Beneath An Ivy Moon (Legacy Of Magick Series, Book 4) (13 page)

By the time Thursday rolled around the weather had swung back to hot and sticky. I felt wound up and edgy, almost unable to sit still. I squirmed in my chair, trying to return my focus on my history paper. Thunderstorms had been predicted, and the air seemed dense and heavy. I slid the pentagram pendant my mother had given me back and forth on its silver chain. My face felt hot, a rush of awareness rolled over me, and my heart rate picked up.

Something was coming...

I knew a premonition when I got hit with one. As with all premonitions there was no specific information, only an overwhelming urge to move, to
do
something… to figure out what was wrong.

I wished I could have spoken to my mother about everything that was happening. No one could cut through the bullshit the way Gwen Bishop had. It was funny the way I would miss her so intensely at random times. I felt tears well up in my eyes, and for the millionth time I focused on my mother, reaching out against hope for some type of contact.
Mom, I need you.

To my surprise, the little framed photo I had of my mother on my desk fell over. I picked up the picture and studied it. The picture had been taken of the two of us at the town’s Halloween Ball. I’d dressed up as Glinda the Good Witch, and Mom had worn an elegant red gown. The two of us stood arm and arm. I was puckered up, blowing a kiss at the photographer and Mom was laughing and smiling.

For the first time since she passed away, I heard her voice.
Ivy. Be safe. Trust your instincts, sweetheart.

I jolted hard. Finally it seemed my mother was reaching out from the other side! Autumn had confided in me that she’d seen my mother’s spirit the night Lexie was attacked, but
I
had not had any sign. For a moment tears swam in my eyes, and my heart raced.

Your intuition is a gift. Trust it.
I heard my mother say, plain as day.

It had been almost two years. No dreams, no visions, or messages from my mother. Now hearing her voice had me leaping to my feet.

Cypress snapped her head up from her computer. She pulled the earphones from her head, and studied my face. “What’s wrong?” she asked, her eyes glowing amber.

I pressed a hand to my heart. “I was having a premonition, and I heard my mother’s voice,” I said, my voice catching.

Cypress reached out and put her hand on my arm. “Oh, Ivy.” Her eyes glistened with sympathetic tears. “What did she say?”

I examined the little framed picture. “She said to be safe. To trust my instincts.” Gently, I replaced the photo to my desk. “Also that my intuition was a gift.” I blew out a long ragged breath and tried to compose myself.

Cypress reached out and hugged me. “It’s okay,” she said, rocking back and forth.

I squeezed her back and let her go. “Cy, I can’t shake it. Something’s about to happen. My intuition is screaming at me again.” The pressure of the premonition was hitting me square in the chest. “I feel it right here.” I rubbed the heel of my hand over my heart.

“You’ve got that look in your eye,” Cypress said. “The one that tells me: shit is about to get real.”

“Save your work, and power down your computer,” I heard myself say. My chest felt tight as I hit ‘Save’ as well, transferring my current work onto a flash drive. A rain scented gust of wind sent the curtains billowing into our dorm room, as I shut the laptop down.

“I’m on it,” Cypress said, doing as I suggested.

“We need to be ready.” I tucked my phone in my purse and dropped my memory cards and flash drive in my camera bag. On impulse, I wedged the framed picture of my mom next to my camera and zipped the bag closed. I slung the bag and my purse cross-body, tucking it behind me.

“Is it the coming rain, or something else?” Cypress asked as thunder rumbled.

“Yes to both,” I said, and went to check the sky out the window. The early evening sky had turned a sickly dark charcoal color with tinges of green. Clouds rolled and raced, coming in from the northwest. “There’s a hell of a storm rolling in.” I beckoned Cypress over to the window.

Cypress joined me at the window. The winds grew stronger, and some papers blew off her desk. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, checking her weather app, and frowned. “Wow, we’re under a tornado watch
and
a severe thunderstorm warning.” She picked up her purse and tucked her phone and flash drive inside. I watched her secure her wallet and glass case inside her huge purse. Cypress zipped it up and slung it over her shoulder, leaving her hands free. As soon as she finished, she slid a little flashlight out of her desk drawer and tucked it in her back pocket.

