“Okay, kindergarten playtime is over. Where is my MAN?” she asked, aiming the gun at Rose’s forehead.
I held my hands up. “No reason to get angry. He’s coming. I sent him on an errand. Why do you even want him? You know, it makes no sense to me why the Marahk would want an old dead wizard that’s been buried for a thousand years.”
“Secrets are what make the world go around. I don’t ask questions, remember? All HQ said was the Hot Dead Guy needs to do some kind of ritual thing about a tree. I dunno what it means, and I don’t care.”
“Then what are you getting out of it?”
“You want to offer me a better deal? Good luck with that. He’s doing me power and prestige in the ranks. I’ll be a first officer after this, and my pay grade will be a huge leap up. Not that it’s any of your biz. Now, where is our piece of bronzy goodness?”
“I said he’ll be here, and I keep my promises.”
“Oh, you do, do you? Well, show me the goods then, little flower child, or I’ll show you how I keep mine.” She pushed Rose to her knees, and I winced for her. “I need this to end now.”
She was right. I couldn’t wait for Ranth.
Rose’s furious eyes met mine. I curled my toes on the asphalt, pulling the power from the ground through my feet. The cemetery’s power went deep and far outreached the hallowed boundaries. The asphalt bound to the earth, acting like a connective membrane for the buried. Above-earth was where I usually met demons; beneath-earth was the transition plane where the dead moved on. The energy was untethered and wild—and dangerous. With the High John as an amplifier, I intended to pull threads of the plane beneath the graveyard and bind Fabra to them. But by messing with the graveyard plane, I’d have to deal with whatever else decided to answer my call. Plus, whatever Fabra was calling forth. But I knew the risks, and I was ready.
And there was no going back.
I sucked the power into me, fighting against the whispers flooding my head. Whispers of spirits but of something else too. Whispers I’d heard before. The ice of recognition speared through me.
What have I done?
Pouring the power into my hands, I pointed at Fabra’s gun. It glowed with a silver flash and burst into a spray of metal drops. She yowled as the ground roiled under us, knocking her sideways and me onto my knees.
“What are you doing, little witch?” she spit out, likewitchwas a slur. I tugged on the energy that I’d thrown and whipped around her, slamming her into Freddie’s car.
Sending out wishes that it wouldn’t leave a dent, I sprinted to Rose. The gag tape came off easily. My silver pins sliced through the ties on her wrists. I shoved a linen wrap of High John into her hand and clutched mine in my palm.
“Behind you.” Rose coughed.
I stepped in front of Rose and widened my stance. I had assumed Fabra would use an earth attack like before, but this time I was ready to play.
Vigorously rubbing the High John roots, I chanted,
“Powers of earth, powers of me, I call on thee to bind my spell. What lies below binds to me above, and what’s come before will finish well.”
The graveyard’s plane shimmered beneath me and rose like a shadowy veil. The whispers were stronger and clearer. Languages I didn’t understand spoke to me as if they knew me. I raised the bundle of linen tied to the graveyard plane with the spell I’d cast on the strands of Fabra’s hair.
Pop!
The roar of a portal opening deafened me as partially formed Bel-seri Earth demons ascended with the plane.
Flipping Foxgloves.I shoved the linen bundle into my pocket. There was no way to be sure if they were rando demons summoned by the planar shift I was causing, or if Fabra had somehow called them, but either way, they would have to be dealt with before Fabra.
The first type had silvery black edges like wispy smoke that often portal into graveyard rituals, which is why I took precautions when I did spirit talks.
The silver-black one blew around behind me and then flew up above, sending waves of purple ooze rippling through the ether of planar space. The whispers grew louder as it got closer.
Drawing on the power from the root, I raised a hand above my head and pushed at the earth energy, dispelling the ooze back at the other Bel-seri. My silvery purple blast clung to the demon, and it dropped like it was coated with slime, then faded to nothing.
The second Bel-seri form attacked in a flutter of sparkling gray things that looked like a cross between a swallow and a zombified bat. They spread out, and I stepped sideways to avoid the lingering purple ooze above me while blasting the equivalent of barbed-wire tumbleweed balls at the bats. They scattered erratically, but the energy balls cut through a cluster, exploding them in black wisps. The others were now recovering and flew at me. The whispers grew louder, turning my thoughts to chaotic mush.
I backed up again. Where the first Bel-seri had dissipated was an Eirkala demon, three times the size of the Bel-seri with multiple appendages. Pressure built like the air was being vacuumed out; the Eirkala was eating space. My gut twisted. It was going to try to absorb the entire plane.
I’d never fought an Eirkala before. I could leave the plane, but the Eirkala might hitch a ride on my energy and rise with me. Banishing it from the graveyard would be a whole other level of complication.
Fortunately, I was prepared for disasters.
