Page 79 of Deadly Deception
“Boone, can you feel anything?” I asked and he shook his head.
“A little, but nothing definite. Benny’s body isn’t nearby. This is medium territory, not necromancer. I just never realized that…” Boone seemed at a loss for words.
Henson supplied them. “That mediums could control ghosts?”
“Ghosts, lost souls, spirits—call them what you will. But yeah, essentially.”
“I think that woman might scare me more than you, Boone,” Henson said, and Boone huffed an abbreviated laugh.
“I’m not scary at all,” Boone protested.
“Tell that to someone who didn’t see you bring Vanja’s soul back and animate his ashes.”
Boone remained quiet as we all stared at the dusting of ashes haphazardly scattered across the floor. With the urn trashed and shattered on the ground, Boone hadn’t had a receptacle to placethem in. As exhausted as he was, I wasn’t even sure he would have been able to do so if the urn was intact.
“Benjamin Rawlings?” Sara shifted to the side, placing a little more distance between herself and Clark. I had a feeling that distance wouldn’t save her. “His father failed me. Everyone knows the consequences of failure. My people are rewarded well for success, but the cost of failure is high.”
“Hmm, very high it seems.” Clark sighed and placed her coffee mug on a nearby counter. “Benny was an innocent.”
“No one is innocent,” Sara sharply answered.
“I suppose that depends on what they are accused of and what standards one holds. I must say, it sounds like your standards are impossible to obtain or maintain, Sara Tompkins.”
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed since I’d activated the shield charm. I didn’t think it was close to twenty, but I figured at least ten minutes had passed. Safely tucked away behind the charm’s influence, I couldn’t feel the cold gusts of air swimming around us but could see the gooseflesh erupt along Sara’s arms. Rita had her arms wrapped around her middle. At some point, Charlie had moved around the couch and had his arms wrapped around Rita. They appeared to be huddling together for warmth and comfort.
Sara simply shrugged off Clark’s comment as if it wasn’t important.
With another heavy sigh, Tabitha Clark shook her head. “Poor Navarre. He’s been walking through life, collecting the lost. Those damaged so badly by their deaths that they were unable to move on. His necromancer energy called to them, but the poor soul couldn’t do anything to truly help them. Now me, I’m a different matter.” Clark raised her arms and closed her eyes. The room vibrated and anything that wasn’t nailed down fluttered or fell.
Jay jerked back as a plate sailed across the room like a frisbee, narrowly missing hitting him in the head.
I heard Henson suck in a harsh breath. Boone was no longer shivering, but he was clinging to me just as tightly as I held onto him. Not for the first time, I heard his phone ring in the distance. No doubt it was his father, calling to check on him after one of his shield charms had been activated. Too bad Warlock Holland was so damn far away.
Sara Tompkins had a way of bucking against every expectation I had, and now was no different. In the face of the swirling wind and spiritual threat, she threw her head back and laughed. Hands thrown out wide at her sides, I began truly wondering about her sanity. Maybe her injuries in the line of duty weren’t restricted to her extremities. Maybe something had happened to her brain too.
And then, just like that, the world outside calmed and Holland’s charm fizzled with an audiblepop. Bullets fell to the ground, tinkling and displacing Vanja’s fallen ashes. When I looked at Tabitha Clark, her eyes were narrowed and her lips were pulled into a thin line. Tiny crow’s feet spread out from her eyes and deep grooves puckered around her pinched lips.
“Did you really believe, knowing all the lengths I’ve gone to, that I wouldn’t have multiple layers of security?” Sara asked while tilting her head and holding up a double set of charms.
Boone inhaled sharply. “Destructive magical charms. Those are illegal.”
“Your pops makes illegal charms all the time.”
“Not those.” Boone pulled away, and I reluctantly allowed him to. “Those are horribly dangerous. They strip the surrounding area of magic.” Boone held out his arms, palms up. “I…I can’t feel it.” His head tilted toward me, his eyes huge. “I can’t connect with my necromancer abilities.” Tears filled those big green orbs. “Gaia, this feels horrible.” Boone wrappedhis arms around his body. “You don’t understand, Franklin. A charm like that could kill a brownie. Maybe even a fairy. I can manipulate magic, same with mediums and nearly every magical prone species, but brownies and fairiesaremagic. Blocking them from magic would be…” Boone sucked in a pained breath, and I wrapped him in my arms again.
“Is it permanent?” I asked, scared to hear the answer.
“No.” Boone shook his head. “It’s already dissipated. It’s like a flash bang. If you’re not close by when it’s activated, it won’t affect you. But if you are nearby, then the effects linger for a time.”
Henson and I shared a look. The humans in the room were just fine. Unfortunately, that included Sara and her posse. Henson glanced toward the corner with the impromptu weapons collection. Jay’s gaze tracked that way too, and without a word, the race was on.
Neither of them made it there clean. Jay’s arm reached for the nearest weapon. Henson kicked his arm, and the tussle began in earnest.
I was torn between helping Henson and protecting Boone.
“Go,” Boone ordered me. I hesitated, and unfortunately, that was all the time Jay needed. He came up first, gun pointed at Henson. I started to lunge at Jay, but Tabitha Clark’s stern voice stopped all of us cold. “Stop, or I’ll shoot her.”
Everyone halted, standing there and staring agape as the diminutive, elderly, Tabitha Clark held a small handgun on Sara Tompkins.
