Spirits, Stilettos, and a Silver Bustier

by Deanna Chase

  “No. But it looks like we have a place to start anyway.”

  Jade stood. “I’ll get dressed and we’ll go see what’s what.”

  My heart started to pound as panic seized my limbs. Go back there? To the scene of the crime? It was the last thing I wanted to do. And even though Jade would be with me, I didn’t want to be anywhere near that place. “What if the witch is still there?”

  Jade’s eyes narrowed and her lips twisted to give her a truly frightening expression. “Then he or she will learn exactly what happens when you mess with my family.”

  ***

  An hour later, Jade and I sat in my VW a few houses down from Estelle’s place. My grip on the door handle was so tight my fingers had started to go numb.

  “You can wait here while I check it out,” Jade offered.

  I stared at the center-hall shotgun, taking in the peeling white paint and the sagging porch. The place was a wreck. It hadn’t looked so bad the night before in the dark.

  “We should’ve brought backup,” I said. “Kane. Lucien. Bea. Anyone.” Bea was Jade’s mentor and was extremely powerful. Not quite as powerful as Jade, but she had knowledge that was unparalleled.

  Jade gave me an apologetic look. “They’re all working. I’m sorry. This was probably a bad idea. We should go. I’ll come back later when Kane’s with me, and we’ll get some answers then.”

  I nodded and turned the key in the ignition. Barging in without a plan was a bad move. As much as I wanted answers, this wasn’t the way.

  The house is empty, Lily said. It’s okay to go in.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course,” Jade said. “We can—”

  I held up my hand, cutting her off. “Sorry. I was talking to Lily. Give me a sec.”

  I’m positive. There aren’t even any ghosts around. At least not at the moment.

  “Okay. Thanks.” I turned to Jade. “One of my guides says no one is there. So looks like we caught a break.”

  “That’s interesting.” She eyed the house, then turned back to me. “Sorry about interrupting. I forget about your new talent sometimes. It must be weird to have people in your head.”

  I shrugged. “Yeah, but they can be useful.”

  Jade climbed out of the car first and waited while I collected myself. PTSD was a bitch. I straightened my spine and joined Jade on the cracked sidewalk. “Let’s do this.”

  We strode up to the house, and even though Lily had told me it was empty, I knocked on the front door. No one ever said guides were right all the time.

  But sure enough, no one answered. We couldn’t even peek in the windows due to the shutters being closed.

  “This way,” I said, and just as I had the night before, the pair of us entered the yard through the side gate. It wouldn’t do to be seen breaking in, even if Jade could just use a spell to pop the front door lock. Being hauled in for breaking and entering wasn’t a good way to fly below the radar.

  The trees and other vegetation were massively overgrown. I had to wonder why I hadn’t fled sooner the night before. Honestly, the place would’ve been the perfect set for a horror flick. Run-down, overgrown, and an air of the creepy.

  “You thought I was hanging out here?” Jade asked, unable to hide her disbelief.

  “Give me a break. It was dark and I’d thought you’d just texted me. What would you have done?”

  The back porch creaked and wobbled as she climbed up the short stairs. She grabbed the railing and held on until she was certain it wasn’t going to collapse. When the danger seemed to pass, she glanced back. “Same as you. It’s just so awful.”

  “No argument here.” I stood in the yard, doing my best to think of nothing as Jade peered through the window of the french door. Just to my left was where I’d almost died the night before. And if I let myself think about it, I’d break down. Right now all that mattered was answers.

  “Pyper?” Jade turned to me, her eyes wide. “I’m ninety-nine percent sure this place belongs to Ruby. There are three clothes racks full of vintage clothes where the dining room table should be.”

  “Now what?” I asked, trying to settle my stomach. The creepiness that the witch had lured me here was making me nauseated.

  “We could go in.” She raised her eyebrows in question. “I’m not one for breaking and entering, but we have so little to go on. All I want to do is see if we can find some answers. It’s not like Ruby’s coming home.”

