Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“Here ya go,” Devon tells me, unfolding a piece of paper with the spell. I had changed the original to specifically call someone from my bloodline.
“Thanks,” I say and pick up Amanda’s lanyard, looking at her face. She couldn’t be any older than nineteen and looks so happy in this photo. I’m sorry I couldn’t have saved you, I mentally say to her. I close my eyes, taking the next few moments to ground myself until Xavier comes back.
I hold the bay leaf with Amanda’s name on it in my hand. “Ignis.”
The bay leaf catches on fire and I hold it until most of the leaf is burned. Then I drop it in the stone mortar. I mix the ashes with the herbs, dump it into my hand, and chant. “Ad te clamo. Te ipsum revela. Ostende mihi locum tuum. Ad te clamo. Te ipsum revela. Ostende mihi locum tuum.” I drop the herbs onto the map and they start to vibrate and move. “It’s working,” I say, but my words are drowned out by a harrowing screech that reverberates off every wall of this cabin, shattering the glass in the front windows.
The door flies open and a man with dark eyes and graying skin appears. The rot in his aura is suffocating. He takes a step in, gaze latched on me.
“He doesn’t want me to complete the spell,” I rush out, holding my hands over the map. “Ad te clamo. Te ipsum revela. Ostende mihi locum tuum!”
Xavier runs toward him, hand outstretched, going to punch his fist through his chest so he can rip out the heart. But his hand passes right through.
Oh shit.
We’re not fighting the demon, but an evil spirit who serves him.
Chapter
Thirty-Two
“He’s a ghost,” Devon stammers, putting himself in front of me. “How the fuck do we fight a ghost.”
“My dagger,” I say, not taking my eyes off the map. Heart racing, I try to will the herbs to hurry the fuck up. Amanda’s lanyard is on the table next to the map. Come on…work! Devon picks up my dagger and throws it at the spirit. The blade slices the man in two, and he dissipates into a swirl of gray smoke. The herbs start to move again.
“He was blocking the spell,” I say.
“Why did the dagger work?” Devon asks.
“Iron,” Xavier says, picking it up. “There’s iron in the blade.”
The spirit reforms and Xavier lunges at it, slashing the dagger through the air. It disappears again but another moves in through the open window, bringing with it a whoosh of air that scatters the herbs across the map.
“No!” I cry and splay my fingers over the map, using magic to keep the herbs from completely blowing off. Xavier stabs that spirit, temporarily vanquishing it. I desperately sweep the herbs back into the middle of the map and pick up the lanyard, holding it tight in my right hand.
“Ad te clamo. Te ipsum revela. Ostende mihi locum tuum.”
Another spirit rises through the floorboards, right behind me. It reaches out, hand going on the back of my head. I grunt in pain, suddenly paralyzed.
“Wren!” Xavier calls and throws the dagger. It whizzes through the spirit, and Devon catches it.
“There’s too many,” he says, whirling around, brandishing the dagger through the air, passing the dagger through another spirit. “And we only have one weapon.”
“Fire poker,” Xavier says and Devon nods. He throws the dagger at a spirit that just materialized and speeds out of the cabin. Xavier pulls the dagger from where it got lodged in the wall and stands behind me, slashing the dagger through the air.
Blood drips from my nose and I wipe it away with the back of my hand. Devon is back, holding a fire poker like a baseball bat. He and Xavier keep playing supernatural whack-a-mole and I try to recenter myself.
The demon doesn’t want me to find him—which means my spell is going to work.
“Ad te clamo. Te ipsum revela. Ostende mihi locum tuum.” I tighten my grip on the lanyard. ‘Ad te clamo. Te ipsum revela. Ostende mihi locum tuum!” The herbs vibrate and move into a circle. “Got it!” I say, bringing my finger down on the map, pressing the herbs and ashes onto the paper to mark it.
“They’re not stopping!” Devon shouts and the darkness coming from the spirits is starting to make me feel sick.
“Wren!” Xavier moves his arm over my head, stopping a spirit from materializing right before me. “How do we stop them?”
“Sage,” I say, slipping the lanyard around my neck and grabbing the map before anything can happen to it. “There’s sage in my bag.” My hands shake as I quickly fold the map, shoving it inside my shirt. Xavier pulls out the bundle of herbs from the bag.
“It’s laced with Vesta powder,” I tell him. “As soon as it lights, you have to drop it. Then we run.”