Tiddly Jinx (27 page)

She released a heavy breath, like I was the annoying person in the world. “Why does everything have to be about you? Everyone has to love you. Newsflash. You’re pregnant. You’re marrying a man who idolizes and adores you. How many men need to follow you around before you are satisfied? Just let him go. Talking to one of your legions of men is hardly punishing you.”

I was taken aback. “Wait. What?” Frost merely looked at me. “Are you talking about Corbin?”

“Obviously. What are you talking about?” Her eyes hardened. “You’re here to accuse me of something else, aren’t you? Look I’m not your arch nemesis or whatever you have built me up to be in your mind. If I didn’t want your book, I would have left a long time ago. I really don’t need this shit from you.”

“Why do you want the book?”

Frost crossed her thin arms over her chest. “None of your business.”

“What about my father? What did you tell him?”

Her face scrunched and she slipped her hands into her pocket. “I have no idea who your father is. How could I tell him anything?”

“Have you told anyone about the Pole or what happened?”

“I don’t claim any allegiance to you, but I’m also not a rat. I haven’t said a word to anyone.”

She looked hostile—hostile but honest. I believed her, which put us right back to square one. “I’m sorry I’ve been a bitch to you. I could offer you a hundred excuses, but that’s just what they would be. You were the easy one to blame, so I did. I’m truly sorry. We leave here in thirty minutes.”

She gave me a slight, wary nod before I turned and walked back toward the castle. I couldn’t honestly say I felt better knowing she hadn’t been talking to my father. Obviously
someone
had, and if that was the case his death resolved nothing. Had Frost been the one betraying us at least we would have known.

I spent the next thirty minutes gathering everyone and collecting what we would need for tonight. Corbin showed up right on time looking like Cheney gave as good as he got in their fight. The quiet stillness in the room belied the nerves everyone was feeling at their various parts in the plan. The smallest screw-up could change everything.

“You ready?” Cheney’s voice broke the silence like a scream.

I nodded, my chest so tight it was hard to breathe. We transferred everyone to the gates of the cemetery. It looked just as it had before. The tall, scrolling iron gates were there, only this time they didn’t move with their own life. I swallowed back my nerves and lead the way through. I lead them back to the spot where the crypt had been, passing hundreds of graves. If whoever had the Pole managed to raise them all, we were going to be in trouble. I tightened my grip on the white bag with the spell book inside.

Frost began to set up her circle around where the crypt had been. The coven and Grandma found a spot that suited them to her right and Lily watched, asking questions as they worked. Cheney, Sebastian, and Sy went to make sure the cemetery was cleared out. Corbin eased up next to me.

“Time’s up, pet,” he said and I knew exactly what he meant. “Is the marriage on or off?”

“Off,” I said, watching Frost work on her circle, making sure she didn’t make any mistakes. I didn’t have to look at him. I could practically feel his smile.

“It’s for the best. You’ll see that.”

“Corbin, we have a job to do. Try to focus. Either help Cheney clear the area or find some other way to make yourself useful.”

The sun was setting and the circles were almost complete. They couldn’t be activated until we were ready to use them, and Frost had human eyes and therefore would need to choose her spell before it was too dark to read. I took the book to her.

“What sort of spell am I looking for?” she asked.

“Something that will interrupt the magic in the Pole long enough for me to take it and keep them from raising the dead. A neutralizing spell.”

“Why would that be dark magic? Sounds like a good thing.”

“There is a light magic version, but I think the Pole will be too strong for it and we won’t have time to waste. If we can find a comparable dark spell, hopefully it will be strong enough to work.”

She began flipping through the spells, reading the titles to herself. “How about a power transfer?”

I wished I could look at the spell. “Judging by the name I think it would transfer someone else’s magic to you, but without something of the target’s, I think you would run the risk of hitting the wrong person.”

“The Forbidden Spell?”

“I don’t know what that is. Move on.”

“There’s nothing,” she said, making it to the end of the book.

I closed my eyes, trying to think of anything that would help. “Binding. Is there a binding spell?”

She nodded and flipped back to it. She carefully read each word, committing it to memory. Her head popped up. “It calls for a sacrifice,” she said.

She looked up too soon to have finished. “Make sure you finish reading the spell before the text disappears.”

She looked back at the book and studied it until she closed it. “The writing was still there. Maybe you have to say the spell out loud for it to disappear.”

I shrugged. It didn’t really matter. “What sort of sacrifice?”

“Human.”

We stared at each other. How far were we willing to go for this?

“What’s going on?” Cheney asked.

“We need a sacrifice,” I said.

“It can’t be too hard to find an animal,” he said.

Frost shook her head. “A human sacrifice.”

“I can get a person,” Corbin offered.

I walked away from them. I wanted to scream. I tried so hard to do things that were good and right, but at every turn something else was standing in my way. How could we kill some innocent person just to cast a spell that may or may not work?

“I’ll do it.”

I slowly turned around and stared at my grandmother. I shook my head but she kept talking.

“I’m an old woman, Selene. I’ve lived a long life and I have seen you grow into a beautiful, strong woman. I could not be more proud of you. My life is already coming to an end, and we both know that the more powerful the life that is taken, the stronger the spell will be. The Pole being here is partly my fault. Had I not cursed you, you wouldn’t have gone to the hoodoo priestess. Let an old woman make amends.”

“No one is being sacrificed,” Cheney said.

“Then we’re not casting a spell,” Frost said.

