“Here’s what’s going to happen. We put our masks on. Then when there’s enough water, I’ll pull the plug out, then you’ll repeat, ‘I release thee, spirit’ until I tell you to stop. Let’s practice. Say it with me.I release thee, spirit. I release thee, spirit.” Having the client chant helped them mentally deal with whatever they noticed during the ritual. Sometimes it was a puff of smoke, but occasionally, a spirit would growl dramatically or mess with the physical world before twisting off to its planar domain.
The water level was almost there. I sprinkled herb powder over the surface of the water and had the cap off the pepper and bindweed ready for dumping.
Focusing on my breathing, I plunged my hand into the bath and tugged the stopper out. The water spiraled into a whirlpool. Perfect. I pulled my hand back as a feathery purple goo oozed out of the chain. Water dripped down my arm, and power hummed along my skin.
“I release thee, spirit. I release thee, spirit,” I chanted, peeling off a glove and nodding at Brenda to keep going. She had one hand gripped on the toilet seat and the other on the wall. Her eyes were huge, like water-soaked golden raisins.
“I banish thee, spirit.” I poured mugwort over the bathwater to capture the spirit’s attention. The aubergine purple haze curled upwards, looking for guidance. With my palm coated in pepper and bindweed, I picked up the rose quartz and bent over the tub, ready to trap the spirit in the stone.
“I release thee, spirit. I release thee?—”
Pop!
CHAPTER FOUR
The gurgle of draining water was drowned out by a burst of sulfuric air and the telltale popping of a demon portal opening. Freezing horror shot through my veins as a pink, shrieking demon staggered through a slit in our reality and settled on the countertop behind Brenda.
About the size of a toy dog, its smoky jaws unhinged and burst open like it could chomp a human whole with its sharp teeth—which it might be able to do if the thing had corporeal form, which it didn’t. Its screech was smothered by a gut-wrenching choking noise as Brenda clawed off her mask, gasping for breath. She listed sideways and grabbed me, basically pulling me into the bathtub.
The rose quartz orb thudded on the bottom of the tub, then rolled to the drain, covering the hole.
Riding adrenaline, I scrambled out of the water, chanting a demon-banishing spell.
“Blessed ancestors, come to my aid! Earth, sky, and water, I banish this demon from our world. Demon, I command you back to your own domain.” The demon dog-like thing didn’t even blink. Pulling at my birthright power, the prickle of my energy swirled into a ball the size of a tangerine in my hand.
At the same moment the demon’s maw opened and blasted hazy purple air at the back of Brenda’s head, I threw my energy ball. But the demon’s attack, propelled by its tiny flapping wings, freaking landed first. The pinkish-purple cloud sizzled as it sucked the gauzy life essence from Brenda. My second ball splatted against the small horn atop the demon’s upper jaw, erupting into silvery sparks, but the demon still didn’t disappear like it should have. Brenda whimpered, but her eyes held stunned shock.
Weak from the drain and equal parts terrified and furious, my vision grayed at the edges. “Begone, demon. I command you to return to your plane.”
I whipped my last energy ball at the demon’s bumpy, hairless chest as Brenda fell sideways against the tub. With an ear-numbing screech, it dissipated.
Pop!
The portal closed.
I swiped off my N95 mask.
Brenda wasn’t moving.
My whole body aching and vibrating, I rolled her over. Blood trickled down the side of her head, pooling in her ear. It had slowed already. But my heart jumped into my throat as I leaned close to her mouth and nose.
She wasn’t breathing.
I ran into the hall and grabbed my phone. With the 9-1-1 call on speaker, I pulled Brenda’s deadweight onto the bathroom floor and started CPR. The 9-1-1 operator started with questions, but I was staring in disbelief at my herb-encrusted wrist. The gold anklet, which was now a bracelet, stared back. The spell must have broken under the water and transferred to me. The room hazed like I was looking at it through smoke. I got the address out and answered their other questions as I counted compressions. Once the call ended, I focused all my attention on Brenda.
I could do this.
I had to keep her alive.
“Come on, Brenda, don’t die on me,” I chanted.
My wet arm burned as if it had been dipped in hot wax, and poor Brenda’s face reminded me of my mother’s when she was taken from me five summers ago. The doctors had called it a stroke, but I knew the truth. Somehow, the Wyrd Sisters of Luce had reached beyond my mom’s defenses and squeezed the life out of her. It was eerily similar to Brenda’s attack. Had the demon come for me but attacked Brenda by mistake?
She couldn’t die.
Not on my watch.
Done with thirty compressions, I leaned over her and pressed my lips against Brenda’s rubbery ones, blowing in a rescue breath.
