Page 152 of The Demon's Spell

“I’ll take Nadine,” I said firmly. “You guys take Mandy to the hospital. Now!”

We cast the ward one last time, giving us a few minutes of reprieve from the haunting. We escaped through an open window, and I cradled Nadine in my arms as I raced toward her car. Rain poured down on us, and we were soaked. I set Nadine gently in the passenger seat, then tore out of the long driveway, wheels spinning on the gravel.

Nadine seized in the front seat as I sped down the road, and foam oozed out of her mouth. I pressed the pedal to the floor. We didn’t make it far before Nadine began ramming her head into the passenger-side window. The spell was making her hurt herself.

The tires squealed as I pulled up in front of The Jolly Pumpkin. Nadine went limp, and I dragged her out of the passenger seat. I raced inside the shop, and my heart sank when I saw it was empty.

“Hattie!” I screamed. Nadine didn’t even stir in my arms, and I feared it might be too late.

I heard the sound of a dog’s paws on the hardwood. A large canine emerged from the back hall—a wolf. It was Hattie’s Familiar, a creature bonded to her, as was custom in her elemental culture.

The wolf took one look at Nadine in my arms before barking loudly. I thought he was barking at me, warning me to leave. Then I saw Hattie hobbling on her cane behind the dog, a horrified look on her face. The dog was communicating with her.

Hattie’s features paled. “She’s been possessed. My Familiar can sense it.”

“Tell me you can reverse it,” I begged.

“I will do my best,” Hattie said. “Upstairs. Now.”

I followed her and her Familiar upstairs into a small apartment. Hattie guided me through a quaint kitchen to a small room that looked like a closet. There were no windows, and the walls were black. Thunder rumbled overhead, but even the lightning from the next room barely lit the space. Shelves lined the walls, and a cauldron sat in the middle of the room.

Hattie went over to one of the shelves and picked up a container of salt. She poured a large salt circle around the room and instructed me to lay Nadine inside of it, next to the cauldron. I gently set her on the floor and forced myself to take a step back. My guts twisted as I stared down at her unmoving form.

“Now what?” I asked.

Hattie hesitated as her Familiar sniffed Nadine’s body. She looked up to me with a confused expression on her face. “This is not a normal possession. Possessions often have an entity attached to them, but this energy inside of her is not conscious.”

She hovered her hands over Nadine, like she was reading her energy. “She’s been possessed by another’s will.”

“Like a curse?” I asked.

“It’s very similar,” Hattie explained. “But to be possessed by another’s will gives the spellcaster control, even when they are not physically living inside of the victim’s body. Curses require no contract, but they also can’t be controlled once they are cast. This is different.”

That matched what Talia had seen in her crystal ball. And it explained how Leto had killed people even when he had a rock-solid alibi. He didn’t need to be at the scene of the crime—he just had to curse people and get them to do his bidding for him.

Hattie tilted her head as she continued reading Nadine’s energy. “This is a dangerous spell that seeks to kill by any means necessary. It even makes her stronger.”

“That sounds accurate,” I said desperately.

Hattie looked thoughtful. “A witch can overpower a demon possession if their willpower is strong enough. But something is amiss…”

“Nadine’s a Curse Breaker,” I said. “Maybe there’s a way we can turn her magic inward and break the spell.”

Hattie shook her head. “I suspect her powers are what caused this in the first place. That must be what I’m sensing. If she tried to break the spell, rather than release it, then she would have tangled her magic within it. The spell latched on tighter, like a parasite. It will feed on her until there is nothing left.”

“You can still save her, can’t you?” I pleaded.

Hattie picked up a velvet bag from one of the shelves, along with several other ingredients. “This will not be like my normal exorcisms. It will require more than a prayer to break this spell. But there is something that may work.”

“What do we have to do?” I asked. “I’ll do anything.”

“Sit,” Hattie instructed. “We must summon a god.”

I gaped. I couldn’t have heard her right. “A god? That’s next to impossible.”

“Next to impossible,” Hattie emphasized. “But it can be done if you possess the proper ingredients. Help me, please.”

Hattie set her cane aside, and I helped her sit on a cushion beside the cauldron. I sat across from her. She placed several crystals around the cauldron, then began adding ingredients. She wasn’t an Alchemist, but any witch could perform a summoning spell.

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