The Necromancer (Amber Lee Mysteries Book 3) (9 page)

“Well… that sucks,” said Frank.

“Here,” I said. I brought a bottle of water and a bag of grapes to Collette. Red grapes. “I thought you’d be hungry. And there’s more where that came from, too.”

“Merci,” she said, “You did not have to do that for me, but it iz nice to be able to eat real food again. As soon as ze ritual is complete, I will eat.”

I nodded. “Please, you would have done the same. Now… this ritual.”

“Yes,” she said, standing again, “I have prepared a ritual that will tease my shadow out of the Underworld long enough for me to capture it, but I am too weak to summon the shadow alone. Its power is too great. This is why I need you and your coven to ‘elp me.”

“Alright,” I said, sitting down with my legs crossed at the edge of the ring of salt. “Let’s pull that sucker out and catch it. I feel like a ghost buster.”

“This should be interesting,” said Frank, who also sat down.

Damien sat too, but he still hadn’t said a word. I caught him staring at Collette at times, eyes tracing the shape of her neck and jaw. I frowned. Why wasn’t he speaking? Was he taken by her? I guess I couldn’t blame him. Collette was an absolute beauty. And I shouldn’t be jealous, but what about Natalie? Weren’t they still together?

“I will begin the incantation,” said Collette. “Amber, you will follow me, then Damien, then Frank. We will repeat the phrase three times, then three times again, and a Cenote will open.”

“A Cenote will open… here?” I asked, pointing at the ring of salt. The circle was easily as big as a hot tub, but there wasn’t any water beneath it—only cracked stone and dirt.

Still, Collette nodded, sure of herself, and we began.

Collette recited her incantation in the language of the True Witch; an old language completely different to any other language on the planet, but also familiar to every last one of them.

We spoke in rhyme, the four of us, and as we reached the third repetition of the incantation, I noticed the ambient light streaking through the damaged and broken windows starting to dim. It was as if a thick cloud had sailed over the sun and blocked its light.

We spoke the verse a fourth time and I noted the stone in the ring of salt starting to darken. My heart started to race again as the temperature around me plummeted. My eyes darted about the room as shadows became more prominent and seemed to dance against the pale blue light coming off the fireplace.

Then a bubble of water broke through the stone in the ground, and another, and another. Soon, black water was spilling out into the stone around it, slipping through every nook crevice spreading outward from the center. It was as if we had been drilling and struck a patch of oil! But when the water reached the ring of salt it stopped, and that’s when a circle started to form.

With every word we spoke, Collette’s pale skin became more vibrant. More alive. The purple bags beneath her eyes disappeared and her cheeks grew red and warm. Was she gaining strength from the Cenote forming on the ground at our feet? It didn’t make sense! Everything I had known about the Underworld so far suggested that it stole life rather than gave it. And here she was, looking healthier by the second.

Before I knew it we had stopped speaking, and before us was a silent, undisturbed pool of inky black water. I leaned toward it to catch my reflection in it, but Collette pulled me back. “No,” she said, “You must be careful. The water is deceiving and hungry. It will try to take you in.”

“That doesn’t sound like fun,” said Frank.

“Quiet. I must draw the shadow out.”

I watched, silent as the grave, for any signs of movement on the surface of the little black pool but there was none. In fact, the water was much like a slate of obsidian; it was shiny and never moved, but it also didn’t reflect; and that was creepy as all hell.

Collette extended her hand over the black circle and with one swift movement drew a blade from behind her back with which to cut her palm. Blood trickled from the wound into the pool and I watched the ripples form, mesmerized by the movement.

“It comes,” said Collette, “It comes.”

Almost in unison, Damien, Frank and I stared into the deep, black puddle, anxious about what was about to happen next. My head started to feel like a lead weight, the pool like a magnet. I fought hard to stop myself from straying too close, but I wanted to know if the pool truly was incapable of reflecting light—like a true black hole. And what would happen if I were to touch it?

No. I couldn’t touch it. I shook the thought from my head as one would an old rug to rid it of dust and brought my mind back to center.
Focus, Amber,
I thought. And I did. My body, still tensed, was alert now instead of just nervous. But the nerves hadn’t left. Not completely.

What exactly
was
coming? What was I going to see crawling out of that still pool of black water? A shadow, manifested into solid form? Would it look like a man or a woman? Or would it resemble some kind of dead beast? Maybe it would look more like the aspect of the grim reaper I saw in my dream; that cloaked, bony figure depicted throughout history as the specter of death. I held onto the amulet tightly. So much so that I could feel my heart beating against the silver locket. I was ready. My body was buzzing, pulsing with energy and adrenaline, and a healthy dose of fear.

My heart began to race as I focused my gaze on the pond. Everyone was silent as a morgue, waiting for something we all secretly thought was never going to come. Time seemed to stretch on and on, the moment we were in suddenly seeming as infinite as all of time itself.
This must be what it’s like to be inside a black hole,
I thought randomly. But then… movement. A tiny ripple in the pond, as if a droplet of water had fallen in.

Then, from out of the black, two hands reached out and groped for Collette. I screamed, horrified and paralyzed, as they wrapped around the startled Necromancer’s neck… and pulled her under.

CHAPTER 10

“Get her out!” I screamed.

The thing that came out of the pool of black water reeked of old clothes and stale bread. Its hands were made of shadow and almost featureless save for the distinct shape of five fingers. And the sound that came out of that hole, sound that seemed to come from
it
, was like cats wailing and howling into the night sky.

