Gray squeezed several tears out of her eyes. “I miss my sister.”
Mr. Phillips put a hand on her. “Does your mom know you’re here?”
Gray’s lip folded over. It wasn’t part of the act. “She left town this morning.”
Mr. Phillips stopped and ran a hand through his hair. “Can I get you something? A soda?”
Gray lifted her face slowly with the wounded doe-eye look. “Could I have a cup of warm tea?”
“Tea! Good idea.”
Brilliant idea, especially as Gray planned to request Mr. Phillips’s favorite—Earl Grey—which would easily lead to two cups of tea, one in which she could sprinkle the truth powder. She settled into a chair on the dining table adjacent to the open kitchen. Mr. Phillips set a kettle on top of the stove. He cleared his throat. “I was pleased to see you at Gathering yesterday. In times like these it is even more important to have the support of people who understand you.” He looked at Gray and she nodded to show she understood. “I wish your mother had come with you.”
Gray shrugged. “I’ll mention it to her.”
“She needs the support of her coven.”
Gray pursed her lips. She didn’t like Mr. Phillips telling her what her mother needed. She was a grown woman. She could make her own decisions.
The kettle whistled.
Mr. Phillips further irked Gray by setting out one teacup, filling it with hot water and a teabag and setting it in front of her. He took a seat across from her. Gray stared at the empty space directly in front of him as she blew on her tea.
“At times like these guidance is particularly important,” Mr. Phillips continued. “You and your mom could have benefited from Holloway’s lecture two weeks ago. Accidents and illness are especially hard on the gifted. We tend to believe ourselves beyond the reach of misfortune and when it does strike it not only feels unfair, but unacceptable. We believe we ought to be able to reverse it somehow. I did everything I could to reach out to your mother after your sister died, but she turned her back on me and on the coven.”
Gray’s lips tightened. She was beginning to understand why her mom was done dating warlocks. She tipped her teacup back, swallowed, and winced. Not only was she unable to sprinkle the truth powder inside Mr. Phillips’s absent cup, but she now had a burnt tongue. “Ouch.”
“Too hot?”
Gray nodded.
“Want a glass of water?”
Water—great idea. “I’m fine, thanks,” Gray said quickly. She looked at Mr. Phillips over the rim of her teacup as she blew over the steaming liquid.
“I’m happy you and Ryan have remained close, but I worry about your mom. She hasn’t kept in contact with anyone in the coven. She has no friends to get her through the grief. What she needs… (cough) is to turn to those (cough, cough) who understand… Sorry, I seem to have something in my throat.” Mr. Phillips’s torso shook with the force of his hacks.
Gray set her teacup down. “Let me get you a glass of water, Mr. Phillips.”
“That’s all right, Charlene, I’m fi…” A full bout of hacking swallowed the last of Mr. Phillips’s words and he nodded through tears.
Gray smiled the moment her back was turned. She grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with cool tap water. While Mr. Phillips coughed she reached into her bra, pulled out the packet, and sprinkled the powder into the water. It fizzed and then dissolved.
Mr. Phillips took the glass from Gray’s outstretched hand and began to drink. When he was finished he set the glass down. “Thank you, Charlene, much better. Sorry about that. What were we talking about again?”
Gray took her place across from Mr. Phillips. The good news was the effects of the powder were instant, according to Adrian anyway. The bad news was it only lasted five minutes. Gray had to tread carefully—this was a truth, not a memory, spell, meaning Mr. Phillips would remember their conversation after it took place and she didn’t wish to say anything to make him suspicious after she left.
Mr. Phillips’s eyes lit up. “Oh, right, the importance of regular attendance at Gathering.”
“Mr. Phillips!” Gray hadn’t meant to sound so desperate. The man startled in his seat. “I ran into Adrian Hedrick Montez in town this afternoon. Actually, I was passing his shop when I saw him. He tried to get me to come inside. He said he could dull my feelings of sorrow.”
Mr. Phillips’s eyes narrowed. “You want to stay far away from Adrian Montez.”
Gray made a show of shrinking into her chair. “Is he dangerous? I thought he had no powers, but people say he uses magic on his clients.”