“The electricity will probably go out again,” I said, and sat on the floor to quickly lace up my black converse sneakers. “We lose power whenever there’s a storm.”

“It’s one of the little quirks of living in a building built in the1850s,” Cypress agreed, kicking off her sandals. She laced up her own tennis shoes. She had no sooner stood up when the tornado sirens went off. “Damn it.” She grabbed a couple of bed pillows and reached for my hand.

We went out in the corridor. Leann, the Residence Advisor, was working her way down the hall, knocking on doors. Girls were rushing out of their rooms and pushing towards the stairs. “Stay calm. Head for the basement,” Leann called out over the blare of the siren and babble of voices.

I stayed at the top of the stairs and did a head count as girls went past me. “I counted ten,” I told Leann. “Twelve counting you and me.”

“That’s everyone on our floor but one,” Leann said.

“Let’s go.” My heart was pounding hard as I followed her down to the main floor. Cypress waited for me at the door to the basement with her pillows. The storm seemed to beat against the Hall, and I tried to stay calm. Cypress and I clattered down the wooden stairs to find the girls all lined up, sitting on the floor with their backs against the old stone walls of the cellar. Many of them held pillows in their laps or had them over their heads.

We went to go sit with the girls from our floor, and I overheard Leann speaking to one of the residents from the first floor. “What do you mean she wouldn’t come down to the basement?” Leann sounded pissed.

“I don’t think she’s ever been through a tornado before. She refused to come down to the basement.” Genie tossed up her hands. “Last I saw, Jessica was standing out on the porch watching the storm come in.”

“Well go get her!” Leann shouted over the storm.

“I’m not going back up into that!” Genie shot back.

Jessica, again.
I felt an inner push and stood.
I had to help.
“I’ll go get her.”

“Fine.” Leann shoved a flashlight at me. “You go up and see if you can get her to come down here.”

Cypress jumped to her feet. “Ivy, no!” she yelled. The power went out, sending the basement into utter darkness. A rushing sound, then a loud crack, followed by a
boom
reverberated all the way through the building.

I pulled Leann down to the floor, covering my head with one arm. “Get down!”

“Ivy!” Cypress cried. I felt her hand on my arm, and she dragged Leann and me over against the wall with her.

“Tornado is on the ground!” I shouted to Cypress over the horrible noise from above. I’d been through a tornado once before— the sound they make isn’t something that you ever forget.

“Oya be merciful,” Cypress prayed to the Orisha of tempests and wind.

Lord and Lady keep us safe,
I thought.

We huddled together while the girls screamed, prayed and the whole building shook above us. One horribly long minute later— and everything was still.

I blew out a breath and hugged Cypress tight. “I love you,” I said, and meant it.

“Love you back.” Cypress squeezed me just as tightly.

Leann clicked on a flashlight. “Everyone okay?” she asked the group.

I saw the lights from several cell phones come on as girls used them as flashlights, and some began to try and text their families.

I cocked my head to one side and listened. It was quiet. The worst of the storm had passed. I blew out a thankful breath— and that relief lasted about five seconds.
Go upstairs! Hurry!
My intuition screamed through my head. “Cypress, we have to go up. We have to hurry,” I said, setting my bags aside.

“Jessica?” Cypress stood up, and aimed her flashlight.

Leann, nodded at me. “Oh god! Go! I’ll keep everyone else here.”

Cypress grabbed my arm and we rushed up the steps. “This is either the bravest or stupidest thing we’ve ever done!” she said as we cracked open the door to the main floor.

The double front doors of the Hall were bouncing back and forth, blown open from the storm winds. I couldn’t see out past the front porch. The view was restricted by huge leafy branches. I opened the basement door the rest of the way. “Jessica!” I called.

No debris was flying, so we picked our way across the main hall. It was a mess of fallen pictures, broken glass and leaves. When we made it to the main lobby Cypress and I stopped short in the hallway. Part of the lounge’s wall was missing. Oddly, the portrait of Victoria Crowly that hung over the mantle was untouched.

I saw a pair of tennis-shoe clad feet sticking out from a pile of furniture and rubble. My stomach heaved.

“Ivy, do you see that?” Cypress gasped, grabbing my arm.

