Spell Struck (22 page)

"Hi?" Evie said.

Before either of us could respond, the little board moved two spaces to the right. "K," we said in unison. Then back to
I, which we all said aloud. Energy swelled around us, building higher and higher as the planchette bobbed twice over the
T. Evie
's hand trembled, but she kept her fingers glued to the planchette as it looped up to
E then skidded down to
N.

"Hi kitten," I said.

Evie sobbed, and a tear splashed onto her arm.

"It's her dad!" Parvani explained. "He always called her Kitten."

I gaped at Evie. She didn't look as though she had influenced the planchette. Shock, devastation, and elation played across her face like clouds scudding through the sky. "Don't lift your fingertips," I warned.

Evie sniffed and nodded.

"Mr. O'Reilly, do you have a message for your daughter?" Parvani asked.

I couldn't breathe. My heart knocked against my chest so loud I figured the sound alone would waken the dead. I stared down at the planchette. Evie's fingertips were the color of summer tomatoes. The planchette started to glide.

B-E-W-A-R-E.

My throat became sandpaper. "Beware of what?"

T-H-E…

Baby barked, loudly, sharply, as if Death was at the door. Evie screamed. I jumped. My phone rang. Evie and Parvani leapt at me and clung to either side of me. Something whooshed to the ceiling.

"We let go!" Evie wailed.

We stared wild-eyed at each other.

Evie's coffin-shaped clock dove off the desk and thudded on end between Parvani and the divination board. Our screams could have scratched paint off the walls. Baby barked louder. The hair on my nape rose like hackles on a coyote. I sensed a new energy enter the room, something dark and dense and creepy.

"We forgot to set up protection!" I peeled Parvani and Evie off me and stood.

You are not going to get my friends! It may have been too late, but I drew pentacles in each corner. To my surprise, Evie and Parvani scrambled to their feet. Like warriors, we stood back-to-back around the Ouija board
. Parvani intoned,
"Ommmm. Ommmm. Ommmm."

"Daddy and good angels, protect us," Evie prayed.

The room whirled around me, and glints of colored light danced before my eyes. A twirling cord of energy tugged at my belly button, threatening to lift me out of my boots and haul me into the same dimension as the foul energy. It pulled me on tiptoe. Baby's frantic barks crashed like cymbals against Parvani's chant. Inside the black tote, the
Grey Grimoire rattled and strained against the zipped bag
.

The cord of energy intensified. Five apparitions appeared — three soldiers in desert fatigues, a strawberry blond man with a camera hung around his neck, and a dark-haired girl. All shimmered with white light.

The girl stepped toward the thundercloud of foul energy. I tried to scream for her to get back, that it wasn't safe, but no words sprang from my throat. The girl raised her right arm toward the dark energy. Panic blinded me. The room vanished as the black hole sucked me in.

Chapter Thirty-One

"Wow. It's so dark out tonight," Amy said as we headed uphill. "I haven't driven since summer."

I peered out the window. Storm clouds blocked the night sky, and blackness pressed in on the tiny subcompact. "No street lamps. No moon." I felt like a hamster trapped in a tin wheel. Amy's irregular energy pinged around the car's interior, zapping me. Each spark buzz sawed anxiety under my skin. I drew in my aura and shuddered out a calming breath.

"I should have brought Flipper." Amy took one hand off the wheel and chewed her fingernails.

"How far to Evie's house?"

"Just a couple more blocks." Amy made a right at the corner. Tree limbs bobbing in the wind blocked the street sign. Thunder rumbled through Teensy Weensy. Ahead, fog obscured the road. Amy's hands tightened on the wheel. In the dim dashboard light, the color leached from her knuckles. "Do you feel them?"

"What?" I clutched the sides of the seat and battled to harness and ground the edgy energy.

Amy shivered. "Snakes, all around us. Vipers."

"It's just a new storm rolling in. It messes with the barometric pressure."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." Though something shivered my skin. Maybe Amy wasn't just mentally ill. Maybe she could sense paranormal activity.

A deer stepped out of the fog. Amy screamed and stood on the brake. I thrust out a protective arm as both of our seatbelts locked. Amy started gasping and fought against the seatbelt.

