by Lee French
“Mutt, let’s go.” Drew took Claire’s hand. Cool mist billowed around them, making Claire shiver. When it cleared, they stood in Anne’s backyard.
For a former epicenter of possession, witchery, and corruption, it seemed so mundane. Grass edged with leafless trees surrounded a blue house and shed. A chain-link fence enclosed the whole yard. Fir trees along the rear property line marked the boundary of a wilderness preserve that Enion’s flight of two dozen dragons had abandoned last night or this morning.
Claire tugged on Drew’s hand and led him to the house’s front door. Justin had cut up the back door two days ago to get inside, and it had been boarded over. She knocked and ran through things to say in her head. Hopefully, Anne would understand the working for her locket without needing too much clarification.
Anne answered the door with sigh. “Are you here to extract blood or tears?”
“No.” Claire smiled and squeezed Drew’s hand to keep him from saying anything dumb. “I have some questions about magic I’m hoping you can answer. It’s kind of important.”
Inviting them in, she nodded. “I’ll tell you whatever I can.” She paused at the doorway to doily and crystal festooned room where she’d thrown tea in Claire’s face. The ensuing fight hadn’t been pretty. “I wish I had someplace else for you to sit, but I’ve cleaned up as much as I could. Still have two doors to replace.”
“It’s okay.” Claire yanked on Drew’s hand, dragging him into the room and forcing him to sit on the floral print couch. “And I’m sorry about all the mess.”
“No, you don’t apologize for anything, Claire. All of it was my fault, from top to bottom.” Anne sat in the wingback chair opposite the couch and pushed hair out of her face in what looked like a nervous gesture. “What can I answer for you?”
Claire appreciated getting down to business. She didn’t want to stew in the awkward any longer than necessary. For a few moments, she tried to figure out how to phrase the question. Nothing seemed right in her head. “So, I’m alive because of this locket embedded in my flesh that’s connected to the Palace. That’s where it gets its power from. After Justin almost destroyed it, I got to thinking about how I could make sure that sort of thing doesn’t kill me. Iu— Er, someone suggested I could fill it up with magic from a ley line so I’d be fine without the Palace, and she told me a way to do it. But I’m not sure I trust her one hundred percent.”
Anne perked up. “Oh. How interesting. May I see your locket closer?”
Happy to oblige, Claire moved to kneel in front of her and pulled her armor and shirt down to expose the locket face.
Brushing her fingers across the locket as Iulia had done, Anne made an “o” shape with her mouth. “Such intricate work. I’m glad this is already done, because making something like this is out of my league. Did this person tell you exactly what to do, or give you a riddle?”
“Both. The riddle is to gather the essence of near death, sharp protection of the spirit, and blood of a ghost. I’m supposed to coat my hands with dirt from an ancestor’s grave and cover a large, clear crystal with blood from a possessed creature, then stick it into a giant ley line.”
“Clear?” Anne frowned and retrieved her bright green, cat-eye glasses from a pocket to settle them on her nose. After several seconds of squinting at the locket, she sat back and took off the glasses. “What a strange choice. It’ll do what you want, I’m fairly certain of that, but because of how the locket’s fused to your heart, it’ll have some side effects I don’t think you want.” She stood and moved through the room, picking up crystals, examining them, and setting them down.
Drew met Claire’s gaze and gave her a look that suggested he’d like to talk about that. She shrugged. If he had something to say, she thought he should spit it out. He didn’t.
“Your source probably didn’t take that into account. Here, this will work much better.” Returning to Claire, Anne held out a large cluster of green crystalline rods joined at the center. The crystal covered her palm. “This is an unusually large annabergite colony. It’s worth a fair amount, but Kurt led me to it, so it’s only fitting I give it to you.”
Having the heavy crystal in her hand made everything more real. Claire gulped and reminded herself she needed to do this even if it seemed kind of scary. “You’re sure? About using this, I mean.”
“Yes, absolutely. If I didn’t have one of those, my next choice would be fluorite. I’d offer at least thirty other options before using anything clear. This is your life we’re talking about.”
