The Seventh Crow

by Tamara Geraeds

  With a shrug, she watches Jeep slam the book shut. “You know how magic works. It must be another form of protection.”

  I grab Dad’s notebook and my Book of Spells from behind my waistband and put them in front of me. “Well, I’d better start writing a spell to get rid of those crows.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Vicky shoots me a surprised look when I throw down my pen and lean back five minutes later. “You’re getting the hang of this, aren’t you?”

  “Looks like it!” I lean over and kiss her.

  Then I turn to Taylar and Kessley. “How are you getting along?”

  I know the answer before either of them responds. I can read it from their faces. “Nothing, huh?”

  They both shake their heads solemnly.

  “This isn’t a language I’ve ever seen before,” Kessley says.

  Charlie leans forward from his spot next to Jeep–since Kessley has taken his chair. “I think Vicky was right. It’s not an actual language; the books must be protected by a spell.”

  I nod thoughtfully. “We’ll try to lift it later. First, I want to get rid of those crows.”

  “Me too,” Jeep says. He looks a lot fitter than he did when we found him. His eyes seem lighter too, and he’s lost a lot of his creepiness now that his tattoos no longer move.

  Heat rises to my cheeks when I look up and realize he’s seen me staring.

  “What is it?” he asks.

  “You look different,” I tell him honestly.

  “Better or worse?”

  I smile. “Definitely better.”

  Charlie turns and takes Jeep in from head to toe. “I agree. You look a lot less creepy, if you know what I mean.”

  Jeep laughs out loud. “You thought I looked creepy before?”

  Charlie wipes a blond lock from his face. “Well, yes. Those moving tattoos freaked me out a bit, you know.”

  “Me too,” I admit.

  “I didn’t like them much either,” Jeep says, holding out his arm in front of him. “But to be honest, they look stranger now than they did before. I’ve gotten so used to the souls moving inside them. I didn’t expect this, but I feel kind of incomplete without them.”

  Maël grabs his hand over the table. “It will take some getting used to, but you are better off without them living under your skin.”

  He smiles at her. “I know that. I’ll be fine.” He blows her a kiss with his other hand.

  A feeling of joy washes over me at the sight of them. Everyone is so happy to have Jeep back. It gives us all new hope and strength, even though we’re facing several new threats. My optimism must be working. Three more souls to save, two more loved ones to get back and we’re done. If we can also put a stop to Lucifer’s back-up plan.

  Vicky’s hand rests on my arm. “We’ll be fine,” she whispers.

  I kiss her again before redirecting my attention to the ingredients for my spell. “I think this is it.” I slide the book over to her. “Do you have all that?”

  “I sure do.” She digs into her endless pocket several times, and I crush the herbs and spices in a bowl.

  “No salt?” she asks.

  I shake my head. “I don’t need a circle.”

  “Are you sure? Salt circles add extra protection and can help you build up your magical energy.”

  I study the contents of the bowl, repeating what I’ve added in my head. “Okay, I guess it can’t hurt.”

  With a smile, she hands me a bottle of salt.

  When I get up, I notice Gisella standing by the backdoor, looking into the garden.

  “Is something wrong, Gisella?” I ask.

  She points at the protective circle in the grass. “I was just wondering if we would be able to make it there.”

  “Why?”

  She throws up her hands and turns around. “I hate sitting around doing nothing. We could be training while you cast that spell.”

  “Sure, but how would you get back inside? Those souls will wait you out. You can’t stay inside the circle forever.”

  The werecat-witch drops back into her seat. “We won’t have to. You’ll get rid of them while we train, right?”

  I hold up the bowl and my Book of Spells. “I’m going to try, but you never know.”

  She folds her arms over her chest. “Okay, we’ll wait here then.”

  “This won’t take long.” I turn and walk into the annex, where I have a clear view of the crows that are perched in one of the pine trees that line the lawn.

  Vicky follows me with the candles I need.

  I put everything down near the middle windows and take the salt to draw a circle.

  Vicky walks up to the windows. “It’s as if they know what we’re doing. Look at them.”

  I do, and I agree with her. A minute ago, the crows were sitting quietly on their branches. Now, they are getting restless, hopping around, stretching their necks and cawing at each other.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I say, turning back to my spell. “They can’t do anything about it.”

  “I hope so,” Vicky mumbles. “They give me the creeps.”

  I shrug. “Lots of things give me the creeps, but that doesn’t mean we can’t beat them. I’m actually glad those souls escaped from Jeep’s tattoos. He’s a lot better off without them crawling around under his skin, and so are we.”

  Vicky keeps staring at the birds and doesn’t answer, so I put the candles in the right spots and read the spell one more time. “Here we go.”

  Vicky leans against the window pane. “I’ll keep an eye on the crows.”

  “Let me know if something strange happens.” I don’t think anything will, but I also trust Vicky’s gut, and that worries me a bit.

  I shake the restless feeling off and light a match. I light the three candles. Brown ones, for animal-related spells. In the middle of the circle, I turn three times, spreading the herbs around me.

  “Seven souls that changed to crows,

  leave the bodies that you chose.

  Go to where you’re meant to be.