  Oh, crap on toast. Did she have to say that? “Jade, that’s…”

  “Awful, I know. You can wait out here if you want, but I’m going inside. Keep an eye out, would ya?”

  I didn’t even know what to say. Dealing with witches and dark magic really was Jade’s thing. Was it my place to tell her not to do something?

  Jade fiddled with the handle on the door for a moment until a zap of light shot from her hand and the door swung open.

  “Got it.” Jade poked her head in. “Anyone home?”

  Silence.

  She glanced back. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  I stood there like a fool, my pulse racing. The backyard started to close in on me, and before I knew what I was doing, I scrambled up onto the wobbly deck and followed Jade inside.

  The place was dark and musty, the stench of mothballs filling the air. And there was stuff everywhere. A hutch sat off to the side, the drawers open and full of jewelry and handbags. Old shoes lined the top. To the right was a large multipronged hat rack with some of the most beautiful chic hats from the twenties and thirties I’d ever seen. I ran a hand over one peacock-blue one and literally felt the excitement of a past owner.

  It only served to up my anxiety. I couldn’t do a reading right then. If a ghost showed up, I’d probably break out into a cold sweat. I was a wreck. “Jade?”

  “In here.”

  I followed her voice to a small glassed-in sitting room. The space was neat as a pin and decorated in soothing creams and rich maple tones to match the old floors. “Wow. It doesn’t look like this room belongs in this house.”

  “Right?” Jade looked up from a small writer’s desk. “I found a ledger. It lists where all her items came from.” She picked it up and pointed to the sheet. “We’ve found Shelby. She’s Shelby Crow and she lived in the Bywater.”

  I nodded. “That’s useful.” It was probably the only thing we’d find that might help us, judging by what we’d seen so far. Other than needing a major renovation, there was nothing unusual about Ruby’s house. It was about what one would expect from a woman who owned a vintage shop.

  “Maybe we should go,” I said, a chill running down my spine.

  “Just a minute.”

  “No, Jade. Now.” That Spidey-sense that something was terribly wrong went off in my head.

  “I want to check and make sure—”

  “We. Have. To. Go.” I spun and bolted for the back door. But when I got close to the three racks of clothing, the air thickened and my skin prickled with fear.

  “Who’s here?” I asked, my voice full of a confidence I didn’t actually possess.

  “She’s trapped. Find her and you’ll find the answers.” The smooth female voice was as clear as a bell, but I saw no one.

  “Who’s trapped?” I called, spinning.

  “The one with the ring.”

  What ring? That meant nothing to me. The room darkened as if it was night and the air pressure rose instantly, giving me a massive headache. “Stop it.” I pressed my hands to my head, trying to keep my skull from exploding. “I’ll find her. Just give me an idea of where to start.”

  But no one answered. The darkness only intensified as wind started to blow, followed by a crackle of thunder. A storm was brewing, and it was happening right in the middle of Ruby’s dining room.

  Chapter 12

  Lightning scattere
d across the ceiling, raining plaster down around me while the wind blew clothes and accessories everywhere. The sound of something whizzing right by my head made me duck and cry out in alarm. “Jade?”

  I heard nothing but the roar of the wind and the creak of the old house being battered from within. Son of a… What had happened? Magic? No one was here except for Jade and me and whoever the voice belonged to. Had we tripped some spell? We had to get out of there. I fell to my knees and reached out in front of me as I crawled forward, heading for what I hoped was the back door.

  I’d only inched forward a few feet when a rumble boomed overhead. The entire place shook with such force the floor rolled beneath me and I felt rather than heard a large chest tumble over.

  Sucking in a deep breath, I did my best to ignore the destruction and crawled closer to the door, but the farther I got, the worse the storm raged.

  “Pyper!” I heard the faint call of Jade’s voice over the storm. “Stop!”

  I froze and then slowly turned, trying to peer through the darkness. A faint white glow appeared near the entrance of the sunroom where Jade had found the ledger. It took me a moment to realize it was her.

