“Guy lost his leg, I don’t consider that easy.”
“I’ll give you that, but it could have been much worse. I’d suspect this family was protected by the Domovik.”
“Okay, so the consensus is that we have two separate entities—one annoying and potentially harmless as long as it doesn’t decide to burn the house down, and one hanging around outside and peeved that it hasn’t gotten an offering in a while. If we’re keeping the annoying one, how do we get rid of the peeved one?”
“Figure out how and where it was summoned,” Jonah said.
“They saw it in the garage, does that help?”
Jonah nodded. “They usually roam the fields in the spring and summer, but fall and winter, it would be near its own resting place. I’d start in the garage, or possibly, where the grandfather was attacked. You’re going to need this—” He held out his hand, the Celtic cross necklace dangling from his fingers.
“You can’t protect me all the time.”
“But when I can, I will. I’m not leaving the house so I won’t need it.”
Kaylyn snorted and fastened on the necklace. “Happy? How do normal people do this job—you know, the ones who don’t have an overprotective boss with some crazy necklace?”
“Consider yourself lucky you don’t have to find out. There are other ways to fashion wards, but I think you’re getting plenty short on time and energy.”
“No doubt,” she snorted. “So, once I find this thing, then what?”
Jonah rubbed his hand over his face, and Kaylyn rethought her question. If Leon and Cole could figure out what it was, she was sure the three of them could figure out how to deal with it.
“Never mind, we got it. Thanks, boss.” She felt kind of bad for leaving him there alone while she and the others were out doing all of the investigations. He was injured because of her and the stupid entity that he’d stepped up against to help protect her. She paused at the doorway and peeked back as he stretched out again. “I’m glad they sent you here.”
Jonah huffed a quiet laugh. “Crazy enough, so am I. Now get back to work, and call me when you get everything taken care of.”
“But—” Still feeling guilty and selfish for keeping him up when he was obviously exhausted and in pain, she didn’t want to disturb him again.
“Just do it, Kaylyn. I’ll keep my phone close this time.”
Kaylyn felt like she’d downed a hundred energy drinks by the time she got back to the farmhouse. Her phone hadn’t made a peep since she’d messaged Cole back saying that she was on her way, so she wasn’t sure whether to expect the best or worst. The front door opened when Kaylyn climbed out of the car.
“Get your ass inside,” Cole yelled when Kaylyn didn’t walk fast enough for her sister’s approval.
Once she crossed the threshold, Cole slammed the door, but for a few awkward moments, no one spoke. Leon and Cole stood on either side of Kaylyn, arms crossed, and eyes narrowed. They were both still wearing their coats, even though she’d received the text about the garage more than twenty minutes earlier.
Leon was leaned against the wall near the stairs. “It’s a Corn Wolf. A type of—”
“Field spirit,” Kaylyn filled in. “Jonah and I discussed it after you texted. Any idea how to get rid of it?”
Leon pushed off the wall and walked past her, shaking his head. “Why didn’t you ask Jonah?”
Kaylyn hadn’t stuck around when he arrived because she wanted to avoid all of the initial questions, but they both seemed far grumpier now than they were when she left. Granted she had run out in the middle of an investigation. “Because he looked like he was about to pass out.”
“What would you expect with everything that’s been going on?” Leon edged closer to the point of yelling. “He’s supposed to be at home resting for a reason.”
Kaylyn shook off the crude and sarcastic remarks that came to mind first. “I needed to talk to him.”
“I’ve had my suspicions since I got back, but I was mostly giving you a hard time. What was so important that you had to discuss it in the middle of an investigation?”
“Did either of you happen to figure out what’s in the house while I was gone?”
“No, but it seems to be—”
“It’s a Dom—” Fuck, Kaylyn thought, so much for her big kick-ass reveal if she couldn’t even remember the term Jonah had used.
“Domovik,” Kaylyn finally remembered, snapping her fingers as something above her knocked at the ceiling. “Oh, right, we’re supposed to call it Grandfather,” she whispered. “Sorry.”
