“You’re right.” I close the notebooks and stand up.
I walk to the adjacent room, the annex. To my surprise, I find an armchair and wooden side table there. Last time I walked through this room, it was empty. We’ve been decorating in between fights and solving curses and such, and I wanted all the old furniture gone, so the ghosts threw them out. It’s probably all piled up somewhere at the back of the garden, out of sight. Remnants of Dad’s secret life, memories of battles I was never a part of. Thinking about it still stings my heart, even though I know Dad was only trying to protect me and Mom.
Since I don’t recognize the chair or table, I conclude that Mona must have put them here. It’s a nice chair, comfy too, but the rest of the room is still chilly and dusty. I think I’ll let Mona and Mom decide how to decorate it once our mission is completed. It’ll be nice to have a cozy room to get together in instead of always sitting at the kitchen table. We could relax, watch movies together, play games, eat snacks and drink beer. Listen to some music. The thought makes me happy.
Until I remember that the “we” in those sentences will consist of only six people. After all, the Shield will move on when we defeat Lucifer. It will be Mom, Mona, Quinn, Charlie and Gisella sitting here with me. I’ll be alone. Mona will be alone.
My heart sinks at the thought. Then I shake my head feverously. No, I can’t let that happen. There has to be a way to keep us together.
But even while I’m thinking it, I know my fantasy of this big happy family can never come true. ‘Most of us want to move on. We want peace, we want to see our families again.’ Didn’t Jeep say something like that? He wants to see his wife again, Taylar misses his brother and Maël longs to be reunited with her tribe. And Vicky…
I rub my face hard to drive out the sad thoughts. I can think about this later.
Focus on getting everyone together now. On keeping the Devil in Hell. Take it one step at a time.
I throw my feet over the side of the chair and close my eyes.
Soon, the words for the spell roll through my mind.
I write them in my Book of Spells and leaf through Dad’s notebook to find ingredients that will amplify the power of my words. I choose black candles. Those will stand for banishment.
As soon as I’ve scribbled it all down, I return to the kitchen. I find it empty, but a peek through the back door window locates my friends. To my surprise, they’re training in the protective circle. In my concentration, I hadn’t even noticed the noise.
Happy with their efforts to get better, I leave them to it and go through the cupboards until I find most of the herbs I need. I also set aside some salt and a bowl.
From the doorway, I call out to Vicky, “I need some herbs. Can you check your endless pocket?”
She breaks off her fight with Maël and Gisella and blinks to my side. “Of course, what do you need?”
“Do you have any agrimony seeds?”
“To banish negative spirits? Sure. Good choice.”
I smile when she hands me a bottle filled with dried green leaves.
“How about some fern leaves? To prevent getting jinxed, and to ward off evil spirits.”
Her hand disappears into her pocket again. “Got those too. I stocked up with everything I could think of recently.”
“Black candles?”
“Yep.”
She sets it all down on the table. “Anything else?”
“Let’s see.” I scan my list again and check off the ingredients. “I’ve already got rosemary, saltpeter and regular salt.”
Vicky peers at my list. “You’ve got a lot of herbs that banish or ward off evil.”
“Yes, because Shelton Banks is powerful, and there are a lot of pixies and trolls in his house. We’ve got a lot of evil to defeat there.”
“Oh yes, it’s a great idea. But what about…” she reaches into her pocket again, “some aloes powder, to silence the lips of those who speak evil.”
I gape at her. “Really?”
With a chuckle, she sets the bottle on the table. “Yes, really.”
I rub my chin. “I thought it kept your skin smooth.”
She throws her head back and laughs. “That too. It all depends on the words you use them with.”
“Anything else I should put in?”
She wraps her arms around my neck. “No, I think this is a pretty strong combination.” She kisses me on the nose. “Need any help mixing it all?”
“That would be great. If you do that, I’ll heat up the calamus oil.”
“Used to control a situation or dominate a person,” Vicky says.
“Or both,” I add. I smile down at her. “You know all of them by heart?”
With a shrug, she pulls away. “Not all of them, only the most common ones.”
I grab the bottle of oil from the kitchen counter and pour the liquid into a saucepan. “Now you’re just being modest.”
“Not really,” she answers, shaking herb after herb into the bowl. “There are thousands of plants that can be used in spells. It’s impossible to remember them all, unless you’re a Mnemonist.”
I snort. “A what?”
“A Mnemonist is someone who can remember lots of things. They can memorize whole lists of data. The term is even used in the non-magical world, but of course no one there knows it’s actually a magical power.”
I turn up the heat under the pan. “Sounds awesome.”
Vicky appears next to me and kisses my neck. “Not as awesome as being able to control the weather and throw balls of lightning.”
With one hand, I pull her against me tightly. “You’re so hot when you’re flattering me.”
A loud “Wow!” from Kessley and a sudden veil of darkness makes us turn to the back garden. We hurry over to the back door simultaneously and freeze there.
A giant cloud hovers above the garden. Gisella is standing under it with her hands raised. The others are either watching her or the cloud in awe.
Vicky and I exchange a worried look before hurrying over to our friends.