  And as the light got brighter, the storm eased, the darkness disappearing into Jade’s light. My eyes widened as I watched her absorb the darkness the same way Julius had taken in the black magic the night before.

  I scrambled to my feet and ran toward her. “Jade, no! It’s too dangerous.”

  She shook her head, both her hands raised and full of the light.

  The sight was amazing. The power she controlled. The idea that nothing could stop her. It was awe-inspiring. But no one was so powerful they were immune to black magic, and I was certain that was what she was dealing with.

  “It’s going to kill you,” I yelled from across the room. “You have to let it go. Please, Jade. Let it go.” The desperation in my tone must have gotten her attention, because she stood there, arms up, but was no longer absorbing the magic. Everything just sort of hung in limbo.

  I took two steps forward. “It’s what destroyed Julius last night.”

  Her brow furrowed with confusion, but then she shook her head. “I have to finish this.”

  “But—”

  “Release!” Jade cried, pointing her fingers toward the ceiling. A powerful stream of magic sprang from her fingertips, blasting straight through the roof. The white light and black magic both shot out into the universe, leaving Jade and me in the center of destruction.

  She bolted to my side. “Time to go.”

  I was so stunned I didn’t move at first. But as she tugged on my arm, I took off, following her out the back door. We wasted no time sprinting to the side yard.

  We hid behind a tree, watching as the neighbor from across the street ran over and pounded on the door.

  “Anyone in there?” the older man yelled.

  “It sounded like a gas explosion,” a woman who’d followed him said.

  “Call nine one one,” the man ordered.

  Pyper and I glanced at each other. We couldn’t be here when the authorities showed. They’d arrest me for sure.

  The woman ran back into her house as the man proceeded to try to kick the door in.

  “Now,” I said to Jade and darted out onto the street, praying no one else was watching. It was the middle of the day on a Wednesday. Hopefully most people were at work.

  Jade followed, and instead of heading to the car, she ran up to the man on the porch. “Can we help?” She waved to me.

  Oh, son of… this was not good news. What the hell did she think she was doing?

  “I’ve got this,” the burly man said. “Stand back.”

  Jade shuffled backward to the railing, her hands clasped together in front of her.

  The man turned sideways and thrust his foot at the door. The second it hit, a tiny sliver of silver magic shot from Jade’s hands to the doorknob. The man was too shaken from the force of trying to kick the door down to notice anything.

  Jade gave me a tiny nod and inched her way down the stairs. “I think you almost have it.”

  The man took one look at her, then struck the door again. It crashed in, the doorjamb splintering with the force. The man shot inside.

  Jade hurried to the car. “Let’s go before the woman comes back out.”

  We both scrambled to get into the car, but before I could pull out into the street, the sound of sirens filled the air. It was a fire truck.

  “Dammit,” I muttered.

  “It’s okay. Give it a moment. Everyone still thinks it’s a gas leak.”

  The middle-aged woman flew out of her house and met the firemen at the truck. “My neighbor just broke the door down and is in there.” She pointed at the open door.

  One of the firemen walked her to the end of the fire truck, effectively hiding them from our view, while two more sprinted into the house.

  “That’s our cue,” I said and hit the gas. I immediately turned right, desperate to be anywhere other than Ruby’s street. And as I took one last look in the mirror at the spectacle, I swear I saw the outline of Julius standing next to the fire truck.

  A rush of joy and relief slammed into me. I hadn’t really believed I’d ever see him again. Not after what happened the night before. I was half a second from turning around and going back to look for him, but my foot slipped from the accelerator. The car jerked from the sudden movement, throwing me back into reality. We couldn’t go back there. Not even for Julius. “Crap crackers.”

  Jade glanced at me, her eyebrows raised in speculation. “You okay?”

  “Fine,” I grumbled. “I just saw a ghost.”

  She chuckled. “You might want to try to get used to that. It’s not like the city doesn’t have an abundance of them.”

