“Go on,” said Cordelia. “You need to touch the beast’s magic if you want to erase that mark of yours.”
“Oh, sure,” I muttered. “I’m just going to walk right up to the sleeping monster who could devour me in one bite and give it a poke, because why not.”
If it got me my Hemlock magic back, though, I’d have to grit my teeth and do it. Threads of green light surrounded the beast, keeping it in eternal slumber. It wouldn’t wake and eat me.
I reached out a hand. As my fingertips passed within inches of the dragon’s scaled skin, a tendril of shadow uncoiled, wrapping around the witch marks on my arm.
I bit my lip to avoid screaming when pain rippled up to my elbow, as though my skin was being torn off one layer at a time. My whole body trembled, my mind fracturing, my lungs caving in—
And then—
Magic.
My skin lit up all over, my teeth rattling with the sudden influx of power. I fell back, gasping, the threads of green light enveloping me like an electric blanket. I glanced down at my arm and found it blank, the marks wiped away.
Drawing in a breath, I turned back to the sleeping beast. “Cordelia, why not just kill them when they’re sleeping?”
“They remain immortal,” growled Cordelia. “When they die, they are revived, over and over again. This is the only way.”
All right, then. I floated back into the cave, relieved when steady ground replaced the abyss beneath my feet. The glyph-curtains swung back into place, hiding the pocket universe and the beasts sleeping within it.
“Our magic is the same, isn’t it?” I said tremulously. “I mean, it’s endless. Because it came from one of the gods.”
“Yes, Jacinda,” said Cordelia. “The Ancients who survived the purge of Faerie were not friends of humanity, but there were a handful of exceptions. The goddess known as Daiva became an ally and friend of the first Hemlock witch. When another Ancient killed her, she left her magic behind, in the wellspring. They say her consciousness still resides in the heart of our magic.”
“Damn.” I turned the information over in my mind. “So… will Evelyn know I undid the unbinding?”
Could she tell I’d re-established our connection?
“Perhaps,” she said. “You need to find her, and fast. The gods are scattered, but in order for her to gain immortality, she must strike a blow against one who can bleed.”
“Which rules out the Whisper and the Soul Collector,” I said. “I think the shadow fury can bleed, though not when he’s in shadowy mode, unless she’s decided to keep him as an ally. But tracking her is all but impossible. You can’t use a tracking spell on a ghost.”
One person might know… the Soul Collector himself. He’d all but taunted me with that information, but making a deal with him would put my friends at risk.
Evelyn had known the choices I’d be faced with. She’d wanted me to cut off all contact with my friends for a reason. But that wouldn’t be possible. Some bonds, when forged, could never be forgotten.
Like our own. I’d tried to separate myself from her, but in the end, we needed to be bound in order for the Hemlocks’ magic to endure. We were both shades. No other Hemlocks would be needed. We would remain imprisoned in rock and tree, forever.
No wonder she was willing to do anything to be rid of me.
I glanced down at my arm and gasped. The bark-like texture had spread, darker, even in the time since I’d undone the binding. The clock was ticking. Never mind stopping Evelyn from becoming immortal—the world would be a lot worse off if the curse claimed me before I had her chained to my side.
“The spirit lines are open again, Jas,” said Cordelia. “Use them to do what you must.”
Once more, the cave disappeared, leaving me on the other side with my thoughts, my magic—and my ticking curse.
13
Isabel and Agnes waited for me when I reappeared on Waverley Bridge. A cold breeze stirred my hair, cooling the tingling in my skin from the aftereffects of the god’s magic.
“Did you undo the binding?” asked Agnes.
“I did,” I said, “but the curse is spreading even faster than before.”
“I was afraid it would,” she murmured. “What did you learn?”
I told her, in brief terms, what I'd witnessed through Evelyn’s eyes. When I’d finished, Agnes remained silent for a few long moments, while Isabel watched us both anxiously.
