Ethereal Entanglements (27 page)

The gaping wound remained in Claire’s chest. Dust drifted down from the huge hole in the ceiling. Enion hung his head and trilled his distress while draped over the couch. Claire’s flesh now had a greenish cast in the same way corpses on TV usually had a bluish tint.

Nothing mattered anymore. Drew touched the blood-smeared locket in Claire’s chest. Losing his parents had felt like this too. Numb static drummed inside him, filling the place Claire used to own with vast, yawning emptiness.

Chapter 42

Drew

“What did Iulia do to her?” Justin’s whisper hit Drew like a brick to the face.

“I don’t know.” Drew heard his voice coming from his mouth but couldn’t understand how he spoke. His voice sounded too hollow to be real. “She said it would make Claire immortal and fix everything. Something went wrong and everything blew up instead.”

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t here,” Anne said through a thick layer of guilt and anguish. She slid Drew’s glasses onto his face and sat beside him. “I only stepped out for five minutes. I had no idea you’d all be back so soon. Then all of this…” She touched Claire’s hair.

“The explosion blew Iulia out of the house,” Justin muttered. “Good riddance.” He looked away. “I knew it was dangerous, but I never really… It should have been me.”

The admission flipped a switch inside Drew. Hot tears flowed again. “Yeah, it should’ve,” he snarled. “You’re the experienced Knight. It should’ve been you to take that hit. Instead, it was Claire. It’s not fair! And Enion’s broken!”

Enion gurgled in anguish.

“How do we fix this?” Drew could tell he shouted and didn’t care. “I don’t know how to fix it. Everything is screwed up, and it’s your fault. You got me possessed, you got me a possessed dog, you got Claire killed.” He lurched to his feet, trying to lift Claire, but he wasn’t strong enough to carry her. She could’ve carried him, which made it worse.

Justin scooped Claire into his arms and looked down at her face. “I barely had time to get to know her. But she was still part of our family.”

Drew deflated in an instant. Seeing Justin lift her with so much care punctured Drew’s outrage. He already regretted heaping the blame on this man. How many times had Claire told him to stop doing that over the past two days? “What do we do?”

Anne draped an arm around his shoulders. “We can’t take her to the police like that. They’ll have too many questions.”

“We bury her.”

Drew watched him carry her across the room. Justin seemed so calm and rational. Drew could barely think. “I can’t do this without her.”

“You can,” Anne murmured.

Stopping at the door, Justin hung his head. “I don’t think I can deal with two bodies today. Come open the door for me?”

With that, Drew knew Justin felt this. Drew had known Claire far longer, but Justin hurt over this. His tone made that painfully clear.

“I want her back. How do I get her back?” Drew begged.

Anne sighed and opened the door for Justin. They walked out together. Drew wiped his face and glanced at Enion. The dragon flashed silver and turned tiny, but that didn’t fix the half-healed gash in his side. Taking a step toward him, Drew made a decision. Enion needed help. Claire would want someone to take care of Enion and the rest of the dragons.

Crouching beside Enion, he pinched the wound shut while scooping him up. “We’ll fix this. I can’t fix anything else, but I won’t abandon you.”

Enion settled in the palm of his hand, still whimpering. Drew rifled through the kitchen as fast as he could and found some scotch tape. For the moment, he used it to hold the skin together in the hopes it would heal normally. Focusing on the delicate task helped him forget why he had to do it.

When he hurried outside, he found Justin waiting for him at the edge of the forest. The farmhouse door swung shut, showing where Anne had gone. Drew appreciated her leaving them to handle this. She’d barely known Claire. He and Justin walked together through the woods, Drew’s attention on not jostling Enion or tripping.

“I don’t even know if Mutt survived. I couldn’t tell.” He shook his head and watched his feet. “I think Djembe…” The words stuck in his throat.

“If he’s alive, I’m sure he’ll find his way here. He knows where you are.” Justin stepped over a fallen log and Drew got the impression he had a specific destination in mind. “You know you can stay with us still, right? You’re welcome here. You can also leave if you think that’s the best thing for you. I’m not going to pretend like I have any idea how you feel or what you need.”

