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“He has very little of his own. But he’s easily manipulated and would make a good conduit.” Lindsey frowned. “Remember the mess that went down when we were being drained of energy near the equinox? Jake…that’s right about when he started to change. And right after that, he left Temple.”
“Why?” Delilah twisted her lip. “Did he get kicked out or leave on his own?”
“A little of both.” Lindsey glanced over at us. “As I mentioned, he craved power and was dabbling in questionable areas, magic that we don’t allow from the Temple members.” She paused, then said, “Camille, there’s something else about him. He joined the Aleksais Psychic Network and signed over his house to them. It’s up for sale now. He gave them all the money he had and moved into their commune. I know because his sister told me.”
There it was again. The Aleksais Psychic Network. More than ever, my intuition told me that we had to get in there and see what the hell they were doing. Remembering what else Sean had said, I turned back to the boy. “You said you saw someone else there?”
He nodded. “I don’t know his name, but he was standing back a ways, and he had…something in his hand. It looked like a scroll, and he was reading from it. He was a little on the short side, and had short hair…he wore glasses. He was at the fair, Mom. Ms. C—you remember him? He was talking to you a lot.”
Lindsey rubbed the bridge of her nose. “How can I forget? Halcon Davis. He made me nervous.”
And once again, we were right back to the Aleksais Psychic Network.
“Lindsey, you said Jake wasn’t very powerful on his own, but that he might make a good conduit. You also said he was starting to dabble in questionable areas. Do you mean necromancy or sorcery?”
Lindsey blanched. “Yeah, though I’m not sure which. I wouldn’t let him into the coven because when someone’s out for power, they can be dangerous even if they don’t have the innate abilities. And he wasn’t willing to abide by our rules. Several times, I almost kicked him out because he was a disruption. But I never thought…”
I mulled over what we knew. “I wonder if he’s being possessed. Could Halcon have been controlling him? And we know the Aleksais Psychic Network is tied into…a lot of nasty things.” I’d almost said Gulakah but caught myself before I slipped.
Lindsey closed her eyes. “Crap. You think someone was using him as a conduit to raise zombies?”
Sean let out a strangled cry. “Zombies?”
“Silence, Sean.” Lindsey motioned for him to be quiet.
I held her gaze. “Quite possibly. The scrolls for that usually take more than one person unless the spellcaster is advanced,” I finally said. “I think Jake is being used in this…situation.”
“You think Halcon is advanced enough to do it?” Delilah asked, cocking her head.
Pushing my chair back, I stood and crossed to the counter, where I poured myself a cup of the harshest coffee I’d taste all day. I grimaced as I sipped it, but I needed the jolt. “I don’t know. Quite possibly.” All I really knew was that he was connected with Gulakah.
Of course, we might be wrong. It wasn’t like we’d been wrong before—Harold Young had been an FBH out for power, and Dante’s Hellions had possessed one of the spirit seals but weren’t exactly hooked up with Shadow Wing, even though they thought they were.
But this time, I really believed there was a strong connection between the APN and Gulakah—and, therefore, Shadow Wing. We needed to be sure, though, and we needed to find out soon. And the ad in the Supe-R-Natural Weekly was our ticket to find out.
“Okay, here’s the deal. Sean, you stay out of the cemetery for now. Use the substitutions Lindsey taught you. Nobody say anything about this to anybody.” I looked directly at Sean. “Listen, I know you’ll be tempted to tell your friends, because hey—who sees zombies every day? But you can’t. A lot of people could get hurt if this gets out. Promise?”
He held my gaze for a moment, and then, swallowing, he gave me a single nod. “I get it. I promise.”
“Good. We’re counting on you.” I let out a long sigh. This was going to be a bumpy ride, and I wasn’t looking forward to it.
Chapter 5
After Lindsey, Tracy, and Sean left, we went back to Chase’s office. Delilah and I settled onto the sofa that was in the corner of the room. Chase must have been tired of sitting in his chair, because he eased onto his desk and sat there facing us, his legs spread apart like his balls were too big for him to close them. Men had that habit, I’d noticed.
“First, that’s not good for your foot to hang like that. And secondly…” Delilah’s expression darkened. “Dude, do you know what that reminds me of?” Her words hung in the air.
Chase looked blank for a moment, then blushed and quickly hobbled to his chair. “Sorry, I didn’t even think of that.”
“It’s water under the bridge, but you know, some visuals you just can’t get out of your brain. There’s not enough brain bleach in the world. And Erika’s lips planted around your cock is one of those images.” She grimaced.
Speechless that she actually went there, I stared at the ceiling…hard. Best to just let the subject die without resuscitating it.
Flustered, Chase shuffled through some papers, and I decided to take the reins of the conversation and steer it someplace a bit more relevant.
“Let’s talk about what Sean told us, shall we? But first, let me put in a quick call to Beth at Mystic Charms. I just want to verify something.” I pulled out my cell phone and dialed her number. She answered within two rings. “Beth, it’s Camille. You know that guy this morning? Jake? Can you tell me what his last name is?”
After a brief pause, she let out a little huff. “Evans. Jake Evans. I know because he bounced a check in here a few months ago, and I told him from that moment on, it was cash only if he wanted something. That’s how I got his address to send him those invoices—off the check. I also have a feeling he’s been plundering stuff from the store, though.”
