The Curse Servant (The Dark Choir Book 2) (30 page)

“That work?” he muttered.

“Let’s find out.”

I dropped the pendulum toward the notebook, and somehow, some way, the chain broke from the weight in my fingers. The gold spiral fell onto the pad, the tip sticking in the direct center of the W in BWI.

“Baltimore.”

Edgar shook his head. “Don’t that just figure?”

“How’d she get that far on foot?”

“Probably not on foot.”

I went to pick up the pendulum, but Edgar scooped it with his rubber gloved hand into the shoebox. With wary eyes, he gestured for me to release the hand weight. It was strangely difficult letting that little hunk of silver drop into the box, but when it was gone, so were the ants.

“You okay?” he asked as he replaced the lid.

“I think so.”

Edgar fished a hunk of hematite from his pocket and tossed it to me. I held it in my scrying hand, rubbing my fingers along its smooth surface to cleanse out the energy as if it were snake venom.

“Think she hitched a ride or something?” I asked, trying to sound normal.

“Maybe. Maybe she boosted someone’s car.”

“Does she even know how to drive?”

He shrugged. “If she drove a damn car, Dorian, then I’m going to call that evidence to your theory.”

He was right. Unusual knowledge was a typical sign of possession, and she was racking up points in that category.

“Listen, we have to do this again. We need a Baltimore city map, hone in on where she is.”

Edgar stepped away, clutching the box.

“Edgar? What good is it doing us to know she’s in Baltimore? It’s kind of a big city.”

“I know.”

“So you agree?”

“I don’t disagree.”

“Well?”

He stood solid.

I felt an urge to grab the box. He was being stupid. We needed to get the pendulum out of the box. It was necessary. The pendulum was suffocating in there.

A sharp burning pain lanced through my hand, and I dropped the hematite with a loud clack onto the glass counter. It was blazing hot!

Edgar looked down at the hematite with one brow lifted. I was dumping an amazing amount of energy into that poor little stone.

I took a deep breath and rubbed my hand on my shirt.

“I think we need to take a moment,” I whispered.

We stood on opposite sides of the counter, just staring at the shoebox. The silence was broken by my phone ringing, and we both nearly jumped out of our skins. I moved to the front of the shop and checked the number.

My heart nearly stopped.

“Ches?”

Her voice, much stronger and more lucid than the last time I had heard it, replied, “Hey, Dorian.”

“I… I’m glad you called.”

“Figured.”

“Wow. There’s basically a million things I want to talk about, but if you can believe it this is basically the worst possible time.”

“Dorian?”

“I really don’t want to put you off, but I have this problem with the Swains―”

“Elle’s here.”

I stood silent, staring out the front windows.

Edgar stepped to my side, and I held up a hand for him to be still.

“Dorian? Did you hear me?”

“Where are you?”

“Your place.”

I turned slowly to Edgar and chose my words carefully. “And Elle’s there with you?”

Edgar’s eyes grew wider than I had ever seen them, and the blood rushed out of his face.

“Yeah. I, uh… I think you need to come get her. She doesn’t look too hot.”

“Yes. I mean… stay there. Please. I’m coming to get her.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Ches? Be careful. She isn’t herself.”

“Understood.”

“Okay. I’ll be there in forty.”

I stared at my phone for several seconds before mustering the strength to hang up. I looked over to Edgar.

“I’m coming with you.”

I nodded. He left a note for Wren, and we took off.

s I pulled into my alley, I spotted Ches sitting on my stoop. Elle was lying down behind her, resting her head on Ches’ bag. Edgar was out of the car before it stopped. He dropped to his knees on my first step, laying a cautious hand on Elle’s side.

Ches stood up and whispered something to Edgar before turning to me.

I met her halfway to the stoop, and froze in front of her, searching for anything to say that wouldn’t sound insane.

“Hey,” was the best I could come up with.

“Hey.”

“What happened? How’d you find her?”

“Found her here,” she replied, hanging her head a little. “I came by after my shift since I don’t have class. I was hoping to find you at home. I don’t know why I decided to walk over, to be honest. Guess she has a guardian angel or something.”

“How is she?”

“Pretty bad. Confused. Scared.”

“Wait, what?”

A tiny voice creaked from the bundle lying on my stoop. “Daddy?”

Edgar sucked in a breath and moaned, falling onto Elle.

“She’s back?”

Ches nodded. “In and out.”

“I should probably explain―”

“I know what’s wrong with her. I recognized it. I mean, it was obvious to me when I saw her.”

I stepped over to the stoop and crouched down. “Hey, kid.”

Elle’s brow creased, and she reached up for Edgar.

Edgar pulled her up into his lap and stroked her hair. “Found you.”

“Where’s Mom?”

“She’s out looking for you.”

Elle pulled her face away from Edgar long enough to look at me. “It’s still here.”

I balled a fist inside my pocket. “We’re going to get it out of you. I promise.”

Her eyes narrowed. “It’s hungry.”

“Let’s get you something to eat.”