Drew hadn’t expected that kind of offer. Considering it reminded him that Monday was a school day. How could he face teachers and homework after this? The prospect of eating leftover pie turned his stomach, let alone riding the school bus by himself. People would ask about Claire and he’d say…something. Or maybe no one would notice.

“Thanks. What about your house?”

“Jack and I will fix it. It’ll go faster if you help.”

Nodding, Drew went quiet. He thought about how much Claire had griped about being a Knight in the same breath that she whipped out her dagger and seemed so pleased with herself for having it. Justin had no armor or sword now. Neither did any of the other Knights. In fact, they weren’t Spirit Knights anymore. They were just men with a lot of specialized knowledge and experience.

Drew, on the other hand, still had Kay. Until someone came up with a way to enchant weapons again, he could—and should—pick up some slack in dealing with ghosts. The job would keep him busy, at least. Especially now, when who knew what might be roaming the streets.

They reached a big sycamore. Portland had tons of them all over the place. The ground around it had been kept clear, aside from a colony of moss on a large rock. Tariel stepped into view from the side and Drew had a feeling the Knights had kept their sprite bonds somehow. She hung her head and stood beside Justin.

Drew stared at the old leaves covering the dark dirt. Justin stood with him. For several minutes, no one spoke. A light breeze kicked up a handful of dry leaves.

“I forgot to bring a shovel,” Justin finally said.

The horse gave a low whinny. Enion chirped. Drew suspected both offered to help. Together, the four of them each did what they could. Justin used a flat rock. Drew pawed through the damp earth with his bare hands. It took longer than it should have, but Drew couldn’t feel good about running off to the ley line to recharge so he could use mist snakes to do this job. He didn’t want to leave Claire here until he knew nothing would happen to her.

When they’d made a deep enough hole, Justin jumped in and laid Claire out. Because of roots and rocks, she only fit curled up and Drew could almost imagine she slept. Tears slid down his cheeks again. Tariel tossed in some dandelions she’d bitten off a plant nearby. The yellow flowers landed on Claire’s face and Drew couldn’t look anymore.

He stepped away from the hole and dropped a handful of dirt in. Justin crouched by the edge and dropped his own handful.

“We’ll miss you, Claire,” Justin murmured.

Enion, still tiny, limped as he pushed in a tiny wad of dirt. He sat on his haunches and trilled at the sky, the sound too small to hold so much pain.

Tariel kicked dirt in with her hind legs and kept shoving it in while Drew scooped up Enion and sat on a root. “The first time I met Claire,” Drew said, his voice cracking, “she had this stuffed unicorn. The social worker brought her into the group home and left her there. She sat in the corner of the living room, watching everything over the top of that stuffed animal. Another boy, a few years older than her, stood in front of her with his fists on his hips and demanded she share the unicorn. She hit him with it then she punched him in the face.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.” Justin chuckled and set his hand on Drew’s shoulder. “That’s how you get her back. Don’t try to forget. Remember on purpose. She shaped you and you shaped her. Nothing and no one can take that away from you. No time is wasted if it’s spent with someone you love.”

“I…” Drew wiped his face. “I thought we’d have more time together.”

“Everyone thinks that.” Justin let go of him and rubbed Tariel’s nose. “I hate to ask this, but we need to go out and take a look around Vancouver. Avery’s going to need some help in Portland. With the seal broken, there’s no telling what’s happening. It might take a while before anyone notices anything, or ghosts might be flooding the streets. There’s something in the air I’ve never felt before, but it’s subtle.”

“I’ll come,” Drew said immediately. “It’s…it’s what she’d want. I think. Damn, I don’t know. Maybe she’d rather I get straight A’s.”

“Did she ask you for help before?”

The corner of Drew’s mouth tugged into a tiny smile as he remembered the moment. “Yeah.”

“Then she’d ask you again now.”

“Yeah.” Drew wiped his face again and held Enion up. “You get to lie around and heal, though. The girls are going to spoil you rotten.”

“Yes, they are.” Justin draped an arm around Drew’s shoulders, sparking vague memories of his father. “Would you like to get something to eat, or would you rather be alone for a while?”

Drew held Enion close. “Food sounds good. I don’t think I want to be alone. Not today.”

“We’ll try to get some sleep tonight, then we’ll go out on Tariel tomorrow morning.”

