Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
We arrived at the graveyard before Fabra.
I’d been extra careful to make sure we weren’t followed, but I was pretty confident Fabra had watchers.
After all, it’s what I would do. The plan sounded simple: draw her in, bind her to the graveyard, get Rose out.
But the cost potential was high, and if I’d learned one thing in my twenty-four years of experimentation, nothing ever went as planned.
Freddie cut the engine, and Ori and I spilled out of the backseat. Ranth was in the front because his long legs didn’t do well crunched in the back of the Plymouth.
We’d stopped by a curandero friend of Freddie’s who had a decent herb stash. His dried collection rivaled some of Rose’s stock. Nothing was better than hand cut and home dried, but some things didn’t grow in California, and other herbs took time and advanced skills to preserve.
I laid lines of salt mixed with herbs, like we used for the obelisks, between the cemetery gate and around the parking lot.
Ranth and I infused energy into it, basically making the whole thing into a sort of demon-safe zone.
At least then, we wouldn’t have to deal with random portals at the same time, though I wasn’t entirely sure Fabra driving over the line wouldn’t break it.
Ori and Ranth were positioned at opposite ends with containers of bespelled salt.
As long as they stayed out of the way, Fabra would enter without clocking them.
Then when she was inside, she’d be mine to control.
The one thing I knew for sure was that Fabra didn’t have any power of her own. I was stronger than her in every non-physical way, and though I expected she’d have a gun, my spiritual armor should take care of anything she could shoot at me, literally.
I’d concocted what I’d normally used to dispel evil spirits, dispel negativity, and handle any portal demon action.
But the linen pouch of High John roots and the silicone socks lying in the backseat of Freddie’s car were far from the usual.
I was entirely prepared to go to whatever lengths it took to rescue Rose, even if it meant breaking my promise to my mother.
Rose was in peril because of me and Ranth.
Never walk with death. It had even more meaning now that I literally was walking around in a graveyard, bound to a lich.
But to get Rose back, I was willing to do this—socks off.
Working with earth was a risk, and one my mother had said never to take because it would change you.
If I was going to break boundaries, I would do it with intention.
Like the maca, the High John root would help me connect me with a different part of the plane under the earth.
Messing with earth magic was dangerous because the earth didn’t like to let go of visitors—especially humans.
Maca took me to the ethereal plane, above the ground where the demons come through.
But when I shifted to the graveyard’s plane, I could work a spell that would lock on to Fabra’s energy and bind it to the earth.
It wouldn’t kill her, but she’d be enjoying a long, not-luxurious stay in the cemetery grounds until I released her.
Desperate times…
My phone buzzed.
They’re coming in my way. Ori texted.
Pulling the waistband of my skirt down so the hem mostly covered my bare feet, I breathed out my uneasiness and waved the ready signal to Ori and Ranth.
Ranth approached me, his movements lithe and smooth.
He bent over and whispered in my ear, “This is a bad choice. You should let me handle Fabra and rescue Rose while you protect Ori.”
I shifted, toying with my pendant, uncomfortable that he suspected I meant to meddle with earth. “I’ve already almost lost you once to Fabra. I’m not taking that risk again. You had your chance.”
“I wasn’t given an opportunity to do anything. It’s not about me. It’s about what I represent to them. You should be using my strengths with yours, as a team.”
He wasn’t wrong, but I was the one person I could trust to stay alive.
If I had to worry about him, it would weaken me.
“We have one goal, and you getting your wizardy angst up in my face is not going to help us focus. Let me run this. Please. You have your job if something goes wrong. I respect your skill, and I know we work well together, but tonight you’re my back-up plan.
I don’t want to see you unless you are planar. Got me?”
His brown eyes narrowed. I didn’t like being ordered around either. But if I was going to make sure Rose was safe and get rid of Fabra, Ranth would have to play his part. This time, we were stronger apart.
The crunch of tires moving slowly from the south meant the game was on. Ranth sprinted into the graveyard where Freddie, our getaway driver, was lying low.
The red mustang crept cautiously into the lot. Ori darted out of the shadows as I approached the car, peering into the windows, partially to distract the driver. The man driving nodded at me as he turned the wheel to park.
Fabra was in the back seat, holding a leash on a duct–taped Rose. Rose was going to be annoyed when she was released. If Fabra survived my discussions with her, Rose would enjoy every moment of retribution.
Fabra got out of the car and yanked Rose out after her.
Rose had a bruise blooming around one eye and looked pissed off.
But otherwise okay. “Where’s our boy?” Fabra asked, cocking her head at me.
She had a black eye, a bandage down one side of her face, and a wrap around her wrist. It was no surprise that Rose had not gone quietly.
“He’ll be here in a minute. I wanted to talk to you first.”
“Well, sweetie, I don’t give a monkey’s ass what you have to say.
I need boy-o, and I need to be back at HQ in an hour.
So, where is he?” She half dragged Rose over to Freddie’s car and peered inside.
“You aren’t thinking of tricking me after I brought you this nice juicy treat.
” She yanked Rose’s leash, and Rose’s eyes bulged as she stumbled toward Fabra.
I could hear the cursing she couldn’t say because of the tape over her lips.
Fabra reached around to the small of her back and pulled out a silver and black revolver.
“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, like witch was 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.