  I sent her a side-eye glance. “You don’t say.” Then I fell silent, because after what we’d just gone through, I wasn’t sure how it was that she could be so cool. I was shaking with delayed adrenaline. Perhaps she was used to it. She did fight demons from time to time after all.

  “Head to Bea’s.”

  I glanced over at her. She was staring out the window, her knee bouncing. Ah, well then. She wasn’t as cool as she appeared to be.

  “Sure.” Bea lived in the Garden District, one of the most beautiful sections of the city. And it wasn’t too far away. After only four blocks, we crossed Magazine Street, the dividing line between the neighborhoods. The transformation was startling. Old oak trees lined streets filled with Victorian mansions and other large historical homes.

  Three minutes later, I pulled into the long driveway that led to Bea’s small carriage house. It was behind the grand family house her cousins occupied. “Do you think she’s home?”

  “She’s here.” Jade pointed to her mentor’s Prius. “Wednesdays are usually pretty slow, so unless she’s working on a special project, she doesn’t go in.”

  I put the car in park and realized I was no longer anxious, and the prickly feeling I’d had back at Ruby’s had disappeared. And even though I was still emotionally unsettled, at least I wasn’t ready to jump out of my skin anymore.

  Bea appeared from the gardens behind her house and waved. Jade jumped out, but I just sat there for a moment. Julius’s image was still burned into my brain. Had he really been at that house? Or had I imagined it? Was he trapped there now? Why would he be hanging around that place unless the magic he’d absorbed the night before had changed his circumstances?

  My car door opened, startling me.

  Bea held her hand out. She wore capri pants, a loose linen shirt, and plain white sneakers. Her hair was wrapped in a silk scarf, and she looked every bit the Southern lady with her perfectly applied makeup. “Why don’t you come in, and we’ll figure out the answers to your questions?”

  “That could take a while.” I let out a sardonic laugh as
I climbed out of the car. “Lead on, Bea. Lead on.”

  The bright yellow house stood against the clear blue backdrop of the late-winter day. In New Orleans, it felt more like spring than winter, and instead of leading us into the house, Bea waved us around to the back to her screened-in porch. “Sit,” she said. “I’ll get the tea.”

  Jade and I sat facing the already blooming gardens. A few butterflies fluttered across the yard. It was idyllic in the extreme, and I felt as though I’d been transported into another world where mad witches and black magic didn’t exist.

  “Here we go.” Bea set a tray of iced tea and shortbread cookies on the table. “Something told me I’d have visitors today.”

  “Was it a ghost?” I bit into a cookie.

  Bea grinned. “Maybe.”

  I set the cookie down and sat up straight. “Who?”

  Jade turned to her. “Yeah, who?”

  She lifted her hands, palms up. “Stand up. Both of you.”

  Jade and I glanced at each other. Then we both got to our feet and stood in front of her.

  “Face each other and hold hands.”

  Jade gave Bea a curious look as she held her hands out to me. “What are you up to?”

  Bea waved her question away. “Pyper, call on your guides.”

  I frowned. “I’m sort of not really in the mood—”

  “You want to do this. Trust me.”

  That was all I needed to hear. Bea was a good witch, but she was a great human being. She’d helped all of us on numerous occasions in the past. There was no reason to not trust her now.

  I sucked in a breath and concentrated. My world turned somewhat gray and a low-grade buzz filled my ears. “Lily? Tru? Are you there?”

  “We’re here,” they said together, their voices clear as day.

  My eyes flew open and I stared at the spirits I’d so far only spoken to in my head. The one with shocking white long hair and big, clear blue eyes smiled at me, her wrinkles deepening with her pleasure. “I’m Tru. It’s nice to officially meet you in person, so to speak.”

  I pulled my hand from Jade’s and held it out, but then dropped it, realizing she couldn’t shake my hand. “Oops. Sorry about that.” I grinned, pleasure winding its way through me. These two had become a part of me, and it was nice to put a face to the kind soul who was always there for me. “I wasn’t prepared to see you. Hello.”