"Brains and beauty and...oh, natural born necromancy. How delicious," Maria said, looking her over. "Good to know someone was smart enough to figure the statue out."
"What did you use to imprint your memories onto it?" Marcella asked because she really didn't want to talk about her necromancy.
"It was pretty simple, actually," Maria said between mouthfuls of trail mix. "I modified the 'Opening of the Mouth' ritual."
"FromThe Book of Coming Forth by Day?" Bridget asked, perking up in excitement.
"Yes," Maria replied. She looked at everyone else's blank expressions. "It's also known as the EgyptianBook of the Dead? It details the ritual in it."
"Explain. Not everyone here is obsessed with Egypt like you are," Cosimo nudged her.
Maria let out a frustrated noise. "Okay, so in ancient times, unless a statue or image of a god or goddess occurred in some miraculous or natural manner like thepalladiumat Troy, there had to be a special ritual in order for the divine spirit to come and inhabit the statue or painting or whatever. There are a few cultures and peoples that have similar records of the rituals, including the Babylonians and the Greek Magical Papyri texts. I could already read the history of the Minerva statue that had a Roman version of this ritual placed on it, so it was kind of primed for this type of magic. I just imprinted my own memories onto it and sent it back to my tower with a teleportation spell. I didn't have time to really get detailed with it, but it still worked."
Marcella could only stand and stare at the other woman in wonder. She described it so easily, as if the magic were nothing challenging or unique. Cosimo hadn't been lying when he said his sister was a prodigy.
"That is so damn cool," Bridget said, her grin widening.
Cosimo looked exasperated. "You still should have used a damn phone. Come on, we still need to hike back. Can you walk, little sister? Or do you need someone to carry you?"
"No point now I know he's my nephew's mate," Maria said with an appreciative sigh in Lachlan's direction. Apollo moved ever so slightly closer to him, his usually cheerful expression growing protective. "Stand down, kiddo. I can't fault your taste, that's all."
"If you can restrain yourself from flirting for a few minutes, we can get a move on," Cosimo said and pulled on one of his sister's curls.
"Can you blame me? I haven't been laid in fuck knows how long. It's probably closed over by now," Maria complained.
Marcella burst out laughing and quickly covered her mouth. Cosimo shot her a warning look. "Don't encourage her."
Marcella only smiled innocently. "Why ever not? I'm only yourwitch friendafter all."
Cosimo's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. It was hard to talk when you had your foot in your mouth.
Marcella enjoyed the walk back through the woods now that she wasn't stuck in a trance. How she hadn't fallen on her face or walked into a tree was a wonder. After two hours and three bathroom breaks for Maria, they finally arrived back at the parking lot where the van was.
"I feel like hot trash," Maria admitted, wiping the sweat from her brow. "Please tell me your hotel is close by."
"We have a house in Florence. The kids will take you home," Cosimo said.
"Where are you going? I haven't seen you in forever," Maria complained.
"Marcella has to go back to Forli to meet with thestreghebefore we can follow you," he replied patiently. "The kids can get you up to speed on what's happened since you disappeared."
"Why do you need to see thestreghe?" Maria said, turning to Marcella.
"Their leader has my father's shade trapped. Among other things," Marcella replied, anger igniting in her stomach.
Maria grinned. "Need some help? Because I love necromancy and I am good at it."
"Actually, there is an idea I had that I wanted to run past someone," Marcella said thoughtfully.
The rest of the Greatdrakes went to use the proper toilet block while Marcella and Maria talked. She was like a femaleversion of Cosimo with lightning-quick intelligence and a violent streak a mile wide.
"Thank you for your help," Marcella said, once she knew exactly how to execute her plan.
"It is the least I can do for someone who managed to find me after my bone-headed brother couldn't figure it out," Maria replied and looked at Cosimo across the other side of the parking lot. "God, it's so weird seeing him old."
"He's a good man. Don't give him too much of a hard time about not figuring out the statue. He's been feeling guilty enough about it as it is," Marcella said gently but firmly. She didn't like anyone insulting Cosimo, not even his sister.
"You like him, don't you?" Maria asked.
