And she did feel a little bit better as she made the walk from her apartment to the cemetery. The sun had just set, and the town was in full swing, Halloween-wise. All the streetlamps were illuminated, creepy music blaring from the speakers placed all along the main drag, and Vivi smiled as she passed Coffee Cauldron. They’d placed a real cauldron outside full of dry ice, and a couple of kids dressed as witches were laughing and shrieking as they ran through the fog.
Graves Glen was a good place. A happy place.
And she was going to save it.
The sounds of the Halloween revelry got more distant the closer Vivi got to the cemetery, and by the time she opened the creaking iron gate, all she could hear was the wind in the leaves overhead and the occasional cry of a bird.
Aelwyd’s grave was at the very back corner, and as Vivi walked toward it, she could already see Gwyn and Elaine standing there, waiting for her.
They both held candles, and the warmth in both their faces had Vivi’s throat suddenly feeling tight.
“We’re almost ready,” Elaine said, handing Vivi a black candle. “As soon as Rhys gets here.”
“And here Rhys is,” Vivi heard him say behind her. She turned to see him sauntering down the path like he was strolling toward a date in the park, not potentially his own death, and her heart thumped painfully in her chest.
He was dressed all in black, the pendant winking against his throat, and as he took the candle from Elaine, he threw Vivi a wink. “Ready to get me uncursed, cariad?”
Vivi took a deep breath, and there was a sharp sound and the sudden scent of sulfur in the air as Gwyn lit a match, touching it to the wick of Vivi’s candle.
“As I’ll ever be.”
Chapter 32
Rhys wasn’t sure he’d ever been so nervous in his life as he watched Vivienne situate herself at the foot of Aelwyd’s grave, her blond hair pulled back from her face, standing there in her polka dots, clutching her candle.
She was so beautiful, so brave, and even though he knew he should probably be a little worried for himself, it was the idea of anything happening to her that had his stomach in knots, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.
I should have told her before, he thought, but it was too late now. She was already murmuring under her breath, kneeling down at the foot of Aelwyd’s grave. Rhys wasn’t sure exactly what went into this ritual, but he knew it was more than summoning a ghost. Ghosts were entirely separate beings, made of energy that couldn’t get free.
A spirit, still trapped in its grave, was a much harder beast to summon.
Piper McBride had learned that the hard way, and now, watching Vivienne, Rhys had to fight the urge to rush forward and pull her out of here. To hell with the town, to hell with him, just don’t let Vivienne risk her own life to save either, he thought.
But she wanted to do this. Believed she could do this.
And he had to believe in her.
Gwyn and Elaine knelt down as well, and when Elaine pulled a small silver knife from her belt, Rhys gritted his teeth. It was a blood curse, and Vivi was Aelwyd’s blood relative, so it shouldn’t surprise him that blood was involved, but he still winced as that blade flashed over the meaty part of Vivienne’s palm, a quick, tiny cut, but a cut nonetheless.
Vivienne didn’t flinch, though, pressing her palm against the earth, lowering her head.
Gwyn and Elaine were whispering along with Vivienne, the flames of their candles flickering in the night wind, and Rhys felt cold race up his spine as the ground trembled slightly underfoot.
He couldn’t pinpoint exactly when he felt it happen. There was nothing dramatic like there had been with Piper, no sudden form leaping up from the grave.
But when Vivienne turned her head and looked at him, he knew it was not her behind those eyes.