At the time, I thought it was pretty interesting. Then when Paige told me who she was working with, the name sounded familiar, so I plugged it into a search engine and realized you were the one I’d read about.”
“You knew who she was, too, and you didn’t tell me?” Savannah sputtered.
“Edward got into a car,” Clay announced from across the room.
For a moment, everyone was silent, struggling to fit this statement into the present conversation, then realizing it didn’t fit and wasn’t supposed to.
“Yeah, yeah,” Elena said. “We’ll get to that in a second. Don’t be so impatient.”
We all headed into the room. Lucas was still fighting back yawns, but managed a tired smile for me and shifted over to let me sit down beside him. Clay stayed on his other side and Elena perched on the sofa arm beside him, leaving the armchair for Jeremy. Jaime and Savannah grabbed chairs from the dinette table.
“So Edward got into a car?” I said. “Can’t track him that way, I guess. Damn.”
“Was it in a parking lot?” Lucas asked.
Clay shook his head. “Street in front of his hotel.”
“Did you happen to notice a bus stop nearby?” Lucas asked.
“Oh, very good,” Elena said. “Nope. No bus stop, and no street parking. So he must have hailed a cab. Does that help?”
“It might,” he said. “I have a contact at one of the taxi companies, who can usually obtain information from the others for a small fee. I’ll go call him.”
When Lucas slipped into the next room, I turned to Jaime. “How have things been with you since we left? Natasha making any noise?”
Jaime shook her head. “She’s gone. Disappeared, probably at the same time she ripped open that portal. Mission accomplished, I guess.”
“Maybe, but something happened to her when she opened the portal, and from the look on her face, it wasn’t something good. She might not be haunting you now because she can’t. Someone shut her down, or—”
Lucas reappeared.
I studied his expression. “Not good, I take it.”
“Edward did call a cab, one from Peter’s company, which made it easy. Unfortunately, he asked to be dropped off in Little Haiti, at the Caribbean marketplace, which doesn’t help us at all.” He settled onto the couch. “What about this portal ritual, Jaime? Did you have any luck researching it?”
“Yep,” Jaime said. “Found exactly what I was looking for. First, though, the warning. I have no idea whether this would even work. Like I told Paige, people don’t punch holes into the ghost world every day. Portals and how to reopen them are the stuff of necro myth. I knew I’d read something about it years ago, going through my Nan’s books. I had some trouble finding another necro who knew the details, though.”
“Do you have the books at your place?” I said. “If it’d help, we could send someone from the Cabal to get them. Save relying on secondhand info.”
“I, uh, don’t have the books,” Jaime said, gaze skittering across the floor. “Back when I left home, I didn’t take them. My mother pitched them out.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “We don’t need them. You got the information from someone else, so we’re good. What did they say?”
“Well, the first three necros I called had no clue what I was talking about. Then I found two who did, and they tried to tell me any necromancer could reopen the portal, no special tools required. But I knew that was wrong. Nan’s books were the best there were, the real thing, not like the crap that’s out there today.” Another wave of regret flooded her eyes. She shook it off. “Anyway, I knew that reopening a portal called for human sacrifice of a specific kind, so I kept calling around and finally found someone who’d read the same book my Nan had. We need—”
A knock came at the door. Everyone looked up. Elena’s nostrils flared and she leaned over to whisper something to Clay.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “Keep talking, Jaime. It’s only Cassandra. She can wait. Forever, if we’re lucky.”
“I heard that, Clayton,” Cassandra said as she walked in.
“Who the hell forgot to lock the door?” Clay said.
“You were the last one in,” Elena murmured.
“Damn.”
Black-Magic Standby
AARON ARRIVED A FEW MINUTES LATER, HAVING LIKELY been parking the car. He got a warmer reception than Cassandra, but the meet-and-greet phase was cut even shorter this time, now that we were all eager to hear what Jaime had found. First, though, we had to bring Cassandra and Aaron up