Her heart was a syncopated rhythm. This could work. It had to work. They needed answers.
Lighting the candle, she waited until there was a small pool of melted wax, and then scattered salt in to bind Gigi’s spirit. She held out her hand and Seth wordlessly handed her the Thieves essential oil and clary sage, the first for fortification, and the other for clarity. She put a few drops of each on a small bundle of dried pine needles before lighting them on fire.
“I really don’t think—” Seth started, but Sadie cut him off with a glare as she placed the knot of Isis on top of the diagram.
“Show yourself,” she whispered under the canopy of trees. Light filtered in from above, the wind less fierce in the thick copse. The flame flickered. She closed her eyes. She smelled sap and pine and that particular bite of cold that promised rain. Sticks and rocks poked at her legs as she knelt on the ground, but she ignored them.
“I need to know what to do. Please, Gigi.”
She picked up the knot of Isis and squeezed it in her hands, focusing on the memory of Gigi with every ounce of willpower she possessed.
Simon’s gravelly mew from the tree line startled her eyes open. The flame was still lit, swaying gently.
“Please, please, please,” she whispered over and over until the silence threatened to undo her. She grabbed Seth’s hands in hers, and her eyes pleaded with him to at least try. He sighed but closed his eyes, focusing.
And that’s when she felt it. A bone-seeping cold that stole her breath like a bad dream. It was back. She shivered, and her breath came out in a puff. The flame blew out, and with shaking hands she tried to relight it.
“No, no, no,” her teeth chattered with cold and anger. “Not right now!” She took a handful of salt and scattered it in a circle around her and Seth.
“Sadie,” Seth said, gripping her hands tighter as his palms frosted over. “What. The. Fuck,” he gasped as the cold stole his breath.
She looked around but couldn’t see the form. Could only feel its presence. It didn’t want them here. Didn’t want them doing this. It tried to linger—she could feel it pressing against the circle of salt. But it held. And after a few shaky breaths, the cold receded.
When she tried to light the candle again, her fingers shook so hard she dropped the lighter. Seth swiped it up before she could.
“Have you lost it? We’re leaving. Up,” he commanded, tugging at her arm.
“No, I just need to try again.” Her voice sounded desperate, even to her own ears, but she still pushed him away and tried to grab the lighter out of his hand.
“Jesus, Sade.” He reached down and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder like she was a sack of flour, and stamped the pine needles out with his foot before marching out of the forest.
“Put me down!” She pummeled his back until he finally stopped at the edge of the garden.
“Is that supposed to happen?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I can’t see what you’re talking about, you caveman!”
He lowered her to the ground with more care than she expected, and she was about to thank him when she smelled the ash and her heart sank. A patch of sweet peas that Jake had so painstakingly tied back up and coaxed back to life had shriveled up. She ran trembling fingers along the curled leaves and shuddered as they crumbled to the ground as dust.
“There’s a reason you’re not supposed to do that kind of magic,” he said. “Where did you get that damn spell? Gigi never would have used something like that.”
“Calliope,” Sadie coughed as the scent of ash stuck in her throat.
“Fucking Calliope Madizza. I should have known. That girl has got a death wish.”
“I needed to talk to Gigi,” she said, her voice breaking.
“You have me,” he said tightly. “I know it’s not the same. But we’re in this together.” And when he hugged her, she sank into it. “Now, you mind telling me what the hell that was in the forest?”
“I don’t know,” she confessed. “A spirit?”
“No shit, Sherlock. You’ve seen it before? Felt it?”
She nodded.
“Great. Well, I’ll tell you what. You try and stop summoning malevolent spirits, and I’ll try and stay alive long enough to stop you from making stupid decisions.”
“Seth?” she said as they walked back to the house with his arm around her shoulders. “I’m glad you’re back.”
“I’m glad you’re letting me back in.”