Page 33 of Shadow Scorching

“Oh, I’m certain that there’s a shadow person there, as well as a revenant. Which means you’re in trouble. Luckily, I’ve got a lot of resources at hand,” Penn said. “Also, my connection to Hecate gives me more power when dealing with the dead.”

I nodded, though I only half heard her. I was thinking about the fact that I was headed for a life where I could see ghosts clearly, at least, according to Seton. What must it be like, walking in the world of the dead, like Penn did?

I must have looked lost in thought, because she added, “Yoo-hoo, Kyann…where are you?”

I brought my attention back to the present. “I’m sorry, I was drifting. I was thinking about my emerging Arosien powers and what that means for me in the future.”

“It means more understanding of your basic nature,” she said. “Now, how about you help Dante clear the table and I’ll get my laptop set up. You guys want to sit here? It’s the easiest place for us to gather around the computer together.”

“Sure,” I said, picking up my dishes and carrying them to the sink.

Ten minutes later, Dante and I had rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, and Penn had set up her laptop, and we took our places to either side of her. She opened her email and found the link that Dante had sent her.

“Here goes nothing,” she said. She clicked on it and waited a moment while it connected to the video library on our servers, back at the office.

As that clip came up, she watched as the shadow figure appeared.

“Not good. This is not good. Yes, that’s a shadow person, and yes, he’s far too powerful. But, even more troubling—the revenant was able to slam him back. That means the revenant is even more powerful. I think we have a turf war going on.” Penn replayed the footage. “Neither one likes humans, which means the real danger is if they decided to set aside their differences and team up.”

“Could that happen?” Dante asked. “Is there a chance they might declare a truce and focus on keeping out the living?”

“They don’t want to keep them out, necessarily,” Penn said. “They feed off the living. But some creatures don’t have the concept of subtly. Both revenants and shadow people are so alien s that they may not understand how to lure us in, unlike some other astral entities.”

“I’m curious,” I asked. “Can they feed off a vampire?”

“A vampire—why…” Penn stopped. “Are you thinking of sending in Lazenti?”

“He’s hard to kill. If they can’t affect him, then he might be able to go in and set up whatever we need to set up in order to clear them,” I said.

“Theycouldstick a knife in his heart,” Dante said. “Remember, they can move things. Your stitches on your arm are proof of that.”

“He can wear some sort of armor over his chest. And a fireproof suit,” I said. “Let’s at least ask him.”

“Penn, what canyoudo about these entities?” Dante asked.

Penn sat back in her chair, staring at the screen. “There are three different levels to clearing the house—I know I can do atleast one of them. The other two, that depends. First, we need to clear out the spirits who are trapped because they don’t know they’re dead, or they got trapped through a trauma loop because they were murdered.”

“All right, is that the easier task?” I asked.

“Yes, it is,” Penn said. “The second task is to remove the shadow man. Not as easy, but possible. I doubt if I can destroy him, but I might be able to send him through a portal back to his world. The third—the hardest target—is the revenant. The revenant is a combination of entities, and I’m making a guess, but I think it has also been strengthened by the worship given to Xetanbu. We don’t know how long the shifter clan lived there, how many sacrifices were made, and we don’t know if they boosted the energy through other magical means. The revenant’s going to be a major project, but if we can clear the spirits and the shadow man first, we’ll have a better chance.”

“So, what do we do?” I asked.

“First, I create a portal to the Veil. Then I create a bright light to draw the lost spirits to the crossroads. Once they see the light, they’ll be pulled to it, and they’ll pass through and vanish into the Veil. That’s easy enough, though the revenant isn’t going to like it. Both the shadow man and the revenant will need to be distracted while I work.”

“So, to set up the portal…”

“We have to fend off the revenant,” she said. “And before you ask, Lazenti can’t set up the portal. I can, but it’s not something any average witch can do.”

I sighed. I couldn’t ask Penn to put herself in danger. “Is there any other way?” I asked, hoping she would have an idea.

But she dashed that hope. “No. I’ll have to go in and take care of it. But I’ll need backup because I can’t set up a portal to the Veil if there are too many distractions. And definitely not if I’m being attacked.”

“So, how do we keep the Shadow Man from running interference?” Dante asked.

“Lazenti might be able to,” Penn said, thinking for a moment. “He’s strong enough to butt heads with shadow people, and they can’t jump him or feed on his energy. There’s a dynamic about being undead that makes most of them immune to astral attack. Shadow People aren’t part of the undead, but they live between worlds. They’re not fully corporeal, and yet they can affect the living. Vampires live in that in-between space, as well, though it’s not the same juncture.”

“What about the revenant?” I asked. “How do we keepitdistracted?”

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