I decided to hop on my laptop and do some sleuthing. “You said she left here around 1925?”
Franny nodded. “Yeah, it was somewhere around that time.”
I pulled up City Hall records that were open to the public, and began to search on my property. In 1920, a woman named Lilis Spencer had bought the house. She sold it in 1932. That gave me something to go on.
I brought up another browser and typed “Lilis Spencer.” I didn’t expect to find much, but was surprised when a string of entries and links appeared. She even had an entry on Witchapedia, a site devoted to witches and witchcraft. I scanned through the entry.
Lilis Spencer, of British and Assyrian birth, was born August 2, 1655. She is the daughter of Sir Reginald Alfred Carter Spencer and Arbella Nadir. A witch on her mother’s side, she later went into her father’s profession—archaeology. Lilis Spencer was one of the early pioneers for women in the field. Little is known about her except that she worked on an early excavation of Kish, an ancient tell, in Sumer (Mesopotamia). She was under the supervision of Henri de Genouialloac. She worked with the excavation from January 1912 through April 1912. She vanished from the archaeological scene shortly after her time spent on the Kish excavation. She was next seen emigrating to America in 1920. She vanished around 1932 and no one knows where she went, or if she still lives.
I printed out the entry. If Lilis had been at the tell, and she had owned this house, there had to be some connection between her and the upstairs room. I did a number of other searches, trying every possible combination I could in order to find out what had happened to Lilis, but the entry on Witchapedia had been correct. It was as if she had just vanished off of the earth.
I looked up to see that Franny had disappeared. Wondering where she went, I called out, “Franny? Are you still around?” But there was no answer. Figuring she had gotten bored, I headed into the kitchen where Kelson was making lunch. I began to help her when there was a scream from upstairs, and both of us dropped the sandwiches we were making and ran up to the second floor.
“What’s wrong?” I looked around, half expecting to see someone dead on the floor.
Sandy shook her head. “I’m not certain. Alaysia screamed. Max was about to go up there to make sure they’re okay.”
Max started up the ladder, but as he did so, Alaysia’s legs swung over the trapdoor opening. He jumped down, and then helped her down the ladder, Leroy quickly following.
“Shut that door,” Leroy said, glancing at me. “Maddy, get back. I need to throw a spell and you shouldn’t be in the area if you are having a problem with magic.”
I raced toward the stairway, fuming that I couldn’t help out. As I dashed down the stairs, I stopped when I heard a loud poof from the hallway above. I could feel the energy sparking off my aura, making me prickle and tingle. Luckily, it didn’t seem to do any more than that. I hesitantly started to ascend the stairs again, but they were coming down—all four of them.
“What happened?”
Alaysia looked nerve wracked, and it was unusual to see one of the Fae her age looking frightened. “I translated it, all right. I almost wish I hadn’t. Who the hell owned this house?”
“Apparently, a witch who was also an archaeologist back in the early 1900s. Her name was Lilis Spencer, and she was part English, part Assyrian, I think—her mother was a witch. She worked on a dig in an ancient tell from Sumerian days. What did you find out?”
“Can you get me a glass of sherry?” Alaysia asked.
Kelson hurried off to bring us drinks. Sandy and Leroy led Alaysia over to the sofa and helped her sit down. She looked shakier than a house of cards. Kelson returned with the sherry bottle and several cordial glasses. Sandy poured, handing them to everyone, as I leaned forward, anxious to hear what Alaysia had to say.
“I also looked at the pottery shards you left. From what I can tell, the writing on the wall is a hymn to Ereshkigal, the Sumerian goddess of the Underworld. It’s a plea to keep the person in the urn locked in there.”
“If Lilis was praying to the goddess of the Underworld to keep somebody locked up in that urn, I kind of hate to ask who the hell it was. And I assume that breaking the urn freed whoever it was?” I didn’t like to make assumptions, but this seemed a pretty sure bet.
Alaysia nodded. “Oh yeah. It released him. If I am correct, the person in the urn was named Etum. He was a sorcerer. An ancient sorcerer who was incredibly powerful. He was trapped because he was treacherous and apparently had used his powers for his own gain and killed a number of women and children. He tried to defy death, so Ereshkigal cursed him to a half-life. He’s neither living nor dead, but caught between the worlds. And he was trapped inside the urn for who knows how many thousands of years. Now, he’s free and running around your house.”