“You knew, didn’t you?” I said to Agnes. “You knew Evelyn’s parents died in the other realm, and their—our—magic woke the Devourer.”
“I did,” she said. “I wanted you to witness those events for yourself before making your decision.”
“Not much of a choice.” I tugged my sleeves down over the fresh grey-brown colouring on my arms. “I stay cursed forever, or everyone dies. Evelyn’s still missing, and the curse isn’t going to wait for me to find her before it claims me.”
Like it or not, it was starting to look like the Soul Collector might be the only person capable of tracking her location in time for me to redo the binding before the curse ensnared me for good.
“We’ll find her.” Isabel frowned over my shoulder. “Asher. What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you.” Asher walked over, eyeing Agnes. “I didn’t know you were in town, Agnes.”
“Did everyone in the city know who you were except for me?” I shook my head. “If I didn’t know the Hemlocks had as little sense of humour as Lady Harper, I’d accuse them of orchestrating this whole thing to screw with me on purpose.”
“We kept our distance for a reason,” said Agnes, giving Asher an appraising look. “Isabel, you never told me your boyfriend was cursed by one of the gods.”
Isabel stiffened. “Excuse me?”
Asher turned on Agnes. “What did you just say?”
“That’s what it is, right?” said the older witch, unruffled by his accusing tone. “I can see its magic feeding on your soul. I’m surprised you’re still standing.”
Isabel’s eyes grew rounder with each word, her hands twisting together.
Asher shook his head. “It’s not like that.”
“You told me it was a blood curse,” Isabel said to him, her voice quiet.
“It is,” he said, not meeting her eyes. “But I didn’t put the mark there myself.”
Isabel’s frosty expression, and the sudden flare of bright runes on her arms, made the air turn static. I didn’t blame Asher for taking a step back.
Agnes grunted. “You’ll be lucky to last another year.”
Isabel’s visible anger gave way to disbelief. “You said two years, Asher. Two. What did you do?”
I remained still, uncomfortable to be witnessing something so private, but with no idea how to sneak away unnoticed.
“I hoped we might be able to stall it,” Asher said. “And you were right—the concoction has helped, just not as much as I’d hoped. Her magic did, too.” He jerked his head towards me, and I halted mid-step.
Damn. No wonder my Hemlock magic had temporarily healed him. It regenerated itself, pushing the god’s influence away in a similar manner to how the cave kept out the Devourer’s magic. But if Asher had bound himself to the god in the same way Lord Sutherland had, not even my magic could keep its influence out forever.
“Tell me the truth,” Isabel said to him. “Now.”
Asher drew in a measured breath. “I didn’t lie when I said my coven all but died out at the Orion League’s hands. For a coven to continue to exist, there must be three living members: a leader, a Second and a Third. The leader carries the coven’s magic, and I… I was the only survivor.”
“You couldn’t take on the leader’s magic alone,” Isabel said. “So you…”
“I used a blood spell,” he said quietly. “It was in one of the textbooks I inherited from my father… he lost his own life in a blood pact gone wrong, but I was desperate to hang onto my coven’s magic. I didn’t know…”
“You didn’t know the s
pell summoned the god,” Agnes finished. “And once summoned, the beast would not be pacified without a deal.”
Asher swallowed hard. “Since then, I’ve managed to rebuild some of what we lost, but the god’s curse remains. Even if I formed a new coven, it wouldn’t fade. A pact like that cannot be undone.”
I frowned. “You mean you’d have ceased to be a witch altogether if you hadn’t made the deal?”
I’d assumed witches couldn’t lose their magic once it awakened, but the lore around coven leader magic was a closely guarded secret, and besides, the Hemlocks had always stood apart from the other covens. Lady Harper hadn’t covered anything so advanced in her lessons, either.
Isabel turned to me. “When a group of witches forms a new coven, they use a certain spell that draws a small amount of magic from each of their coven members into a single leader. Their combined magic then stays with that witch until they die, or until they retire from leadership.”
