“Find your familiar. The key lies with the wolf.”
“I don’t have a familiar. I don’t know where to begin looking,”Lo told him.
“You will.”
Damian severed their link and gave him a meaningful stare.
How the hell was he supposed to find a familiar while in his bodiless state? Laszlo was so caught up in his tumultuous thoughts he barely registered the removal of Spencer or the separation of his soul from his body.
One minute, the Aether was standing at the foot of the bed, and the next, he held a voodoo doll in hand with Laszlo staring at his and Ebba’s sleeping bodies.
“Can you see me?” he asked them.
“They can’t. I can.” Damian handed the doll off to Alastair, who handed it to Castor. “Tell Alex not to play with it. It’s not a bloody toy.”
“Telling him anything is a wasted effort, but I’ll watch to make sure he doesn’t set our friend loose.”
“That’s all I can ask.” Turning back to Laszlo, Damian beckoned him closer until they were touching.“Fac nobis visibiles.”
Make visible to us.
Simple. Effective.
Oh, to have his abilities!
“To have my abilities, you’d have to do the terrible things others won’t,” the Aether said somberly.
“‘With great power comes great responsibility,’” Castor mocked.
“You ready, wiseass?” Laszlo asked him. “We’ve got a girl to save.”
“Ready, hero.”
Alastair’s brows shot up, and he shook his head. “Is it smart to send these two without a referee, Dethridge? I doubt they can stop arguing long enough to accomplish anything.”
“We’re the best of buds.” Castor flung an arm around Laszlo’s shoulders. “Aren’t we?”
“Sure. When this is over, we’ll sit around a campfire, drinking PBRs and singing Kumbaya.”
Castor snorted. “You had to take it a step too far, didn’t ya?”
Lo walked to the sofa.
Ebba was eerily still in her coma-like state, yet the glow of her aura was brighter than it had been whenever Lo had observed her while inside his body. He’d never seen anyone’s as brilliant and pure as hers.
“What about Ebba? Will you find a way to restore her soul while we’re gone?” he asked Damian.
“Of course. Consider it done.”
His next question was harder to voice. “When we go back, and if we fail, will she cease to exist in this timeline?”
“I don’t know, but it seems likely,” Damian replied.
Leaning down, Lo brushed a kiss on her mouth. “I love you, Ebba James. I’ll be back soon.”
With one last lingering glance, he turned on his heel and stalked to Castor.
“Let’s go.”