Susie frowned. “I haven’t done a binding spell before.”
“You know the theory, though, right?” Susie nodded. “It’s similar to charging a wardstone and I know you can do that,” Mrs. Kendricks smiled. “I’ll walk you through it before we get started. Melissa, you’re sure you can see the trace clearly?” Melissa nodded eagerly. “I’ll need you to guide Peter’s hand so that the Stone blocks the trace the entire time. If it slips at all, we’re not going to be able to capture it properly.” Melissa gulped but nodded again.
“Wait a minute,” I protested. “If you drop the scattering spell, won’t the hunter be able to follow Dara again?”
“Yes, hence the need to hurry. If he’s close, we may only have a couple of minutes. Susie, did you bring your Book of Shadows? Let’s see what you have on binding.” They sat at the patio table as Susie extracted the leather-bound notebook from her bag, ignoring Lilith, who looked bored to death.
Melissa sidled up to me. “Isn’t this exciting?” she gushed. “I get to help with a real spellworking!”
“Exciting’s not the word I’d use,” I told her. “Nerve-wracking might be better. If we mess up, Dara’s in a lot of trouble.” Daraxandriel stayed where she was on the flagstone, looking unhappy.
“Well, we still have to try, Peter,” Melissa rebuked me. “She’s our friend.”
“I know, I know. So what did you actually see?” I asked curiously. I cupped the Stone in my hands and peered at it through my fingers but all I saw was its normal reddish glow.
“It’s hard to explain,” she said with a grimace, “because it’s not really seeing. It’s more like ... like feeling, except with your eyes.”
“Okay,” I said carefully, “so what does it feel like, then?”
“Don’t make fun of me!” she retorted, slapping my arm lightly. “There aren’t any words that describe it. Just think of it as,” she waved her hands aimlessly as she searched for the right phrase, “well, imagine moonlight on a lake, you know, when it gets all sparkly. That’s what I see, except the light is golden and there’s no water.”
“That’s surprisingly descriptive,” I admitted, “but I’ll have to take your word for it. Uh-oh, looks like they’re ready.” Mrs. Kendricks rose from the table and pulled her wands from her hair, letting her strawberry-blond locks flow down her back, while Susie took her own wand and her athame from her bag. Stacy’s wand appeared from somewhere but Melissa tucked hers back into her backpack. “Don’t you need your wand too?”
She shook her head. “I’m not casting anything, I’m just Seeing.” I actually heard the capital S in her voice.
“All right, places everyone,” Mrs. Kendricks said firmly. I almost expected her to clap her hands like the director of a high school play. “Stay focused and call out if you need help.” Everyone nodded silently. “Dara, you’ll need to stand extremely still. The trace moves with you and even an inch either way can make a difference.” Daraxandriel nodded, hugging herself tightly. “You too, Peter. You can’t touch the Stone while we’re trying to bond to it, so keep that chain absolutely still.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She cocked an eyebrow at me as the corner of her mouth twitched but she turned away to take up her position facing Daraxandriel. Stacy stood across from her as Susie approached me with a sour look.
“Don’t screw up,” she told me.
“Thanks,” I told her dryly. “You too.” She just snorted. Even if she believed she was capable of making a mistake, she’d never admit it.
“Ready, everyone?” We gave Mrs. Kendricks an atonal chorus of yesses. “All right, here we go.” She nodded to Stacy and raised her wands.
Releasing the scattering spell was a lot like setting up in the first place, except that they went clockwise around Daraxandriel and the phrases they intoned were different from what I remembered. Melissa, Susie, and I watched them intently, holding our breaths until Mrs. Kendricks and Stacy finally lowered their arms.
“Now!” Mrs. Kendricks ordered. “Intercept the trace and start the binding spell.”
I lifted the Stone on the end of its chain, looking questioningly at Melissa. She peered at something invisible just a few inches from my hand.
“Move over a couple of inches, Peter,” she ordered. “No, the other way! Up a bit. More. More. Oh, screw this.” She grabbed my hand and pulled it into position, touching the chain just above the Stone to stop its swinging. “Now!”