“Then their Second takes their place,” I said. “And the power passes onto them.”
No wonder the coven leader was the strongest witch in their coven. They didn’t have to pick the most powerful witch, not when the position itself came with added power from all the other coven members.
“With older covens like mine, the magic builds with each generation,” said Isabel. “Newer covens have less, but each member adds a little of their own magic when they’re inducted into their coven.”
My mouth parted. “So what happens when all the members of the coven die? Where does their leader’s magic go then?”
“It dissipates,” said Isabel. “A spell must be cast to transfer a coven leader’s magic onto its new leader, and it requires three casters. So if, say, the coven leader and the Second both die at once, and the Third is the only surviving coven member…”
Asher straightened upright, a defiant expression on his face. “My magic would have been lost for good. I would never have survived the Orion League’s destruction without it. At the time, I didn’t expect to live to see the morning.”
“I’m glad you survived,” said Isabel, her voice tight, choked. “I’ll see you later.”
She turned around and walked away. I glanced back at Agnes, whose expression suggested she was about to give Asher a grilling. At a nod from her, I hurried after Isabel.
She walked fast, her head down, and didn’t speak for several minutes. Then she took in a breath. “I know it doesn’t matter, in the grand scheme of things. The Ancients are coming back no matter what, and she—Evelyn—the curse—” She broke off, tears glimmering on her lashes. “It feels selfish to worry about Asher when there are so many other people whose lives are being ruined by this. I can’t believe the Hemlocks didn’t offer you a way out.”
“You can care about both of us,” I said. “Your boyfriend lied to you. I’d say that’s a good reason to be angry. I was pissed when Keir ran off on me. It took me a while to forgive him.”
Asher had made a blood bond with an Ancient. If Evelyn found out, she might come after him next, but I doubted so. He had a year to live, and as Isabel had reminded me, I had less than that. Or forever, depending on how you looked at it.
“Cordelia’s your coven leader,” Isabel said after another short pause. “Right?”
“She used to be,” I said. “But the rule says there needs to be three living witches, and I don’t think she or the others count. I suppose our magic was too powerful to dissipate, so it ended up in the forest. And this… wellspring.” The image of the swirling currents of power entered my mind’s eye. “If it still exists. I guess Lady Harper drew that map before the spirit lines split open and the Devourer woke up. It wasn’t a clue after all.”
Having witnessed Evelyn’s history for myself, I couldn’t bring myself to blame Cordelia or Evelyn for how I’d wound up taking on the burden alone. Without the benefit of hindsight, neither she nor the other Hemlocks would have known the curse would end up being permanent, nor had they foreseen the faerie invasion wiping out most of their surviving coven members.
My phone buzzed loudly, and I jumped. “Lloyd’s calling me. Please say the Soul Collector isn’t back.”
“No, it’s the demon puppy,” said Lloyd’s voice from the phone. “I think you’re going to want to see this.”
I extricated my phone from my pocket to find the call had cut out. “He wants me to go and look at the puppy at a time like this?”
Isabel gave a small laugh. “Petting a cute puppy sounds like exactly what we need at the moment, to be honest.”
“All right, let’s go and see them.” I gave her a reassuring smile. “If it’s any consolation, Asher seems to really like you a lot. You’ll get over this bump.”
Her mouth tugged. “Sometimes I wish I had normal problems.”
I pushed my phone back into my pocket, causing my sleeve to ride up and expose the grey-brown texture spreading up my arm. “Same here. Let’s go and see what Lloyd wants.”
We walked the short distance back to the necromancer guild, and then followed the sound of barking to one of the upstairs training rooms.
I opened the door, finding Lloyd, Morgan and Mackie sitting on the floor while the puppy rolled around, playing with his tail.
“Hey,” I said. “I brought Isabel here to pet the demon puppy. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Go right ahead,” said Lloyd. “He bites, but it’s not deadly.”
“Okay,” said Isabel, uncertainly. The puppy bounded over to her, licking her hand. “No deadly drool, right? Because I got poisoned by a hellhound once and it wasn’t much fun.”