“What?” I yanked my gaze up and discovered that Jessica wasn’t alone. A semi-transparent woman stood over Jessica, and she was smiling sadly at us.

CHAPTER EIGHT

For a split second I thought who I was seeing
was
Jessica, but no.
It’s someone or something else,
I realized. The fact that I could see right through the red-haired woman didn’t frighten me. What scared me was that she appeared to be crying— over Jessica.

“Calamity will continue to fall,” she warned us.

“Who are you?” I managed to ask, even though my voice wobbled.

The image of the woman seemed to be across the room one second— and then up and in our faces the next. “Find me. Restore my name.” The spirit’s image seemed to flicker, but her words sounded clearly over the passing storm. Suddenly the apparition appeared very real as it stood in front of us. “You must uncover the truth!” she said, reaching out.

I flinched when I felt a hand touch my hair.
That was so not cool!
“Hands off, lady,” I said, yanking my head away from the ghostly touch.

Beside me, Cypress flinched as well. “How is it doing that?”

“It’s pulling juice from the storm,” I said to Cypress out of the side of my mouth. I tried to stand firm and not show fear— but facing off with an unknown entity that was able to
touch me
— that was new for me. I took a deep breath, and stood tall. “You are not welcome here,” I said to the spirit.

Cypress took my left hand, raised her right, and pushed power out in front of us like a shield. “Baron Samedi, help your daughters.” Cypress held her other hand palm facing out as she stalked confidently forward. “Leave. This. Place!” With each word she spoke, Cypress’ voice became deeper, more powerful. And with each word, the apparition was pushed farther away.

I’d never seen Cypress like this.
Though Cy played it cool most of the time, she was a very strong, very capable practitioner. Sometimes I forgot how powerful of a magician she was. I moved with her, holding up my free hand in an ancient gesture to ward off evil.

I pushed out with my own magick, adding it to the shield Cypress had conjured. “We banish you from this place!” I said. With a whoosh of sound the spirit was blown back by our magick. It seemed to shoot away, stopping to hover directly over Jessica.

“Get away from her!” Cypress growled at the specter as the two of us moved together, towards the girl on the floor.

The spirit was suddenly less there, less
in
the room. “You are of the blood.” Frowning, she held up her hands as if to placate us. “Sisters, I am not your enemy.” She shook her head, as if she were confused. “Not your enemy...” She faded away entirely, a crack of thunder seeming to punctuate her disappearance.

“It’s gone,” Cypress shuddered, and her voice sounded almost back to normal.

We dropped hands and made our way over to Jessica as quickly as possible. As I climbed over the debris on the floor, my hands started to shake both in reaction, and from pushing out with my magick. “Jessica?” I called loudly, and we started to pull pieces of plaster, glass and furniture off of Jessica.

“Jessica? Cypress said. “Can you hear me?” Cypress bared her teeth, picked up a corner of a love seat and flipped it up and out of the way— by her fingertips.

“Holy crap, Cypress!” I blinked as it rolled past me.
The Loa is still on board...
I realized, and wondered how long Cypress’ strength would be enhanced from invoking Baron Samedi.

“What?” Cypress frowned at me.

I tore my eyes away from Cypress to glance back at Jessica’s feet, and was torn between screaming, crying, and throwing up. Cypress and I kept working, but Jessica never moved.

“Leann!” I shouted over my shoulder. “Get up here! We need help!”

I heard running and Leann was next to us. “Oh my god!” she gasped, and began to help us shift more debris off Jessica.

I pointed to a large piece of plaster. “Let’s get this off.” I could hear the rest of the girls rushing up from the basement.

“Jessica?” Leann called to the girl as she grabbed ahold and tried to lift the section with me.

Cypress was trembling, and I saw her stop and throw her head back as the Loa left her completely. She gulped for air, and seemed to remember where she was. She glanced self consciously over her shoulder.

“You okay?” I asked her.

Cypress nodded, then turned to the girls behind us. “Anyone have a cell signal?”

“I’ll check the land line. Maybe it still works,” Genie answered from out in the hallway.

Leann, Cypress and I wrestled with the large section of plaster. When we pulled it up, there were more girls waiting to help. We continued to try and dig her out with our bare hands, and it took several of us, but finally we were able to move the section aside, uncovering Jessica’s face and chest.