strong.
I raced forward as Marigold curled her fist for an actual punch. Screaming, Dray jumped over the counter to try to help Evie. She scrambled back, trying to avoid her mother’s anger. I managed to grab Marigold’s arm before she could swing again and I yanked her back, off her feet. Given I was Ante-Fae, I was a lot stronger than most humans.
“Oh no, you don’t!” I leaned down to catch her by both arms, pulling them behind her as I restrained her. Then, I kneed her hard in the butt, letting go as she fell forward. I was on her before she could move, straddling her as I once again restrained her arms.
Marigold was cursing up a storm. She struggled but couldn’t break free. I glanced at Dray, who was helping Evie.
Evie’s cheek was bright red from the imprint of Marigold’s hand. She was crying, and Dray wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
“Shush, it’s okay. It’s all right, Evie.”
At that moment, Rain and Kipa came racing over. Rain took in the scene and gasped, raising her hand to her mouth. Kipa strode over and I shifted out of the way so he could take hold of Marigold. He brought her to her feet, holding her arms behind her. I moved around in front to gaze into her eyes. They were flickering with an unnatural light, and I realized that Marigold was actually possessed.
“She’s possessed,” I said, turning around. “Evie, are you okay?”
“What happened?” Rain whispered, moving over to where Evie and Dray were standing.
“Mom hit Evie,” Dray said. “She’s lost it.”
Rain ran over to Evie’s side and examined her cheek. “Oh, honey.” She turned to Marigold. “How could you? How could you hit your daughter?”
“She’s not herself,” I said. “Something is controlling her.”
“Can you do anything?” Rain asked. “Can you exorcise her?”
“I’d try, except I don’t know what has her under its control and unless I do, I might end up doing more harm than good.” I glanced at my watch. “Crap, the fair’s due to open in ten minutes. Evie, you can’t man the booth. Not now.” I turned to Kipa. “One of your men? Could he take tickets?”
Kipa raised his eyebrows, but nodded. “Yeah.” He let out a long, low whistle.
I turned back to Dray. “Is everything okay in the patch right now? Did the spirit come back? And by the way, it is a spirit. I know of at least one ghost who’s haunting the farm.”
Marigold let out a long hiss. When she spoke, her voice sounded low and guttural, almost inhuman. “You’ll never free her, bone witch. She’s stuck here with the rest of them.” And then, before I could say anything, she fainted. Kipa caught her up in his arms.
“What should I do with her?”
“We can’t just let her run around. We know she’s possessed and she’s out to wreak havoc now. If we lock her up, whatever has control of her might make her hurt herself. I hate to suggest it, but we need to strap her down so she doesn’t hurt herself or anybody else,” I said. I hated the thought—I knew what it was like being held down against my will. But whatever was controlling Marigold needed to be restrained.
Kipa turned to Rain, who was crying. “Do you have any leather handcuffs?”
Rain blinked. “We’re not that kinky.”
Kipa blushed. “I didn’t mean—”
“I have an idea! Wait here.” I ran back up the pathway and over to the booth. “Llew, we need something that will knock out a human. And I mean, knock them out, but good. Marigold’s possessed and we need to control whatever it is that has control over her. So whatever we give her needs to be strong. Do you have anything that might work?”
Llew frowned, sorting through the items on his table. “You know, I don’t right off-hand, but if I take apart several of the protection charms, there are some herbs in…oh…four of them that when combined together should do the trick. They could knock out a horse. Here.” He wrote the name of the herbs on a piece of paper. “Go ask Rain if Marigold has any known allergies to these.”
As I turned back to the path, I saw one of Kipa’s men striding toward the entrance. He was gorgeous, swarthy and tall, muscled and looking hot to trot in his jeans and skintight T-shirt. His hair coiled down his shoulders and he made me drool just looking at him. Oh yeah, the women coming into the