Page 101 of The Wolfing Hour
“This looks awful.” Ida bent over our clasped hands and inspected the missing part. “Your favorite finger, too. Now how are you going to navigate traffic?”
A laugh bubbled up from my diaphragm and caught in my throat where it became a sob. Ida wrapped her arm around my shoulders and delicately hugged me.
“I killed my plants, Cecil’s plants—Mom’splants.”
“Lila would understand. Not like she didn’t do some shady stuff herself. And it’s not as if that gnome hasn’t done some damage around here a time or two. He’ll snarl a bit, maybe throw a trowel at your head, but he’ll eventually calm down and help you put things back together.”
“I wanted to protect everyone,” I whispered, tears quietly running down my cheeks.
“Maybe you should worry about protecting yourself. Can’t save us if you’re falling apart.”
“Doing a stellar job on that front, too.” I sniffed, laid my head on her shoulder.
“You killed the wolf who did this to you, right?” She pointed at the knuckle of my half-missing finger. “Or am I going to have to take the LTD into La Paloma today?”
“I killed them all.”
“Good.” Her voice trembled with anger.
“It didn’t solve anything. Not really. Just proved what a freak I am.”
“Nothing wrong with that. Some of my favorite people are freaks.” Her voice returned to its lighter, more positive lilt. “You say you destroyed everything, but what if this is how you do it? What if in order to build something new, you had to, well, kaboom it all up?”
“Maybe.” I couldn’t even examine that thought right now. Couldn’t allow myself to hope. I lifted my head then held out my gray arms. The demon wasn’t fully in control, but she hadn’t let go, either. “Why aren’t you weirded out by me when I’m like this?”
“Pfft. Why would I be weirded out? I just told you how much I love the freaky people.” She waggled her brows. She’d drawn them herself, so they were crooked. “Besides, you’re my Betty. Best friend I’ve ever had. I know we don’t talk about age much, but I’m eighty years experienced with this life. I’ve had friends.But I’ve never had one that loved me the way you do—especially once they found out I was a necromancer.” Pain flashed across her face but didn’t stay long. “And I’ve never had one I loved as much as I love you.”
“Same here, bestie.”
Ida hopped off the chaise, grabbed the mini broom and dustpan set I kept beside my workstation, and began sweeping soil and dead plants into a pile. “So, even if we have to shop for your makeup in the movie monster aisle at the Halloween store, I’m with you. Now. Forever. Like that sports bra you bought at DiscMart that we had to take the scissors to, you aren’t ever getting away from me.”
This time the laugh made it all the way out of my throat. “You’re the best.”
“That’s the truth. So, what’s next?” Ida asked.
“Next, I have to find my witch. The demon sent her away when she took over.”
For the first time in a long while, the demon spoke up:Your soil magic couldn’t protect you. You don’t need her.
“Find her?” Ida flipped over the basil plant. “What’s that mean? Aren’t you the witch?”
“See, the thing is,” I said, “it’s not so simple. It’s like I’m split into three parts.” I didn’t want to admit it, but how else could I explain what had happened? “Sexton said I had to find a way to communicate with my demon side. That if I didn’t have her cooperation, my magic wouldn’t survive. He said I could lose everything, including my mind. Maybe I have.”
Ida scowled. “He’s always got something nasty to say, doesn’t he?”
“What if he’s right? What if I sent her away forever? What if I never get my magic back? Once darkness becomes an option, it destroys the good things in life—I mean, just look at this room.”
“I don’t care what the cemetery demon said. I don’t think it’s possible to lose your witch side.” Ida bent down and picked something off the floor, wiped it off with the edge of her hand. “That charm Cecil made for you is good, but I think you need to go into the soil to heal. That’s where your power is.”
“I can’t. Ida, I just told you, I sent my earth witch away. Locked her up inside me and let the demon in.” I stared down at my bitten hands, the gashes in my arms and legs. Every time I moved, it seemed like another wound opened. And those were only the external injuries. “I can’t feel my magic anymore, and I don’t know how to get it back. She must hate me.”
I will protect us.
“Without her, there is no us,” I whispered back.
I was the sort of tired that sits in a person’s bones and eats at the marrow. The kind that wouldn’t be assuaged by a good night’s rest. My chin hit my chest, and I closed my eyes, feeling the muscles pull at the injuries in my throat, shoulders, and arms.
“You didn’t choose to let the demon in,” Ida said softly. “It’s not possible, because just like your witch, she’syou.”
