and Zack really left and didn’t hang around outside to peer through the window. Then I jumped, startled when Bis flew to me with a rustle of leather wings. “Thanks for that,” he said as he landed on my shoulder and wrapped his tail snugly. “He’s my best friend apart from you,” he added, and I touched his feet.
“You can’t do this,” Landon said, voice panicky. “It will kill me. Please!”
“It’s ready.” Trent bent to get the broom, carefully setting it to the side before looking at the three-ring spiral that began and ended at magnetic north. “Rachel, I’m thinking we need a circle around Landon and the spiral.”
“To keep everything contained? Good idea,” I said, and Bis went back to perch beside Hodin when I bent almost double to draw a larger circle around the spiral.
“You can’t do this,” Landon said as I passed him. “I’m the dewar’s leader!”
Not anymore. Worry puddled up in my gut like black tar as I rose. “You getting all of this?” I sourly said to Hodin, and the demon beamed at me.
“Let me go,” Landon begged, trembling to make the bits of broken glass on him twinkle. “I’ll kick it out. We can come to some understanding. I won’t file any charges. That was the baku, not me. You were right. It was dangerous, but I can kick it out. Rachel? Rachel! Listen to me!”
I looked away, gut souring. Trent had taken a purple ribbon from his wallet, carefully smoothing the creases before draping it over his neck. The small elven embellishment turned him from wealthy businessman into something dangerous, and my breath quickened.
“You pull souls from the living often?” Hodin said as he inched closer.
“Not because I want to,” I said, then jumped when Trent took my hand. His hair was staticky and his eyes were bright. Chalk decorated his fingers, making him far away and distant from his usual boardroom calm. He was again my warlord elf, and I loved him for it.
Feeling it, he gave my fingers an encouraging squeeze, then moved to stand at magnetic north. I eyed the spiral uneasily. It had an enormous pull once invoked by memory and will . . . by drum and song.
“No hat,” Trent said, flashing me a nervous smile as he touched his magic-staticky hair to smooth it. “But I think the Goddess will help anyway. She loves to make mischief.”
And this is mischief with a capital M, I thought as Trent closed his eyes and began a humming drone.
The ancient sound hit me like a warm wave, shocking and unexpected. I stared at him, my palms suddenly sweaty. I flicked a glance at Hodin to see if he noticed, flushing when he did.
Landon’s groan became a whimper, his eyes widening as the spiral began to glow with a faint stirring of ley line power. It pulled through me, tingles rising as I experienced the curse through both my senses and Trent’s, thanks to Hodin’s curse.
Tall and unmoving, Trent stood, his lips and chest moving as he breathed out the primordial sound. It spilled from him, at odds with his upright posture, soil-stained suit, and even the new scruff on his cheeks. I backed up, steeling myself against the curse-born pull of his voice. I’d always loved Trent’s voice, but this time, it was the curse that drew me. I was more susceptible to it than most, having been lost to it once before.
“You can’t do this to me!” Landon cried out, terror clouding his eyes and making his voice raspy. “I am the dewar!”
Trent’s voice shifted to a droning chant. I could almost discern the words. They flitted like moths about my thoughts, and I tried to ignore them, feeling that if I listened too closely, I’d be lost. His words pushed the spiral into a brighter, pearly white light, and breath fast, I backed up another wobbly step. To touch the spiral now would have meant my death.
My fingers rose to touch Hodin’s glyph warm on my chest. It joined me dangerously close to Trent’s magic. It was as if the walls of the church were melting away, leaving me in a haze of a midnight I’d never seen but remembered through the curse he was twisting.
And then . . . the memory of drums began.
Landon groaned, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he began to shake. The ancient sound wasn’t real. It was an echo from the past, pulled into existence by Trent’s voice