Tricks lifted her chin. “I invited them here.”
“It takes more than saying the words.” If I had any luck at all, that would be news to her.
“I know. I did it properly.”
Eyes closed, I prayed for patience.
“Do you want to see?”
I opened one eye. “You left a ritual site?”
Tricks shifted from one foot to another. “Well, the ritual was complete.”
Sweet bones of Narzel. This night was a nightmare. “Yes.”
Tricks guided me past the opening to the maze, to the other side of the festival grounds. She slipped between two stalks of corn without any squash or beans growing between them. A narrow path snaked through the field, taking us to a small clearing.
One corn stalk had been sawed off at ankle height. Next to the stump were stones etched with runes and the remains of a small fire. The runes were a mix of ones I recognized and ones in an elven script. The latter I couldn’t read, and I didn’t need to. The symbols for “welcome” and “calling” were clear enough.
She had been smart enough to draw a circle around the ritual, though the salt line was broken in two places. Had she cleaned up the ritual, it wouldn’t have mattered. But she’d left it, which meant spirits could still answer her call, even if she wasn’t here anymore.
“Where did you learn this?” I asked.
“Internet. You can learn anything on the internet.” She held up her phone. “Technology is great!”
“Your tutorial missed a few steps. You have to clean up, and that includes properly breaking the circle.”
She paled. “The circle was intact when I left.”
“I don’t know if that’s reassuring or terrifying.” It all depended on what broke the circle. If we never knew the answer, if nothing ever came of this ritual, I’d count myself as lucky. “Clean the runes off the stones and spread out the ashes.”
“You sound like Mom.” She moved as slow as molasses, but she cleaned off the runes.
Rather than being insulted, it affirmed I was doing the right thing. Crouching next to her, I rubbed the salt into the earth. “Learning is good, trying new things is also good. But there’s a difference between trying a new bread recipe and inviting spirits over for a visit.”
“Where’s swordsmanship on that spectrum?” She ground out the fire and spread the ashes.
I blinked. “What?”
“Elron’s been teaching me techniques Dad doesn’t know. He said there were great video tutorials.” She traced squiggly lines through the dirt.
“You still need a teacher to make sure you don’t develop any bad habits.” I dusted off my hands, not sure how we’d gotten from summoning rituals to swords. “And we’ll talk about how to check the quality of your source.”
Tricks rubbed her hands on her costuming. “What now?”
“Now we pra—”
Ear piercing shrieks drowned out the rest of my statement. The wails layered upon one another until they sounded like a hundred of voices crying out together.
Tricks pressed her hands over her ears and bellowed at me. “What’s that?”
“Nothing good.” I took off toward the main festival area, hoping the shrieks weren’t what I thought. The last thing I needed tonight were vengeful spirits.
Tricks followed me. “This is a bad plan. Mom always said to avoid danger.”
“Your mother and I lead very different lives.”
I broke through the last row of the corn and summoned my wand.
At the other end of the grounds, both giant pumpkins glowed fiercely. The woman who’d been hosting the weighting and lighting held a candle hovering over the light inside a giant turnip. Elron walked away from the pumpkins, and a lot of other people shuffled around.
Everyone in the middle area had backed away from the four spirits standing in front of the maze entrance. The spirits hovered off the ground, silver wisps without solid form or shape. They vibrated in place, their forms moving with the shrieks. As best I could tell, they faced the maze. Earth only knew why.
Slowing to a brisk walk, I moved closer to the spirits. Unless they decided on a clearer method of communication, I couldn’t be sure these were the victims Tricks had invited. Though, the number was compelling.
The shrieks cut off. The spirits stopped vibrating and hung in the air.
I didn’t have a clue what was the right thing to do. They weren’t a magical problem, not really. And other than being disruptive, they hadn’t threatened anyone. There had to be someone here who was better suited to communicate with them.
Students froze, not sure what to do.
One of the spirits lifted a nebulous form that could be an arm and pointed at the maze. It shrieked. The sound built and layered like before.
I flinched.
Everyone flinched, put their hand over their ears, and edged back. The woman holding the candle in the turnip dropped it, lighting the candle inside. She set her candle upright next to the other one and put the lid back on the turnip.
I went through spells, not sure what would work. This was my first close encounter with spirits. If they were anything like poltergeists, a lot of spells wouldn’t be effective on them—and carried a risk of making them mad. Not my goal.
The grim reaper went from limp and decorative to square-shouldered. It pushed away from the corn, the robe and hood obscuring any view of what was inside. Even its hands were in black gloves.
Maybe Narzel knew what was going on. I sure didn’t.
The grim reaper adjusted its grip on its scythe.
I hadn’t paid much attention before, but that wasn’t a plastic scythe. The very real blade glinted in the moonlight.
The breeze picked up, rattling through the corn. The spirits were unaffected, holding their positions. The one that had pointed at the maze lowered its arm.
The grim reaper tilted its head up.
I blinked.
