“Did not.”
“Raj, I choked.” Tears glossed over her eyes and were quickly blinked away. “If you hadn’t been there . . .”
Raj cleared his throat. “Mr. Holloway was a bit intense.”
When Gray looked at him he grinned and suddenly she was chuckling softly. “God, he freaked me out. He always seemed so unassuming at the podium during lecture—not like something from a children’s horror story.”
“I’ll never forget the way he rushed out of the house,” Raj said.
“Or the evil grin.” Gray shuddered. “You know he’s gotta be demonic.”
Raj laughed. “I’m sure he’s thinking the same thing about his attackers—probably wanted to leave an impression.”
“He did that.” Gray turned with the pendants and Raj followed her into the kitchen. Gray pulled the stoppers and caps off the pendants. “They’re empty.”
“I emptied them.”
Gray turned toward Raj. “Adrian has his powers back?”
“I wanted him to be ready to perform the transfer.”
Gray nodded and turned away.
“Have you heard from your mom?”
Gray couldn’t stop her shoulders from sagging. “No, and I’ve left her a dozen messages. She may have gotten the call, but it’s still going to be too late.”
The kitchen countertops were polished and empty. There wasn’t even a fruit bowl set out. When Raj’s eyes found Gray again she had a kitchen knife poised over her wrist. Before he could speak she sliced herself open and held the first vial to her wrist. Raj hurried over and took it from her, replacing the stopper and lid as she filled the next vial. They worked in silence. When each vial was filled and sealed, Gray rinsed them once more in the sink then dried them off on a kitchen towel.
Gray handed Raj a pendant. “You’ll take one?”
He nodded and clasped it around his neck then tucked it beneath his shirt.
“Thank you. Is Adrian ready?”
“He’s located a lost soul in Seattle.”
Gray let out a breath. “Good.” Her aura morphed into a dull, heavy gray.
“Are you okay?” Raj tried asking again.
Gray looked around the kitchen. “It’s weird being inside Charlene’s body, you know?” She looked at Raj.
He didn’t answer. He had the feeling she didn’t expect one.
“I know it looks similar to my own, but it’s not and I feel it’s not. As strange as that’s been I can’t imagine being inside someone entirely unfamiliar to me.”
Raj took Gray’s hands in his. “It will still be you.”
Her hands trembled briefly and then she pulled away. “I know. Anyway, I’m done with this body. Onward and upward, right?”
Raj tapped a finger against the outline of his Zippo inside his pocket. “Yeah. Shall we?”
“Can we stop by the hospital first?”
Gray wanted Stacey to have one of the pendants. It was only fitting that she should be one of the individuals blocking the powers of the person who’d stolen her consciousness. After slipping the pendant around Stacey’s neck, Gray made it invisible.
Chapter Thirty
Adrian clapped his hands together and rubbed them when Gray entered his barren workshop. “All right. Who’s in the mood for a body transfer?”
Gray gave him a stony stare. She reached around her neck and unclasped the third pendant. Adrian’s eyes followed the chain as Gray pulled it out from under her turtleneck. She held it out. “A souvenir.”
Adrian snatched it. “And the other two?”
Gray inclined her head toward Raj. “Raj has one. Mine is in safe keeping. That’s Charlene’s blood in there. You can wear the pendant after the transfer or return it to Raj. Once you put it on, Charlene’s powers will be blocked. That means mine will be blocked as well.”
Adrian’s brow rose. “Not a good feeling.”
Gray took a deep breath. “No.”
“Let’s go then.”
Being powerless was a wretched feeling. Gray had already felt her abilities weaken after she clasped the first pendant around Raj’s neck. He naturally was against entrusting one to Adrian, but Gray found it fitting that the three people involved in the transfer should be the three to block Charlene’s powers. Once the transfer was complete, Gray would get her pendant back from Stacey. Every day that she had to look in the mirror and see a stranger’s face, she’d at least take comfort from the vial of Charlene’s blood hanging from her neck and know that her sister would never practice magic again.
