon as possible.

Shifting into reverse, I turned my truck around and headed for home, feeling satisfaction surge through me. The night had turned out even better than I’d hoped.