by Nova Nelson
With Hera now pacified, he shut the door behind him and locked it. “Answer me this,” he said, pulling his jacket tight against the chill. “The five of us are going to perform a connection ritual to pool our powers and defeat a freaking archetype, right?”
“Yep,” I said.
“Maybe this is getting too nitpicky, but does anyone know how to perform that type of a ritual?”
I cringed and glanced at the others, hoping one of them was nodding confidently.
None of them were.
“Great,” said Landon, throwing his hands up. “That’s just fine because magic is super easy and takes no practice whatsoever.”
Tanner said dryly, “I’m sensing some—” waved off another emergency owl. “I’m sensing some sarcasm.”
“Maybe’s he’s right,” said Eva. “Maybe we should wait until the library opens in the morning and see if we can’t find some guidance there.”
“No,” I said, “it can’t wait.”
Donovan moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with me. “I’m with Nora.”
Eva pouted exasperatedly and folded her arms across her chest. “Big shocker.”
A hand slipped into the back pocket of my pants. It wasn’t Tanner’s.
“For fang’s sake,” Tanner said. “Am I going to have to cuff you?”
“What?” Donovan removed his hand to hold both in the air. “I didn’t do anything!”
“Swirls!” said Tanner. “I saw you!”
Eva huffed and moved between Donovan and me. “They can’t help themselves, Tanner.”
Landon observed us closely. “It’s bad, isn’t it?”
Tanner nodded then cursed when two more owls swooped down. “I know, okay?!” he hollered. “Tell your friends to give me some space so I can actually do something about it!” He returned his attention to Landon. “It’s even worse at Sheehan’s. When we left, Bloom and Malavic were about to rekindle a romance for the ages.”
I jumped in before Landon could ask the obvious follow-up questions. “The point is things are getting complicated, emotions are getting stronger, and I don’t know if we can wait until tomorrow to put a stop to this.”
Donovan groaned, “It would be the longest night of my life if we did.”
Landon nodded, and I could practically see the switch flip from reluctant to all-in. I wished we had his conspiracy board handy. “I say we find a good place and draw her to us, then.”
“And where’s a good place?” I asked. “Not anywhere close to Medium Rare, please. I’m pretty sure our insurance doesn’t cover damages of this nature.” I looked at Tanner who confirmed with a “Definitely not.”
“Considering we have no idea what we’re doing,” Landon said, “the most we can hope for is all of our strengths to be heightened. I’ll be at my best if there’s good air flow I can draw from.”
“Good thinking,” said Donovan. “I need somewhere with water.”
“I just need fire,” said Eva. “We can conjure that up anywhere.”
“And I need solid earth to pull from,” said Tanner.
Then I realized that they were all looking at me. “Huh?” I said. “Oh, you’re wondering what I need? Hmm, I dunno, ten more years of training and Ruby telling me what to do every step of the way?”
Landon rolled his eyes. “Well, sure, we could all use ten more years of training before this. Heck, I’d even take one more day, but we already established we don’t have that much time. It doesn’t matter anyway. We’re talking natural ability, not academics. You’re a necromancer, so where do you need to be? A grave yard? The Deadwoods?”
“That one,” said Donovan. “The Deadwoods.”
Tanner’s eyes shot daggers his way, and Donovan cleared his throat and shut up again.
“Hard pass on the graveyard, too,” I said. “I doubt being surrounded by spirits would help me concentrate. There’s a reason I stay away from that place.”
I continued thinking about where might be best for me. I knew night was good, but I was already surrounded by that no matter what. Then I remembered something Ruby had said long ago, back when I first arrived in Eastwind.
The reason necromancers flourish at night is that we have a close connection to the stars. “Somewhere with open skies,” I said. “I need to be able to see as many of the stars as possible.”
I hadn’t even dipped my toes into astrology yet, but if we were going about this the natural way as Landon had suggested—drawing solely on our innate ability—then that wouldn’t matter much. Stars and Insight would have to be enough.
“Fulcrum Park?” offered Donovan. “I can draw from the fountain.”
“No good,” said Tanner, his hands on hips. “Too paved. I need to feel the earth under me.”
“And too sheltered by trees,” said Landon. “Bad air flow and low visibility of the night sky.”
A memory from my former life flashed into my head, and I wasn’t sure if it was Insight or some manipulation from Roland, but it gave me an idea.
“What about Rainbow Falls?”
That went over well with the others, so we set out.
The flashbacks hit with increased frequency as we climbed the steep, green slope just outside Erin Park, making our way toward the top of the falls. Even in the moonlight, the multicolors of the water shone bright.
While the others set out to make a safe and contained bonfire for Eva to draw from, I broke off and walked toward the edge of the green cliff, staring out onto the wilderness of forest and river below. It was a clear night, and when I shut my eyes, I could almost feel the pulse of the stars. If I listened, there was a jumbled buzzing like millions of whispering voices.
I’d never done this since crossing over. I’d never made time to be out here underneath the night sky to simply listen.
And that made me want to kick myself.