“What happened? Are you guys okay? What is that thing? Is it a new demon?”
Kessley wakes from her shocked frozen state and starts hopping up and down. “No! It’s not a demon, it’s a cloud made of shadows. Isn’t this brilliant?”
My gaze shifts to Gisella. “No way. Are you doing this?” I knew she could move shadows now, but to create something steady like this, and of this size…
“You made this?” I ask again.
Instead of answering, Gisella moves her arms down to her side and then up again like a ballerina.
The cloud separates into hundreds of small pieces.
The werecat-witch holds one hand still and twirls the index finger of the other hand. Half of the clouds turn into small vortexes. With a quick downward move of her hand, Gisella makes them soar down. When she pulls her arm back, they change direction. Dozens of whirlwinds shoot straight at us.
I force myself to stay put. I have nothing to fear from Gisella. Still, my stomach swarms with restless bees.
Leaves and small rocks are pulled in as the vortexes make their way over to us. From the corner of my eye, I see the others stepping back. Kessley stopped hopping, and Charlie calls out a warning.
Three feet until they reach us. Two feet… My clothes are blown in all directions, as if five people are pulling them at once. One foot… I prepare to duck, but a fraction before one of them hits my nose, Gisella holds up her hand in a stop motion. Abruptly, all of the whirlwinds come to a halt and stop turning.
“Holy crap, Gisella!” I call out, releasing my anxiety and admiration all at once.
I shake the trembles from my hands. “How did you manage this in such a short time?”
She shrugs and moves her hands to the sides. All the shadows in the vortexes and clouds pull free and return to their natural places.
“It started as a reflex. I was collecting shadows, but wa
y too slow. So I braced for impact when Charlie threw a giant grease ball at me. That accidentally led to the huge cloud you saw.”
Still stunned, I stare at her without moving. “You are amazing.”
Kessley comes hopping back. She slaps Gisella on the back several times. “She’s brilliant, isn’t she? We are so gonna kick Satan’s ass.” She dances around us and back to the others, where she grabs Taylar by the hand. Together, they perform a manic dance around the protective circle.
Vicky comes to pat Gisella on the back too, and then whispers in my ear. “Interesting couple they make.”
When I frown, she nods at Kess and Taylar. My eyes grow wide as I realize what I’ve overlooked.
“You think…?”
Gisella bends forward. “Don’t tell me you hadn’t noticed their little moments yet.”
I turn away when I feel a blush rising to my cheeks. “Of course I have.” I walk back to the mansion. “Gather in the kitchen everyone!” I call over my shoulder. “The spell is almost ready. We’re leaving for Shelton Banks’ house soon.”
CHAPTER 25
Shelton Banks’ estate lies between Blackford and Mulling, to the north-east of our town. We passed it without knowing when we saved the priest.
A high iron gate blocks our way, just like Vicky said. I bring Phoenix to a halt and pull Dad’s notebook from my waistband to find a spell to open it when Gisella gets out of the car.
“What is she doing?” I ask Charlie, who’s sitting next to me.
He shrugs, but we don’t have to wait long for the answer.
With a couple of swift wrist movements, Gisella gathers a handful of shadows from the nearby trees and sends them into the lock in the gate, where they wriggle around for a while. With a soft creak, the gate swings open.
Gisella sends the shadows back and hops into the car.
“Wait,” Charlie says when I put my foot on the gas.
“Why?” Phoenix gives an impatient roar when I press the brakes.
“Aren’t we walking up to the house? We’re not going for a grand entrance, are we?”
“Why not?” I ask. “We’ve got everything we need to take them out. A spell, weapons, cages.”
He pulls his blond hair back and ties it together slowly. “True, but Mona said there are a lot of servants. Do we really want them all to see us before you get a chance to cast the spell to kill them? And what if the spell doesn’t work as expected? Or if there’s another creature in there that Mona didn’t know about. One that’s more powerful than we expect. It could knock you down, or even unconscious, before you get a chance to finish the spell.”
I watch him intently until he starts to shift uncomfortably in his seat.
“What?” he says eventually.
“I was just thinking, you’re a lot smarter than you look, Charlie.”
He punches my arm hard. “Twerp.”
Kessley giggles from the back seat, where she’s merged fully with Taylar, because of the lack of space.
I chuckle and punch him back. This goes on until Gisella leans forward. “Excuse me, children. Weren’t we in a hurry or something?”
We straighten up instantly. Kessley giggles even louder.
I put Phoenix in reverse and park her between two trees.
“If you park three feet back, the car will be hidden,” Gisella remarks.
I recoil. “You’re not serious, are you?”
She gives me a blank look in the rearview mirror, and I turn to face her. “You think I’m going to drive Phoenix into those bushes? She’ll get scratches all over her!”
Her mouth forms a silent O, and she turns her head to look out the window. To hide the fact that she’s rolling her eyes, most likely.
I’m about to explain that Phoenix isn’t like a regular car, that she was Dad’s and…
Before I can even form a solid sentence in my head, Gisella has stepped out.
Without a word, she walks into the forest and comes back with her arms full of red osier dogwood, which she places in front of the car.