If Gray’s transfer was unsuccessful and Stacey should die, the pendant would go with her. The chances of Charlene regaining all three pendants would be next to nil with one hanging invisible around a corpse under the ground.
“I’ll drive,” Raj said.
They were the last words Gray heard. As she stepped toward the door a fluttering feeling rushed over her right before she disappeared.
* * *
So this was what teleportation was like? It was quick. No whooshing portal or ethereal passageway leading from one place to the other. Or maybe that was because Gray wasn’t the one teleporting herself. She simply reappeared in her living room.
A shiver coursed through her body. All the windows were open. The draft prickled her skin as it had that morning. Terror gripped her by the throat. Nolan. Holloway. Her mind tripped over the two names, chanting them like a death mantra, but it was only Ryan.
“Hello, Gray.”
The voice sounded different, smooth, but Ryan’s pear-shaped face was as familiar as ever. He stood in the living room
Oh, for goodness’ sake.
Gray’s hands landed on her hips. “What are you doing here, Ryan?”
“I’m here on Charlene’s behalf.”
“Are you now? And did you help put Stacey Morehouse in a coma on Charlene’s behalf?”
Ryan grinned. “Charlene didn’t need my help with Stacey. She’s a very powerful witch, you know.”
“You mean psychotic.”
Ryan squinted. “That’s not a nice thing to say.”
“Speaking of psychotic . . .” Gray said, walking toward the door. “Get out of my house.” She reached for the door handle, but the door didn’t budge when she pulled on it.
When she looked at Ryan he was grinning. The boy might be pear-faced and short, but at the moment he’d taken on an entirely morbid look. “I’m not going anywhere, Gray, and neither are you.”
Ryan was juiced up on something, and had props. He’d pulled out a glowing orb that kept her rooted in place, back flat against the living room floor. The front door, which Gray couldn’t open moments earlier, was now wide open, in addition to the windows.
Thin trails of smoke rose to the ceiling like pieces of white string. Ryan was burning white sage in porcelain bowls. After lighting incense in every room downstairs he’d gone upstairs, Gray could only guess, to do the same in all the rooms above her.
“You little sh . . .” The words had died on her tongue when she tried to speak.
Fight, Gray told herself. Break through the magic.
Gray didn’t know whether she wanted to laugh or wail. Of all the people to take her down, she couldn’t believe it would be Ryan Phillips.
An image of Gray’s mom entered her head—her mom lost in the mountains, searching for a contact who’d beckoned her to get her out of the way. It all came down to the final battle of the twins, didn’t it?
Gray saw her mother coming home: Gray gone again, this time without a trace—not so much as a cold corpse for proof. Even with a second chance at life, she hadn’t gotten to tell her good-bye; to give her one last hug. Tears leaked out the sides of Gray’s eyes.
Gray managed to thrash slightly. Ryan’s eyes widened. He stood above her, reading aloud from an old text. He set it down and grabbed a porcelain bowl that wasn’t smoking. His fingers slipped inside then flicked above her, sending droplets over her face. They mingled with her tears. “With this holy water, spir
it be gone.”
Gray would have laughed if she had the use of her vocal cords. Nice try, Pear Head.
Then something began pulling at her insides. She gasped aloud. It should have alarmed her that Ryan found that encouraging, but she was a little too distracted by the sensation of floating away from the floor like one of the smoke trails streaming from white porcelain.
Gray was floating. Except she wasn’t floating. Her sister’s body was still on the floor.
“Go to the light, Graylee Perez.”
Screw you, Ryan Phillips.
There was a second gasp, only Gray hadn’t made it—the body on the floor had. The girl sat up suddenly, choking, then stopped. She looked at Ryan with teeth that gleamed like the Cheshire Cat. “You did it. You freaking did it!”
Oh, crap.
Chapter Thirty-One
Raj wasn’t good at locator spells, but Adrian was. Any misgivings he’d had about returning Adrian’s powers were put to rest when the warlock went immediately to work arranging four candles around his spot on the floor. He set one North, South, East, and West.
