“You never have to know,” he says simply. “Because I am here, and I’m not going anywhere. I think, for the time being, these mirrors should be covered.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
Suddenly, the nausea is back, so much worse than before, and I know.
I don’t know how, I just do.
“Shit,” I whisper and quickly move to the door.
But rather than a photograph on the stoop, there’s a man.
A body.
Missing his eyes.
I stumble backward, screaming in terror.
I can hear Jackson speaking. Is he talking to me? No, he’s on the phone.
I can’t look away from the dead man on the doorstep.
“Get here. Fast.”
He tosses his phone onto a nearby chair and yanks me to him.
“He was distracting us,” I say into Jackson’s chest. “So he could leave this here.”
“I know.” He strokes his hand down my hair. “I know, baby. They’re on their way. They’ll be here in minutes. They were all at Witches Brew.”
I nod and stare down at him. “I don’t know him.”
Someone slashed his throat. His mouth gapes open. And, like the Polaroids, he’s missing his eyes.
My goddess, why the eyes? It’s so damn fucking creepy.
Jack’s right. The others arrive quickly, and I hear Cash speaking into his phone, already barking out orders.
“Gods,” Lucien says and turns to Millie. “We need to cast a spell so passersby can’t see this.”
“Let’s do it,” Millie says, and I watch as they join hands and cast the circle. They’re beautiful to watch together.
“What happened, exactly?” Cash asks.
We recount everything that happened over the past few minutes. “And then I opened the door and found him. I screamed a lot.”
“I’m sure he took great pleasure in that,” Millie says with a sigh. “And how, exactly, is he doing this?”
“He’s stronger than ever before,” Brielle says. “He’s taking his victims’ energy. He’s growing stronger each day. And the eclipse is still a week away.”
Suddenly, we’re submerged in darkness. I can’t see the others. I can’t even hear them.
It’s as though I’m alone in a pitch-black room.
“More parlor tricks?” I ask loudly. “More scare tactics?”
And then I remember. Recite the spell. If the others are doing it, too, then we can cast him out.
I take a deep breath and do my best to remember it all.
“Lord and Lady, lend me your might.
Guardians of the watchtowers, make this—”
I only get two lines in when the darkness disappears, and we’re all standing in my shop, looking at each other.
“Wow, that spell is powerful,” Brielle says. “We barely got any of it out before he was gone.”
“Same,” I say, nodding. “It worked.”
“No.” Lucien’s voice and face are both grim as he shakes his head. “No, it didn’t work. He’s playing with us.”
There’s laughter all around us, and then the darkness descends again, even blacker than before.
I can’t see the others. I can’t even sense if they’re nearby.
So, I start the spell once more.
“Lord and Lady, lend me your might.
Guardians of the watchtowers, make this right.
Ancestors and guides, hear my plea…”
Suddenly, I hear loud, maniacal laughter—as if he’s heard the funniest joke of his life.
“Do you think that works on me?” he demands in a booming voice. “Lord and Lady, lend me your might.”
He’s mocking, using a high-pitched singsong voice.
“You’re pathetic. I could simply kill you where you stand. And I should. Because you’ve defied me at every turn.”
Oh, Goddess, I’m drowning. I can’t catch my breath. I can’t get to the surface of the water. I thrash about, searching for relief.
And just when the edges of my mind go dark, I’m free.
I fall and struggle for breath, gasping. I blink at the bright light coming in through the windows.
“Are you okay?” Jackson asks as he hurries to gather me up. “Daphne, are you okay?”
“He was drowning me,” I say at last.
“I was on fire,” Brielle adds. “It felt like someone set me on fire.”
“Hanging,” Millie says, rubbing her neck. “I was hanging from a noose.”
Lucien swears and pulls his wife close. We’re all embracing, trying to regroup.
“I was being stabbed, over and over again,” Jackson says.
“I had my throat slit,” Cash adds.
Everyone turns their eyes to Lucien.
“Stoned.” He clears his throat. “I was being stoned to death. Crushed.”
“What in the hell?” I demand.
“It’s how we’ve all died in the past,” Lucien explains. “In different lifetimes, we died that way. I don’t understand how he knows that, but he’s showing it to us.”
“A threat?” Cash asks. “A way of saying: ‘If you don’t do what I want, I’ll just do this to you again.’”
“Maybe,” Millie says.
“How did it stop?” I ask. “What made it all stop and drive him away?”
“It could be that he ran out of energy,” Jackson suggests. “But one thing is very clear. The protection spells and crystals don’t work this time. He’s too strong. And even though we’re formidable when we’re together, it’s not enough.”
“I won’t lose,” I say, shaking my head. “I will not let him win this time.”