Page 14 of Haunted Heart
I read the words, scowling at them. “What does that mean, ‘An act far more than centuries old, the joining of two beings hot and cold’?”
“The spell requires that the witch who uses it is… intimate with something dead.”
I freeze, still staring at the pages but unseeing. “Wait, what?”
“It’s the only way I know to get a living person into Hell.”
“I can’t…” the idea of it makes me physically ill.
Julia’s hand brushes my jaw, turning me to look at her. “I’m dead.”
She’s… “Oh.”
The relief that floods me makes my knees a little weak, and I sit on the rickety settee that’s still half covered by a sheet. “Is that something you would be willing to do?”
Julia comes to me, and the lower half of her body turns to smoke as she seems to kneel in front of me to grasp my hands. “I haven’t let anyone linger in my home for centuries… but I can’t drive you from it. I don’t want to. When you’re not here, it feels empty in a way it never has before. The shadows are longer. The air is fouler.
“I have come to… care for you in these last several months. You are my friend. And I would gladly do anything for you.” She looks down as if she can see the bodies below. “And I will do my best to never cross the lines he did if you do not want me to. We can find another way to get there.”
It’s my turn to caress her face. “They told me I was crazy for wanting to be here, but your presence has always calmed me. I like you… I’ve always liked you.”
Her smile is soft and sweet and so at odds with what I know she is… “CanIkissyou?”
She laughs a little. “Of course. Whenever you like.”
Floating herself to be within reach, she lets me control this kiss.
She’s soft and cold and nothing like I expected, yet still, somehow, everything I want.
“Julia?” I say her name as I draw back from her.
“Yes, Genevieve.”
“Is there another way to get to Hell?”
“Yes. Your grandmothers’ library of spells should hold half a dozen options, at least.”
It would take me five minutes to get to the house, an hour or more to find the spell and then five more minutes back… that’s assuming I can find a spell that would work at all.
“How long do I have before they’re stuck in Hell forever?”
“I don’t know.” She squeezes my hand, reassuring, “You don’t have to do this with me.”
“I want to.” I kiss her again. “I’ve dreamed of so many spells to be with you. Bringing you back, making you physical… time travel.”
I laugh at how absurd that idea had been.
“I don’t want it to be like this. I don’t want to have to rush this with you.”
I don’t want it to beforsomeone else.
Julia kisses my throat. “If we make it through Hell and back, we can take that time.”
She doesn’t remind me this is a mess of my own making. She just kisses me again.
I can’t make another mistake if it could take even more from us… “What does the actual translation say? What do we have to do?”
Julia goes back to The Book and places both hands on the page. When I move to stand behind her, I see the original words… but I can’t read them.