“Sounds like a plan.” They walked out of the woods together, the horse following. Things would be bad for a while. Drew knew he’d have mornings where he expected her to get on the bus with him. There would be dreams he wanted to share with her. He’d forget he didn’t have to help her with math homework. But he’d get through today, and then another day.

He’d make it without her.

Epilogue

Iulia

Sitting up, Iulia rubbed the back of her head. Claire had ruined everything. The stupid girl had gone to someone else for advice, and they’d given it to her. A green crystal. The perfect color for bolstering Claire and setting her up to self-power. Completely wrong for priming her to be the anchor for the new seal.

Looking around, she spotted Leeloo lying on her side among foreign trees in a land she knew nothing about. She had no idea how to replace the seal properly, especially with all that power from the old one blown to hell. For all she hated Caius, his strength and power had been the catalyst she needed the first time. Claire, as their descendant and a wielder of power in her own right, had been the best option to remake it.

The world didn’t have time to wait for Iulia to bring another life into this world and raise it, assuming her body could even do that anymore. Other descendants existed, of course. Finding one would be a challenge. Iulia had no idea how anyone traced lineage now, but she had no idea who her own ancestors were six generations previous and doubted her descendants knew any better. Names changed, memories failed, writings crumbled, histories faded.

Leeloo rumbled a groan.

Iulia scrambled to her side and patted her flank. “Wake up, Leeloo. I need you small.” Though Claire rode a dragon, she had no idea what ordinary people thought of them in these times. Protecting her only ally seemed wise.

“Tired,” Leeloo whined.

“Shrink so I can carry you.”

The dragon flashed silver. Iulia helped Leeloo settle around her neck.

Twigs snapping and leaves rustling warned her of people approaching. She hid behind a rock and decaying tree stump with a gap between them for her to peer through. Claire’s boyfriend and one of her friendly Knights buried her body at the foot of a tree. The Knight’s white horse pulsed with power, showing her the sprite bindings hadn’t broken. She could see the rules had changed, though. All those men would learn this the hard way. As it should be. Coddling them resulted in nothing positive. Caius taught her that.

Man and boy spoke of loss and grief while she listened, grateful the ability to understand their language had followed her from the Palace. Claire had chosen her allies well. These two seemed to understand their situation, and both struck her as more sensitive than Caius ever allowed himself to be. Had Claire survived, she suspected they would have made worthy allies.

The pair gave one last look to the grave and walked away with the horse. Iulia slumped and had to think. Without the seal in place, ghosts held at bay would roam. They would rise from graves. She doubted she could truly predict the effects. In her time, it would have been annoying. After two millennia of the Palace and its Knights tending the Earth, it could be catastrophic.

She held up Claire’s dagger, which somehow had survived the girl’s death. This phenomenon, she had no explanation for. The moment Claire died, the dagger should have dissipated. Thankfully, Iulia had been able to use it against the stone anchoring the old seal, but she didn’t understand it.

In a flash of insight, she sat up and stared at the churned earth marking Claire’s grave. The girl had died before Caius, which happened before the stone’s destruction. Dead Knights created ghosts. All of them. Every single Knight since Caius had become a ghost. With the power of Claire’s ghost to tap, Iulia had a second chance. She’d need help, of course, and the two who’d just walked away would provide none. If they saw her, she suspected they’d try to kill her. At the least, they would question her intensively.

Filled with excitement over the prospect of finally completing the seal properly, she leaped over the rock and ran to the grave. In the absence of someone or something bound to Claire, this body offered her the only viable link to the ghost. Iulia stabbed the dagger into a tree root, settled Leeloo beside it, and scooped dirt with a flat rock the Knight had left behind.

An hour later, weary and grimy, Iulia brushed dirt from Claire’s inert face. She touched the locket and felt the faint power pulsing beneath the surface. Victory twisted her mouth into a smug grin. Dissecting a gory corpse struck her as disgusting, but she only needed the locket. The rest of the body could stay in this hole and decompose.

Iulia scrambled out, snatched Claire’s dagger, and jumped back in. She pressed the tip of the dagger to the dead flesh beside the locket. When she pushed down to sink the blade in, a white crackle of electricity arced up the blade to her hand, jolting her. Spasms rocked her entire body for eternity.