“She’s having an existential crisis, which isn’t helped by assholes who can’t learn to keep their mouths shut,” Hudson said as he squeezed my shoulder and guided me out of The Pit.
“All I said was it was easy,” Sebastian grumbled. There was a rumble of disapproval around me as we swung open the door and spilled out into the parking lot. “You are all a superstitious bunch of supernaturals. You need to loosen—” He froze.
Harry zoomed around the car lot. “Pineapples, Miss Roberts, goddamn pineapples.”
Slithering shadows saturated the parking lot. There must have been fifty, maybe even a hundred times more than what was in The Pit.
“This, asshole, is why we don’t taunt the universe,” Dayna snapped.
Too late now. The universe heard the call, and she came out swinging.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Everybody thinks they want to see a ghost… until they do.
“We are going to need a lot more sage,” Lenson grumbled.
“That only works for dispersing them from a building,” Rockhard replied.
That was correct. So how does one rid a parking lot of ghosts? Carefully, was the answer. If we fucked this up, they’d probably disappear into White Castle residents’ homes. Then, we’d have a panicked town on our hands and some very energetic shadows who enjoyed grabbing asses. Karen’s ass, to be specific.
“We could probably weave a quick spell to hide them from view so late-night wanderers don’t freak out,” Dayna suggested.
“Good idea,” Liz agreed.
“Do we have the four elements for a shielding spell of this size?” Rockhard checked. Every elemental learned those as a child. It was part of the 101 toolkit, so that we could cover ourtracks quickly and protect our existence. But a shielding spell of this magnitude would require all the elementals here to feed it.
“I have water covered,” I answered.
“Air,” Aunt Liz said.
“Fire,” Dayna muttered.
“And Lenson can cover earth, while I stand in the center as your conduit,” Rockhard said.
We spread out around the edges of the shadows, keeping our emotions in check to ensure they stayed chill. A few times I spotted faces forming in the swirling masses, their distorted features twisting my stomach. Rockhard picked his way to the center, grimacing as the shadows slithered around his calves and tested his emotions.
“Ready?” Aunt Liz called from her position across from me. We all shouted our agreement. Harry, Sebastian, Dave, and Hudson stood in The Pit’s doorway with wary expressions.
Rockhard began the spell, and we all followed, raising our hands and calling on the elemental power we were born with. Power flooded the area, spilling from the four elements that were a constant in our world, no matter your faction. The cool water kissed my skin with a caress, a steady reminder that the element was at my command.
Fire shot from Dayna’s raised hands, air wrapped around the water suspended above me, and the ground rumbled beneath our feet as Lenson dragged power from the earth.
Rockhard took in our power and shouted the final words to conceal the shadows. The air shimmered, and then there was a loud pop before a burst of gold glitter exploded. My knees sagged as the weight of the magic left us, and I sucked in slow, deep breaths. When I looked up, it was to find the lot free of shadows.Oh no.
My gaze darted around. No Harry. He was next to Sebastian before the spell, and now he was gone. My brows lowered as I bitmy lip. That wasn’t right. A whisper of something against my ear had me whipping around, but there was nothing there.
“It worked,” Rockhard said with a smile. “I can’t see them.”
“Nor I,” Dayna agreed, followed by everyone else here. They turned to stare at me expectantly.
My hands fisted at my sides. “I can’t see them.”
“What?” Liz snapped. “That’s not right.”
“Oh shit,” Sebastian muttered.
“What about Harry?” Hudson asked, moving toward me.