Holy crap. I couldn’t believe my luck.
“Let me get this straight. An ancient sorcerer who was so evil that the goddess of the Underworld cursed him is free in my house?”
Alaysia gave me a shrug. “That’s about the size of it.”
“Can he leave my house? Is there a chance he will leave my house on his own?”
Leroy shook his head. “It looks like this Lilis created a magical barrier in the walls. He can’t get out.”
Kind of like Franny, I thought. But Etum was a most unwelcome house ghost. Or spirit. Or whatever the fuck he was.
I rubbed my head. “I have a headache.”
Sandy laughed, rubbing my shoulders. “Well at least we know what we’re dealing with now. That’s something. And if we know what we’re dealing with, we can find an answer to it.”
I patted her hand, grateful for her support. “I love that you’re so positive in the face of all this crap. I need that. All right, what do I do about this?” I asked Leroy and Alaysia.
Leroy said, “I might be able to help. As a shadow witch, I am used to dealing with things on the astral plane. The first thing we have to figure out is how to get rid of him. And we can’t get rid of him till we destroy that magical barrier that Lilis created.”
“I’m afraid I’m out of my repertoire here,” Alaysia said. “But what I can do is research some of the ancient texts and look for any mention of breaking a curse set by Ereshkigal. You see, when you broke the urn, that curse was unleashed on your house not because of Etum, but because you set him free.”
“Oh my gods. Then the curse is actually from Ereshkigal?” Even better! My stomach was knotted up like a tangle of spaghetti.
“Again, about the size of it.”
“Maddy! Maddy! I need you out here.” Kelson was calling from the living room.
Wondering what could have gone wrong now, I jumped up and ran into the living room, followed by Sandy and Max. Kelson was standing there, pointing at the painting that I had hung up a few months back. I had found the painting of Franny in the basement. It had been painted by an unrequited love of hers while she was still alive. She had been overjoyed that I had decided to hang it up, and it fit the decor, giving a pastoral feel to the room.
I gasped, stumbling back, at first thinking that Franny had come to life in the painting. But then I saw that it was really Franny—not the image of her, but her spirit. She was pounding on the glass, mouthing something, and I realized that she was trapped inside.
“What the hell? How did you get in there?” But even as I spoke, I knew the answer. Etum. It had to be him. If he could chase her like he had earlier, maybe he could drive her into the painting and trap her.
“Can you hear me? Nod twice if you can.” I pressed up close to the glass, and enunciating my words as clearly as I could. I hope to that, even if she couldn’t hear me, she could read my lips.
Luckily, she nodded. She seemed to be calming down a bit.
“Franny, is he in there with you now? The shadow figure?” I was worried about him having access to her, and what he could do to her. A powerful sorcerer could disrupt a spirit, and the last thing I wanted was
to see Franny obliterated or sent somewhere horrible.
She straightened her shoulders, then shook her head. But she looked terribly frightened and I wondered how long she could keep it together.
“You’re trapped in a picture frame. Can you see the picture behind you?” It was as if her image was superimposed over the painting of her. I wondered how far her world went in there.
She turned around, to look. Then she turned back, and shook her head.
“Can you see me?” I was trying to get a better handle on what had happened.
She nodded.
“Can you see anything else there behind the glass with you?”
She shook her head.
“Try to keep calm. We’ll do everything we can to get you out of there. For now, stay where you are—I know that sounds ridiculous, but just do it—and we’ll check back on you every once in a while to make sure you’re still alone.” I turned back to the others. “What the hell are we going to do?” Then I realized Franny might be able to hear me, and I motioned for them to follow me into the dining room. I didn’t want her freaking out any more than necessary.
Alaysia was frowning, thumbing her chin. “I’ve heard of these types of spells before. Trapping someone’s soul or spirit inside of a mirror or a picture. I’m trying to recall of a way to break that sort of spell.”
Leroy leaned against the doorway, his arms folded over his chest. “I have to say, this is the nastiest set of circumstances I’ve encountered in a while. I might be able to free her from the picture, but I’d have to prepare myself. Meanwhile, Alaysia, why don’t we head back to Neverfall so you can see what you can dig up? I think we can cancel class for a day or so, given the gravity of this situation.”