The reaper had moved a good twenty feet. One of the spirits floated in front of it. In a movement my eyes couldn’t follow, the reaper darted around the spirit. A student screamed and fell down, clutching their arm. The reaper threw the scythe to the side and reached for the student.
A spirit appeared between the reaper and the student. In a flash, the spirit threw back the reaper. The spirit faded, shimmering less brightly than before.
“Mannaz!” I flung a stun spell at the reaper as I ran forward.
The reaper stumbled but regained its footing and darted toward another group of students. It grabbed a caveman by the arm.
A brownie levitated the caveman out of the reaper’s grasp. Then it levitated the reaper back to the maze.
All around me, students fled. A vampire picked up a human and sprinted out of the maze. Another brownie levitated a student in a wheelchair out of the festival. Fey and elves pulled slower students along with them.
The reaper shook off being shoved back and was through the line of spirits in the blink of an eye.
“Sowil.” I missed the reaper but shielded a student hobbling away on crutches.
The reaper spun away from the shield.
I unmade the shield around the student. “We need a ride!”
A centaur slid to a stop next to us. I heaved the disabled student onto the centaur’s back. The centaur took off.
Wand ready, I searched for the reaper. It was a good fifty feet away, chasing after a pack of human students and gaining on them.
Tricks, wooden sword in hand, raced up behind the reaper.
“No!” I had one chance. Just one.
Picturing the wall in my mind, I willed it into existence.
Tricks slid to a stop. “Michelle, pull it down!”
The reaper spun around, hands outreached. Blood dripped off a glove. Its hand went through the wall, the blood twisting the magic.
I shoved the magic into the earth where it couldn’t do any harm. There had to be a way to get Tricks away. If I had time.
Tricks screamed as the reaper’s hand closed over her arm. She tried to stab the reaper, but it dodged easily. With its free hand, it ripped the sword away from Tricks and threw it to the side.
“Nazid!”
It sorta worked. Tricks rose into the air. So did the reaper, clinging to her arm. She kicked at it, but it didn’t matter.
Elron darted over, grabbed the reaper’s foot, and yanked.
The reaper landed on its feet and charged Elron.
I levitated Tricks over to the entrance and set her down. There was too much commotion for her to hear me, but hopefully she got the idea and ran for the exit.
The spirits milled around, as if not entirely sure what to do. One of them shrieked, but then stopped.
Elron and the reaper grappled with each other, neither truly winning but neither losing.
A levitated princess bumped into Elron. She, and the brownie levitating her, shouted apologies.
It didn’t matter. Elron’s foot slipped. The reaper pushed Elron to the ground.
Narzel.
“Mannaz!” I shoved twice the normal power into the spell.
The reaper swayed, but it didn’t release Elron.
A black cat leapt out of the shadows and landed on Elron’s chest, facing the reaper. It hissed and clawed at the reaper.
The reaper jerked back.
Elron grabbed a fistful of the cloak.
The reaper kept moving back, losing the cloak.
A spirit darted in front of the reaper and screamed. Light flashed, and for a moment, he was illuminated clearly. Dirt and blood streaked across a masculine face.
He snarled, showing his fangs. It was hard to judge under the dirt and torn clothing, but he appeared young. With vampires, it was hard to be sure.
His eyes darted from person to person. He picked a target and charged.
“Orzu.” I softened the earth in front of him.
The vampire’s foot sank down, and he tumbled forward. He popped back up, never once looking away from his target.
He didn’t act like a person. The personality—or for lack of a better term, humanity—that should have ruled his actions and thoughts was gone. What was left was evil.
“Algiz.” Magical ropes twisted around the vampire’s legs.
He toppled over and reached for the spell. It twisted again, because of the blood and the crazy in him, and melted away.
So spells didn’t work against him directly, but indirect spells were fine.
A spirit zoomed after him.
He darted away from a plague doctor recording everything on their phone.
I softened the ground in front of him again. He stumbled, giving people time to scatter.
Elron, sword in hand, sprinted to intercept the vampire.
Most of the students were getting out of the festival grounds any way they could. A bunch clogged the entry, while others were slipping through the corn. I couldn’t see Tricks or her parents. Hopefully, they were together and safe.
“Orzu. Orzu.” I kept doing the earth softening spells.
My relentless casting slowed the vampire but didn’t stop him. He kept moving, occasionally darting in an unexpected direction in one of those inhumanly fast moves.
Elron wasn’t as fast, but he closed the distance. The vampire tripped again, this time on an abandoned mask, and Elron lunged forward, his sword going through the vampire’s chest.
The vampire wrenched himself around to face Elron. The sword had gone all the way through his body, with several inches sticking out. He hissed and leapt at Elron.
Elron darted to the side. The hell cat ran between the two men.
The vampire screamed, stumbled, and ran in the opposite direction of the hell cat.
“Thank you, but I had it under control,” Elron told the cat.
The cat darted into the shadows.
Keeping an eye on the vampire, who was currently busy trying to get the sword out of his chest, I made my way over to Elron. “Did you miss the heart, or do you need a stake?”