“Adrian is no longer able to perform magic.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I, along with Mr. Holloway and Mr. Curry, are blocking his abilities.”
Gray’s eyes widened. Three of the coven’s most powerful warlocks were blocking Adrian. This was going to be more difficult than she thought.
Gray let out a breath. “Oh, thank goodness, I feel much more secure knowing that, but how can you be sure the block will stay in effect?”
Mr. Phillips stared at Gray so intensely she thought for a moment the spell had worn off early. Then, slowly, he drew a pendant out of his shirt and held a small vial between his fingers. “Blood,” he said. “We each have a drop of Adrian’s blood in a vial. We have to wear it around our necks at all times.” The blood was encased in a silver tube. There were etchings—words—wrapped around the narrow enclosure.
“All the time,” Gray repeated.
Mr. Phillips tucked the vial back under his shirt. “It’s a small sacrifice to keep the world safe from Adrian’s mischief.”
“I thought blocking spells didn’t require… props.” The one Charlene and Ryan had performed on her certainly hadn’t. Those two hadn’t gone around with a drop of Gray’s blood below their throats. Ick.
“Blocking spells are weak at best. You usually have to be in close proximity of the person to impair their powers. We needed a guaranteed way to control Adrian at all times no matter where he was.”
“What a relief. And there’s no loophole for him to break through the block?”
Mr. Phillips smiled. “Not so long as we have the pendants. Don’t worry, Charlene.”
Oh, she wouldn’t. Not anymore. Gray tipped back her teacup and drank the last dregs of black tea.
* * *
“He’s going to need a memory wipe, otherwise, he’ll know it was me.” Gray paced in front of the table in Adrian’s shop.
Adrian leaned against a bookcase, a smile stretched over his face. Raj had his arms crossed, standing a foot away from the wall. Daylight had never broken through the clouds and now it was pitch-black. The surrounding storefronts were dark and deserted.
Gray stopped pacing and looked at Adrian. “Am I correct in assuming your grandmother has some kind of powder for that, too?”
It didn’t seem possible for Adrian’s grin to widen, but it did. “She already has a batch made up. Nan gets banned from certain establishments from time to time and likes to give a little dose to the proprietor or, in the last instance, her dentist.”
“Heaven help us,” Raj said, rolling his eyes skyward.
“I can have it here in twenty minutes. Are doing this tonight?”
Gray nodded. “I have three and a half hours left.”
“I suggest we split up,” Adrian said. “Three of them, three of us. I’ll take Holloway.”
“No,” Gray said. “It’ll be easier for me to get all three pendants. I can turn invisible.”
“So can I.” Raj stepped forward.
Gray’s mouth hung open. “For how long?”
He shrugged. “Four days.”
“So yesterday—Saturday—you were just pretending you didn’t know the spell?”
“Oh, Raj,” Adrian said, voice lifting. “Well done. He’s sneaky, that one.”
Raj frowned. “I’m not sneaky. I just didn’t get a chance to tell you.”
“Maybe beca
use your lips were otherwise engaged,” Gray snapped.
Adrian pushed away from the bookshelf and chuckled. “I’ll get the memory potion. Do me a favor and refrain from killing each other until after we get the pendants.”
Gray and Raj glared at Adrian’s back as he left. Raj’s expression softened as soon as Adrian was gone. “Gray…” he said, taking another step forward.
Gray sighed. “Don’t worry about it. You’ve done nothing but help me, which is more than I can say for anyone else.”
Raj shoved his hands inside his pockets. “What’s the plan?”
“We go together.”
Raj nodded.
Gray wrapped her arms around herself. “We’ll wait till they’re asleep. If anyone gives us trouble you’ll hold them down with your spell.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
They started with Marc Phillips. It turned out that performing a memory wipe on a warlock was a lot more complicated than, say, a doctor or a waiter. There wasn’t actually a powder or a potion. What Adrian brought back was magic smelling salts with the reverse effect of knocking a person out cold, which was what they needed in order to perform the memory wipe along with candles that required time to burn out completely. They only had to clear a small chunk of memory, the one involving Gray’s visit earlier.
