room. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think we had a poltergeist. One that wanted to rearrange Finn’s kitchen in a very mannerly fashion.
“That is freaking cool,” Rita exclaimed, watching as Emilia lifted a chair with nothing but a wave of her hand. Emilia showed Rita how to do it and then both of them were at it. Deciding I was only getting in the way, I stepped out into the hallway to call Finn.
“Hey,” he answered, sounding breathless.
“Um, hi. Did I get you at a bad time?”
“Nah, we just finished up a hunt. I think I might have broken a record with all the chaos mist I killed today.”
“Well, you’re nothing if not thorough,” I joked.
“Oh, you haven’t seen the half of how thorough I can be,” he replied huskily and a small tingle shimmied in my belly. I quickly ignored it.
“Quit flirting with me and focus. I have good news. Rita, Emilia, and I have figured out the spell for Rebecca. Is there any way you can let Pamphrock know? We’re setting it up now, so I kind of need him to bring her over as soon as possible. Oh, and I need Emilia and Rita with me to do this, so you’ll have to okay that with Pamphrock. I know he’s a little touchy about people knowing about Rebecca.”
“You told Rita and Emilia?!” he accused.
“Calm down. Rita is one of our own. She can be trusted with the secret. And I haven’t told Emilia whose daughter Rebecca is. Not yet, anyway. But once Pamphrock arrives, it’s going to be pretty obvious.”
Finn sighed. “Okay, I’ll take care of it. How has Emilia been? Any weirdness?”
“Too much weirdness, but not the kind you’re thinking of. We had a little heart to heart, and she told me that her husband, Filipp, wasn’t my mother’s biological father. Get this, it was a sorcerer she had an affair with.”
“Christ, it wasn’t Theodore, was it?” Finn questioned in disbelief. “Because if it was, for a fella with a face on him like a Rottweiler chewing on a bee he got some serious amount of action in his day.”
I laughed. “A Rottweiler chewing on a bee?”
Finn chuckled. “Irish joke, never mind.”
“Uh, okay. And no, it wasn’t Theodore. That’s the conclusion Rita and I initially jumped to. But apparently it was some guy named Roman.”
“Never heard of him,” Finn said.
“Me neither.” I paused and blew air out through my mouth. My grandfather’s identity was a topic for another day. “So, you’ll make sure Rebecca gets here, yeah?”
“I will. See you soon.”
We hung up, and I returned to the kitchen, which was now clear of furniture. Rita was kneeling on the floor, using a piece of black chalk to draw what appeared to be some kind of satanic Venn diagram with two pentagrams intertwined. Then she took some red chalk and drew an inverted one in the middle.
All the spell ingredients were spread out beside the pentagrams. Included were four beeswax candles, a bowl of green moss from the garden, a packet of matches, ice cubes, a bottle with what Rita claimed was dragon blood—though I had my doubts about that,—clove oil, a large bottle of vodka, cinnamon sticks, and one short piece of rope. Either someone was in for a wild night, or as Alvie liked to put it, we were about to get our spells on.
Just as we’d finished assembling everything, the front door opened and Finn led Pamphrock and Rebecca into the house. The moment Rebecca stepped into the room Emilia’s eyes lit up. The little girl wore a fancy cream dress with a purple sash around the waist. On her feet were shiny black Mary Janes, and her hair was styled in a perfect French plait.
“Oh, aren’t you just a little darling,” Emilia exclaimed as she introduced herself to Rebecca. Pamphrock didn’t express any surprise at finding her there, so I took it Finn filled him in. Emilia explained to him that she once had a daughter just like Rebecca and that she’d do anything to assist in his cause. This information seemed to put him more at ease.
I watched Emilia interact with Rebecca and thought I saw her eyes glaze over a little. Was she upset? She turned away and dabbed at her cheeks. When she caught me looking, she explained, “She’s just so much like Darya, so sheltered but so sweet. And she feels just like her, too.”
I assumed she meant “feel” in the magical sense. I didn’t know