Chapter 43

Now that I had the council's assent and a vague plan, it was down to timing. We had to collect the stones and meet the kidnapper whilst Liv's magic users held up the barrier, then I had to get Mum back in time for her and the other witches to reset the gems and return them to their places. And we needed enough time for the magic users to get the barrier back online. Simple.

While I was cooling my heels, Connor and I popped home to get Fluffy; I hoped he"d be an asset in tracking Mum down. With my dog in tow, we headed back to the office to wait for word from Liv.

Once Liv had her people in place, it was go time. My floppy heart was thumping with the stress of it all. Was I mad to do all this for a woman who had shoved me under a bus? Probably.

I'd contacted the new barrier witches so they'd be ready to hand over the cursed stones. We'd learned from before that the barrier would weaken after two gems were removed, but it would still stand so I had to time this right. The longer the barrier stood on its own, the better. I could collect two gems, then snatch the others at the last possible moment.

First I had to contact the kidnapper – but how? I still had the threatening note; I reread it, hoping my memory was wrong and there was a contact number listed. There was nothing.

I checked my phone: we had only three hours left and I'd promised Liv two hours to get everyone in place. I couldn't do anything until then.

I paced and planned. When I couldn't stand it anymore, I uploaded the coordinates to look at the meeting place, something I should have done immediately because it might hint at Mum's location. I almost slapped my forehead at my stupidity.

Once the numbers were loaded, I zoomed in on the location. It was the funeral home, the location of the first black market and the first serious curse. Mum could be there now, in the dark depths of the basement. I sat up straight, startling Connor and Fluffy.

‘What is it?' Connor asked.

‘The funeral home. Mum might be there. We should check it out before we take the gems.'

‘Going to the area early could rile the kidnapper,' he pointed out.

‘I know, but I can't risk Portlock by removing the gems when we might be able to rescue Mum without the gemstones.'

We drove there in Connor's brand-new truck; his last one had been torched by Aoife's father. And that gave me an idea… As we parked, I summoned the banshee. ‘Aoife Sullivan!' I called. ‘I need you!' Desperation leaked into my voice.

The teenager appeared in an instant, an apparition all in white. ‘My mum's been kidnapped,' I said. ‘I think she might be in the funeral home, but we don't want to risk pissing off the kidnapper for nothing. Can you go in there and look for me?'

Aoife considered me, before giving me a thumbs up and winking out of sight.

I looked around as we waited. The car park was deserted and the building was dark. A few moments later, Aoife reappeared and nodded. ‘Is she okay?' I asked anxiously. Aoife gave me another thumbs up and I sagged with relief. ‘Okay, we need to get inside. Can you show us where she is?' Aoife nodded again.

‘You want to use your universal key?' I asked Connor lightly.

‘Discretion is required for this one.' He pulled out a lock-pick kit and I raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged. ‘What? The universal key isn't always appropriate.'

‘Why didn't you do that at Payne's?'

He grinned. ‘Because she's been a pain in my ass for a couple of years and kicking down her door was very satisfying.' I couldn't argue with that.

Connor patiently raked the lock and had the door open in a couple of minutes. Aoife floated ahead of us as we ran down to the space where the black market had been. Luckily, the doors down there weren't locked. Fluffy raced ahead with Aoife, his nose down: he had a scent. My heart gave two quick beats; after all Mum had done to him, he was still willing to help me find her.

Connor flipped on the lights and we hurried after Aoife and Fluffy. We didn't have to go far: Mum was tied up and gagged in the far corner behind stacks of tables and chairs. She looked at us wild eyed and shook her head.

I stopped, called Fluffy back then held out an arm to stop Connor. I'd run into booby traps before at Skylark's kidnapping, but there were no strings, no rigged shotguns, nothing that I could see.

I looked at Mum and she raised her eyes. I followed her gaze: above her was an elaborate design. Now that I'd paused to pay attention, I could feel that subtle hum in my teeth and smell blood, past its prime and rotting. To top it off, there was a weird tugging at my guts; I'd thought it was panic but it wasn't. It was dark magic.

I pointed up. ‘Do you recognize that?' I asked Connor.

‘I'm not a witch,' he said, ‘but it looks sort of familiar.' He took a picture with his phone and texted it to someone.

‘Who did you send it too?' I asked.

‘An old friend who studies the paranormal, especially signs, symbols and things like that.'

‘The last time I saw a curse like that, I had to disrupt the lines and it failed.'

‘That works for 99% of curses,' Connor agreed, ‘but I've seen few where doing that triggers a kill curse buried within it.'

‘Shit. So what do we do?'

‘We'll wait until my friend texts back – I told him it was urgent. Let's give him a minute to look at the design.'

Mum coughed behind her gag. She looked small and ill – she'd probably been there with no food or water for almost a full day. But her pallor was also tinged with grey, and I wondered if sitting under that thing on the ceiling was sapping her energy in some way.

A few slow minutes passed. I was about to barge in and drag her out when Connor's phone buzzed. ‘It's him.' He started to read. ‘It's a necromantic curse, a nasty one. It steals life force to power itself. Anyone that passes by, over or under it will have their energy taken.'

‘That sounds like what happened to Jeff. He was hit with a nightmare curse but it stole his life force, too. And something like that took down Sigrid and Stan – it's why they lost so much muscle mass. I'm guessing Mum's curse is missing the nightmare element since she seems to be wholly present.' She made a noise of agreement through her gag.

Connor was still reading. Suddenly he looked relieved. ‘It's easy to break. You need to disrupt the pattern of the ritualistic symbol.'

I spotted a long broom in the corner of the room, grabbed it and started frantically scrubbing at the ceiling. The old blood smeared and Mum took a quick breath. She blinked and some of her colour returned.

I threw the broom aside, untied her and removed the gag. She moved her jaw, shook out her hands and worked her mouth to produce some saliva, then she looked at us. ‘It's Liv,' she said.

I felt like I'd been slugged.