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“Indeed it does,” Lilith agrees. “But as a 900-year-old Guardian Witch who frequently travels inter-dimensionally, I figured out the time exchange centuries ago. There’s no slipping one by me, daughter. Your mission was to go find the reincarnating human and bring her back, nothing else.” Lilith makes a show of pulling her sleeve back and checking her smart watch.
“But, Mom,” Mags argues, her hands going to her hips. “If Rush found out I visited Earth and didn’t check in with him, he’d never let me come back.”
Lilith stares at Mags, unimpressed. “Have you read the story of Persephone and Demeter?”
“Uh, do you mean Persephone and Hades?”
“No, I don’t,” Lilith replies, then startles me by taking my hand. “I must apologize for my wayward child, Vanessa. You were not meant to be left waiting on Earth.” Pulling me to the table, she addresses Mags. “When Persephone insisted on going off to meet her lover every year in the Underworld, her mother grew despondent, her despair plunging the planet into winter.”
Mags leans against the table, flipping idly through one of the books. “You can visit me and Rush any time you want. I’m not locked away in the Underworld.”
Lilith runs her finger down the page of the massive tomb spread out on the table, stopping on a bold subhead. Reincarnation curse. “Vanessa, read this.” Pinning her daughter with a stare, she says, “If you disappear on me again while chasing after that wolf, I will bring winter to your world, child.”
“So dramatic,” Mags mumbles while I attempt to pay attention to the book. The back and forth between mother and daughter reminds me of my own mother. We were close, but like Mags and Lilith, we sometimes drove each other crazy.
Focusing on the book, I scan the words.
The reincarnation curse is reserved exclusively for humans and is forbidden by mystical laws. A witch with great power must perform it. Those subjected to the spell undergo a profound metamorphosis, with their essence transmigrating upon death, devoid of memories from the previous life. This act is condemned by mystical jurisprudence, and practitioners may face up to ninety-nine years of exile in the Penal Realm. Unfortunately, there is no known remedy for those ensnared by the cyclical grip of the reincarnation curse.
I look at Lilith. “So that’s it? There’s nothing you can do?”
“I’ve looked through the entire archives, which is really saying something considering witches are excellent collectors of information and we’ve been around for many thousands of years.” She gazes at me with pity. “They all say the same. A reincarnation spell cannot be reversed.”
Chapter 30
The Pagemaster
VANESSA
“There’s always something that can be done.” Oracle speaks for the first time, their eyes never leaving the contents of the cauldron. “We can remove the essence from her body, which will make it impossible for her to move onto another reincarnation after death.”
“That would kill her, Oracle,” Lilith says drily, her lips softening as she gazes at them. “I think we’re trying to avoid any options that end in death.”
“We can keep her here in the Shadow Realm where her life can be extended.”
Mags looks at me and I shake my head. “I don’t think she wants to live here forever. Besides, she’s human. The Shadow Realm would eventually grate on her, and at some point she would descend into madness and probably kill herself.” At my horrified expression, she adds, “Humans don’t do well here in the long term.”
“What I am trying to say, my youthful companions, is that there are always options.” Oracle finally looks at us. I gasp as a pair of blank silver eyes with no pupils examines me. “Some are bad, some are not, but there’s always something.”
Mags bumps me with her arm and says in a whisper, “Trust an oracle to say nothing while sounding important.”
“Respect, daughter,” Lilith snaps. “Listen to their words and you might learn something.”
“Come here, child,” Oracle says, holding out their hand.
“Who? Me?” Mags asks, looking around.
“Probably me.” I step past Mags, placing my hand in Oracle’s.
I should be more cautious in trusting these people, but Keenan and his brothers have prepared me to trust Mags. And she trusts these people. Maybe I’m desperate for a cure, but even if all the witches can do is give me more time with Keenan, I’ll take it.
The Oracle’s hand is dry and wrinkled, papery, but also warm. Comforting. They squeeze my fingers. “This is no deal with the devil, child. We have brought you here to help you because it was one of ours that put you in this position. When Lyra Guardian Witch cast the original spell on the wolf princes, her magic had far-reaching consequences. There are rules in our world about how our magic impacts humans. We must do only good if we want to stay on the right side of the natural order.”
Mags clears her throat. “Oracle is really into Law and Order.”
“Indeed,” Oracle says. “There must be both for the universe to work without chaos. Now, child, I need your blood.”
“My what?” I try to tug my hand away, but Oracle is fast. They snatch a knife from their belt and prick my finger. “Ouch, that hurt!” I pull my hand away, examining it. It’s a tiny cut, smaller even than the wolf bite, but it’s my blood and with all this talk about law and order, I really think they should’ve asked first.