  Leave this place for eternity.”

  After the third turn, the candle flames reach up before moving around the circle, following the line of salt. I watch them as they hover above the herbs for a moment and then swallow them up. The ash that’s left behind floats up and tickles my nose.

  “Is it done?” Vicky asks.

  I rub my nose to suppress a sneeze. “Yes. Are they gone?”

  “Not yet.”

  I join her at the window. The crows are going crazy. They hop up and down and shake as if they’re having a fit. They shriek so loud that the rest of the Shield and Charlie and Gisella file into the annex to see what’s going on.

  “Did you cast a torture spell on them or something?” Charlie asks.

  “No, I cast a spell to make them move on.”

  Maël leans on her staff. “It did not work.” She sounds disgruntled.

  I frown. “How do you know? They’re obviously affected by it.”

  “Watch and see.”

  Jeep stays about two paces from the windows, as if he’s afraid the crows will come soaring through the glass. He flicks his hat over and over in his hands.

  The crows start to change form. Their necks are stretched, their tails get longer and their eyes bulge. Then the rest of the body follows. One by one, the parts grow. First the legs, then the bodies, the wings and the heads. The beaks are last. They grow wider, longer and sharper.

  Why is this happening? I didn’t put this in the spell.

  “Are they growing to human size?” Charlie wonders out loud. “Maybe they change back into their true form before they move on?”

  He sounds hopeful but scared, and I share his feelings. Seven ghosts in human form seem more dangerous to me than seven ghosts in bird form.

  The mutation stops, and the birds shiver violently. Old, discarded feathers float to the ground and turn to ash.

>   “Do you see that?” Vicky whispers.

  I let out a sigh of relief. “It’s working.”

  Dark shapes rise up from the large birds. The body parts seem to come out randomly. A hand here, a head there, a foot attached to a shoulder. They look like Frankstein’s monsters, sewn together in the wrong order. A soft, pained moaning reaches us through the glass.

  I grit my teeth. Something must have gone wrong. They should’ve moved on already, and it should’ve happened effortlessly.

  I turn back to my salt circle. “I’ll try again.”

  “No, don’t!” Vicky calls out, and I freeze.

  “Why not?”

  She points at the birds. The body parts are pulled in again, and the crows stop shaking. “All you’ve done is make them bigger. What if they grow again if you repeat the spell?”

  My shoulders sag. “You’re right. Do you think they’re protected by something?”

  “They must be.”

  Taylar sighs gloomily. “Shelton Banks probably did something to them. He knows Jeep is part of your Shield, why else would he trap him in his house?”

  I nod. “True.”

  “He must’ve known about the souls in his tattoos too. He thought they’d kill Jeep if he kept him in there long enough, but he built in a back-up in case he escaped.”

  “And now we did exactly what he hoped for.” I press my temples to suppress the headache that threatens to push through.

  Outside, the branches of the pine tree have trouble supporting the weight of the bigger crows. They’re almost twice their normal size now, and they look pretty happy about it, with their glinting red eyes.

  “How are we going to beat them now?” I ask.

  “We aren’t,” Gisella answers.

  I turn to face her with a frown. “What do you mean?”

  “We can leave the mansion through the porthole in the secret room. They won’t even know we’re gone.”

  I tilt my head. “Okay, that’s a good idea. But eventually, we’ll need to kill them.”

  “And we will,” she says cheerily. “Once we’ve had a chance to think about it.”

  Charlie presses her against him. “You’re right. We’ll work something out.”

  CHAPTER 5

  We walk back into the kitchen and sit down again. My gaze falls onto the books we took from Shelton Banks’ house. “It’s probably best if we don’t try a spell on these either.”

  Taylar rests his chin on his hands. “What other options are there?”

  “You guys could check with other ghosts. Maybe someone else knows a way. Or maybe you can find someone who can read it.”

  Maël takes one of the books and leafs through it. “Maybe.”

  I lean back in my chair. “Maybe is good enough for now. But first…” I take a deep breath. “It’s time to think about the panda creature that Vicky saw. If it is a demon, what was it doing there?”

  Vicky flips her hair over her shoulder. “I say it came to get Shelton Banks out.”

  I shake my head. “That doesn’t make sense. A demon stands out too much. Pixies are a much more logical choice to sneak in and free him.”

  Vicky tilts her head. “Yes, babe, but we killed all of his pixies.”

  “You don’t know that. He might have back-up somewhere.”

  Silence descends on the table as we think it over.

  “Hey,” Charlie suddenly says. “Didn’t you have a list of the circles of Hell somewhere?”

  I turn my head to Vicky, who’s already digging in her pocket. As soon as she pulls the list out, she reads it out loud.

  “Circle nine, sin: treachery, punishment: ice. Circle eight: fraud, punishment: boiling pitch and excrement.”

  “That one was gruesome,” Taylar whispers to Kessley, who’s listening breathlessly.

  “Circle seven: violence,” Vicky continues. “Punishment: boiling blood and burning sand.”

  I close my eyes for a second when I remember the boxer we lost.

  “Circle six: heresy, punishment: fire. Circle five: anger, punishment: water. Circle four: greed, punishment: smelting gold.”