Chapter 14
Claire
Outside, Drew tucked the crystal into his hoodie pocket because Claire had no pockets. She had to fix that sometime, maybe with a pouch on her belt. Something to hide her dagger so she could avoid problems with police would be a good idea too.
Drew hadn’t said a single word inside Anne’s house. Only when they reached the line of firs in the back did he speak up. “Where to next?”
Claire wanted to talk about the crystal revelation, but thought a graveyard might be more private than Anne’s backyard. “Troutdale. That’s where I grew up. My family is buried in a cemetery there. Goes back a bunch of generations on my dad’s side. If that doesn’t fulfill the ancestors thing, I don’t know what will.”
Mist billowed around them, blocking their view of the forest. Claire could imagine the world didn’t exist for a few precious seconds. Then the mist stripped away.
They stood behind a truck stop in a cold, dismal drizzle, the stench of rotten food from the nearby dumpster intensified by the weather.
“Best I could do,” Drew said. He patted Mutt and nudged him away from the dumpster. “Stupid rain. You’ll have to lead. I won’t be able to see anything useful through the raindrops on my glasses.”
“I don’t think this was here back then, or maybe I just never noticed it.” Claire wrapped her arm around Drew, wanting a buffer between her and the memories she knew she’d have to face here. “But that looks like the freeway. We need to go south.”
She appreciated landing someplace new instead of someplace she recognized. As soon as they reached the road leading deeper into the small town, though, she saw the old, familiar outlet mall and turned her gaze to the ground beneath her feet.
Her mother had liked that mall enough to go there a few times a month. Claire remembered visiting a children’s clothing store with her little brother in tow. Mom had wanted them to have nice clothes for something. Three-year-old Tyler had stood in the little sailor suit Mom had picked out and pouted at his reflection. Behind him, Claire hadn’t been thrilled with the matching dress Mom had forced on her. They’d given her a hard time for the rest of the day.
She shook her head and wished she had the locket to help her chase the past away. Settling for rubbing a fingertip on Enion’s head, she plodded onward.
“You were really quiet at Anne’s.” Forcing Drew to face his issues might help her dismiss her own. The shadows of her family threatened to send her into a funk. That helped nothing and no one.
He shrugged and kicked a rock into the gutter. “You wanted me to be nice.”
“The best you could do was keeping your mouth shut?”
“Yeah.”
“Master, why are you so unhappy?” Mutt pushed his head into Drew’s hand.
Claire squeezed Drew’s arm and leaned closer. “I know this isn’t how you wanted your life to go. You had plans. We had plans. I get that. But is there any scenario where being mopey about this actually fixes anything?”
“Yeah, Drew,” he snapped, “just get over it.” He shoved her aside and spread his arms to shout at the sky. The light rain splashed on his glasses. “Be happy! Take lemons and make lemonade! Everything is awesome!” Letting his arms fall, he glowered at her. “I’m sorry I’m not the Chosen One and can’t just take this and smile.” His eyes rolled up. “Shut up, Kay, this isn’t about you.”
Claire didn’t know how to react, though she understood that Kay spoke inside his
head. “That’s not what I meant.”
He stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets. “It’s what you sound like.”
“Sorry.” She groped for something else to say, wanting to keep him from abandoning her to spend time alone. “I just…I miss the regular you. You’re so angry and grumpy, even when you’re not.”
Hunching his shoulders, he turned his back on her. “I know. C’mon. Sooner we get this taken care of, sooner we can go check out haunted Portland. Because that’ll be more fun than you can shake a ghost at.”
Claire smirked as she hurried to catch up with him. “That almost sounded like a joke.”
He nudged her shoulder. “Should I be more uniformly grumpy?”
“No.” She took his hand and kissed his cheek. Noticing their surroundings, she recognized the streets she’d roamed on her bicycle after school and houses where her friends lived. What would happen if she knocked on Alicia’s door? Did Alicia even live there anymore? Would they recognize each other? The questions circled in her head, souring her mood.