“Was Gray just purged?” came Raj’s first terrified question the moment Gray disappeared from sight. He’d considered she might have turned herself invisible, but only for a second. Her absence was tangible.
Adrian had studied the last place she’d stood. “That wasn’t a purge. That was an abduction, and a cowardly one at that.” Adrian lit the candles and jasmine incense.
Raj set a goblet of water in front of Adrian.
“Let the water show the location of Graylee Perez,” Adrian said. “Let the water show the location of Graylee Perez.” He repeated this two more times.
The water rippled then smoothed. A house appeared faintly then cleared.
“That’s Gray’s house,” Raj said, heading for the front door.
Adrian was right behind him. They jumped in Raj’s car and once more he screeched through the streets. From the corner of his eyes he saw Adrian’s set of syringes appear. One by one he injected himself with the remaining colors. “Once we take care of Gray you’ll need to get me to my Nan for detox.”
Raj flew into Gray’s driveway, coming to a skidding halt beside her car. From the street he’d seen the front door open and went racing inside.
Ryan Phillips stood over Gray. She was seated on the floor, trying to get to her feet. Raj started toward Ryan, to deck him, before helping Gray up. When he took his next step, however, she turned and smiled—a grin that stopped him in his tracks.
“You’re too late, McKenna. You’re too freaking late.” Charlene began laughing.
Raj fell to his knees and put his head in his hands.
The laughter abruptly died, as did the self-satisfied smile on Ryan’s face, when Adrian walked in. “Oh, it’s never too late,” he said smoothly. He stared directly at Ryan. “Ryan Phillips.” Adrian’s lips curled around the last name. “Your father has been a very bad warlock. Like father, like son. Sit down.”
It was a toss-up as to whether it was a spell or pure terror that made Ryan take a seat on the couch.
Raj rose slowly. The grief and hatred were equally intense and just about to rip him apart.
Adrian turned to Charlene, who now stood. “And you, my dear, are a wicked witch.”
“Screw you!” Charlene yelled.
“I don’t think so.” Adrian snatched Charlene’s wrist and pulled out a dagger.
She screamed as he carved something into her palm and did the same on her second hand. Adrian sliced into his palms and then grasped Charlene’s, joining their open wounds.
He began chanting in Latin.
“Stop him!” Charlene shrieked.
Ryan leapt off the couch and jumped onto Adrian’s back. Raj sprang to action and tackled Ryan. He had no idea what Adrian was doing, but anything at this point was worth a shot.
Adrian finished his incantation then dropped to the floor with a loud thud.
Charlene’s mouth opened and closed. She held her arms open and examined her body from her chest down then held her palms open in front of her.
“Charlene?” Ryan asked shakily from the floor.
Raj held his breath.
“He cut my freaking hands!”
Ryan followed Charlene to the kitchen. Water filled Raj’s eardrums—a gushing onslaught of liquid.
It looked like Adrian was dead. “Adrian.” Raj touched him with the tip of his shoe. “Adrian!”
Raj crouched beside Adrian and turned him over. The smile on the warlock’s face sent an unsettling shiver over him. Adrian tried to laugh, but it came out in raspy huffs. “Get me to my Nan,” he said.
Raj pulled Adrian up by the arm then half carried, half floated him to his car. Adrian crumpled onto the backseat, slumping across all three seats. When Raj drove over a pothole, Adrian moaned.
“She existed before and so too shall she exist again,” he mumbled. “February ninth. Death. Life. Purged. Returned.”
Raj’s knuckles tightened around the steering wheel. He wished Adrian would stop with the rantings. Gray was gone. This wasn’t the three a.m. switch. This was Charlene reclaiming her body all to herself. Why couldn’t she and Ryan have given them more time? They had come so close to doing the body transfer.
Raj punched the dashboard. Pain splintered through his fingers. Laughter rose from the backseats.
“You think she’s gone, ye of little faith,” Adrian said. “My spell is infallible, but it takes time and patience. You’ll see. You’ll all see. They thought they could stop me. Me! Adrian Montez!” His voice rose.
