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“Wait,” I said. “Can I have ten minutes?”
“Yes,” Sybil said. “See; I’m not a spoiled wizard who insists on getting attention right away.” That last bit wasn’t for me.
“I’ll call you back,” I said and hung up.
The first thing I did was call Shelby, who picked up right away.
“I need you to ask Carly if Desmon sent Seth to look for me,” I blurted out without much fanfare. “Right now.”
She must have heard the seriousness in my voice because her reply was a simple, “Gotcha. I’ll call her now.”
I hadn’t gotten this far by trusting everything at face value. I’d done that for most of my life, and look where it got me. I was lucky I’d started questioning everything I knew.
Less than a minute later, I got her text confirming that Desmon had, in fact, sent Seth my way when I’d failed to contact him. Grayson didn’t believe meeting up with the wizard was a bad idea either.
Shit! I guessed there was only one thing to do. I changed back into my normal clothes and packed everything up, glad that despite having the large cage in the living room, I’d trained Nugget to sleep in the smaller one just in case we had to leave at a moment’s notice.
A phone call later, there was a shimmering portal in my room. With an oversized sword strapped to my back, Nugget’s cage in one hand, and my luggage in the other, I eyed the portal warily. Deciding not to overthink it, I took a big breath and stepped through.
Chapter 27
Tansy
IsteppedintoSybil’scozy parlor. The world spun around me as I recovered my footing.
A haze of nothing had surrounded me when I’d stepped into the shimmering portal. I felt as if there was a large magnet on the other side, and I was wearing a suit of metal. Except instead of air, it pulled me through a pool of two-day-old half-congealed oatmeal—the real kind, not the sugary packaged ones that tasted like junk food.
I took a step and nearly tripped over a large floor pillow. A warm hand steadied me.
Holding me by the arm was a suave-looking man in his thirties, broad-shouldered and fit, with a trim waist. I wondered if his impressive physique was from magic or repeat gym visits. He wore an ornate frock coat but somehow still made it look trendy with a pair of well-fitting jeans. His short hair was spiked up, the tips a platinum blonde, and he had a few visible piercings, including one in his eyebrow.
Seth was giving strong Spike fromBuffy the Vampire Slayer-meets-Lestat fromInterview with a Vampirevibes. He wasn’t what I’d expected at all. I’d expected a stuffy old man, like the ones from the WEC they’d interviewed on the news.
“You must be Tansy.” He extended a hand. “I’m Seth.”
I released my luggage and took his hand, expecting to shake it, but he brought it to his lips and kissed the back instead. I held back a titter. I’d seen it in the movies but never had anyone do that before.
Sybil, clearly having seen this before, rolled her eyes.
Still dressed in a velvety black robe with kitty ears, her hair was messy under the hood, and she had a pet rat on each shoulder. She didn’t have her usual dark eye makeup on and looked almost sweet and innocent. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d said the wizard had rushed her. I doubted many people had ever seen her like this.
“What?” the man asked with a gleam in his eyes. “The ladies appreciate it.”
Sybil scoffed.
“I said, theladies. Not you.“ Then he turned to me. “Desmon has filled me in on your situation. It’s quite unique indeed. Often, the soul is successful in taking over their new host, and we never hear about it. Or the strong-willed individual who fought off the intrusion doesn’t tell anyone, thinking everyone would believe them crazy.”
“That would have been me if The Wall hadn’t fallen.”
“To be sure. But now you are going one step beyond. You wish to trap this spirit and prevent it from ever doing it again.”
“Yes, sir. Also, Mother—er, I mean, Amrita—hasn’t given up yet. She’s still trying to take me over.”
“Yes, yes. It is very peculiar. And I didn’t understand it until now.” Seth leaned in and closed his eyes. He inhaled and hummed softly. “Your magic is strong indeed, especially for someone who’s untrained. You called the spirit Mother, but she is not. Do you know your parentage?”
I shook my head. “I looked into it but only found that I was a kid left at an orphanage.”
Then, a loud bang rattled the wall, and Sybil threw her slipper at it in a fit.
