That statement brought my gaze from the water-filled sink to my reflection in the mirror. I looked…bad. Tangled hair, red-rimmed eyes. I looked as haunted as I felt. "You can hear my Sylph?"
Abruptly my reflection rippled, as if the surface of the mirror became a water-swept lake, then sharpened. It was still me looking back, but I looked different. Whitish silver hair combined with bits of red glitter woven through it. Even my skin was smooth and shiny and my eyes…
Those eyes weren't mine. They were red and sparkled like too much red glitter.
"You said you didn't know why he freed himself. You said you were just as shocked as the others."
My reflection spoke to me, in the voice of my Arcane, "That was true. But I've heard him since then. He comes to us in your dreams."
"I'm not sleeping."
"You're sleeping awake, Samantha. I can hear his cries. He's sad. And lonely. And he can't break free."
I wasn't really sure this conversation wasn't a dream. But hearing this, being told he didn't reject me, helped. "So he was taken. He…he didn't leave me?"
"He didn't leave you. But I'm not sure how to get him back. He was taken by someone who wanted an Air Elemental. Someone strong. Someone…" My reflection got a far away look in her eyes before she refocused on me. "Someone dead."
"Dead?" My sleep-deprived brain started ticking way. "You mean like the Black Constable."
"John Domingo is the devil's name."
I said it several times aloud, letting it roll off of my tongue. "I know that name."
"Yes, you do."
I snapped my fingers. "That was the name of that thing Delacroix chewed me out for ordering. That PO someone forged my name on." I frowned. "Wait, wait, wait. You mean that ring, the serpent ring, is John Domingo's ring? He's the Black Constable?"
"Yes."
"Someone ordered that ring and put my name on it, and somehow it ended up in a booth at the French Market." I chewed on my lower lip. "Arcane, this means someone in the Cleric House, a Witch, brought that thing to New Orleans. But did they know what it was?"
"I'd count on it. But the real question here is why? Why bring something like that into the city, a thing containing an evil necromancer? And did the spirit contrive Nadeen's death, or was it simply an outcome because of the ring's presence?"
She had good, valid questions. I started putting a few of the pieces together. "Okay, I'm gonna throw out a tentative timeline on this. Someone requisitioned this ring, someone in the Cleric Office. Then they sold it in the French Market. That lady in the Market said the girl who ran the Forgotten Relics booth worked a government job. Working for the Cleric Office could pass as a government job. These kids buy this ring, and it influences them to kill Nadeen. I don't think they killed her themselves. I think the spirit did it, by using those boys like avatars."
Arcane nodded. "It makes sense it would want her dead. She was a Storm Warden who prevented him from regaining his power. Once she died, they acquired her knife."
"Yeah," I paced like Arden and Kyle. "So, the spirit has a Sylph. I'm assuming it's my Sylph. What's the endgame? And is it John Domingo's endgame, or the person who brought the ring to New Orleans?" Thunder shook the walls, and I stopped pacing and pointed at the ceiling. "This storm's part of it. Nothing about it feels right, and it's not acting like a normal weather occurrence."
"Whatever it is, it's causing a massive disruption in the city..."
"Arcane…" I stopped pacing and went back to the mirror. "How can I fix this if I don't know what he's after?"
"Do you really have to know? Seems to me the Dybbuk is the key in all this. You destroy him, and all the other pieces might fit together before they collapse."
I ran my fingers through my hair and kept them on the top of my head. "With something like this, I'm not sure I can. I'm assuming since it's a bad spirit it would need to be exorcised."
"Yes. And I'm betting you'll need all five Elements to do it."
I was pretty sure about that. I couldn't go after this thing wounded. But that put me back at the beginning. How was I going to get my Sylph back?
I felt something brush my bare leg and looked down to see my Gnome looking up at me, her axe strapped to her back. And just above her floated my Salamander. He was bigger than ever, the size of a football now, as he faced me. I looked into his eyes, and I wondered…was his increasing size and power indicative of my relationship, my love, for a Dragon whose own power was that of Fire?