Not now. We need to warn Salem. "
Everything is okay." I coaxed Amy with the same tone I used to use on my dad when he'd wanted to buy alcohol. "You did great. Lucky for all of us you are such a great driver. Can you ease over to the curb?"

Amy threw me a wild-eyed stare that made me wish I knew how to drive. "We're going to die!" she cried between gasps.

"No."
Though we might get rear-ended if we don't move. "
You saved us. And look, there goes the deer." As her gaze followed the retreating deer, I placed my hand on the steering wheel. When she didn't move, I eased toward her hand. "Let's pull over and park for a minute. I'll smooth your aura like I did back at the house. Okay?" Our fingers touched, and I transmitted calming energy.

Amy nodded. I released the wheel and held my breath until she parked in front of a flat-roofed house. Tears streamed down Amy's cheeks as she cut the engine. Her shuddering gasps gave way to hiccups. Her hands formed a shaky heart shape in front of her mouth.

"Better?"

She nodded, then shook her head. "Trouble is coming."

Weak headlights illuminated the road. A slow-moving van passed us and pierced the earthbound cloud. "Trouble," Amy muttered.

My adrenaline spiked.
Papo and Magdalena. I glanced at Amy.
Definitely a Sensitive. "
Do you have your cell phone?"

"I think so." She fished it out of her oversized purse.

"Try Salem again."

"Okay." Amy punched in some numbers, swore, closed the phone, then opened it and started over. "It's ringing. What should I say if she answers?"

"I'll talk to her."

"It's going to voicemail."

She handed me the phone. Salem's recorded voice sounded.
Hey. You know what to do. After the tone, I said, "
Salem? Aidan. I think Papo and Magdalena are on their way to Evie's. Burgundy van. Do not let them in the house! We're on our way."

I clapped the phone shut.

Amy wiped her eyes. "Who are Papo and Magdalena?"

"Evil people."

"And they're after Evie?"

I swallowed. "No. Your sister."

Amy didn't wait for further explanation. She switched on Teensy Weensy and aimed for the fog. "Well, they're not going to get her. Not on my watch."

The fog bank was narrower than I had expected, and we quickly broke free of it. I searched ahead for the van's single taillight. Just as I spotted it, the van's brakes squealed, and the vehicle fishtailed. The swerving headlights illuminated a deer as it leaped in front of the van and bounded into a yard across the street. The van teetered on two wheels. I held my breath, afraid it would flip. Instead, the airborne tires hit the ground. I sucked in air, imagining how hard anyone inside the van would have bounced.

A luminous white owl swooped over us, wings outstretched, flying so low its talons nearly scraped the windshield. "Whoa!" I ducked. Amy screamed and braked. The tiny car jerked to a stop. Ahead, the van plowed through a fence, ripping jagged white pickets from the ground and shooting them through the air. Three posts arrowed to the asphalt in front of us and splintered.

"Crap!" Amy shielded her eyes with her forearm.

The owl peeled off and vanished. The van tore across the lawn and slammed into a large oak. The thud boomed in my ears, and my stomach sickened at the sound of crumpling metal. The van shuddered to a halt.

Amy gasped. "Oh my! Call nine-one-one."

The cell phone slid from my nerveless fingers. I gaped at the van. A ball of white light appeared above it, hovered for a moment, swelled in size, and ascended out of sight.

I jerked backward. "Did you see that?"

"The light?" Amy nodded and leaned forward.

"What do you think it was?"

Amy's eyes widened. "An angel?"

The front door of the house flew open and a middle-aged couple ran out. The woman had a phone to her ear. The man carried a fire extinguisher. Porch lights flicked on next door and across the street. Neighbors streamed to the accident.

"No one is getting out of the van." Bile rose in my throat.

Sirens wailed in the distance. Amy glided the car to the side of the road and parked. "Do you think Sarah is safe now?"

I swallowed back vomit. "Yes." I unbuckled my seatbelt. "I'm sure of it." My hand shook as I reached for the door.

"Good. We're the only eyewitnesses. We can't leave the scene."

"Call your dad," I said. "He'll hear the sirens and be worried."

"Good idea." Amy collected her cell phone from the floor mat and flipped it open.

"I'm going to see if anyone survived. Will you be okay?"

Amy nodded as she pressed numbers on the keypad.

"After your dad, try Salem again."

