Page 34 of Fated Midlife Christmas
“Mary Riddle!” Lucille practically screamed.
“Who’s Mary Riddle?” Amanda asked.
“She was averypowerful High Priestess,” Lucille explained, her voice grave. “Her magic was incredibly strong, and witches came from all over in the hope of learning from her. It was almost like her magic was different than everyone else’s.”
“Whatever it was, Corinna said she wanted to master it,” Lorelei gulped. “She thought with the right spells and with enough power, she could bring Mary back from the dead and learn from her.”
“But souls don’t usually want to be brought back from the dead. They’re carrying on with their next mission.” Amanda had studied a bit of this, since a person’s energy field was potentially the same as their soul.
Lorelei shook her head fiercely. “She definitely didn’t. Corinna thought Mary would be beholden to her, that she’dessentially have control over Mary’s spirit as long as she controlled the ley power.” She paused to take a staggering breath. “The thing is, Mary is ridiculously strong. She’s pulling the ley energy in for herself, and Corinna is in way over her head.”
Kristy grunted. “That explains the lights going out and Kendrick’s condition.”
“Sounds like we’d better get going, then,” Tina said.
“You’ll come?” Lorelei turned her head so quickly that Amanda was surprised she didn’t hurt herself.
“Of course,” Erin replied. “Why wouldn’t we?”
Lorelei’s shoulders scrunched in toward her neck. “Corinna wasn’t very nice when some of you came by. She’s not very nice to anyone, really. That’s why I came here. I didn’t know where else to turn.”
“You came to the right place,” Lucille asserted, standing up. “Let me fetch a couple of books. Someone else needs to drive me so I can read up in the car on the way there. We need all the advantage we can get.”
“Yes, we do,” Amanda murmured. The timing couldn’t be worse, but it had to be done. She pulled out her phone. “I know someone who can help.”
13
“We’re goingto have to be careful,” Lorelei warned.
They stood on the sidewalk in front of The Crimson Veil’s covenstead. Though the evening was cold and blustery, far fiercer winds were streaking from the broken windows of the house, sending the tattered ends of the curtains flailing into the night. They settled against the outer sills for only a moment before a new air current lifted them again. Lights flashed, shutters banged, and the sound of crashing furniture filtered out onto the street. It was what every haunted house strove for.
“No kidding,” Amanda remarked. “Where in the house is Mary?”
“Corinna’s alter room,” Lorelei explained. “When we go in the front door, it’s off to the left. That’s where Corinna was working on everything.”
“And just what has Corinna done about any of this so far?” Lucille asked. She held two books, their leather cracked and worn, against her chest.
“Mostly begged and pleaded,” Lorelei admitted, hanging her head. “Most of the other witches ran away, maybe all of them. I came straight to you.”
Erin puffed out a sharp breath, making a cloud of vapor roll through the air in front of her face. “Let’s get in there and see what we’re dealing with.”
Lorelei, as scared as she was, led the way. She brought them up the walkway and into the living room. Even though the spirit wasn’t in there at the moment, the damage was. Papers and books were strewn everywhere. The furniture was dislodged and shoved toward the fireplace, as though someone had picked up one end of the room and tilted it for a moment before putting it back down again. A framed print had been knocked off the wall. The shattered glass littered the floor, and the image slumped against the broken frame as though it’d given up the fight.
What was most noticeable, though, were the shrieking screams that ripped through the air, along with the howling wind that swirled through every part of the house. It brought an Arctic-level chill that sent icy fingers inside the collar and sleeves of Amanda’s coat.
“In there,” Lorelei said, pointing a shaking finger through a set of pocket doors.
They didn’t need her direction, though. Amanda moved slightly forward so she could see the chaos that Corinna had summoned to the mortal realm. At one point, the altar room might’ve been a peaceful space, with blue walls, hardwood floors, and wide windows. Now those windows were smashed. The plaster walls were dented and dinged, and splinters of wood that had at one point been furniture were scattered like the debris from a hurricane.
There wasn’t much of the original room left, as far as Amanda could tell, but two massive stone geodes stood on the wall opposite the door. They were the biggest geodes Amanda had ever seen, reaching above her head. The deep purple amethyst crystals inside them were so full of energy that they pulsed and thrummed with brilliant light. Two more, thesewith clear quartz inside, sat in the corners on the same wall. The energy in the room was so intense that it made Amanda nauseous.
Most terrifying of all was Mary Riddle herself. Her spirit floated in the middle of the room, her hair and the tattered strands of her dark gown flying out in all directions. The papery skin of her sunken cheeks was peeling off in places, and she hunted the room with dark eyes.
“How dare you?” she cried, in a voice that sounded like thousands of tortured souls all rising up together. “How dare you do this to me?”
A hunched woman gibbered in the corner. It took Amanda a moment to realize that it was Corinna, taken down a few notches from the pompous Priestess who’d been so dismissive of their concerns earlier.
“I’m sorry!” Corinna put her palms out in supplication to the specter. “I didn’t realize what I was doing!”