As if he read my mind, the little guy nodded his head up and down. I smiled at him. "So you can understand me, hear me, even my thoughts?"
He shrugged, which was a feat for a creature with no shoulders.
"He says he can sometimes. Like now. Because you're focused on the Titan." The reflection of me leaned forward to look down at the Gnome. "There is a way you could reclaim your Sylph."
"There is?"
"Your Parliament won't like it. Especially Cosgrove."
"They don't like a lot of things. And right now, I don't give a crap about what he likes or doesn't like." The man threatened me earlier. It'd been a veiled threat, but it was there, none the less.
"Bond with them."
I returned a look of confusion. "I thought I was bonded to them. That's why they're with me."
"What you have is a magical connection. It's like a contract sort of thing. But you don't have the same kind of connection with them that you have…with me. That's how you can hear me. How we can communicate." She licked her lips, and she looked a little nervous. "That's how I'm able to take control sometimes, like when I had to hide myself from Dionysus."
She was talking about the dreams I'd had, when she'd known her creator was coming for her, to use her to get to Crwys. Dionysus's ultimate goal had been to steal the body of a Dragon, a Titan. A form that would have made him invincible. But he'd have to get close enough to do it, and he'd wanted to use the Arcane seed he'd placed inside of me to do it.
But Dionysus had created that other part of him too well, to where it wanted to survive; it wanted to thrive, with me. So my Arcane had taken control and hidden itself away from Dionysus inside of Crwys in order to protect Crwys from an invasion by a very nasty Leviathan.
My Arcane had saved me, and saved Crwys, and while others distrusted it, I trusted her completely. I glanced down at them, all of them. "Is this what you want? All of you?"
They all nodded to me. My Salamander floated in close and pressed his tiny nose to my cheek.
"What this means, Samantha, is that you'll have a stronger bond with them. You'll be able to sense your Sylph, and with their combined strength, possibly take him back."
"Maybe?"
"This is just as new to them as it is to you. But, there is a catch."
Isn't there always? "This is the part the Parliament won't like, isn't it? Is this bonding forbidden or something?" I couldn't remember ever hearing about bonding to Elementals. I just assumed we were already bonded.
"Pretty much."
"Why?"
"Because it's an Arcane thing."
I blinked. "An Arcane thing? You care to elaborate on that? Meaning…the bonding uses Arcane Magic?"
"Yes. It's not a bad thing, Samantha. It's just an old spell that'll boost your power and make it possible for you to directly communicate with all of the Elementals. Like you communicate with me."
I blinked. Stepped back and looked at them. I was pretty sure anyone else that saw me standing in my bathroom surrounded by mythical creatures would think they were hallucinating. But these Elementals…they were a part of me. Had been a part of me since my mother disappeared.
Mom?
I'm here.
Have you been listening?
And then Mom came to the bathroom door, no longer in her wolf form, but in her human one. I turned to her, not sure what to do as the Elementals moved aside, and I lunged into her arms. She was warm and smelled of musk and old memories. "Mom…"
"This was something I had planned
to do," Mom's voice said over me as she kissed the top of my head. "After you were born. It was a ritual we agreed to try, Ina and I. But we weren't sure if Monica would manifest Elemental or Dianic Gifts. We made the preparations, but then Dionysus showed up and the best laid plans…" She put her hands on my shoulders and pushed me back just enough to look into my eyes.
"Mom…who's Monica?"
She tilted her head to the side. "Monica Devonshire. Sam…you don't remember Monica? Ina's daughter?"
My jaw dropped a little as I scoured my memories to find anyone named Monica. I couldn't even recall a memory that Inamorata even had a child, much less a daughter and that I played with her.
"Damn that Leviathan." Mom sighed as she squeezed my shoulders. "He messed with so many of your memories. Rebuilt and remolded you. Used you. And I wasn't there to stop him."
I put my hands on my mom's wrists. "No, no, no. Let's save the regrets for later, okay? How could…if Ina had a daughter, and she and I used to play together, then where is she? How come she never came to see her mom? How come she and I never kept in touch?"