“Both.” His face set in hard lines. “Know of one?”
The vampire couldn’t quite pull the sword out, so he leapt up, ripped an ear of corn off the stalk, and used it to push the sword out of his body.
“Couldn’t you dismiss your sword and resummon it?” Elron’s sword was linked to him the same way my wand was linked to me.
He nodded. “When it ceases to occupy him.”
“Right.” I watched the vampire struggle. “What about Tricks’s sword? I think it’s still over there.”
Elron tipped his head toward the maze. “It is.”
“You get the sword. I’ll keep him busy.”
That was if he ever got free of the sword. He’d pushed it as far out as he could and was trying to find a way to grab it without cutting his hands.
Elron ran for the wooden sword.
The spirits drifted toward the vampire.
A vampire in a medieval dress, complete with long, flowing sleeves, appeared next to the crazy vampire. She yanked the sword out of his back.
Narzel blast it. So much for the sword keeping him busy. “Elron!”
She got a good grip on the hilt and lined up to take off his head. The sword vanished from her hands.
Crazy vampire swung around and tackled her.
I bit back a spell. With the two of them rolling around, there wasn’t much I could do.
Elron grabbed the wooden sword off the ground.
A flash of movement drew my attention away from the brawling vampires. Tricks ran back into the festival grounds, the hell cat riding on her shoulder. Brilliant. Just what this mess needed.
Crazy vampire landed a right hook, dazing the medieval vampire. Before she could recover, he grabbed her and hurled her up in the air. She crested, and stated to fall, her body limp.
“Nazid!” I caught her before she hit the ground.
Crazy vampire darted toward the exit. A spirit flashed in front of him, sending him careening into Tricks. She stumbled, catching herself against a corn stalk. The cat jumped off of her shoulder. Crazy vampire pivoted, nostrils flaring.
I tore my eyes away to check on Elron. He wasn’t going to make it in time.
Crazy vampire tripped as the cat darted away.
“Orzu!” The ground under the crazy vampire softened, and he sank into the earth. I’d forgotten about the medieval vampire I was levitating, and she zoomed through the air to stay in line with my wand. “Oops.”
I lowered her down and ended the levitation spell. That was all the time I had for her. Crazy vampire dug his fingers into solid ground and hauled his torso out of the softened earth.
That wouldn’t do. “Fehu.”
The earth closed around him.
A spirit appeared beside him. Then a second.
Tricks ran over to me. “I shouldn’t have come back. I’m sorry. I just… This is all my fault.”
“It’s not your fault.” Maybe, and that was a maybe on this night, she’d summoned the spirits, but the rest of this had nothing to do with her actions. When this crisis was over, I’d tell her that until she believed it.
Elron charged the vampire, but a third spirit appeared, knocking him back. Then the fourth floated over, and they surrounded the vampire. Elron joined Tricks and I, her wooden sword still in his hand.
“Any idea what they’re doing?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I do not believe they can kill him.”
“Murderer. Murderer. Murderer.” It started with a single voice, but it grew as the rest of the spirits joined. “Murderer.”
Tricks whipped out her phone and started recording.
“Murderer,” they shrieked, their voices overlapping until it sounded like a hundred people were screaming with them.
The sound rose and rose until I had to cover my years. Students who’d been slow to flee gathered round, most of them watching the scene while they recorded it.
The shriek cut off. The rightmost spirit vibrated. “Twice turned from your target, by magic of cat and ward of old, you fell upon me. Shredded and drained, you scattered my remains before the talisman that turned you away.” The spirit flashed white and vanished.
“You hunted again, for naught but a simple drink. Magic of the cat could not hold you back. Mind warped under the strain of the ancient ward, you drained me dry.” The second spirit stopped paused before continuing. “Oh, that fateful day. Her bite you desired, your devotion she required. Staked through her heart, and none knew of you. And, so, the start.” The spirit stopped vibrating and glowed brighter and brighter until it flashed white and vanished.
The third spirit picked up the chant. “More creature than man, you killed for your thirst. You carried me to the ward, an offering for forgiveness. A ward cannot offer forgiveness, and I have none for you.” It too flashed into nothingness.
“Murderer,” the fourth continued. “From habit, not hunger, you killed me. Oh, the ward, the cat, how they tried, but they could not hold a crazed mind.” The last spirit vanished in the brightest flash of light.
It took several seconds to blink away the spots from my vision. I hated verse, riddles, the lot. There were clues about exactly how and why the vampire had killed, but I’d have to translate them out of obscure riddledom to put it together.
Elron stood over the vampire, who dug his fingers deeper into the earth in an attempt to pull himself free. Elron had both hands on the wooden sword, ready to plunge it into the vampire’s heart.
“Wait!” I screamed. “Don’t kill him. We need to hand him over to Rodriguez.”
Elron nodded.
“Thank you,” I said.
Elron went up on his toes and thrust the sword through the vampire.