The sense of an immense store of power hanging just beyond my grasp was a reminder of how much I still had to learn and how much I’d been slacking off. Because I’d split my attention too much between lessons and Tanner and solving mysteries and running Medium Rare, I wasn’t as far along as I could be and now I was endangering my friends unnecessarily.
I opened my eyes again, and for a moment, I struggled to remember where I was in space and time. Was this Eastwind? Ireland? Or was it the edge of the world in that realm hidden beyond the tunnel of trees deep in the Deadwoods?
Maybe it didn’t matter. Maybe it was all the same. Over and over and over. I hadn’t realized it until then what a strong cycle I’d fallen into. Donovan was like an echo of Roland. Was there something I could do to stop this? To stay true to the new direction I was going with Tanner?
Roland’s voice came to me as a whisper on the breeze. “Here you are again, love.”
He, too, was just beyond my reach, but now I knew I could step forward and pull him through, make him real. How had I done that before? What was it about those moments with him that had allowed for him to start assuming a solid form?
I could feel him beside me, and when I glanced over, there he was, shimmering in the moonlight. His gaze extended beyond us, out past the cliff’s edge.
I felt the tremendous gravity of him, like all the atoms in my body were being pulled toward him. I avoided his eyes to give myself a chance of resisting, and the effort made my bones ache.
“It would be so good,” he said. “And now we know you can make it happen.”
“I know,” I whispered. “What I don’t know is how I’m able to.”
“I thought it’d be obvious.”
“It’s not.” A gust of wind blew against my back, pushing me closer to the edge. I knew it immediately for what it was: the Winds of Change.
“Your power is death. It may seem morbid, love, but that’s only when you look at it from the wrong side. Get ahead of it and look back, and you’ll see it’s also rebirth. The magic of rebirth is powerful indeed. Combined with a love spell of this caliber, and it only makes sense that you could resurre
ct past loves. But only if you stop holding back and give yourself over.”
If what he said was true, did that mean that once the love spell was gone, so was my chance of bringing him back?
“It’s not the only way,” he said, answering my question without my asking it. “But it’s the option you have before you. I’ve learned many things in my search for you, and if you bring me back, I may be able to help you take on the archetype. I may be able to help keep your friends safe.”
“What do you know?” I turned to face him, then remembered and looked away quickly.
“Many things,” he began. “For instance, I know this is not your battle to fight.”
“Stop it,” I hissed. “Just stop with that! You’re not going to convince me to turn my back on this and let the town devolve into chaos.”
“Not at all what I’m saying, Diana.”
The name felt like a smack to the cheek. “I’m not Diana. See? How can I trust you when you’re under the spell just as much as the rest of us? You’re not in love with me, Roland, you’re in love with her. Please. Just go wait at the house. You’re just a distraction.” I shoved my hands into my coat pockets and balled them into fists.
“Let me stay,” he said softly.
I dug my fingernails into the meat of my hand to keep myself sharp. “No. You absolutely cannot. You saw what happened at Sheehan’s. I can hardly think when you and Donovan are so close to me. And then throw Tanner into the mix, and there’s just no way.”
“I’m not leaving you,” he said firmly.
“If you stay, you’re putting me in harm’s way.” I gritted my teeth to muster up the courage to continue. “Get out of here. Don’t make me banish you for good.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I— Okay, I probably wouldn’t. But please, go.”
“Only because you asked nicely.”
I didn’t have to see him vanish to know he was gone. The knot in my stomach loosened, and I felt momentarily lightheaded from the concentration it had required to keep my distance.
“You okay?”
I turned just as Tanner reached me. The grass and soil were so soft, I hadn’t heard him approach. Or maybe I was just that lost in thought. He wrapped his arms around my waist, pressing the front of his warm body against my back. His duty belt jabbed me a little, but I didn’t mind. I leaned my head against his chest. “I should have studied harder,” I lamented. “I’m not prepared. I’m never prepared.”
“No one is,” he said quickly. “No one’s ever prepared for the unexpected. You can drive yourself crazy trying to prepare for it, which never works anyway, or you can just roll with it.”
“I’m terrible at rolling with it,” I said.
He chuckled. “Are you kidding me? You’re the best I know at rolling with it. You died and entered a new world just over six months ago. Look at everything that’s happened since you’ve arrived. There was no way to prepare for the dangerous things that have happened since, yet here you are.” He placed a flicker of a kiss on my neck. “Nothing I could have done to prepare myself for meeting you, that’s for sure. I was done for the second I saw you.” The warmth of his body was nice against the strong, cold breeze, and when he pulled away, I groaned.
“I think they’re ready for us,” he said. I put my back to the edge and smiled when I saw he was waiting for me a few steps ahead, gazing at me over his shoulder with his hand held out for me to take.
Of course, I took it.
We gathered in a circle around the fire. I stood with Landon on my left, Tanner on my right. Eva stood on the other side of Tanner, and Donovan shifted anxiously on his feet between Eva and Landon.
“What now?” asked Donovan.
“You tell me,” said Tanner. “You and Nora are the only ones who’ve ever done a connection ritual.”
“Be that as it may,” replied Donovan, “I had a spell and a prescribed ritual to perform. I have nothing to go on here.”
