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“As you so wish.” She dug around in the minibar under the counter and came up with a bottle of Paviina—one of the more expensive brands of sparkling water. As she poured it over ice and added a twist of lime, she caught my gaze again. “My name is Juliana. Should you need anything else, please ask. I would welcome the chance to attend your needs.”
As I carried my glass of water to the table, where lunch was spread out buffet-style, I let out a long breath. Lannan was determined to entice me into his world, but he had the wrong number. I didn’t swing that way, though Regina had set me off with a kiss once. But even if I wanted to play in the women’s camp, I wouldn’t pick one of his bloodwhores to experiment with.
At the table, I wearily fixed a plate for myself—bread, sliced ham, aged cheddar, a handful of cherry tomatoes, some fruit salad. I added a chocolate cookie to the mix and sat down beside Luna, who was sitting next to a tall, willowy blonde. The family resemblance was there, though—even though they were opposites, with Luna being short, dark, and curvy.
“Cicely! Meet my sister, Zoey.” She waved for Grieve and Chatter to join us. “Zoey brought a bunch of references. I’ve been going through them since she got here Monday. Grieve—I’m so glad you’re here. We may have found something that can help you.” Her eyes were glowing, and she looked so excited that it was almost hard to watch. Hope had become something I both clung to and feared. But it had let us down too many times.
Grieve, on the other hand, jerked his head up, his eyes wide. “Do you think it will work?”
Zoey shrugged. “Hard to tell. In a sense, what it looks like is a spell to separate the energy of the Indigo Court from the host energy—almost like peeling apart two merged layers. Myst’s bite, her forcing you to drink from her, changed your nature, but if we can separate out her signature from yours, we might be able to help you at least control the condition.”
“You think there might be a chance, then?” Grieve caught her gaze and held it.
Luna nodded slowly. “We do. But, Grieve, I don’t think there’s ever going to be any way to fully revert you back. Not to how you were before she got hold of you.” She stopped eating her bread at that point, staring at the table as if she expected Grieve to throw a fit, but he just sat there, looking stunned.
“If there’s any chance I can gain some control over this curse, I want to hear about it. I never expected there to be a cure, so I’m not disappointed about that.” He looked up, over at her sister. “So, you have found records?”
She nodded. “Yes. And they have detailed rituals about ways to reverse certain aspects of the curse. But they aren’t easy, and frankly, I think all of them have a chance of backfiring.”
He held her gaze. “What’s your guesstimate on percentage of backfiring?”
Zoey bit her lip. “Forty percent…”
“Pro or con?”
“Con. In my estimation, there’s about a sixty to sixty-five percent chance this will work. The other thirty-five percent? Hard to tell. Either not work at all or backfire. And you can never tell which way it’s going to swing.”
I swallowed the last of my sandwich and wiped my fingers on a napkin. “What kind of magic do we need in order to cast the spell?”
Luna and Zoey exchanged glances. Luna pushed her plate back.
“First, we need five witches—four for the elements and one for spirit.” Luna hung her head. “I can hold spirit, but the responsibility…what happens if we fail?”
“Then we fail.” Grieve looked at me. “Chatter and Rhiannon can both hold the fire, but Chatter can also command earth. You hold the wind. We need water.”
“What about you, my love?” I gazed into his eyes, both frightened and hopeful. We could do this. The possibility that we could actually free him from some of the chains Myst had placed around his neck overwhelmed me. It was hard to even speak.
“Grieve cannot take that part. Not when he’s the focus of the ritual.” Luna shook her head. “I can call the water, too, but then we’d need someone for spirit.”
Just then, Peyton walked over. “Let Kaylin hold spirit.”
Luna clapped her hands. “Yes, that would be perfect. So we have our five Elemental watchtowers.” She turned to Zoey. “What else do we need?”
“A drummer—I can do that. I’ve been trained on the doumbek. But I think we still need water. Luna, you’ll have to be the singer of souls for this. The ritual demands that you and the person holding spirit—Kaylin—enter Grieve’s mind to unwind Myst’s energy from his.” Zoey looked around. She pointed to Rex. “What about him? Can he hold water?”
Wrath stepped in, shaking his head. “I will do this. I am the King of Rivers and Rushes. Water is my element as well as the air.”
I turned, startled. “You will help us?”
“If this can help Grieve, we should attempt it. Even if we destroy Myst, he’ll always have the tendency to revert back to the energy of the Indigo Court.” Wrath glanced at the clock. “We dare not attempt the ritual before the speech tonight, just in case something goes wrong. But that will give us time to gather the rest of the components needed. What else does the spell require?”
Zoey pulled out a book and showed us the title: The Tide of the Indigo Court. “This was written several hundred years ago, and I found it tucked away when I went searching through the archives.”
“What will the Akazzani do to you if they find out that you’ve removed material from the catacombs?” Luna gazed up at her sister, and all I could see was gratitude in her smile. But her smile disappeared when Zoey spoke again.
“They would punish me. There are crypts deep in the fortress, and they contain the shades of the dead historians who have passed out of our realm. When someone does something egregious, they’re locked down there for a time with only the shadows and ghosts for company. They seldom ever break another rule.”
She sobered, then shook her head before Luna could say anything. “I chose to do this. You needed my help. I understand why. I told them I was taking family leave for an emergency. This qualifies.”
