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My partial explanation seemed to satisfy Eamon. “In that case, we better not use a pickle jar. I don’t think a duct tape-wrapped pickle jar displays well in a museum.”
“A pickle jar?” Desmon asked. “Duct tape?”
“Sybil is turning a pickle jar into a holding container for the spirit,” I explained.
“I see. That is fine. I can put the whole thing in a decorative urn.” He brushed the issue aside and gave me a final nod. “Good luck, human.”
We left the mansion in Darlington’s suburbs and headed back into the city core.
Chapter 21
Eamon
Wereceivedthesworda few days later when Carly came by for a visit. It was quite a bit larger than Tansy could wield. Saoirse’s notes hadn’t mentioned anything about the one uttering the spell having to be the one to also wield the weapon, so we’d decided that when the time came, it would be my job.
I didn’t mind. I’d missed swordplay, though I hadn’t been remarkably talented at it.
Tansy had since searched for the final piece of the puzzle but made no headway in finding a way to craft the correct spell. And it wasn’t for lack of trying. We’d exhausted all of Sybil and Iris’s knowledge and their private collection of esoteric literature as well as Redrock’s access to online literature. In addition, Tansy had been spending the last few days in the library in her search for the elusive information.
We were there now, and I tried to entertain myself as Tansy pored over the magical tomes. I was bored as fuck. I almost wished Amrita would send a few of her hobo army over so I had an excuse to crack some skulls.
Tansy slammed her book closed in frustration, but I heard nothing through the blanket of silence she’d cast around herself. She’d had several outbursts already today, and not wanting to get kicked out of the library, she’d cast the spell just in case.
Her lips moved, reciting something. The blanket lifted, and I could hear her again. “This is useless,” she whispered. She gestured to the pile of books in front of her. “We’ll be here forever.”
“Want to take a break?” I suggested hopefully. Anything to get out of the library.
“Yeah. I think I need it.”
I held out my elbow, and she hooked her arm through as we headed down the stairs to the exit.
I felt it before I saw it as we walked by the row of mirrors lining the wall on the bottom floor. There it was, the hag’s face in the reflection. She wasn’t even trying to be discreet. The image was larger than life.
From what I understood, it was the same face that had belonged to the woman who’d claimed to be Tansy’s mother, but much, much older. Ancient even. I wondered if every single body she took ended up looking the same by the time she was done with it, turning each woman into the same old crone.
My hand tightened on Tansy’s arm in warning, but she’d already seen it. She acted quickly. Without a second thought, she grabbed the tiny bottle hanging from her neck, pulled out the cork, and splashed the entirety of the contents at the mirror.
I pulled her away from the mirror as the crone in it shrieked. Then the likeness in the mirror grabbed its belly.
“What did you do?” Amrita hissed, looking out into the library.
Everyone in earshot was staring now at the moaning hag who clutched her belly in the mirror, doubled over in pain.
“What the hell?!” exclaimed a young man who hadn’t been paying attention and had walked too close to the mirror.
The woman next to him gasped, and the two backed away to stand next to us. Just in time, too, as the figure in the mirror suddenly let out a foul-sounding noise. Next to me, Tansy tittered, holding back a laugh as more horrendous farting noises came from Amrita in the mirror, some of them sounding rather wet. The hag’s face twisted up, her hands still on her stomach.
The teenager who’d exclaimed before didn’t hold back; he bellowed a hearty laugh. So did the woman. Then, everyone who’d been trying to stay serious, including Tansy, failed, and the whole place erupted with laughter, even as the awful stench filled the room.
The image in the mirror faded, but the smell did not, and everyone covered their noses and started moving away. A few people made retching sounds.
A strict-looking older gentleman in a buttoned-up shirt and perfectly coiffed hair walked into the hallway looking pissed off. “What’s going on here?” He blanched at the stink, then followed everyone’s eyes to the mirror, then back to the small crowd the spectacle had gathered.
Everyone else looked confused, so we did the same, blending in. Neither of us was in the mood to explain the situation to anyone. Besides, I didn’t exactly know that had happened. What had been in that bottled brew?
Also, I just wanted to get Tansy out of here. Amrita knew where Tansy was now and would surely send an army to retrieve her.
Seeing that the crowd was of little use to him, the uptight man touched the mirror. The surface was completely dry. There was nothing left of the solution on it; it had gone right through the glass, leaving not a trace.