I jumped in. “I’m probably going to have to take the lead.” I didn’t want to, but step one of this whole process was summoning Cassandra to us, and I was the only one in the circle, as far as I knew, who had experience with that. “I’ll try to summon her here, but I’ve only ever summoned spirits, so I’m not making any promises.”
“And then what?” said Eva. “We don’t even know how to defeat her. We just summon her and then ask her politely to leave?”
She was joking, of course, but, hey, maybe it would work. “Admittedly, I don’t know what happens next. I’m hoping my Insight kicks in.”
“We could take a more analytical approach,” suggested Landon. “What do we know about an archetype?” For some reason unbeknownst to me, he looked to us for the answer. But after each of us shrugged or shook our head, he rolled his eyes and sighed. “Okay, I guess I’m the most knowledgeable one on this topic. Just so you know, that does not bode well for us, because my knowledge is extremely limited. What I do know about them is that they can look inside you. They play upon your weaknesses by triggering past experiences.”
“You know,” said Tanner, “I’m not so sure I like the analytical approach. Not particularly reassuring.”
“You prefer ignorance to knowledge?” Landon asked.
“Not that at all,” replied Tanner. “Your so-called knowledge doesn’t really help, does it? It just provides a comprehensive explanation of why we’re in over our heads. I prefer Nora’s approach because it leaves an air of mystery around how screwed we are.”
This was Tanner panicking. The others might not have been able to identify it for what it was, but I could. The epitome of “if you think, you stink,” Tanner Culpepper was best when he was in the action. Which meant it was time to get down to it.
I reached for Landon and Tanner. “We start by grabbing hands,” I said.
That feeling of swirling energy I’d experienced when I’d performed a connection ritual with Donovan was magnified the moment the five of us joined together. It was both dizzying and grounding at once.
“Whoa,” said Tanner.
“Seconded,” said Eva.
Landon said, “Reach out to your elements. We’ll need more power than this.”
I closed my eyes. The energy moving through me felt like a tsunami gathering out at sea, a swirling hurricane, a rumbling volcano, an earthquake. The power collected and collected, begging to be tapped into, and I knew I was the one who had to do it, but I worried what might happen to me when I did. I wasn’t strong enough or worthy enough to use this. The things I could do with it could be terrifying.
Ruby often made reference to raising an army of the dead, and when I reached out with my consciousness and poked at the cache of magic at my disposal between the five of us, I knew the idea wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility.
And yet, would it be enough?
The magic filled the space of the circle, pressing outward, needing an outlet, more space to expand.
Come on, Nora. Focus.
How did I summon a living being? Or was an archetype even that?
I decided to try it much the same way I would summon anything else. Except instead of imagining myself at Zilker Park, I drew upon another place that had become equally as familiar to me.
Then I called out to the night sky. And much to my surprise, it called back. Imagine hearing a thousand of the greatest stories ever told all at once, and you may have an idea of what it felt like to receive that power. My hair stood on end and my racing heartbeat slowed.
Cautiously, I tapped into the smallest bit of the magic I could, taking only what I needed to get started.
I imagined every table, every chair, the checkerboard tile on the floor, the coffee pots, the art on the walls, the blinking sign out front. I focused on the exact shape of the cherry stain on the countertop that no one could get out no matter how much scrubbing or magic was applied. And when I looked up from that stain, I’d done it. I was there, standing behind the counter at Medium Rare.
Custo
mers were peppered throughout at the tables, and not just any customers, but the ones who would actually come by at this time of night. These weren’t spirits wandering around; they were living, breathing people. Was this part of my imagination, or was this real? Strangely, I suspected the latter.
Bryant’s silver hair caught my eye as he took the order of a blended goblin and leprechaun family. He cracked a joke I couldn’t hear, and only once the sounds of the diner rushed in on their laughter did I realize that the world had been silent previous.
Where was she? I scanned the dining room, but she wasn’t there. She must be in the kitchen. That would be a more difficult setting to concoct with the detailed storage spaces and Anton shuffling his tools from place to place regularly.
Before I set out to conjure it, Cassandra hurried out of the back, the door flapping behind her as she carried a tray of burgers and fries over to Lot Flufferbum and his wife Gwen.
If I summoned her now, what would happen? Would everyone in the restaurant see her disappear? That would be teleportation, wouldn’t it? Was I capable of that? If so, it was probably best that I didn’t do it right in front of everyone. The last thing Medium Rare needed was to have someone on staff disappear right in front of an editor of the Eastwind Watch. Lot would have a field day with those headlines.
She placed the food in front of Mr. and Mrs. Flufferbum, and for a moment, I regretted what I was about to do; it wasn’t easy finding good servers in this town.
Granted, her powers of manipulation probably helped her with customer service, but still.
“What in the hellhound?”
My head snapped down and there was Grim, nestled in the corner underneath the counter, just below the pie stands.
“You can see me?” I asked.
“Sure can. But how can you see me?”
“Not entirely sure. What do I look like?”
He tilted his head to the side. “You look like a ghost.”
