Page 67 of Death Deals

I gaped in disbelief. Kay, a necromancer? I didn’t even know such a thing existed.

“Wait a minute. You can raise the dead?”

“Sort of. I’m still a little iffy on the details, but Rhys promised he’d help me figure everything out. Sort out the power.”

“I don’t know, Kay. You may have me beat here,” I said with a short laugh.

She waved the comment away.

“So, the guy, Rhys, survived?” I asked.

She nodded. “Thanks to Eli.”

Eli?

“I used the rosary and prayed for him. He came and helped us get rid of the spirit and get Rhys to a hospital.”

I remembered Michael saying Eli had gone off to take care of something when I’d come out of my one Trial. I’d been ticked off he’d left me. Then, after the third Trial with Kay and Zach, he’d assured me they were okay. Could it be that he was actually in Fairport, helping them with the poltergeist?

It very much could be.

“Then he showed up on my doorstep on Christmas and told me you were missing and he couldn’t find you.”

I could figure out the rest of it from there pretty much. Then they’d recruited the others to help track me down.

“Sweet as sugar Kay, raising the dead.” I laughed at the absurdity of it. “That was the last thing I would have guessed.”

“The only thing I plan on rising is dough, thank you very much.” But she smiled despite herself.

“Are you going to tell her about the ring?” Arianna shouted from inside the room.

She must have been listening to our entire conversation from her bed.

“Wait, ring? What about a ring?” I asked.

Kay’s lips split into a full grin as she lifted her left hand for me to see a diamond solitaire on her finger. “Laurence proposed!” she squealed. “On Christmas!”

The excitement and pure joy on her face were infectious, and I found myself smiling, too. “Figures. I leave for a few months and I miss everything. But really, Kay, that’s great. I’m happy for you two. And Zach, of course.”

She beamed.

Arianna popped her head by the balcony doors then. “I’m sorry to break up this little sorority party you have going on here, but all the cold air is coming into the room, and I’m freezing my ass off.”

“To be fair, magical wards do only work if doors and windows are closed,” Kay said as we walked back inside. “I learned that one the hard way.”

Boy, had she. Xaver had snatched her right out of the shower after she’d left the window open to let the steam out. But as traumatic as that should have been, she laughed. Loudly, too, as if almost dying that night had been the funniest thing in the world.

Watching her, laughter bubbled up inside me, and it wasn’t long before I joined in.

Arianna rolled her eyes and plopped back onto her bed. “You two are so weird.” Then, she waved her hand and the balcony doors slammed shut behind us, sealing off the cold air once and for all.

Waiting was agonizing.

My insides bounced with nerves, and so while the others slept, I took a quick elevator ride back to the hotel’s gym. Even without Ricky, it could do some good to keep me occupied.

As I strode down the hallway, angry voices snapped through one of the closed doors to the left of the gym’s glass walls. The sign near it readConference Room 3.

Whatever company had reserved it was having one heated meeting because their shouts vibrated through the walls.

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