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“I’ll slit her throat if you do,” she says, and I realize the object against my neck is a knife.
Hex’s expression is marred with confusion. “How can you even see her?” he asks. “What are you? Who are you?”
She laughs a cold, evil laugh. It sends a chill through my bones, and I look at Hex in desperation. I’m not worth his safety. Until a few minutes ago, I was basically dead. I’d rather this woman kill me than hurt Hex. At least I already know how it feels. I try to scream through my gag, but it’s hopeless. The woman presses the blade closer and screams at me to shut up.
“I was told you weren’t the sharpest tool in the shed,” the woman responds to Hex cruelly. “But don’t worry, Hex. All things will be revealed soon.”
Juliana is alive. She’s actually sitting in front of me, her spirit somehow transferred back into her body. It took me a moment to realize it, but now that comprehension has dawned, I can’t believe I hadn’t realized she wasn’t alive when we met.
Because this version of her is stronger and more solid. Her cheeks are flushed, and her hair is wilder than before. Behind her eyes is a stubborn strength, a very human will to survive. I want to go to her, to untie her and carry her away, but the woman looks like she intends to keep her promise. If I go anywhere near her, she’ll be dead in seconds.
“Sit down and shut up,” the woman snarls at me. “We have big plans for you, Hex.”
Something is vaguely familiar about this woman. I can’t place it, but I’ve never seen her. It isn’t the same way I was sure I’d seen Juliana in my dreams. There’s a nature to this woman, something about the way she carries herself. Somehow, she reminds me of Abigail.
Then the pieces fall into place. Pocus has been right from the beginning. She’s one of Anderson Grey’s soldiers. I’d heard they’d all been set free after his arrest, but she was bound to him somehow. Anderson’s been behind this from the beginning.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
Seer and I spend nearly an hour searching every room of the church, but Hex is nowhere to be found. He’s not here, and I feel like the biggest asshole in the world. I barely questioned it when he got up, too busy focused on the crowd. He could be in real danger, and I didn’t take the time to notice.
Every unkind thing I’ve said to him replays in my head. Panic rises to my throat. Hex is one of the few people I would trust with my life, and I’ve treated him like shit for weeks. I refused him the benefit of the doubt and assumed he wasn’t doing his job. All he ever does is work his ass off for me. I’ve been a total dick.
I hate myself for losing track of him, especially here. I was so sure Anderson’s spirit was after me, I’d never considered he might be after Hex. To my knowledge, they’d rarely interacted. But he brought us all to this church for a reason, and now Hex is gone. This was his plan, and I need to find out why.
We call off our search when the funeral ends and the attendees file out of the chapel. We have no good reason to be in the church, and the cops lurk in every corner. Fucking pigs. Today is not the day for them to mess with me.
“We should head back,” Seer says quietly. “Maybe he went home.”
I sincerely doubt it, but Seer needs to get back to Tory. His anxiety rolls off him in waves. He’s already used up his emotional energy to come to this damn thing. Now that Hex is missing, it’s too much for him. He may internally combust if he can’t return to his wife and unborn child. I can’t say I blame him.
When we arrive at the clubhouse, I find Mama sitting on the porch, examining the stupid vase very carefully. I didn’t think she’d stay after we left, but Tory is like a daughter to her. She probably wanted to stay in case she woke up. When she looks up at Seer with a sympathetic frown, it’s enough to know there’s been no change. Why should anything go right today?
Seer breezes past her, presumably to go sit at Tory’s bedside. I follow after him, needing a drink and to confirm with my own eyes that Hex isn’t here. Mama stops me.
“Sit down, Pocus,” she instructs. I do as she says and she hands the vase to me. “Tell me what you see.”
This feels like a trick question, and I don’t have the time for this. I turn the thing over in my hands, trying to see it with different eyes. It looks exactly the same as it did before. It’s an ugly piece of shit from an even uglier piece of shit. Mama waits patiently for me to answer, so I try to be descriptive in my disdain for it.
“It’s an ugly old vase with a weird design and green stones. There’s nothing special about it at all. It belongs in a thrift store, and not one of the nicer ones.”
She shakes her head, taking it back from me and staring at it reverently.
“These green stones, they come from a special element,” she tells me. “It’s rare, but pure. Shamans and others have used it for years to bind their spells. Long ago, a dark warlock realized he could tether a soul to the stone so he could live forever. That’s why it’s called the Lazarus stone. For centuries, it’s been used to bring spirits back to this plane.”
I see the stone with new eyes now, understanding what she’s not saying. Son of a bitch. I take the vase back from her and examine the stones.
“You’re telling me that Anderson’s soul is tethered to that motherfucking vase, aren’t you?” I ask dryly. I try to keep my voice even, but rage drips from my pores.
He would pull some shit like this. He was too evil to die. He has to fuck up my life by sending me his soul trapped in a stone. I look up at Mama, who watches me curiously.
“It must have been hard to come by. I’d heard all the Lazarus stones had been destroyed years ago by the church. They didn’t think it was natural for souls to come back. Of course, this isn’t your first run-in with one if you remember.”
I laugh. Any normal soul would be horrified to see the unnatural mischief that happens in the clubhouse. Still, the idea terrifies me. If she’s right, Anderson’s soul is literally in my hands. What the hell am I supposed to do with that information? A thought occurs and I voice it.
“He’s dead, though,” I tell her. “He was murdered in that prison. I’ve seen the footage. He was beaten so badly, they had to cremate his body.”
I remember watching the footage weeks ago, wanting to cheer for the murderers. But I had to see it happen and confirm he was really gone. Snake tracked down the coroner’s records and I spoke to the man. There was no doubt that Anderson Grey’s body was gone forever.