Mom lowered her arms and sighed. "Before Dionysus, Ina and her husband were separated. Just like your father, James wasn't a Witch and didn't always understand what Ina and I were doing. He told her make a choice. The Craft or her family."
"She chose magic?"
"She chose her family. But you of all people know being a Witch isn't something you can turn on and off. It's in your very blood."
"She couldn't stop the magic."
"No. James caught her teaching Monica and…" Mom gave a short sigh. "That was it. He took Monica away, filed for divorce, and she never saw her daughter again. The last time I saw Monica was the time we took your measures. It'd been something Ina wanted to do, to make sure you both were protected. Especially Monica."
"Measures?"
"Measures are a physical taking of a Witch's measurements," my Arcane said from the mirror. Mom and I stepped back into the bathroom to look into the mirror. I didn't ask if Mom could see her. I just assumed she could. "Depending on the tradition, some measures are taken at the time of initiation and held by the coven head as a sign of loyalty."
"But I'm not part of any coven, and as far as I know I wasn't part of yours," I looked at Mom when I said this. "Why did you take mine and Monica's measures?"
Mom answered, "Some believe the measure acts as a direct connection to the Witch. And through that connection they could be manipulated or controlled. Ina and I never wanted that to happen to the two of you so we took them, making any secondary measuring pretty much pointless."
Okay. So…there's that. I had a childhood friend named Monica. Monica had a mother she never knew because a Leviathan took her away and raised me when a Faerie took my mother.
How Brothers-Grimm-twisted was that?
I held up my hand. "This bonding spell—this will help me get my Sylph back."
"Yes," Mom said. "And it will bring you as close to your Elementals as you are with your Arcane. But there are a few other side effects. For one, you'll be impervious to a Vampire's blood."
"What does that mean?"
"It means Levi, or any other friendly Revenant, can't heal you. You can't be possessed by a Demon either, or an Angel. You'll always remain who you are."
"That doesn't exactly sound like a bad thing, Mom."
"Maybe. Maybe not. The spell's in the Malleus Maleficarum. You'll need my athame to read it."
"The Hammer," I said as I fought back sadness to dig through my memories. "Ivan has both of them. He digitized them for me after Dionysus was finally destroyed."
She bent down and put her hands to the sides of my face. "You have a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it. You can only perform this ritual under the blood moon."
"But that's tomorrow night—"
"I'm assuming this is why your Elementals prodded your Arcane to tell you this." She smiled. "Yes, this is their idea. They want their brother back, just as you do. But they also want their communion with you. Their acceptance of the Divine. The Parliament won't like it if you do this, because this will make you more powerful than their strongest."
"But they already know I have Arcane—"
"Not all of them do. Dryden kept the information from most and only gave it to those he felt worthy. Cosgrove is one of those. And though I sense he is a fair man at heart, he is still just a man. Witches are human, Samantha. We're fallible. And easily deceived." She brushed my hair from my face. "There is something else this kind of bond will do to you. Something we don't talk about because of how dangerous this knowledge is."
"What?"
Some one laid on their car horn right outside. I couldn't hear Mom speak, much less hear myself think. I moved past her to the glass doors leading to the veranda over the shop entrance. I unlocked them with a wave of my hand and they burst open, letting the wind from the lingering storm blow leaves and debris inside. I stood outside and looked down.
Arden's Mercedes was parked in front of the store. Her driver's door was open, and she was looking up at me through the windshield. When she saw me looking over the iron banister, she got out. "Hey! We got problems!"
I looked up and down the street. The sun was just coming up and early risers were up with the street washers as they spread suds on the streets to wash away the party from the night before. "You have no idea, Arden."
"I think I do. Is Kyle here?"
Kyle? I shook my head. "No. I thought he was at your house?"
"Open up, Sam." Arden got her purse out of her car and closed the door with a locking beep from her fob.
