Page 62 of Jacinth

I madeit to the clearing in time to see smoke encircling the girl I loved. Her body was not so much fading as being absorbed into the smoke, which then returned to the amulet.

I realized I was screaming.

I had failed.

She was gone.

Birdie stood tied to a stone angel, tears streaming down her face. She was so like her twin in appearance that it was difficult to look at her. Seemingly happy with the outcome and completely uncaring of the devastation he wrought, Alisdair turned and strolled away. He left Birdie where she stood; her purpose served.

Numbly, I found my feet and moved toward her. I picked apart the knots that held her one by one and when that task was finished, by unspoken agreement, we headed back to Jacinth’s grave to find the others.

What the hell did we do now?

There was no sign of Orion when we got to the clearing, but Niko was there, pacing like a caged beast. At our appearance, he stopped dead in his tracks. The question in his eyes hurt too much, and like a coward, I found I couldn’t meet them. As though that were enough of an admission of guilt, he nodded stiffly and left.

Minutes into our new reality and we were all falling apart. For once in my life, I prayed for a vision. Something to give me direction, or at the very least, take me away from this moment that was agony to live in. For someone who was used to watching, I found the pain of being present far surpassed any vicarious trauma I had experienced.

“Tell me you’ve seen how this ends. Please, tell me we can get her back.”

Birdie looked smaller than I had ever seen her, and though I was loath to tell her the truth, I didn’t want to give her false hope.

“I have seen mass destruction. I... I’m afraid I can’t give you the answers you want.”

She nodded and curled herself against her twin’s grave marker.

I don’t know how long we sat there, but when my cell buzzed in my pocket, my limbs protested the movement as I grabbed it and clicked on to Orion.

“Where are you? I have everything we need to take that fucker down. We are getting our girl back.”

“What?”

Orion elaborated on the information he had found in the library. I felt purpose fill me as the implications of the plan came together. It was remarkably easy. Destroy the amulet and Alisdair had no power source. I reached a hand down to Birdie and pulled her gently to her feet.

“Let’s go get your sister back.”

***

We set the trap at the entrance to the cemetery. Going on the logic that there were still a few spirits left he had to harvest, we assumed Alisdair would return eventually, and we would be ready.

The weapon was the equivalent of an atomic bomb. Upon contact with a metal object, it would cause the object to implode and, theoretically, dispel any entities held inside.

I had a couple of concerns.

Firstly, the ‘theoretical’ dispensing of the spirits; second, the ‘im’ in implode. If there was any explosion, there was no way to calculate the fallout.

We did, however, have the enormous benefit of a complete lack of concern for the wellbeing of the holder of the amulet. So, at least that was something.

Turned out, when you’re a greedy megalomaniac, you don’t leave a lot of breathing room between abductions.

He could have been out for a Sunday stroll. The tuneless whistle pierced the air and set my teeth on edge as he pushed the gate open one handed. The other hand gripped the amulet tightly, and as we watched, a single ball of light rose from the amulet and set off like a hound after a hare. This wasn’t the first time we had seen one of those balls of light; it was the same thing that hit Jacinth before she lost her ability to disappear.

“He’s going after another one,” I muttered.

“Good, right where we want him,” Orion replied.

Alisdair passed where we lay, motionless and ready for the attack.

“On three. Two—”

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