Derek stood in the doorway of Ellie’s new office. Had he made a mistake giving her the list? He’d thought that she would be able to locate the ingredients easier than he could have, but it might have been a foolish impulse on his part.
He was still wary around her. Hell, he was on edge around anyone lately. When she returned he’d repeat the incantation Grace had given him, just in case the Elders had spelled her again.
He hadn’t slept well the night before. The bed in the guest room was comfortable and he got to stretch out, but he was awakened every few minutes with odd dreams. It felt as if someone was whispering to him in his sleep. When he woke he lay there for a few minutes, listening, but hadn’t heard anything.
He hadn’t given Ellie a key to the house, only the control number to the garage. She was able to park her car there and come inside, using the kitchen door. He’d know, however, when she arrived because of the app on his phone.
He checked it now to make sure it was working correctly, then took the stairs to the third floor. He unlocked the door, turned on the light, and entered the room.
The grimoire was where he’d left it. He pulled the chair closer to the book. He didn’t have the ingredients yet for the spell, but perhaps he should practice the lengthy incantation. He read it over first, then once more. Finally, he spoke it aloud, taking his time over the unfamiliar words.
By the time he uttered the second sentence he felt the energy rise in the room. When he stretched out his hands he could feel it beneath his palms. His breathing accelerated in response.
The third time the words came easier, the sound of them almost like poetry.
The surge of power he felt surprised him. He hadn’t anticipated the exultant glee spreading through his body. Almost as if part of him, silent until now, was slowly awakening.
He abruptly stood, going to the cabinet on the far wall. The drawers were all neatly labeled. As he pulled out one after the other, he realized that he should have checked to see if most of the ingredients were here.
He opened his phone, scanned the list, and started at the top. He was right. Everything he needed was in the cabinet. Had Breanna kept everything out of affection for her father or had she attempted the spell?
The question disturbed him in a way he hadn’t expected.
He jerked every bag out of the drawers as well as a bunch of shallow crystal dishes and carried them to the altar. He didn’t have a lighter because he’d never smoked, even weed, which made him out of touch, according to a few of his friends in the newsroom. As far as he was concerned it just made him sober.
Luckily, he found a lighter in the chest still in the middle of the room. Maybe he should move it back to the closet. He didn’t know why, but it seemed to him that it was important that the room be clear of objects. Maybe that’s because when he had first seen the secret room the black slate floor had been empty of any furniture. There had only been the built-in cabinets on the two walls.
He removed the grimoire from the chest, placing it on the chair. He took a picture of the two pages of the spell with his phone, this time concentrating on the incantation rather than the ingredients.
Once the book was back in the cabinet and the doors closed, he moved the chair and chest back into the closet. Before leaving the closet he pulled the black cloth out of it. Once back in the room, he removed everything from the altar, covered it with the cloth, and replaced the candles. He lit all four of them, two on each end of the table. He also lit the end of what looked like an incense stick. Immediately, the room was suffused with a sickly sweet odor, one that reminded him of decay and flowers.
He was probably doing this all wrong. Maybe he should draw a pentagram on the floor with white chalk. Or say something in praise of the devil or one of his names.
Nope, he wasn’t going to do that.
Why did the devil have a lot more names than God? Were people more afraid of the devil than the Almighty? Is that why they sidled up to him using different names all the time? He wasn’t even sure there was such a thing as a devil.
Maybe this wasn’t the ideal time to have a mental theological debate.
He stood in front of the altar, the black candles flickering wildly as if there was a wind. He looked down at his phone, expanded the picture a little to make it easier to read, and arranged the ingredients in the small crystal dishes he’d found.
He couldn’t tell, from the illustration, if there was a pattern he was supposed to follow in what went where, so he just went by the order the ingredients were listed, arranging the crystal dishes across the altar.
Yet the feeling of power lured him, pushed away thoughts of restraint. He'd been too damn restrained all this time. Too understanding. Too gullible by half.