Raj glanced in his rearview mirror, half expecting to see Adrian pop up, but he remained down for the count and didn’t speak the remainder of the way, except to groan occasionally and mutter, “February ninth.”
Adrian’s grandmother made a big fuss when Raj dropped him off, lamenting in some language he didn’t recognize. Raj didn’t have time for dramatics. He dumped Adrian and headed for the south side of town.
Once arriving at his destination, he pounded on his mother’s door.
“Raj?”
He was staring at the ground. His lower lip quivered.
“Come in.”
They sat in silence in his mother’s living room until Raj began sobbing. He hid his face in his hands. His entire body shook. At some point his mother moved from the chair across from him and took a seat beside him. When her hand touched his back, Raj inhaled sharply.
“What happened?” his mother asked in a soothing voice. “The night of the fire?”
Raj stared straight ahead and blinked several times. “Dad attacked me. He was drunk. He threw me against the wall.” Raj took a deep breath. “Then he pulled out a cigarette and flicked open his Zippo.”
The hand that had been stroking Raj’s back stopped. Raj swallowed. “I snatched the lighter from him. He said to give it back. I said if he wanted it, go fetch it. Then I threw it in the living room. While Dad was hammering me with his fists the curtains caught fire. I didn’t realize Aahana was sleeping on the couch.”
The silence that followed was unbearable. As soon as Raj’s mother wrapped her arm around him the tears rushed down his cheeks, and this time she didn’t try to stop them.
His mom could be very abrupt. She also had one of the most soothing voices he’d ever heard—when she chose to use it. She used it now. “Raj, give me the lighter. It’s time to let go and come home.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
This time, when Gray went invisible, it was different. She floated like a spirit. She was incapable of speech or physical contact.
What she could do was travel at warp speed and go through walls.
She passed through the walls of Valley Medical Hospital and came to a stop at the foot of Stacey Morehouse’s bed. There was only a moment’s hesitation before she dove inside. It was rumored that if a soul still lingered, a battle for the body would ensue, but Stacey Morehouse had long given up.
But not entirely.
Graylee Perez.
Gray heard Stacey’s voice crystal clear, but she couldn’t see her through the white haze.
Suddenly the voice was closer—in her face.
Glad you could stop by.
Before Stacey exited the body she played Gray her last horrifying moments before hitting the light post. Gray nearly threw herself out of the body as the vehicle lost control and accelerated toward the steel post.
At the moment of impact, Gray sat up in the hospital bed, gasping. The movement triggered the alarms on her monitor. At first she thought the beeping was inside her head. A nurse ran in then nearly fainted when she saw Gray sitting up in bed. A second nurse followed and made the sign of the cross. “Sweet Jesus,” she said. “It’s a miracle.”
Mr. Morehouse was there within ten minutes, hugging Gray against his starched shirt. “I knew it. I knew you’d come back to me.” He stood up. “Out! Everyone out! Give my daughter room to breathe, except you, Dr. Conway. I’m holding you personally responsible for making sure Stacey stays in her current state.”
No one had addressed Gray directly, as though she were mute or might have lost all motor functions, but now that the initial shock had died down, Mr. Morehouse bent beside her. “Stacey, do you know who I am?”
So she had amnesia now, did she?
“Very funny, Dad. What’s going on?”
* * *
Gray turned her head side to side in front of the mirror: Stacey Morehouse’s mirror. After chasing the local news reporters away, Mr. Morehouse had insisted on taking her home, despite Dr. Conway’s entreaty to keep her in the hospital for observation. One just didn’t argue with a lawyer.
Gray’s hair was now golden blond. This was weirder than being inside Charlene’s body. She was also nearly a foot taller.
Gray opened Stacey’s dresser drawers. Nice clothes. Not really her style, but she could learn to adapt. Gray found a pair of faded jeans she liked and snapped her fingers. Surprise mixed with relief washed over her when the jeans appeared on her legs. She hadn’t been entirely convinced her powers would transfer with her into the body of a biologically ungifted human.
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