Leon shook his head. “Wonderful, can Grandfather help us get rid of the Corn Wolf?”
Kaylyn waited to see if anything would happen, but there were no reactions from within the house. “I doubt it. He’s nice enough to protect us in here, but from his reactions, I don’t think he’s particularly thrilled since no one has even offered him dinner lately. Have you two tried accessing Aicil records to find out how to get rid of the Corn Wolf? Jonah said we have to find the location where it was summoned.”
“It’s in the garage,” Leon said. “There’s a large metal marker under the table. It didn’t like us messing with it.”
“But you both are okay?”
Cole nodded, “Yeah, apparently Leon reasoned with the thing, but I wouldn’t recommend going back out there.”
“It’s the only way,” Ida said. “You’ll be protected.”
“But only me,” Kaylyn replied without thinking.
From their strained expressions, Kaylyn knew Leon and Cole were curious what the hell she was talking about, but then Leon charged toward her. “You’re sure as hell not going out there alone Kaylyn.”
She pulled the necklace out from her shirt. “It can’t hurt me.”
“Jonah’s necklace,” Cole said, with an appraising nod, and finally a faint smile. “Smart move, you’re sure it’ll protect you from this thing?”
“Yes,” Kaylyn said, tucking it away. “I need to know what to do.”
Leon not convinced by the necklace, simply raised his eyebrows. “You’re still not going out there alone.”
“Yes, I am. You two stay in here and try to please the—Grandfather. He’s protecting the house and anyone in it. You also might want to check on Archie, if he was attacked by the dog, I’d predict he’s getting worse even if he wasn’t bitten.”
“There’s a large metal plate,” Leon said. “And I’m assuming you’re going to have to get to whatever’s underneath it.”
“I’ll figure it out,” Kaylyn grabbed his arm as he came toward her. He winced slightly but covered it up just as quickly. Kaylyn swallowed the fear that built up in her throat. “The book Jonah had said Grandfather would probably like milk, I assumed there was probably some in the fridge.” She turned to Cole, who nodded and headed into the kitchen.
Kaylyn grabbed for Leon’s coat sleeve, but he backed away from her and shook his head.
“Show me,” she whispered through clenched teeth.
“It doesn’t matter.” He leaned toward her, so Cole didn’t stand a chance of overhearing. “Once we get rid of it, everything will be fine.”
“I want to know how bad it is.”
Leon closed his eyes and rolled up his coat sleeve with slow but jerky motions. Black lines sprouted out from around what looked like two puncture marks on the front of his arm, he twisted his wrist around to reveal two more shallow wounds on the other side, which looked equally as bad. “Let me help you,” he whispered.
“No, if I piss it off, we don’t need it going after you again. That bite may last until I finish what I need to do, but who knows what else it’s capable of or what it will do to stop me.”
“And what if the necklace doesn’t stop it?”
Kaylyn heard Ida scoff behind her. “It will.”
“That why you went to see Jonah?”
“I hope your arm is the only reason you're cranky. And considering Cole obviously doesn’t know and you didn’
t plan on telling me, you shouldn’t really be uber-concerned with my secret keeping.”
Cole peeked back in the room, and both Kaylyn and Leon stood down.
“So what am I supposed to do, just put out this bowl of milk?” Cole asked.
“Yeah,” Kaylyn said. Then, she turned toward Ida.
“Trust your team,” she said and disappeared.
Kaylyn threw up her hands and let them drop against her thighs. Just how much was supposed to trust them. She swallowed, her eyes drifting down to Leon’s injured arm again. “There were a lot of reasons I needed to talk to Jonah.”
Cole returned empty handed and leaned against the archway to the kitchen. “Grandfather is taken care of, I think. What’s the plan?”
“I was hoping you two would know more about the Corn Wolf, but since Leon insists on knowing why I went to see Jonah....” Trust, she repeated, and hoped to the soles of her feet that she was doing the right thing. “The shadow that was caught on tape last night—I’ve been seeing her since the whole ordeal with the hotel, and I had to see Jonah before it got out, because it’s his mom.”