“Nah, he’s fine,” said Morgan. “He's a faerie dog, but we've decided to pretend he's a hellhound for security purposes.”
“I can’t believe Lady Montgomery let you keep him.” I shook my head at him.
“I imagine she’s a bit distracted at the moment.” Isabel staggered when the puppy jumped up into her arms. “Especially if you’re summoning demon puppies behind her back.”
“It was an accident,” Morgan protested. “I was looking for my sister.”
“On that note, want to tell me why you were all mysterious on the phone?” I turned to Lloyd.
“Oh, I wasn’t. I mean, the puppy knocked my phone out of my hand.”
I gave him an eye-roll. “Good job we weren’t in the middle of an important mission or anything.”
“We did find out he can track by scent,” Mackie said. “They think he can track your friend, even if she’s not in this realm.”
“Ilsa and Ivy?” I turned to Isabel. “I mean, you could use a tracking spell anyway… or I could, now I have my magic back.”
“You have your magic back?” Lloyd exclaimed. “You kept that quiet.”
“It’s been a long day.” I sat down with them, and the puppy climbed into my lap, his head lolling against my leg. Then I explained the events I’d witnessed in the forest.
“Damn,” said Lloyd. “Evelyn’s the one who caused the end of the world?”
“It wasn’t really her fault,” I said. “It was the dragon shifters who woke the Devourer, using her coven’s magic. Once the beast was awake, its magic started destroying everything it touched, so the Hemlocks had to step in before it got to Earth.”
The phantom touch of shadowy tendrils on my skin made goose bumps prick my arms. If I didn’t talk Evelyn out of her revenge plan, I’d be getting much more up close and personal experience with that beast than I’d have liked. But if she was going to lie down and accept her fate, she would already have done so long ago.
“I’ll come with you if you go through the mirror again,” said Isabel. “We know tracking spells do work in the other realm, so we can use one to find Ivy.”
“We need to figure out what to do when we find her, though,” I said. “I have my magic back, but if that shadow fury dies, even by accident…” Evelyn would get her new body and immortality along with it.
“If you redo the binding between the two of you, that’ll stop
her plans in their tracks, right?” Isabel said. “She’ll be stuck to you again. No more running off alone.”
“I’ll have to move fast,” I said. “She’ll be pissed at me, and she’ll probably try to take over my body again, but as long as I get her away from the Ancients, I’ll risk it.”
And then? There was nothing left for either of us but a one-way trip into the forest. A sense of creeping dread grew, despite my attempts to push it down. I wouldn’t give up on living. Not now.
“Don’t forget we also need to find my sister,” Morgan put in. “The puppy can help sniff out Ivy and Ilsa. Then we can rescue them while Jas deals with Evelyn.”
“Great idea, except Evelyn’s furies might have flown for miles with them,” I said. “She might even have left them in different locations just to throw us off the scent. I need to track Evelyn herself, and there’s only one way to do that. I have to speak to the Soul Collector.”
14
Needless to say, my plan was not a popular idea.
“You have got to be shitting me,” said Lloyd. “Jas, I know you think you’re on your deathbed, but that’s no reason to hurry up the process.”
Isabel stroked the demon puppy, who’d curled up in front of her. “Is there no other way?”
“If we summon and trap the Soul Collector in the right way, he won’t be able to attack any of us,” I said. “He can sense Evelyn and track her location. It’s that or run around the other realm on foot when there’s a whole city of angry dragon shifters who want to get us back for taking their prisoners away.”
“The Soul Collector won’t answer our questions,” said Morgan. “On account of how he hates our guts.”
“But he hates Evelyn more,” I told the others. “She betrayed him. I was never on his side to begin with. And he doesn’t have the Ether Converter. He knows he can’t take Evelyn down single-handedly, but I bet he wouldn’t be able to resist the bait. He wants a shot at getting her back for screwing him over.”
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