Kessley disappears too and flickers back into view next to Gisella.
“Wow! Did you see that!” she calls out. “I apparated!”
“Well done,” I compliment her, taking the plants from her. “But try to keep your voice down, in case Shelton’s servants are nearby.”
She slams a hand against her mouth. “Oops, sorry.”
Gisella is off to get another batch of bushes, and Kessley follows her at a run.
Vicky watches her with a grin. “That girl is amazing.”
She helps me place the dogwood on the hood, and when Gisella and Kess deliver another supply, Phoenix is fully hidden behind strings of green.
We collect our weapons and the herb mixture from the trunk, and I read my spell one more time.
“Everybody ready?” I ask, taking in all the determined and expectant faces around me.
They raise the weapons they found in the storage room. Small cages to lock the pixies in and maces and shields to hit the trolls or pixies with, since swords and blades won’t do us much good against them. Trolls have thick skin, and pixies are agile and small. So what’s better than a couple of sticks with spiked balls to swing at them?
“Maël, can you take the lead, please?” I ask. “Vicky will close ranks to make sure no one sneaks up on us from behind.”
I could put the strongest fighters on each end, but Maël and Vicky can both use their senses to detect living beings, so this makes the most sense. They’ll warn us if someone approaches, and we can all get ready to fight.
Slowly and as quiet as possible, we make our way through the forest to the mansion. A whiff of chlorine hits my nose, and in my mind, an imagine pops up of a sparkling pool surrounded by sunbeds under parasols. Waiters walk around with trays full of cocktails and disappear into a dark mansion about the size of Darkwood Manor. Mold creeps up the walls and covers most of the windows. Cries of dismay bounce around inside. I almost shiver at the thought.
But when I finally catch sight of the house between the leaves and branches, my mouth falls open. It’s nothing like I imagined.
Hidden behind a small hedge lies a shell-shaped pool in front of something that I’d call a castle rather than a mansion. Or simply a three-story mass of balconies and glass.
At one end, there’s a tower, dwarfed by a strangely placed chimney, whilst the other end has the look of a converted garage slapped onto the main building. Between the two are layers upon layers of balconies, flanked on both sides by elegant round stairways leading from what I’m guessing are the living areas down to the pool. In the center of the mansion, there’s a massive stack of windows that reflects the sunlight, crowned with an arch that takes up half of the main roof.
It’s massive, it’s excessive and it screams “I have money!”. But it’s also light and inviting, nothing like I was expecting. It looks as if the architect couldn’t decide what kind of tower he liked best, had a love for chimneys in strange spots and didn’t know when to stop adding new parts. And although I hate to admit it, I kind of like it.
We all watch it silently for a minute.
“Are we sure he lives here alone?” Taylar asks, voicing my thoughts exactly.
Maël nods. “Yes, we did some research on the Pentaweb, and Mona said she never saw anyone other than Shelton and his servants here at night. There is no woman, there are no kids, and the friends he has never stay overnight, as far as she knows.”
“Then what does he need such a large house for?” Taylar says. I can tell by his tone of voice and the angry frown in his forehead that he’s getting more annoyed by the second.
“Who cares?” I answer. “Let’s do what we came here for. Kill his servants, collect all the evidence we can find about his involvement in your brother’s death, and get out of here.”
He wraps his hand firmer around his mace and presses his shield against his chest. “Gladly.”
&nbs
p; I turn to face Vicky, who’s scanning the tree line behind us. “Do you sense anyone?”
She shakes her head.
“Good. What about you, Maël?”
She forms the okay sign with her fingers.
“Then we’re moving in. Remember the plan.”
Without hesitation, they form a circle around me. It feels weird. As if I’m a king or something, more important than the others. I’m not. I’m the one casting the spell, and they will try to keep me out of the fight, if it comes to one.
Maël counts from three back to one, and we move in formation. One step at a time, to a silent rhythm in our heads. We practiced this only once back at Darkwood Manor, but now, it’s as if we do this every day. We leave the protection of the trees and move steadily past the pool to the middle of the building.
As soon as Maël, still in front, comes to a halt next to the large window, we all do. From here, I should be able to reach the most inhabitants with my spell. Not all, since it’s a big house, but most will do.
Vicky puts the four black candles from her pocket down on all sides of me while the others close ranks to protect us. I sprinkle salt around myself in the shape of a circle.
“What are you doing here?” an unnatural high voice says.
I set my curiosity aside and keep concentrating on the spell.
“We would like to speak to Mr. Banks,” Maël says calmly.
I block out their voices and light the black candles one by one without a word.
A strong smell spreads when I open the wooden box with the cooked mixture I prepared at home.
Something lets out an alarmed shriek and comes soaring toward me. Someone lifts a mace and smacks the creature in the head.
“Hurry up, Dante,” Vicky says from behind me. “We’ve been noticed, and they are going for the cold welcome.”
I take a handful of herb mush and get down on my knees to draw a circle inside the line of salt.
As soon as it’s complete, I call out my words over the noise of approaching trouble.
The Sixth Ghost: a supernatural urban fantasy action adventure (Cards of Death book 6) Page 17