Susie leaned in with her wand in one hand and her athame in the other, the tips of both just a fraction of an inch from the surface of the Stone. “Tangere anima,” she murmured, and the Philosopher’s Stone grew noticeably brighter. “Hold it still, Peter!” she snapped.
“I am still!” My shoulder was starting to cramp up.
“The trace is moving!” exclaimed Melissa worriedly. She shifted my hand over slightly. “Don’t move, Dara!”
“I am as a statue!” Daraxandriel responded tensely. I didn’t dare look over there to see if it was true, for fear of shifting the Stone out of line.
“Dara’s not the problem,” Mrs. Kendricks said, appearing at Susie’s side. “The hunter is moving. Susie?”
“I almost have it,” Susie said through gritted teeth. “Center it up!” Melissa nudged my hand over and we all winced when the Stone tinked against the tip of Susie’s athame. “Lapis iste ceperunt animam.” The Stone flared even brighter in response and then faded. Susie shook her head in frustration. “It’s not holding.”
“The Stone is resisting the bond,” Mrs. Kendricks said tersely. “We’ll have to force it in. Anastasia! Come in from below.” She positioned her wands on either side of Susie’s and Stacy knelt in the grass at my feet, pointing her wand straight up at the tip of the Stone. “Keep it steady, Melissa. On three. One. Two. Three.”
“Lapis iste ceperunt animam!” the three witches chanted in unison and the Stone flashed like a piece of the Sun, blinding me. I jerked away automatically and gasped in horror as I pulled my hand out of Melissa’s.
“Peter!” Susie yelled. “I told you not to screw up!”
“Did I ruin it?” I asked in dismay. The Stone glimmered with a reddish-gold light so something was different but I couldn’t tell if that was good or bad.
“Hold it still!” Melissa grabbed my hand in both of hers and peered at it, her nose almost touching it. “Oh,” she breathed.
“What? What?”
She carefully moved my hand left and right and up and down. “The trace is following it!” she announced triumphantly.
Mrs. Kendricks shoulders sagged in relief as she dropped her hands. Stacy slumped on the ground but Susie jabbed me in the side with her wand.
“Ow! What was that for?” I demanded, rubbing the spot.
“For screwing up,” she said sourly.
“But it worked, didn’t it?”
“You still screwed up, it just didn’t matter.”
“Then how is it screwing up?”
“It just is.”
“That’s enough, you two,” Mrs. Kendricks said with a sigh. She looked tired. “It worked and that’s all that matters. Well done, all of you. You can let go now, Peter,” she added with a smile.
“Oh, right.” I let the Stone drop and rubbed my shoulder with a grimace, sucking in my breath when Melissa hung on to my arm.
“That was so neat!” she beamed. “Being a witch is awesome!”
“It can be,” Mrs. Kendricks smiled. “All right, everyone, let’s go back inside. We have one more thing to take care of.”
“You mean freeing Olivia’s soul?” I frowned.
“Once we figure out how to do that, yes, but our first priority needs to be dealing with that hunter.”
“Why? He can’t follow Dara anymore.”
“No, but the trail led him to Hellburn yesterday until we scattered it and then he picked it up again just now for a few minutes. He’s going to believe that whatever Lilith is doing to block him isn’t permanent and he’s going to keep searching f
or her. Sooner or later, he’s going to run across Dara and that will be the end of that.” Mrs. Kendricks glanced over at Daraxandriel with a sympathetic smile and then frowned. “Dara, you don’t need to keep standing there. We’re done.”
“Oh, thank thee!” Daraxandriel sighed, shaking out her hands and rolling her neck. “I did think I was turning to stone!”
“So what are we going to do?” I asked. “We can’t just hide her for the rest of her life. Well, his life,” I corrected myself. “That’ll be shorter.”
“It’ll be a lot shorter if we just eliminate him,” Susie suggested. I couldn’t tell if she was being serious but Mrs. Kendricks pretended she didn’t hear anything.
“For the moment, we’ll have to disguise her. I can cast a glamour on her so that she’ll look human.” She eyed Daraxandriel appraisingly. “I can use Lilith as a model. That’ll make it easier.”
