“And the only thing that can take down a Relic is another one,” I said bitterly.
My dark thoughts got a brief respite when the coat broke away from Jen’s spell, because it wasn’t new.It had a lot of next-level spells on it already, some of which were specifically designed not to play well with necro magic.As demonstrated when it immediately went for her throat.
I think the idea was to use the zipper like a chainsaw to decapitate her, and I was about to say the word to disable it when it stopped a few inches away from her face.It just stayed there, flapping in the air like a giant bat, as they fought it out, and itwasa fight.Jen’s pink cheeks were red now, sweat had broken out on her upper lip, and her eyes were green fire.
“Need any help?”I offered.
“No!”Her lips curled back from her teeth.“We’re just getting used to each other!”
“Hey, Jen,” Sophie said, because everyone was watching.“We can go shopping, you know.Find you something a little less...freaky.”
“No...I like freaky,” Jen panted, with the fist she held out in front of her body clenching, and her eyes going neon.“I’m...all about...freaky!”
“No shit,” somebody muttered.
“I’ll take...this one,” she told me, finally winning the battle and grabbing the rebellious thing out of the air.“It’s perfect!”
“You got it.But no take-backs,” I warned her.
“Just thought you ought to be warned, before the boss stops by to ask,” Caleb said.“And to remind you that you’ve got me for backup, plus however many other mages you want.Hargroves is throwing everything we’ve got at this.”
“Hey!”Cyrus called, hanging out of the back door and gesturing at my companion.“He staying for lunch?”
“Is there flour on that apron?”Caleb muttered to me.
“Looks like it.”
“Shit.”He gave Cyrus a friendly wave.“Just leaving, actually.Got a...thing...later.”
Cyrus’s eyes narrowed.He could smell lies, too.“Okay.”
The kitchen door banged.
“It could just be biscuits,” I pointed out.Cyrus’s habit of baking when stressed was well known.
“Yeah, only my shoulder still hurts from the last time he ‘helped’ me off the premises,” Caleb said.“Oh, I almost forgot.”
He handed me a small evidence bag, which turned out to contain a packet of little, shriveled, brownish things, like a bunch of slightly off-color garbanzos.It took me a second to recognize them as some of the tiny items we’d found at the grocery.
“As we thought, they came off a protection amulet,” he said.“Ghost beads, they call ‘em.Navajo medicine men make them to ward off evil spirits.”
“Navajo?”
“The Ute do it, too, along with most of the other tribes in the Southwest.”He saw my face.“Does that help?”
“Yeah.”My hand closed over them.“It might.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Doughnut holes?”
Cyrus flashed me a glance from over his shoulder.He was facing the other kitchen counter, where the deep fryer sat, still dressed in the tee and butt-hugging jeans from before, but accessorized with the Big Bad Wolf apron one of the boys had gotten him as a joke, only to discover that he immediately loved it.“Kids like doughnuts.”
“And the...”I looked at the cooling rack where four golden loaves sat.“Pound cake?”
“It’s your favorite.”
“And the ice cream?”Because the electric ice cream maker was churning away as well.