They couldn’t find the cemetery soon enough. Claire led the way through the neighborhood to an unmarked, one-lane road. Backyards lined one side and a long stretch of dead grass with a tall juniper hedge lay on the other. With every step, dread settled on her shoulders. She hadn’t been back here since the funeral.
The idea to come here hadn’t bothered her. Being here made her want to turn around and walk away. She plodded up the road, wishing she could pack cotton around her heart to protect herself from those names. She’d have to see her little brother’s name etched in stone. The last time she saw him, she’d rolled her eyes and told him to stop touching her stuff. Then she went to Alicia’s house for a sleepover and never got to go home again.
Drew glanced at her, then squeezed her hand. With another few steps, he seemed to make a decision. “Do you have to get the dirt yourself?”
“What?”
He tugged on her hand to make her stop and face him. “I can go find the graves and get the dirt. You don’t have to go in there.”
Claire gazed into the distance, not seeing the grass or the gray skies. If he went in and she stayed out, that meant admitting she couldn’t handle it. She lifted her chin. “I’m not a coward.”
“I didn’t say you were.” He managed a weak smile. “I know I’m being a pain, but you’ve dealt with a lot in the past few days too, and this is one more thing. I know how hard it is to go see this. It’s not cowardice to let someone help you.”
“A Knight—”
He laid a finger on her lips. “Knights are mostly dumbasses, so far as I’ve seen. Be better than that. Justin tries to do everything himself, but you don’t have to. You’ve got Enion, you’ve got me. Even Mutt will help if you ask. I can’t go back to being normal, to just trying to get good grades and a regular job. That’s tough to swallow, and I’m trying. I can’t help being upset about it. That doesn’t change the fact I’m part of this world now, Claire, and I don’t need to be protected. I’m not your damsel in distress. Let me help so I can—” He sighed. “So I can do something besides act as your ferry service.”
Claire leaned against him and nodded. “You’re right. I’m trying to protect you and I don’t even know what from. Go ahead. I’ll wait here. I can always come back another time.” She sighed and watched Mutt follow Drew as he jogged up the road. Despite what he said, she still felt like a coward.
“Good choice,” Enion said. He climbed onto her shoulder and bumped his head against her cheek.
“Yeah.” She hugged herself and turned away to pace in the rain. “Hopefully.”
Chapter 15
Drew
“We shouldn’t do this,” Kay said, its voice slithering in his skull.
“Why not?” Only yesterday, chatting with the spirit possessing him required an unpleasant trance-like state. After he’d tapped the ley line near home for the second time, Kay had burst into his dreams. Now he couldn’t shut the stupid spirit up. He also couldn’t turn off the sight Kay gave him. Pulsing threads of magic criss-crossed the world. They joined and formed thicker threads, then came together in streams, just like water.
“The graves of Knights are dangerous places,” Kay said.
Mutt whined. “I don’t like this place.”
Jogging up the road, Drew scanned the cemetery it bisected. Evergreen trees, fencing, and more juniper hedges screened the area with short, brown grass and tombstones from the surrounding houses. The place had a quaint, cozy feel. After dark, it probably attracted kids, though he doubted anyone considered this place haunted. This area had a curious lack of threads, let alone ley lines.
Ahead to the left, he noticed faint, swirling power in blue and green. It churned like eels swimming in circles. Somehow, he saw it clearly despite the water on his glasses. “What’s special about the graves of Knights?”
“Do you think a Phasm is the only thing a Knight makes when he dies? His body doesn’t just stop being a vessel for the power of the Palace because it’s dead. That would be too simple. They used to burn Knights’ bodies, or throw them in the ocean. Some places sealed them inside stone boxes or catacombs. Back when they understood what was going on, that is. These days, no one has a clue.”
Drew stopped and wondered if he’d just volunteered for a lot more than he thought. “Are you saying this is more complicated than pulling out a handful of grass and leaving with the dirt clod?”