I turned and looked at the bathroom door, but Mom was in her wolf form at the top of the stairs and my Elementals were gone. Whatever it was Arden was bringing, it had them all on edge. I grabbed my jeans, pulled them on over my Hanes, and ran down the stairs barefoot.
Arden was at the shop's front door, and I felt the tingle of the wards as I unlocked it and let her in. She instantly turned, drew a pentagram in the air, and pushed it through the wall to hover outside under the veranda.
"Let's get to the basement," she said as she grabbed candles, several of Kyle's oils, and incense. "Get Grey down there too."
But Mom was already on her way down the steps as we stepped through the door into the break room. "What's going on?"
Arden drew nine more pentagrams and pushed them in nine different directions as they moved quickly through the walls. Once she was done, my ears popped. She'd just sealed the shop up. I wiggled my pinky in my ear as I followed her down the steps and we crowded into the small basement.
"Does this door have a lock?"
"Yeah."
"Lock it."
I ran back upstairs, grabbed the keys, returned, and locked the door, wishing I'd grabbed shoes since the floor was still littered with bricks. Once the door was locked, she set out all the stuff she'd grabbed on one of the shelves. She drew another pentagram, only this one was blue, and pushed it outside the door.
Uh oh, Grey said in my head.
"Uh oh what? Will you tell me what's going on?"
Can you still access the link?
I knew she meant the pack link. I'd been a part of Bastien's link since he bit me, but I'd closed it off. To access it, I had to locate it.
Only, it wasn't there.
"Uh oh," I said out loud, mirroring my mother.
"I'm going to assume you just realized your link to the Aces is gone." Arden pulled an athame from her purse, as well as a white-handled knife. She started building a makeshift altar on the floor in the back, and I helped her clear away bricks. She used the white-handled knife to cut the bottoms of two white candles, lit a small taper with a snap of her finger, and used the melted wax from it to affix the white candles to the floor. I grabbed what we needed for the four Elements, getting a cup from the shelves, one that wasn't cursed. I knew this because it was my Chewbacca glass I'd used a month ago.
Arden's Undine appeared and dumped water into it,
my Salamander appeared and lit the red candle, my Gnome appeared in a smaller form to place a pile of dirt on the floor, and Arden lit the incense and stuck it into the dirt.
"What—" I managed to get out.
"I'll give you the quick version. Kyle left my house at some point last night—I don't know when. I don't remember him going. But he wasn't in the best condition to do that. Not ten minutes after I realized Kyle was gone, there was a knock at my door. I think if I wasn't me, they wouldn't have knocked."
"Aces?"
"It was Ben and a whole bunch of wolves. They wanted to know what I knew about you, about what happened in the parking lot, about Crwys and…" She looked at me. "And where Bastien was."
"Bastien wasn't with them?"
"They didn't know where he was. Ben looked like he was going to shift without a moon, and you know if that happens to an apogee, it means they're under stress. I don't know what happened to Bastien after I left here last night. Ben's trying to keep them together, but they're mad. They're mad their brother was hurt, they're mad they can't find their Alpha in the link."
"So they cut me off?"
They've severed my connection as well. Grey sounded really, really worried.
"I was able to get them out of my house with a spell."
I watched her as she closed her eyes and wove a spell, then she reached into her pocket and pulled something out I recognized. "You used wolf's bane? I thought using that was against the treaty Bastien made."
"It is. But busting into my garden house wasn't part of it either. They would have trashed the place if I hadn't activated my own wards, which I'd luckily fortified with wolf's bane a few months back. Knocked all of them off the property. Don't worry, Ivan and Dharma are safe." She grabbed the taper again, lit it off the Fire candle, and set the herb on fire. It spotted and crackled, and I thought I saw tiny wolves howling in the smoke.
"You brought them here?"
"They were on their way here already," Arden said. "They're after you, Sam. They blame you for Jack's attack, and they blame you for Bastien's disappearance. And if they find Crwys"—she knitted her dark brows together over her eyes—"they'll go after him too."
"They can't hurt Crwys—"
Elemental Storm (The Eldritch Files Book 6) Page 13