“Oh my—” Cole slapped her hand over her mouth. “You told him?”
“Yeah, I can also see other things, like the girl in the attic with the journal. Jonah’s mom had similar abilities, so I went to talk to him because I’m struggling to understand it all—and we were nearly bashing our heads into the walls trying to figure out what’s in the house.” She walked slowly to the window, watching her reflection in the pane of glass. “Jonah figured out what we were dealing with as soon as I told him that the original house burned down and Miranda called it Grandfather. So I dare say it was far from a wasted trip.”
Kaylyn couldn’t look either of them in the eye by the time she was done. She’d shed off the heaviest of her secrets, and now she waited for their reactions.
Leon draped his uninjured arm over her shoulders. “It’s been a long day for all of us. Sorry for snapping at you.”
Kaylyn nodded, “What do I need to take this thing out?”
Crossing his arms over his chest in what Kaylyn interpreted as an attempt to discreetly arm coddle his injured arm, Leon began to explain. “The family who summoned it probably did a sacrifice—”
A jolt of nausea and anger split through Kaylyn’s gut.
“A dog,” Leon continued. “You’ll have to do a purification ritual on the bones, and I’d suspect they’re under the metal slab in the garage—lavender, salt, sage, and thyme will help. You’ll need to set fire to the herbs and the bones.”
“Well, that would have been good to know. I didn’t realize I needed to go grocery shopping.”
Leon bumped Kaylyn’s shoulder and raised his eyebrows. “The pouch in my bag also contains Star Anise, and I suspect it’ll work fine.”
He fished through his bag and handed Kaylyn a large brown pouch, it smelled spicy, but the hues of lavender stood out the most, creating a calming effect.
Together they went over the makeshift plan while Kaylyn packed up everything she might need and readied herself for the trek to the garage, making a silent plea that nothing would go wrong and the necklace really would protect her.
The garage was quiet, and Kaylyn spent a few moments looking around and making sure that the dog wasn’t already there and watching. Whether or not she’d be immune to its attacks, she still wanted to know exactly where it was. But when she was reasonably sure she was alone in the room, she crouched near the table that covered the metal slab. It appeared to be at least an inch thick where Cole and Leon had started digging it up. When she reached toward it, however, a growl sounded from behind her.
“Perfect.” Her instincts caught fire, muscles tightening and preparing for action.
“Ignore it,” Ida said.
At least Kaylyn didn’t jump out of her skin at the woman’s words this time. Although she already felt like she was about to have a heart attack.
Kaylyn did as Ida instructed and continued digging at the metal slab. Once she was able to get her fingers under it, she tried lifting it up, but she estimated that it weighed at least a hundred pounds, and she couldn’t budge it. She scoured the garage and found a pry bar, cinder block, section of two by four, and a few large stones that had been piled in a corner. She jammed the pry bar under the metal, and using the cinder block as the fulcrum, managed to push it up high enough to slide under the section of two by four, which was longer and could give her more leverage as she tried to lift. She placed the wood over the strongest part of the cinder block and lifted the metal again.
The Corn Wolf growled and charged toward her, but she managed to keep her footing steady and kept the wooden beam in place. The spirit didn’t touch her, but when it jumped on the piece of metal, she felt everything shift and the board began to crack under the weight.
“Fuck.” She pressed her weight into the wood and used one foot to slide one of the rocks under the corner of the metal slab.
The Corn Wolf snarled and struck in her direction, but his muzzle passed right through her arm, leaving no injury.
“Bet you weren’t expecting that,” she said with a smirk.
With another sinister growl, the animal jumped at her and disappeared. Kaylyn froze and looked around. “Something tells me that’s not a good sign at this point.”
She worked quickly and carefully, slowly prying up the slab of metal until she could apply the herbs. The bones were close to the surface—luckily for her, because by the time she’d moved the cover piece, she was panting and her muscles shook with even the effort to lift the small pouch.