Adrian’s instructions to Raj had been hasty and she hoped it worked. At least the magic salts had. Once Gray unscrewed the lid and held it under Mr. Phillips’s nose his head rolled to one side. Apart from the rise and fall of his chest, he practically looked dead.
Gray exchanged a look with Raj. She reached around Mr. Phillips’s neck and unfastened the pendant. She fastened it around her own neck for safekeeping.
Raj was already pulling candles out of his backpack and setting them on Mr. Phillips’s dresser: three white and three red. The Zippo flicked open and he lit each wick. Then he pulled out the scraps of paper, reading over the first before burning it as he spoke: “Bit by bit Charlene shall fade, shall disappear.”
Raj held the next scrap into the flame of the next candle. “Day by day this is as I say.”
The third: “Memories from this afternoon shall disappear.”
The fourth: “Sunk into a forgotten bay. As this paper is consumed in flame, memories of her shall burn away.”
And the final candle: “All encounters and words gone from today.”
There was no point making themselves invisible as they tiptoed down the stairs. If they made a noise, Ryan would hear them whether or not they were see-through and it was a lot easier to take the stairs quietly when they could see where they were placing their feet.
Max Curry’s father was next. Raj sat outside the Currys’ driveway, drumming his fingers on his steering wheel. Gray was determined not to rush him even as her last minutes ticked away. “Sorry,” she said.
Raj continued drumming his fingertips on the steering wheel. “About what?” He stared absently out the windshield.
“For dragging you into this whole mess.”
Raj stopped drumming and looked sideways at her. “I wanted to be dragged into it.”
Gray stared at him a moment before climbing over the armrest and landing in his lap. She pressed her lips to his. At first Raj was so taken aback he didn’t respond, but then he was kissing her, holding Gray cocooned in his embrace. Warmth spread from his hand where it was pressed in the hollow between Gray’s shoulder blades. Raj’s arm wrapped around Gray’s lower back. His kiss was soft, determined, and adventurous.
Gray wanted him to touch her in all the places that ached, but Raj held her steady, mouth to mouth.
Gray rubbed against him and he chuckled softly. His hand slid down her back. Then it slid back up. He caressed her with a delicacy that put Gray into a trance. The movement sent shivers of pleasure through her body. All her muscles relaxed. Raj’s body felt warm against hers.
Gray pulled back slightly to look at Raj, but only briefly. Looking at him made her want to kiss him anew. Their lips fell into a delicate rhythm. It seemed like it should feel awkward, kissing Raj McKenna, but it wasn’t. Gray could kiss him till the end of time.
How could she have died and missed out on this?
Of all the reasons to be brought back, this was the best. Everyone should experience a kiss like this before parting.
Gray suppressed a sob. Raj followed her lead and stopped kissing her when Gray leaned back. She nestled her head against his shoulder.
“Um, Gray.”
Gray closed her eyes. “Can’t we stay like this a little longer?”
Raj ran a gentle hand down the side of her face. It made her want to weep.
“Not if we want to get the last two pendants tonight.”
Gray sighed. “Do you think Adrian will help me once he gets his powers back?”
“I’ll make sure of it.”
Gray glanced up. She took a deep breath then sat up in Raj’s lap. “We better get to it then.”
* * *
The smelling salts had to be used on both Mr. and Mrs. Curry. They slept on opposite sides of the bed, backs turned to one another. Gray held the salts under Mrs. Curry’s nose, screwed the lid on, then tossed it over the bed to Raj. He caught it easily, held it under Mr. Curry’s nostrils, then removed the pendant.
Mr. Holloway was single, like Marc Phillips. The coven’s leader didn’t even have children. Raj cursed when they stopped across the street from his house. Lights blazed from a room downstairs.
Gray glanced at the clock on the dash. One forty-eight.
She had a little over an hour left.
“Once he goes to bed it’ll be easy,” Gray said to reassure herself.