I opened the car door. Sirens filled my ears, growing closer, louder. My injured ear throbbed. I flashed back to the day Dad had died on the street in San Francisco and how the ambulances had blared outside the hospital the day we'd lost Mom.

Small tremors rattled my body. I steeled myself, squared my shoulders, raised my vibration, and silently said my mantra.

I will finish high school.

I will go to college.

I will live in a warm house with running water and electricity.

Salem will be my girlfriend.

I will find Bronwyn.

No matter what.

Chapter Thirty-Two

White light, like sunlight breaking through the clouds, streamed from the girl's upraised palm. "Mama. This is not the way." Her voice reminded me of fine crystal — beautiful, otherworldly, neither female nor male.

Another voice, shaky and incredulous, pierced the void. "Irina? Is that you?"

"Follow the light, Mama."

The twirling cord of energy trying to tug me into another realm slowed to a halt. The venomous energy shriveled into nothingness. A brilliant white light blossomed in the darkness and melded with Irina's. Like a glowing balloon, the wondrous light ascended through a vertical column of glittering stars.
The path of souls
, a voice inside my head explained. As the ball of light rose, my spirit freefell, passing through the ring of soldiers in camouflage gear and the man with the camera. The girl had vanished in a trail of starlight and love.

"Salem? Are you okay?"

Evie's voice reached me as if from a dream. My spirit slid into my body and thrummed.
This must be what fairy dust feels like. My eyes remained closed as I tried to sort out which part was reality and which was the dream. Before I could decide, Amy
's ringtone penetrated my consciousness.

I followed the sound from wherever I had been and opened my eyes. "Could someone answer my phone? It's Amy."

Evie, her mom, and Parvani were hunched over me. Parvani sprang up and retrieved my cell phone from the outer pocket of my backpack. "Hello? Amy? It's Parvani."

Baby licked my face. Evie grabbed her collar and pulled her off.

Mrs. O'Reilly pressed a cool hand to my forehead and asked her daughter, "What happened?"

"We were messing around with the Ouija board when Salem — I mean, Sarah — started acting strangely. Then she kind of fainted."

Parvani held out the phone. "It's Amy."

I propped myself up on my elbows. The room swam. "Is everything okay?" I said into the phone.

"Sort of. Are you okay? Aidan was worried about you."

I bolted up. Baby placed her paw on my lap. "You talked to Aidan?" Parvani and Evie crowded closer. Sirens wailed close by. Mrs. O'Reilly went to the window.

"Yes. I'm sort of with him now."

"What do you mean 'sort of'? Where are you?"

"Down the street. We were coming to rescue you from some evil people, then there was a crash—"

My pulse accelerated. "Were either of you hurt?"

"No." Her voice faltered. "Just sort of in shock. It was horrible. Aidan went to see if they are dead."

"See if who is dead?"

"There is an ambulance and fire truck parked down the street," Mrs. O'Reilly reported.

"The people in the van," Amy said. "Dad is coming to get us as soon as Mom gets home with the car."

"You drove Aidan?
"

"Yes, silly. I do know how to drive, remember?"

"Yeah. Sorry. I forgot. Hang tight, we'll come down and stay with you until Dad arrives." I glanced up at Evie and Parvani. They both nodded.

"I think you better hang with your boyfriend. He seemed pretty shook up. Guess he knew the people in the van."

"Oh, no! I hope it wasn't his cousin, Kali."

"Maybe. He mentioned a couple of other names, but they were weird. I can't remember them."

"Papo and Magdalena?"

"Yes! Do you know them?"

"Not personally."

"Good. See you soon." Amy ended the call.

Everyone stared at me. "I have to leave."

"You just fainted," Mrs. O'Reilly protested.

"I have to. Amy and Aidan witnessed the accident. They are pretty shaken up, and Aidan's cousin may have been in the van. I need to get down there."

"We'll watch her." Evie helped me up.

"I'm going with you," Mrs. O'Reilly said. "Evie, please get Baby's leash. Girls, you'll need your coats."

"Wait." My body felt lit from within. "I have to tell you something. While I was — floating — I saw a man with strawberry blond hair like Evie's. He had a camera. And there were three soldiers dressed in camouflage with him. They surrounded us, like guardians. They vanished when I slipped back into my body."