I opened up my house and led everyone inside. Edgar carried Elle upstairs to my bathroom to clean her off. I fished out some rubbing alcohol and gauze for him to dress the wounds on her hands as he started the shower. I left them alone and marched slowly downstairs to face Ches.

She sat on the couch, gripping her knees.

“How’s your head?” I asked.

“Got a lump. Not too bad. Listen, we never got to talk about this.”

“I tried to call you.”

“Yeah, I know. And I’m sorry. I wasn’t ready until just now.”

I sat next to her. “So, let’s talk about it.”

“This thing? It hates you.”

“I’m getting that.”

“Let me finish. It doesn’t really hate you personally. It hates the idea of you. Like it doesn’t really know who you are. It’s just being told to hate you.”

I leaned back and nodded. “I think this thing was sent by someone. Another practitioner hired by McHenry to win the election for Sooner.”

She pulled away a few inches, her eyes narrow. “To do what? Kind of like what you’re doing for the other guy?”

“Only this is aggressive. Bordering on evil.”

“What do Elle and I have to do with an election?”

“Me. You both have to do with me. There was one more, a volunteer for the campaign. Same thing happened to her. All the same entity, all attacking women. Why only women?”

“So this guy’s trying to take you out?”

“That’s my theory.”

“Dick move.”

“Tell me about it.”

She put a hand on mine. “Want to know why I really didn’t call you back? I was scared, Dorian. Not about the creepy ass thing that took over my body. Not really about almost losing my job. But I was scared of you. I mean, I knew you had this magical life. You showed me that. And I guess I was convinced you were just living a fantasy. And I thought, okay. You’re doing what you like and making it work for you. But then it got real. I mean, it was real to me. I started to believe you. And that just really freaked me out. If this thing that possessed me was real, then what else was real out there? You can make curses. What, is there a war going on out there between people like you? I lost sleep over it.”

I leaned back and ran a hand over my face. “There’s no war, Ches. It’s just a handful of people who’ve done a lot of studying. We have secret knowledge. That’s it.”

“Well, I’m not used to thinking like that, and I was afraid of being around you.”

“I can understand that.”

She lifted a finger. “But then I got pissed. Because you know what? I’m not a person who scares easy. So I had to figure, fuck this. Okay. You’re a wizard, or whatever. I got caught in the crossfire. I didn’t die. I didn’t lose my job. Only thing that almost happened was I could have lost you. Because I got scared? No. I’m not going to be that girl.”

The butterflies were back in my chest. “You realize I’m about to hug you, right?”

“Shut up.”

She threw an arm around my shoulders.

Edgar and Elle stepped down the stairs after a while, and Edgar set her at my kitchen table. I poured some cereal for her. Elle took the spoon and slowly, morosely, shoveled the cereal a piece at a time into her mouth. There was no joy there. Just exhaustion.

Edgar took a moment and stepped beside me. “Fuck man. She’s tore up.”

I took a peek at the bandages on Elle’s forearms and hands. “Not surprised. Was she lucid?”

“Kind of. She stopped talking when I put the alcohol on the cuts. I don’t know. “

“I want you to come talk to Ches for a second.”

He watched Elle for a moment, then turned back into my front room.

Ches stood up, giving him a broad smile. “How is she?”

“Eating. Okay.”

I asked Ches, “Could you describe to Edgar what happened to you? Specifically when you switched over and attacked me at the café?”

She gave me a long, guarded look, then nodded. “Uh, sure. I was just talking to him, you know. Then I got this weird feeling. Ever have your blood sugar drop and feel like you’re tingling, ready to pass out?”

Edgar nodded.

“Yeah, like that. Then I started saying things I didn’t want to say, then bang. I was on the ground and Dorian was getting his ass thrown out of the café.”

I added, “You’d say for sure something was inside your head?”

“Definitely.”

“Going to throw a personal question out there. Got any mental health problems in your family?”

Edgar elbowed me. “I get it, man. But I’m not the one you have to convince. And neither is Wren.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

Ches added, “For the record, the answer was no.”

“Yeah,” Edgar mumbled, “with us the answer is yes.”

“Sorry.”

I explained, “Elle’s going to see a doctor on Monday.”

“A shrink?”

“I don’t think that’s the most sensitive term to use, but yeah.”

My phone rang. I had a feeling I’d see Edgar’s home number when I checked it. I handed the phone to Edgar who whisked it out the front door bellowing, “Yes, I have her… Dorian’s…”

I found myself alone with Ches once more.

“Seriously,” she chirped, “not crazy.”

“Gotcha. Her mother’s beyond her limit with this, though.”

“Have you tried to get rid of it?”

“Twice. Both attempts ended badly. I feel like I could get some leverage on this thing if I could just identify what it is. Where it came from.”

“You do realize that once she hits the health care system, you’re going to lose your access to her?”

“The thought has crossed my mind.”

“I want to help, Dorian. I just don’t know how.”

“When I figure that out, I’ll let you know.”

I paused to listen for the conversation outside, and realized how quiet it had become in the kitchen. I trotted over to the doorway and found nothing but Elle’s cereal bowl and spoon on the table. As I rushed into the kitchen, I jumped as Elle called from the sink next to me.