Frank and Damien reached for Collette’s arms and pulled. She was submerged all the way to her shoulders, and she was struggling with the thing that had come for her. The black water bubbled and splashed as Collette fought to break free, but even with Damien and Frank’s help, it was impossible.

I stood upright. “Stand back,” I said. The Power came to me in one sharp jolt, and with a gesture of my hands I yanked Collette out of the water so hard her back hit the ceiling. But something—someone—was attached to her! The thing turned its neck to look at me and I saw its face, sunken, ash gray and angry. But the angry expression didn’t get me almost as much as the fact that it was an exact physical clone of Collette down to the black knitted cardigan!

“What the fuck is that!” said Damien.

“Let her go!” I screamed, but the creature ignored me. And as Collette’s thrashing and flailing started to slow, I knew she was losing the fight.

I imagined myself pushing Collette harder against the ceiling with invisible hands while also grabbing the entity in whatever way I could and pulling them apart. It was working! But the entity was strong, and its grip was tight. I didn’t know what it was trying to do to her, but it shrieked when my magick overpowered it and forced it to relinquish its hold on Collette.

To the pool it went, splashing down into the black water and disappearing from sight. The water rippled for a moment, but immediately stilled once more. Careful, I lowered Collette from the ceiling and into Damien’s waiting arms. Her skin was pale again and she seemed to have lost consciousness. But the gate persisted beyond her concentration; still and silent, but open.

“What… the fuck,” said Frank, panting.

“I don’t know,” I said.

“How is she?” Frank asked Damien.

“Hurt,” he said, “Her breathing is shallow. Is there a bed around here we can lay her down on?”

“In there,” I said, pointing at a door to a different room. It was ajar, and beyond it I could see the makings of a bed. “Frank, kill that fire, will you?”

Damien and I took Collette into the side room while Frank tossed dirt into the hearth and stood watch by the cenote. It wasn’t moving, but then neither was Collette—and that was more worrying.

“Do you think she’s—”

“Dead? No, I don’t think so,” I said. “But I also don’t think she’ll be waking up anytime soon. What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You seemed strange out there. I hadn’t heard a peep from you.”

“Yeah…” Damien trailed off, his eyes never leaving Collette’s unconscious face.
“So?”

Damien turned his head to look at me. “I saw… I don’t know.”

“What is it?”

“I thought, when I saw Collette the first time, I thought maybe someone was standing behind her.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know.”

“You do know, you just don’t want to tell me. Damien, this isn’t the time for secrets and hesitation. Tell me.”

Damien pressed his lips together. “I don’t know what I saw, Amber.”

Collette awoke with a gasp, hacking violently and grasping her chest. I thought she was having a seizure!

“Roll her on her side!” I said, and Damien acted without sparing a second thought.

Collette coughed in a terrible, heaving fit, though she was on her side and my fear that she would choke to death were gone. But then a strange, odorless black liquid began to ooze out of her mouth along with her coughs. Blood followed. The floor was covered in the mixture of blood and black, now, but the coughing seemed to halt and Collette’s natural breathing returned.

As did her consciousness.

“Collette,” I said, at her side, “Can you hear me?”

She nodded, but she seemed weak now. Like she had aged ten years and hadn’t slept in as much time. Frank entered the room after having heard the sounds.

“Je suis désolé,” she said, “Je ne voulais pas de cette—”

She was speaking in French. “You don’t have to be sorry,” I said, stroking her hair. “I know you didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

Her eyes rolled into the back of her skull. She was slipping again.

“Shit. Frank, Damien, help me. She needs healing or she’s gonna die.”

They rushed to my side, and the three of us placed a hand each on Collette’s body. Steady, rhythmic chanting of a healing incantation filled the room with magically induced warmth and positive energy, and we used that energy to channel our power into Collette and mend her internal injuries. None of us were doctors, and no amount of magickal healing can replace one, but with our power combined we were able to stabilize Collette and help her to sit up.

I brought her a bottle of water for her to drink and clean her face and ears with, then waited for her to recover enough to speak.

“What happened out there?” I asked.

“It was ze shadow,” Collette said, “It was too strong for our magick. It did not want to leave ze Underworld.”

“What was it doing to you, is what I want to know.” Frank said.

“It… was stealing my life force: or what’s left of it.”

“To what end?”

“Mine.”

“How… how can it do that?” I asked.

“Ze shadow needs to steal energy to live and to use its powers, or it will die. Just like me.”

“You’re going to die?” Damien asked.

“Oui, and much sooner than I thought.”

“Why is that?” I asked.

“Because every use of my magick drains me further. Even now I can feel myself slipping.”

My body went numb, and despite the cold fire being out I could feel the icy chills even harder than before. I was worried for Collette. I didn’t want her to die. “How long?” I asked.

“I cannot tell you, but one sing is clear—if I die, ze shadow will inhabit my corpse and become something altogether more powerful.”

“A lich,” Frank said.

“A what?”

Collette nodded.

“I’ll explain later,” Frank said, “For now we have to concentrate on figuring out another plan before time runs out. What are our options?”

“I am afraid zere is only one,” said Collette. “Ze creature will not leave ze Underworld—”

“So we have to go to the Underworld after it,” I said.

I couldn’t believe the words came out of my mouth when I said them, but they made sense. The idea of ghosts and death gave me the creeps, but I had dealt with far worse things than ghosts before and that shadow thing didn’t scare me. I’m the red witch, dammit. Collette came to me because I was the only person she thought could help.

My fate was sealed the moment our spell failed, and I was ready for it.

“I cannot ask you to risk your life in the Underworld,” said Collette, “Ze spell should have worked. I should have had control over ze shadow.”