“If he goes to bed,” Raj said. He pulled his lighter out and began flicking it open and closed. “We have to get that last pendant. Once Phillips and Curry wake up and find those pendants missing it’ll be impossible to lift Holloway’s.”
Gray glanced down then slowly unlatched the first pendant around her neck followed by the second. She handed them to Raj. “Save them for me, will you?”
Raj took the pendants and nodded.
They watched Mr. Holloway’s house in silence.
At two twenty Gray cleared her throat. “I guess we’re going to have to do this the hard way.”
Raj stuffed his lighter in his pocket and turned the keys in the ignition.
“What are you doing?” Gray asked.
“Taking you home. I’ll see to Holloway.”
“The hell you will.” Gray reached for the key and turned it toward her.
“You’re almost out of time. I’ll come back and wait for him to turn in.”
As Raj reached for the key again, Gray covered his hand with hers. He looked at her. “We do this together,” she said.
Raj stared at her a moment then relaxed his hand and nodded. They stepped out of the car simultaneously, pushing their doors gently shut. “We’ll go invisible,” Raj whispered as they crossed the street. “I freeze him and you hold the salts under his nose.” Raj handed Gray the vial as he spoke.
It felt like it would slip from her sweaty palm. “How do we get in?” Gray asked.
“Like this.” Raj lifted a terracotta stepping stone from the front yard and hurled it through the front window.
For a moment Gray was so startled she couldn’t remember how to turn herself invisible. Thankfully, she managed to disappear from sight before Mr. Holloway burst through the front door. He leapt over the three steps leading from his porch to the front lawn and charged into the yard.
Gray and Raj took that opportunity to fly up the stairs and through the open door into the house. At least that was what Gray hoped Raj was doing. She didn’t want to be inside Holloway’s house alone. The living room was just off to the left of the entryway. The room was well lit from floor to ceiling. A text had tumbled to the floor in front of an armchair.
Gray didn’t dare breathe let alone say Raj’s name. There was hardly time to regroup with Mr. Holloway storming ba
ck inside the house. He lifted a finger and the lid on a heavy old trunk sprang open against the wall.
Holloway’s footsteps shook the house like a giant’s. He leaned over the trunk then stopped suddenly and whipped around. Gray’s heart leapt inside her throat. Holloway scanned the room and stood quietly. Gray held her breath and froze in place beside the couch.
When the front door slammed she jumped in place. The bolt clicked shut. When Mr. Holloway moved it looked like he was coming straight for her. Gray’s jaw dropped. She tried to move, but she couldn’t and then, thank god, Mr. Holloway froze in place.
“Now!” Raj cried.
Gray’s fingers shook as she untwisted the cap off the salts. She held it under Mr. Holloway’s nose. It wrinkled. Even his lips curled back.
Gray stepped back.
Mr. Holloway’s eyes hadn’t closed. If anything, they seemed wider. Then he started laughing. “You think your salts will work on me?” The laughing ceased. Mr. Holloway attempted to speak. His eyes narrowed when no sound emerged. He stopped trying and then he smiled, a heinous grin that sent chills through Gray.
She didn’t think she could approach him again. She was once more frozen in place—her own terror holding her hostage. Gray saw the pendant lift out of Holloway’s shirt and float briefly in the air before disappearing.
“Time to go,” Raj hissed.
She followed his footsteps to the door. The bolt made a weak clicking sound like a dying battery on a car remote. It didn’t budge. The sound of shattering glass made her nearly leap out of her shoes—again!
The jagged edges surrounding the broken window were kicked away.
“Come on!”
Gray hurried toward the window and Raj’s voice. He grabbed her hand as she lifted her leg through the window. When she glanced inside one last time she saw the same horrid smile frozen on Mr. Holloway’s face.
There was no breath left in Gray’s lungs. Her legs wouldn’t move. She couldn’t even gasp for air. Raj’s grip tightened around her hand. He dragged her forward, across the lawn, across the street, and to his car. He opened the passenger door. “Get in!”
He didn’t make himself visible until they were out of Holloway’s neighborhood. It took tremendous effort for Gray to fill herself back in. She glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Two fifty-one. “We’re never going to make it.”