Turing over the brown pouch, she dusted the ingredients over the bones. Then, she searched the small garage again, until she found a small gas can. It seemed like a mixture of gas and oil, but it would be plenty flammable either way. When she turned back, the dog returned, laying over the slab and guarding his bones again.
“Grandfather wouldn’t let him in the house,” Ida said appearing next to him.
“Go grandfather.” Kaylyn poured the gasoline over the area. “I thought you could only see what I see.”
“Well, within certain limits. I was outside the door.”
“Leon’s really going to be okay after this, right?”
“The entity should no longer have any power.”
Suddenly, the Corn Wolf turned its sights on Ida, as if it had just realized she was there—or that she wasn’t protected, but before it could do anything, her apparition disappeared. He growled and snarled, helpless to stop Kaylyn from lighting the match and dropping it onto the remains.
The area went up quickly but didn’t stop there. It fizzled and sparked as Kaylyn backed toward the door. By the time she was a few feet away, the entire wooden garage was alight.
A deathly howl filled the air, and instead of waiting around and watching, she ran back toward the main house.
Cole and Leon waited in the kitchen, watching the recently set fire through the window.
“I think we’re all good,” Kaylyn said, collapsing at the kitchen table and trying to catch your breath. “How’s your arm?” she nodded to Leon.
Cole’s jaw dropped as her eyes snapped toward Leon.
He scowled at Kaylyn and rolled up his sleeve—there wasn’t even a trace left from the phantom bite. “All good,” he said, “the pain eased when the garage went up. I didn’t know you were planning on destroying the whole place.”
“I wasn’t really.” Kaylyn laid her head down on the table, unable to hold herself up any longer.
“I’m going to call the fire department, and um....” Cole hedged as she watched the flames through the window.
“I’ll take care of the family,” Leon said. “Kaylyn?”
“I’m going to sit here, and then call our broken leader to tell him we’re not dead.”
Leon patted the back of her head and stepped outside the back door. He’d definitely taken on the most difficult of the calls, and Kaylyn was glad she didn’t have to be on the line
as well.
Finally mustering enough energy to sit up, she dug her phone out of her pocket and pressed redial. This time, Jonah answered after only the second ring.
“Hey, boss. We’re alive, the Corn Wolf isn’t, and you should probably expect to see some property damage forms on your desk.”
“What happened?”
“Broke a window,” she said, leading with the least shocking news.
“Oh, well—”
She finished quickly to keep him from settling into his relief too early. “The fire department is on their way to take care of the rest.”
She heard a grunt, and then he muttered something in a language she didn’t understand. “Is everyone okay?”
“Yep. Exhausted, but okay. Thanks for your help.”
“Good work, Kay,” he said quietly.
Disconnecting the phone, she leaned back and stared at the dark screen while the distant sound of sirens grew.
The back door creaked open. “Raymond will be here soon,” Leon said. “You’ll be happy to know that Archie’s wounds mysteriously healed a few minutes ago.”
With as little movement as possible, she gave him a thumbs up.
He patted her back and chuckled, pulling one of the chairs out to sit next to her. “I know I’ve been giving you a hard time, but I want to know the truth. I won’t get angry or speak a word of it to anyone else. Is there really something between you and Jonah?”
“I’d like to know the answer to that, too.” She flattened her hands against the table. It was going to take her the rest of the day to get the dirt out from under her nails. “I’m also terrified to know. Terrified to screw things up, not just for me, but for everyone.”
He scooted his chair closer and Kaylyn collapsed sideways against his broad chest, while he squeezed her shoulder. She wished it could be like this with everyone.
“I’m exhausted,” she mumbled. “And I think my arms might fall off.”
“I’d tell you to go on home, but I doubt you’re in any condition to drive even if your car was here.”
Chapter 18
Beyond the Divide (Fractured Legacy Book 2) Page 16
