“She was able to join us?”
“Yeah, but she said she may run late.” Erik locked the door and followed Ben and Erik to the table in the break room. Ben noticed that Alessia eyed the salt circle and Erik’s other preparations, but didn’t seem surprised.
“Expecting trouble?” she asked as Ben went to get her coffee.
“We’ve learned to be cautious,” Erik replied.
Erik and Alessia sat at the table, while Ben stood nearby, ready to lend a hand if needed. “We think bits and pieces from the wreck might be helping to anchor Lila, especially if she worked some kind of hinky protection spell that didn’t go as planned.”
Ben filled Alessia in on the basics of what they had learned about Lila and theMohawksince their previous conversation. When he finished, Alessia nodded.
“It sounds like we might have a shade instead of a full ghost. Haley could tell you for sure,” Alessia said. “That would fit if she was involved with some sort of hedge witch spell that wasn’t crafted carefully. Those things can have all sorts of untended consequences. A shade doesn’t have the personality or memories of a full ghost, and some people believe that the soul is gone.”
“What’s left?” Ben asked.
“It’s sort of like a photocopy of a picture,” Alessia replied. “Faded, even if it’s recognizable. There’s debate about what kind of energy a shade has if not a soul. Fortunately, we don’t have to solve that mystery to be able to break the spell. If not, and the spirit remains, we can have Haley send her on, but I’m thinking we may be able to fix this before she gets here.”
Erik wore the silver-threaded gloves as he opened the box, revealing the cup and saucer with the ship’s logo, a salt shaker, and a handful of old buttons.
Alessia closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, letting one hand hover, palm down and open, above the box without touching the pieces. Ben figured she was centering herself.
After a few minutes, she opened her eyes. Her look of concentration shifted to quiet anger.
“That is one of the most tangled-up messes of magic I’ve ever seen,” Alessia said. “Maybe she cobbled it together herself, but ifsome so-called witch gave it to her or cast it, they were a danger to everyone around them.”
“What can you sense?” Ben asked, intrigued but happy to keep a safe distance.
“Good spells are like poems or mathematical equations, in a way,” Alessia said. “No extra pieces. Clean, simple, straightforward.”
“I’m guessing Lila’s spell isn’t,” Erik said.
“Not even close,” Alessia replied. “It reminds me of the sort of nonsense I see in fantasy books where the spell isn’t meant to work. She didn’t end up bespelling just herself. Somehow it touched everything, but without enough power to actually save her or the ship. This abomination worked just enough to trap her here, but not to actually protect her or anyone else.”
“If it touched the whole ship, why aren’t there more ghosts?” Ben asked.
“Probably because Lila was the target of the spell. It was likely worded broadly and badly constructed. Sloppy magic makes for unintended consequences,” Alessia replied.
Ben felt quite sure that Alessia would have taken measures against the creator of the spell if it hadn’t happened so long ago.
“Can you break it?” Erik asked.
“That’s the good news. Yes. It’s so badly formed I’m surprised it lasted this long,” Alessia said.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Ben asked.
“Stay back from the circle, just in case,” she told them. Erik got up from the table and went to stand by Ben. “No matter what I say or do, don’t interrupt.”
Alessia scrutinized the open box, and then she stretched her hand out again to hover over it. She murmured words Ben didn’t catch, and he felt the energy shift in the room. The containment circle flared with a bright golden light and then dimmed. Thepieces in the box glowed blood-red and then purple before going dark.
“The air feels…lighter.” Ben was unsure of how to put what he sensed into words.
“That’s the energy shift of breaking the spell,” Alessia replied. “It would have been much stronger without the protective box and the wards.”
“Just in case, I’ll hand off what’s left to my contact in Charleston.” Erik still used the gloves as he closed the box.
“No harm in being careful, but the magic is broken,” Alessia assured them. “I don’t know if Lila was Cape May’s only ‘woman in white,’ but we have one fewer after tonight. And if the souls of the others onboard were affected, that should also release them.”
Ben hated to think about being trapped like that, and wrapped his arms around himself to suppress a shiver. Erik laid his hand on Ben’s shoulder, grounding and comforting him.
