my power that she would have a greater capacity for storing and channeling magic. But she was a soul given form. An innocent soul. The rarest and most powerful kind. Children of a certain age were often targeted by supernatural predators for that exact reason. In binding Colby, I had caught pure lightning in a bottle.
And, according to the numerous spells outlined in the grimoire, anyone could pop her cap and drink.
All they had to do was kill me first so that our bond would release Colby’s soul.
As I flipped deeper into the book, I discovered the complex spell Taylor used for creating his masque and worse. Far worse. Curses. Enchantments. Soul magic.
The door burst open on cat-size Colby and Clay, and I shoved the grimoire under my pillow.
I took a moth right between the eyes as she smacked into my face and clung tight to my hair.
“You’re awake.” Her furry body jittered as she slid down to stare at me. “You slept a lot longer than me.”
“Go ahead.” I peeled her off and plonked her on my lap. “Mock me with your supreme powers.”
For a moth, she did smug well. “I thought I just did.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I examined her. “You’re not hurt or feeling puny or anything?”
“I feel like I drank the whole tub of sugar water in one gulp.”
“Um…” I glanced at Clay, our resident familiar expert. “Is that normal?”
“The more power a familiar channels, the more power they’re able to channel.” He shrugged. “Colby is already a powerhouse. She’s only going to grow stronger the more you work with her.” He hesitated. “The cork is out of the bottle, so to speak. Now that Colby has used her powers in conjunction with yours, she has to keep expending the energy her body will naturally begin to retain, or she will be consumed by it.”
Most black witches didn’t keep familiars. We didn’t need them. We gained power through consumption. Of all the lessons I had been taught, the care and keeping of rare familiars hadn’t been a footnote in the margin. That was why I treated Colby like a kid, like a person, instead of as a pet or a conduit.
After I finished reading the grimoire from cover to cover, I would have more research ahead of me.
“Ha! That means we’re a team whether you want to be or not.” She was smug as a bug. “You don’t get a vote.”
“Harsh.” I wiggled my lap to make her dance. “Phenomenal cosmic powers are making your head swell.”
Launching herself off my knee, she zoomed closer. “Do you know what tonight is?”
“I don’t even know what today is.”
“It’s Halloween.” She pirouetted in the air. “Will you take me trick-or-treating?”
“Colby,” Clay chided in a gentle tone. “Rue is exhausted. We need to let her rest.”
“Hollis Apothecary was supposed to have an open house tonight.” I plucked at the covers. “I’m not sure I’m ready to face the store yet. Or the town.”
There would be so many questions about the store, the girls, my ex. And I was tired of the lying.
Clutching her hands under her chin, she begged, “Can Clay take me?”
A moth hair accessory didn’t look odd on me, but on Clay, folks might stare. “I don’t know…”
“Come in costume,” Asa suggested to me. “That way, no one will recognize you.”
“That’s not a terrible idea.” I mulled it over. “That would solve a lot of our problems.”
Namely that if I wore an actual costume, but kept my present company, everyone would recognize me.
But a glamour could reshape us enough to enjoy a stress-free night out incognito.
“I vote we go as Marie Antoinette,” Colby chimed in. “I would look awesome in silver and diamonds.”
We shared a costume every year to make blending in easier for her and to keep her close to me.
The Downtown Samford Halloween Spooktacular, which everyone called the ghost walk for short, was a lot more fun when you showed up and stuffed your face with free goodies versus having to provide free goodies for others to stuff into their faces.
“Done.” I flicked a wrist. “What about you, Clay?”
“Julia Child.”
“Always a classic.” I skipped to Asa. “Well?”
“The devil.”
“Okay.” I didn’t imagine the twitch in his cheek. “Like red-jumpsuit devil?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of this.” The transformation gripped him, and his daemon appeared. “Trick-or-treat.”
A snort blasted out my nose. “You want to trick-or-treat?”
The daemon ducked his head but nodded once before giving himself back over to Asa.
“How about I glamour the daemon into