  The troll that stole from Shelton Banks. Another lost soul.

  Vicky pauses to build tension. “And now we have reached circle three. The sin of this circle is gluttony. Punishment: rain and black snow.”

  Jeep slams his hand on the table so hard that we all jump. “That’s it! That panda demon wasn’t going to the police station. It was watching the next soul.”

  I frown. “Where was the next soul then?”

  He smirks. “At the Winged Centaur. They also serve food there.”

  I grin back. “I think you’re right.” I rise to my feet and check my weapons behind my waistband and in my pocket. My fingers wrap around my athame. “Guess what? We’re going out for dinner.”

  On foot, it’s a lot further than it seems from the silver mine to the bar across the police station. Nervously, we look left and right. There’s no sign of pandas or other strange creatures. Everything seems quiet on both sides of the street.

  I miss the comfort and shelter of my car. Phoenix might not be as reliable as she once was, but she can take us out of here fast if needed.

  I’m sure we’ll attract attention when we file into the Winged Centaur. We must look like a weird collection of people: several generations, some very serious, some not so much. I glance at Charlie walking in after me and grin to myself. I’m glad he’s sticking by me through all of this. Even though he’s lost some of his carelessness, he still manages to lighten the mood when we need it most.

  Once we’re inside, my worries about attracting too much attention evaporate. But so do my hopes of finding whomever the panda demon is after. Almost every table is occupied, and the room is filled with chatter, music and laughter. I have no idea how to find the soul we’re looking for amongst all these people. He might not even be in here anymore. He could’ve left while we were at Darkwood Manor.

  I follow the others to the back of the bar, where we take the last two available tables. They are high tables─metallic like the rest of the interior─without chairs, but I don’t care. I’m too restless to sit down anyway.

  Charlie leans over to make himself intelligible. “Do you want a drink?”

  I scan the crowd and sigh. “Sure, why not?”

  “Goblin beer?”

  The corners of my mouth move up by their own accord. It seems like ages ago that I was here for the first time, inside a bar that’s only visible to magical people, drinking my first goblin beer and putting a spell on my ‘friend’ Simon to reveal his true nature.

  I shove those images to the back of my mind and smile at Charlie. “Yes, please. I could use one.”

  Charlie checks with the rest of the group and makes his way to the bar. The rest of us eye the many faces around us warily.

  I move around Maël and nudge Gisella. “Is it a special day or something?”

  She shrugs. “Not that I know of.”

  “So, it’s just bad luck that it’s so crowded in here.”

  She grabs my arm and squeezes gently. “Don’t be gloomy. We’ll find this soul in time.”

  I ball my hands into fists. “Yes, we will.”

  “I’ve never been in a bar like this before,” Kessley says. “Is it invisible to non-magicals?”

  I chuckle. “Thankfully, yes. Can you imagine someone without magic walking in here? They would freak out!”

  She stares at a man with spikes all over his body, dressed in nothing but tiny underpants. “I’m not too comfortable here either. What if the evil beings attack us?”

  “They won’t,” I assure her. “There’s protection here, some sort of spell, I think, plus a silent treaty that no one will attack another customer.”

  “Yeah, people know it’s wise not to mess with the owner.” Charlie plants a bottle of goblin beer in front of me. “Drink this. You’ll feel better, you know.”

/>   At the other table, Kess refuses her beer. “I can’t drink that. I’m drunk enough as it is!”

  Taylar and Charlie try to convince her she’ll be fine, but she holds her ground. Eventually, Taylar nods and makes his way through the mass to get her something else.

  Maël seems to have forgotten her drink entirely. She’s clutching the bottle tightly, but her eyes move around the room.

  “Don’t make it too obvious,” I tell her. “We don’t want to make anyone angry.”

  I remember my last visit to this bar and my encounter with the dragon girl that tried to seduce me. Goosebumps appear on my skin at the thought alone. I hope it’s not her we need to save. That could become really uncomfortable.

  “I have not seen any gluttony yet,” Maël says without looking at me.

  My eyebrows move up. “Really? I see a lot of it.”

  I gesture at the group of horned men devouring one chicken wing after another.

  Maël finally relaxes a little and takes a sip from her beer. She pulls a face and puts the bottle down again. “That is horrible.”

  Before I can protest, she continues, “I see mostly hungry people and people with natural cravings. Nothing extreme yet.”

  “How can you know for sure?”

  She pushes the bottle away from her. “We will know gluttony when we see it.”

  “I hope so,” I mumble, and I work my way back to where Vicky is standing. She’s enjoying her beer and moving her hips to the beat of the music. When I follow her gaze, I realize she’s watching Kessley and Taylar. The white-haired ghost hands the blonde girl a glass of soda, and she takes it without pausing her sensual moves. His beer almost slips from his hand when Kess moves closer to him with a provocative shake of her chest.

  “We should try to find the next soul,” I say to Vicky. “With everything going on in Heaven, the next cards could be delayed or lost too. Like the ones that murdered angel was carrying.”

  She plants a kiss on my cheek. “I know, but I enjoy watching them.”

  I wrap my free hand around her waist. “Yeah, me too.”