Kay snorted and gave the impression of rolling eyes it didn’t have. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying. And yes, that power over there is where you need to go.”
Drew stepped onto the grass, his sneaker squishing the muddy ground. The border felt… Something changed where the road ended and the grass began. Gray fell with the rain, washing away all hope for joy in the future. He lifted his foot and stepped back onto the road. Color returned to the world.
“Is that normal?”
“No.”
“Great.” Drew took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, now certain he’d gotten himself in over his head. He could go back and get Claire, but he’d just convinced her to let him do something for her. Giving up before he even did anything would show her he had no value. Besides, he had his own possessed dog. And magic. He could handle this for Claire.
With Kay’s power, he summoned mist. Heat leached out of the air, fueling the fog. He swished his hand and formed it into two slithering snake shapes, each the size of a large dog. Though he was near-sighted and everything natural about the area appeared fuzzy, he saw the snakes and his mist with perfect clarity. Given the ground was flat and gravestones easy to see, he tucked his glasses in his jacket pocket.
“What might we expect to find in a graveyard holding Knight corpses?” he asked Kay.
“Pain. Death. Suffering,” Mutt said. He laid on the ground and shivered.
“Guardians,” Kay said. “Curses. Traps. Seals.”
“Are you kidding? It’s a grave, not an Egyptian tomb.” He wondered if he should’ve brought Claire after all. She had the magic-cutting blade, not him. If something reared up and attacked, he had mist. The snakes could be effective, but they relied on his directions. “Is it the bones? I mean, no one would bother setting up traps or curses here, right? People still get buried in this graveyard. There’s probably a plot set aside for Claire.”
It sounded like Kay sniffed inside his head, and Drew couldn’t stop himself from also sniffing the air. “Someone’s disturbed this place,” Kay spat. “Get over there and let me see.”
“You should feel free not to say things with an implied ‘dumbass’ on the end. You know how long I’ve been doing this. Don’t act like you don’t.”
“Sorry.” Kay didn’t sound sorry at all.
Drew took a deep breath and let his sneaker squish on the grass again. Colors drained from the world again. He took a deep breath and forced himself to keep going. “C’mon, Mutt.” Hurrying would get this over with faster. He jogged to the corner with his snakes following,
to a spot protected from the rain by tall fir trees. Standing tombstones marked a dozen plots in a cluster, half with Claire’s last name of Terdan and half with a different last name, Marius. One tall stone in the group lay on its side next to a thick line of hard-packed, bare dirt where the head of its plot should be. Someone had knocked it over recently.
“Alastair Terdan,” Drew murmured, reading the name without crossing any of the family graves. Power in vibrant blues and greens danced across several with male names and he hesitated to touch anything. Blindly mucking around in unknown power sounded like a bad idea. “This guy died fifty years ago. Probably Claire’s great-grandfather. Why would anyone knock over just one of these stones?”
“To release something. Now the whole area is disturbed.”
Mutt, sitting on his foot and leaning against his leg, whined. “Isn’t there anywhere else we can do this?”
The unhelpful answer made Drew wish he could shake Kay until something useful fell out. “I don’t think so. I could take dirt from one of these women’s graves. That’s still an ancestor and none of them have any power.”
“Maybe.” Kay gave the impression of chewing on its fingernails. “I don’t know. I don’t know everything. With what Claire wants to do, an ancestor Knight is probably a better choice. More significant. Just not these particular ancestor Knights. We might rile up something unpleasant.”
Drew pushed Mutt aside and crouched at the foot of Alastair’s grave. Power in old bones sounded scary, but he had power too. Besides, if he roused something really awful, he could run to Claire and get her to stab it. He could live with that. “I dunno. They always say to go big or go home.”
“That’s an awful saying,” Mutt whimpered.
He felt Kay cringe. “If you must do it, get it done.”
“Good thing I didn’t bring a shovel or anything.” He waved at a mist snake and pointed at the middle of the grave. The pseudo-creature dove at the grass. Its jaws snapped around a clump of earth and ripped it out of the ground, grass and all.