An argument broke out, with Corbin, Frost, Lily, Sebastian, and Sy championing the side for doing whatever was necessary while Cheney, Devin, Katrina, and Leslie argued the opposition. I had a feeling if my family were not involved, Cheney would have been more open to the idea himself. Grandma and I stood amongst the chaos, looking at one another but not saying a word. She had made her case and it was up to me to decide. The fate of many for the sacrifice of one life.

“Okay,” I said.

All arguments ceased and stunned silence spread over the cemetery. “Okay,” I said again, trying to convince myself this was the right decision though numbness threatened to overwhelm my heart.

Grandma smiled a little and put her arms around me, squeezing me tight. “I am so proud of you, my girl. I will watch down from the Heavens and smile at the woman and queen you will become.”

I hugged her as I choked back a sob, knowing firsthand what was to come. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered into her shoulder.

“There is nothing to be sorry for.” She kissed my temple and went to Frost. “There is nothing for you to feel guilty about, either. This is my choice. Just help my granddaughter and you will be just fine.”

Frost nodded.

“Great, that’s settled. Now what?” Corbin said, pragmatic as ever.

“Now we wait,” I said, going to Cheney and taking his hand. The coven went back to the circle, triple-checking their work. Grandma went with Frost to check hers and Corbin gave me a smug smile, no doubt to remind me that I wasn’t all that different from him no matter how much I tried.

Cheney squeezed my hand slightly then let go. “I’m going to walk the perimeter again.”

Corbin came to stand by me as Cheney walked away.

I WALKED THROUGH THE empty cemetery. Monuments and crypts filled the area in rows like neighborhoods. Some areas were richer than others, but ultimately they were all in the same place. A place Selene’s grandmother would be very soon. How could she willingly sacrifice her family—her blood?

My mind struggled against the decision. On one hand I knew that this was probably the best decision. Edith had volunteered. She was willing and nearing death every day. If Corbin compelled someone to take her place it would be a bigger travesty. But she was family, and that was the leap I couldn’t quite make. I had lost all of my blood family except Lily. For as evil as my father could be and for all the terrible things he had done, I would have never taken his life. He was my blood.

I shook off the thought and kept walking. The energy in the air shifted and began to build. My feet paused and I closed my eyes. It was starting. I transported back to the group. Everyone was in position: Frost, Edith, and Jessica were facing east, the coven was facing north, Selene and Corbin were facing south, and Sebastian, Lily, and Sy were facing west. I joined Selene and Corbin. An unnatural silence filled the air, blocking out the sound of the cars and the street outside the cemetery walls. The longer we waited with nothing happening the more I doubted Selene’s judgment. The cemetery was large, and the hole could be opened anywhere.

A flicker of light as small as a candle sprung up inside the crypt in front of us. The stone cracked and crumbled around the light, which grew until it exploded from every crack and seam. Then it all disappeared.

“Now!” Selene shouted, and the women all began chanting and the chain on the crypt door rattled as something inside pushed against it.

A blink of an eye later the chain had vanished and the door was being pushed open wide. The milky-eyed priestess stepped forward with what I guessed was the Pole of Charon in her hand. She slammed the end of it into the earth then raised it overhead, holding it with both hands and chanting.

We all waited for Selene’s signal, but she said nothing. Her eyes darted around, and Sebastian threw a dagger at the priestess, but it fell to the ground several feet away from her, the spell uninterrupted. Selene was more focused now on what Frost was doing. She and Jessica were chanting their spell and Edith stood in the center, arms out as light poured from her into the circle, mixing with the darkness, making it billow and grow.

“What do you want us to do?” I shouted just as all the tombs around us cracked and the door caved in and the ground began to move and upturn beneath our feet. Bodies started to rise up from all around us.

“It’s not working,” she said. “They’re not strong enough. They need me!” Selene vanished and popped up next to Frost, joining in on the spell.

“Lily!” I called out. “It’s time. Selene needs some luck.”

She nodded and transported to her, thrusting her hand against Selene’s shoulder before the circle spit her back out and into a tombstone. Lily didn’t get up. The circle Selene joined thundered with the added strength and darkness shot into the sky as her grandmother crumbled to the ground. Corpses crawled, stumbled, and dragged themselves from the broken crypts as hands shot out of the earth, clawing at the ground as they pulled themselves out. Lightning flashed around the priestess, but no more crypts opened.

The first undead creature got to me and I easily avoided its swings, but it was mostly bone with only chunks of rotten flesh dripping from it. I kicked the creature in the chest, knocking it back and using my sword to sever the head from the body, but even then the creature continued to move. As I came back up, three more were on me. Sebastian and Sy were in similar situations. The witches were safe for the time being in their circle, but they were surrounded.

“Go for their heads,” Corbin said. “It may not kill them, but it slows them down. We’ll head for the priestess.”

We worked together, leaving a trail of undead bodies flopping on the ground behind us, and Sy and Sebastian did the same. We reached the priestess at the same time, but none of us could cross whatever barrier was protecting her.

I shot a look over at Selene, but she was still focused on the spell. There was nothing we could do. We were at a stalemate.

The priestess stopped chanting when she realized no more bodies were being added to her army. She tossed the Pole to her feet. “You are strong, little witch,” she yelled. “Perhaps we should have taken you along with the Pole. But we both know I don’t need it to take care of your friends.”

She raised her arms to the sky and the air stirred. Unseen entities filled it, swishing by in one direction then the next and making the air around us roar. A scream came from a distance. We were in trouble.

“Banshee,” Sebastian yelled. “Where’s Selene?”

I nodded toward her and he took off, clearing a path.

“Don’t let her leave,” I told Corbin and Sy, then followed Sebastian. It didn’t take long to dispatch the creatures surrounding Selene’s circle. Her hair swirled around her as her arms stretched toward the sky.