He thought about wearing one of the robes he'd found and then dismissed the idea. Breanna had been a witch. He was a wizard. According to Grace, his abilities dwarfed those of his wife. He didn't need the trappings. He might not even require the list of ingredients.
Could he bring back Breanna from the dead?
Had Lionel raised the dead? Had he really brought back his wife? Had she lived – if that was the word to use – here with Lionel and Breanna?
He would find out, wouldn’t he?
“What are you going to do?” Ellie asked when Grace walked back into the Great Room.
Ellie was intelligent and brave. She would need the latter attribute now.
The NASACA Elders did not approve of people who violated their rules, including the “do not speak” dictate. If anyone learned that Ellie had come to her, the girl would be in trouble.
“I haven’t the slightest idea right at the moment,” Grace said, opting for honesty. “I’m leaning toward lecturing Derek and telling him what could happen to him if he brought Breanna back.”
“He probably doesn’t know that.” Ellie pressed her palms together, then released them. An anxious gesture, one that revealed that she didn’t feel as calm as her voice sounded.
“You’re probably right. However, I would think he would have some common sense. You don’t have to be practiced in magic to know that raising the dead is wrong.”
There was condemnation in her voice but it wasn’t for Derek. She was angry at Paul and Angie. What kind of parents failed to instill a reverence for life in their child? Perhaps some of her irritation was reserved for herself and for Jeffrey. His wife had created an untenable situation for her, but she had been initially guilty of the greatest sin, falling in love with a married man.
All of them were to blame, each one of them and maybe even Ellie, sitting there twisting her hands together.
“Would you like me to tell him?” Ellie asked.
She glanced at the girl. She didn’t know whether she was feeling incredulous, amazed, or impressed at Ellie’s effrontery.
“Do you have some words at your disposal that I don’t know? Some ability to cajole, perhaps? What is your talent, my dear?”
To her shame, twin spots of color appeared on Ellie’s cheeks. “Precognition. It’s why I’m here,” she said in a low voice.
“You saw this?”
Ellie nodded.
Grace detested bullies yet she’d just acted like one.
“Forgive me, Ellie. I’m out of sorts and more than a little worried. We have, as I see it, three problems in front of us. The Elders, who must remain ignorant of what is happening. Jeffrey, Derek’s father, who is probably actively promoting chaos at this exact moment, and Derek’s actions which could bring down all sorts of disaster on our heads.”
She needed an ally. Whether or not the girl wanted the position, by coming to her Ellie had volunteered for the spot.
To her credit she didn’t immediately start running.
“The most important thing is to stop Derek,” Ellie said.
Grace nodded. “I’m afraid, however, that we will have to accomplish a great many things concurrent with each other. The Elders have spies everywhere. You should know, you’re one of them.”
Ellie’s face flushed.
“We are fighting for a man’s soul, if not his life. We are fighting for yours, too.”
Ellie blinked several times, as if she were trying to understand what Grace had just said. Finally, she nodded.
“You think the Elders would do something to me if they learned what I know?”
“It isn’t what you know, my dear. It’s what you haven’t told them. You haven’t told them about the list. Do you think the people at Sticks & Stones are going to protect you?”
The color on Ellie’s face faded, leaving her complexion as pale as death.
“You haven’t told them about coming here, either, which is why I put a cloaking spell on you the moment I saw you.”
Once more the girl looked startled. No, more than that. Grace had shocked her. Ellie needed to get over that fast or she wasn’t going to be much of an ally. Grace’s time would be spent trying to prepare the girl for the reality of what they faced.
If the Elders learned of what they were going to do both of them would be punished. Not only that, but there was every possibility they were going to have to challenge the most powerful wizard on the planet. Add to that the fact that Derek was a strong personality in his own right even without magic and was extraordinarily stubborn.
They had a great deal to do and not much hope that they could accomplish it.