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Caley shook her head in disbelief, dropping the necklace to settle against her chest. “All right, whatever. Okay, is that it?”
“You also need to burn this.” Gretchen opened her other hand to a small white sachet. “It’s dried amaranth flowers, dittany of Crete, and Wormwood.”
Caley’s nose scrunched. “And this will…?”
“It’s Calling up the Dead Incense,” Gretchen replied, giving her hand a shake for Caley to accept her offering. “Which will allow Alexander the right to take over.”
“You know…” Caley said, taking the pillow and then looking at it with my flashlight lighting up her hand. “It’s frightening that simple ingredients have the power to do this stuff.” She looked at me with raised eyebrows. “Like seriously, frightening.”
I might have agreed with her, but those ingredients had saved my butt. “It’s all for the greater-good. Does that make you feel better?”
“No.”
I laughed, totally understanding Caley’s hesitation. Soon enough, she’d see for herself that witchcraft was real. But seeing the tension in Caley’s posture and how she couldn’t stand still, moving back and forth along the grass, I thought it best to move along. To Gretchen, I asked, “Is that all she has to do?”
Gretchen backed away from Caley, settling in next to Alexander and giving him a little smile. While she couldn’t see him, she could sense the change of energy in the area and clearly, she figured it out without my input. “She needs to welcome him in by saying: I call upon the spirit of Alexander Stone. What once was one, is now two. I welcome thee.”
I bit my lip and my muscles tensed. Lord, I felt horrible for putting Caley in this position and she was right—after this night, I would kiss her ass for a very long time. “Not so bad, right?”
“I still hate you,” Caley grumbled.
Glancing at Alexander next to her, who had been waiting patiently standing by the tall grass that waved in the breeze, I asked, “Are you ready?”
He nodded.
I inhaled and wet my lips, noticing the crickets signing around us. Maybe I’d been so drawn into the moment I hadn’t heard them until now, or perhaps they’d gotten louder. “Do we need to stand back or anything?”
Caley cursed. “Tess Jennings, you are seriously making me my doubt my sanity at the moment.”
Gretchen smiled, shaking her head. “We’re fine right here.” She reached into her pocket and took out a lighter, offering it to Caley. “Just place the sachet on the ground and light it. Wait a minute for the smoke to rise and then say the chant three times.”
Caley released the most exasperated breath I’d ever heard come from her mouth, and when she looked at me, I saw the fear in her eyes and the slight tremble of her bottom lip.
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I stepped forward, gripped her arm and squeezed tight. “You’ll be fine. Gretchen would never allow this if it wasn’t safe, and to be honest, I’m hoping I’ll get what I need in one conversation and then you’ll wake up. Bingo, bango, fineto.”
Caley’s head lowered down to the sachet a moment before she gave me a weak nod. “Okay.” After harsh breath, she knelt, placed the incense on the ground, staring at it for a long while. She raised her gaze to the black sky. “I am out of my goddamn mind.”
Without another word and with a full-out quake of her fingers, she lit the incense and the smoke drifted up from below. Staying on her knees, she said in a shaky voice, “I call upon the spirit of Alexander Stone. What once was one, is now two. I welcome thee.”
I held my breath while she recited it again. On the third time, I exhaled as Alexander’s odd ghostly form shimmered with bright colors—blues, greens, pinks, almost spending off sparks into the night.
Caley’s gaze caught mine and I smiled gently, hoping to reassure her. I’d never had suggested this either if I thought she was in any danger and I hoped, in my face, she witnessed that strength.
Before my eyes, the weird lights flickered around her now, as did Alexander’s body and Caley’s eyes widened. Her mouth parted on a loud gasp and those lights became brighter, causing me to squint. The crickets around us had gone quiet and silence settled in.
A huge rush of wind blew the hair back from my face, and the lights became so intense I covered my eyes. I peeked through my fingers, noticing Gretchen staring at Caley, meaning she couldn’t see what I could.
It actually pleased me Caley couldn’t see this because I suspected it might scare her, because damn, it scared me. I forced myself to look back, since poor Caley was the one going through it and I stared at her knees. The light seemed centered on her torso, but it lit up the grass around her in a bluish glow.
The light got increasingly brighter before the wind picked up, then the light vanished. Caley’s even loader gasps filling the dark night around me. I quickly lowered my hand and found her with her hands on her knees, drawing in deep breaths.
I looked at Gretchen and she was studying Caley with a tilt to her head, then she shrugged at me. I turned to my best friend, who remained on her knees with her head bowed to the grass below. “Caley?”
Her gaze lifted and in that split second, I knew my friend no longer controlled her body. In her blue eyes, softness resided there. It was a very rare thing to see Caley look as gentle as she did now. “Alexander?”
“Hello.”
