There was a grumble from my hip bag as Alan asked who was coming with us. I lifted the flap and helped Kinkly out. Alan’s face stared up at me. I said, “A witch who knew Gran is coming with us. She can help out. Also, she likes whiskey in her tea.”
Alan grimaced and withdrew. “A pair of lushes, just like you and Mavis.”
I smiled to myself as I let the leather flap drop on his face.
Every girl needs a girlfriend to drink with who won’t tell your stage-whispered secrets to anyone else. Sometimes that girl is your own age, and sometimes she isn’t.
We cut through the cemetery, past where the wraiths had tackled me and then on through the bush to the side of the road, where Corb’s Mustang sat waiting. Sarge must have driven it over while Corb ran after us.
I slid into the backseat, squished between Sarge and Feish, and let Penny take the front passenger seat.
Corb was silent through the whole walk from Penny’s place to his car. Not a peep out of him as he turned the key, cranked the wheel, and got us going once more toward New Orleans.
I wondered just how long he could hold it together before he burst out with something about bringing someone new in without his say-so.
Sarge leaned in close to me and whispered, “Want to bet on how long before he freaks out?”
I sighed. “Five minutes after arrival at the house. I think he’ll hold out until then.”
“I say it’ll happen as soon as the car door shuts, still in the driveway,” Sarge whispered.
Kinkly mumbled. “Before we hit the outskirts of NOLA.”
I looked over at Feish, who pursed her fish lips before speaking. “Sooner is better so you can see that he is not the man for you. Boss is. This one is just horny.”
Of course, she didn’t whisper that at all. Corb shot me a look in the rearview mirror, and I shrugged. “You know Feish; calling it how she sees it.” When he tensed, I gave him a smile. “Doesn’t mean she’s right, Corb. It’s just her opinion.”
I wiggled in my seat until I could pull my hip bag around and open it. I reached in, pushing Alan to the side, and pulled out my gran’s spell book.
Penny somehow knew what I was doing without turning around. “I heard that you gave Missy your gran’s spell book. That true?”
“I gave her a spell book, that’s for sure,” I said. “But not the one she wanted.”
Penny laughed. “I don’t know that Missy is as bad as she comes across. She’s always been sour. Bad upbringing on her, but she does her best.”
“Pretty sure she’s the one that untethered Gran from the house, which made it possible for her to be taken. She was there, demanding the spell book, and then suddenly Gran got snatched up? No coincidence as far as I’m concerned,” I muttered as I flipped open the book on my lap and pulled out a small flashlight to read by. I’d have to move fast because reading in a moving car made me nauseous.
Sarge leaned his head back against the seat and slumped down, closing his eyes. “Wake me up when we get close.”
Kinkly was already back asleep, snoring lightly from her place which was now in the curve of the top flap of my bag.
Feish looked out the window. “Still think the boss is better for you.”
That made me smile as I looked down at the book. “Love life later, work right now,” I said.
I flipped to the section on wraiths and poked through it until I found what I was looking for. I’d review the rest of the information later—in case we actually had to fight them next time—but first I wanted to know what type of supernatural had likely called them.
A necromancer. Well, that made my guts tighten in an uncomfortable way.
I put my finger on the word and thought about all of the men in the council. One of them had definitely been a necromancer. He’d made Alan shut his mouth, which had been amazing. I tried to think about his features, but he really hadn’t stood out except for his amazing ability to silence Alan.
“Penny?”
“Yes?”
“A necromancer would have been able to raise up the wraiths, right?”
She didn’t twist around in her seat. “If it was just one, it was what you’d call a top-of-the-class necromancer. Normally, a necromancer can just hold one or maybe two, and