“Nay, Dame Collins,” said Daraxandriel, shaking her head, “thy glamour is unneeded.”
“You can’t stay like this, Dara,” Mrs. Kendricks told her firmly. “You might be able to sway ordinary folk to think you’re perfectly normal but that won’t fool a witch.”
“Susie didn’t know she was a demon before,” I pointed out. Susie glared at me but didn’t deny it.
“Susie wasn’t warded then. You can be sure the hunter is.”
“It matters not,” Daraxandriel told us. “Lilith took my curse upon herself. I am a succubus once again and can guise myself at need.”
She frowned in concentration. For a long moment, nothing seemed to change, and then all of a sudden, her horns and tail faded from view. A moment later, her skin lightened to the same hue as Lilith’s and, between one blink and the next, her glowing eyes turned into the deep brown human eyes I remembered. Daraxandriel and Lilith were now exact twins except for their hair color.
“Wow,” I said. “Why didn’t you do that before? Why all that nonsense about being English?”
“I told thee, Peter Simon Collins, thou needs must enter into the contract with full recognition of the consequences. To guise myself to thee and pretend to be human would void it and render it worthless.” She turned her hands over, inspecting them with a dissatisfied grimace. “I do not like this. I miss my beauty.”
“You’re beautiful either way,” I insisted. “Right, guys?” Susie just rolled her eyes, Melissa nodded doubtfully, Stacy shrugged, and Mrs. Kendricks looked at me with an unreadable expression. I glanced over at the patio to check Lilith’s reaction to all this but her chair was empty. I looked around quickly but she was nowhere in sight, although her heels were still lying in the grass. “Uh-oh. Where did Lilith disappear to?”
There was another electrical crackle from somewhere and another yip of pain, followed by an impressive string of vituperatives. A few seconds later, Lilith came around the corner of the house, limping again. She stopped when she saw all of us looking at her and then visibly composed herself.
“I was admiring the flowers,” she stated haughtily.
“Of course,” Mrs. Kendricks said blandly. “All right, I think we’ve done all we can for the moment. Let’s head back inside.”
Susie and Melissa retrieved their bags and followed Mrs. Kendricks and Stacy into the house. Lilith wiggled her toes back into her shoes as she looked Daraxandriel over with a disgusted grimace. “It was bad enough when it was just your hair,” she complained. “Now you’re human too.”
“So are you,” I reminded her. She choose to ignore me and strutted back into the house. “Are you okay?” I asked Daraxandriel softly.
“Nay, I am discontent,” she told me, hugging herself. Without her horns and tail, she looked a lot smaller and more vulnerable.
“I’m sorry. We’ll get this sorted out as fast as we can, I promise.” I pulled her into a hug and bent to kiss her but I stopped before our lips touched and patted her forehead. Daraxandriel looked up at my hand cross-eyed.
“Art thine actions meant to be soothing, Peter Simon Collins?” she asked scornfully. “An that is so, thou hast failed.”
“No, I didn’t want to bump into your horns again.” I swept my hand over her head but my searching fingers encountered nothing but air. “They’re actually gone?” I asked in surprise. “They’re not just invisible?”
“Certes,” she huffed in annoyance. “I could not walk unheeded among humans were someone to brush against me.”
“So you were a demon but we didn’t realize it, then you got cursed so you were human, then you were uncursed so you’re a demon again, but now you look exactly like a human?”
“Aye, thou hast the right of it.”
“Why is everything so complicated?” I sighed. “I can’t keep up with all this.”
“All was well ere Lilith walked through thy door,” she grumbled. “She is the root of all our woes.”
“Peter!” Susie leaned out through the back door. “Hurry up! I need to get home.”
“Do you have somewhere you need to be?” I asked sourly. I sincerely doubted it. She probably just wanted to get back to her room and shed the clothes Melissa made her wear.
“None of your business,” she told me. “Come on.”
Daraxandriel and I followed her into the kitchen where the others were gathered. Lilith stood by herself, scowling resentfully at the rest of us.
“There you are,” Mrs. Hendricks said. “I was just saying that I’ll see if I can track down someone who can help with Dara’s, ah, problem.” She didn’t sound all that hopeful. “I’ll let you know as soon as I find out anything, Peter, but it will probably be a few days. In the meantime, do your best to keep these two out of sight.”
“I don’t see why I can’t just leave,” Lilith complained. “You’re not going to be able to lift my curse anyway.”
“You’re not going to stay and help your sister?” Melissa asked in surprise.
“I neither need nor want her aid,” Daraxandriel sniffed dismissively. “She would gladly twist all to her advantage and leave me with yet more troubles to mend.”
“Your troubles started the day you were spawned,” Lilith sneered. “You’d think you’d be used to them by now.”
“My troubles began the moment thy shadow darkened Peter Simon Collins’ threshold!” Daraxandriel retorted sharply.
“Oh my God,” I breathed. “Are you sure they can’t just stay here with you?” I begged Mrs. Kendricks.
She laughed and shook her head. “I wouldn’t get any sleep with these two harping at each other.”
“What about my sleep?”
“You’ll figure something out, I’m sure. Goodbye, everyone,” she announced, ushering us towards the front door like a hostess trying to get rid of the last few party guests. “I’ll call you when I learn anything.”
Susie opened the door and marched right out, more than ready to be gone, and Melissa followed her out reluctantly. I pushed Daraxandriel and Lilith after her and then paused on the threshold.
“So, um, thanks for everything,” I told Mrs. Kendricks. “I’m sorry about all this.”
“It’s not your fault, Peter,” she said. A crackle and a yip from outside was immediately followed by Lilith’s angry cursing. “Oops,” she said, although she didn’t sound in the least bit surprised or remorseful. She traced a symbol in the air. “She should be fine now. Don’t worry, Peter, we’ll get this sorted out.”
“I hope so,” I sighed. She just looked at me with her head tilted a bit and Stacy looked back and forth between us, her eyes narrowing again. “Well, we’d better get going,” I said hastily before Stacy decided there was really something going on between her mother and me.
“Goodbye, Peter,” Mrs. Kendricks said with a little smile that hinted she knew exactly what I was thinking. “Drive carefully.”
“Um, yes, I will. Goodbye, Stacy.” She nearly hit me with the door as she closed it firmly behind me.
Melissa’s Thunderbird was parked behind the Mustang and all four women stood on the sidewalk w
atching me. “What’s the holdup?” I asked.
“Your car’s locked,” Susie reported, as if that should have been obvious.
“Oh, right.” I dug into my pocket for the fob. The doors clicked but nobody moved. “Now what?”
“Thou needs must determine who shall ride in the fore,” Daraxandriel reminded me. Her expression made it clear that it had better be her but Susie and Lilith were looking at me in exactly the same way.
“Great,” I muttered.
“I can take two of them,” Melissa offered. “It’s on my way anyway.”
“Could you?” I asked, relieved. “Okay, who’s going with Melissa?” Susie immediately moved to her side while Daraxandriel and Lilith eyed each other.
“I would stay with thee, Peter Simon Collins,” Daraxandriel stated.
“Then I’ll go with my new friends,” Lilith announced archly. “I far prefer their company anyway.” Both Susie and Melissa rolled their eyes at that but said nothing.
“”That’s fine, let’s just get home and – well, I have no idea what happens next,” I admitted. “We’ll figure it out when we get there.”
At least I hope we will, I thought morosely as I got in and started the engine. I glanced over at Daraxandriel as she slipped into the passenger seat beside me and gave me a glum smile. I don’t see how she’s going to get out of this in one piece.
10
Fame is a fickle thing. Someone can work for years honing their craft to perfection and never get any recognition for it, while someone else can wake up one morning and find themselves on the cover of every magazine on the newsstand, only to disappear again without a trace. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.
If you sit down and list the names of all the famous historical figures you can think of, they’ll probably end up grouped into three categories: scientists and philosophers, religious leaders, and conquerors. Sir Isaac Newton? A scientist. Buddha? A religious figure. Genghis Khan? A conqueror. Marco Polo? Well, okay, an explorer, but you get my point. These are all people who changed the world in some way, for better or worse.
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