I didn’t want to see them go. They felt like a lifeline in what was rapidly becoming a deteriorating situation. But then I remembered I was going to call Garret. Dirt Witches were extremely powerful, and he might be able to do something to hack into Etum’s magic.
“Please, do whatever you can to find out a way to help. I’m going to call Garret James and get him over here.”
Leroy raised his eyebrows. “You know Garret?”
“We’re actually friends. And don’t give me any guff about hanging out with a Dirt Witch.”
Leroy just laughed. “Maddy, I wouldn’t think of giving you guff over anything. Not with your background. Alaysia and I will be in touch as soon as we can find out anything that might help.” He steered her toward the front door. Kelson saw them out.
I turned to Sandy and Max. “This is getting out of hand.”
“I think that’s an understatement,” Sandy said. “What do you want to do?”
“Well, obviously I can’t cast any spells. I’ll call Garret. What can either of you do? Do you have any ideas whatsoever?”
“Possibly,” Sandy said. “Lihi! I need you!”
A moment later, Lihi appeared. The homunculus glanced around, then shivered as she landed on the dining room table.
“What’s going on? What on earth do you have loose in your house, Maddy?” She looked at me with wide eyes, and I could see the glimmer of fear within them.
“We’ve got a nasty shadow spirit on the loose,” Sandy said. “But what I need to ask you is if you can do anything about a situation. You know who Franny is?”
Lihi nodded. “I’ve been around enough that I know who most everybody is.”
“Franny is stuck inside of a picture. Come on, I’ll show you. I want to know if there’s anything you can do about it.”
Lihi hopped on her shoulder, and Sandy headed back into the living room. Meanwhile, I pulled out my phone and punched in Garret’s number. He answered on the first ring.
“Hey Maddy, what’s up?”
“What’s up is I’ve got an ancient Sumerian sorcerer loose in my house, and apparently Ereshkigal cursed him to live a half-life. I’ve developed an allergy to magic, Franny’s trapped in a painting, and I’m just about at my wits’ end.” I let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m calling to see if there’s anything you might be able to do to help.”
“That’s a lot of information to take in at once. Suppose I come over and you begin at the beginning?”
“I was hoping you’d say that. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me until I see if there’s anything I can do.” He paused, then added, “I’ll be over in about fifteen to twenty minutes. Meanwhile, try to keep anything else from happening.”
As I put away my phone, I realized I was breathing a little easier. Whether Garret could do anything or not, I didn’t now. But just the feeling that he was going to try seemed to calm me down. I settled back at the table to wait.
GOOD TO HIS word, twenty minutes later Garret was at the door. Garret James was from the Blue Diamond Copperhead Clan. He’d grown up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Kentucky, and he was a snakeshifter. A lot of people were afraid of him because not only was he a Dirt Witch, but he was an actual copperhead.
He entered the house, his silver dreads a startling contrast to the brown of his skin. He was lithe and had a sinuous quality, and his eyes were a rich hazel, molten and beautiful.
“What the hell have you been getting yourself into, woman?” He glanced around the foyer as he followed me in to the living room. “I could feel the pressure around your house as I walked in the door. Even as I walked up on the porch.” He froze as he saw Franny in the picture frame. “Holy crap.” He slowly approached the painting as Franny pressed her hands against the glass, staring out. I could tell she had been crying even though we couldn’t hear her.
“Our Sumerian sorcerer chased her in there and got her stuck. Luckily he’s not in there with her. Take a seat and I’ll tell you what happened.” I explained everything that had gone on, for what seemed like the twentieth time. I told him about Leroy and Alaysia, and what they were planning.
“I can’t do anything, because the magic could kill me. I’ve never felt so helpless in my life.” That wasn’t exactly true, but it didn’t matter. The one other time I had felt this helpless was when the vampires had attacked Tom and me, and I hadn’t been able to save him from them.
“I’m afraid this is probably outside of my alley. But let me see if I can help Franny, at least. I suggest you leave the room, if you can’t be around magic.”
I headed into the kitchen, wondering what he was going to do but deciding not to even ask. Kelson was there and without a word, she handed me a mocha. I sat down at the kitchen table, feeling exhausted. I wasn’t sure where Max and Sandy had disappeared to, but they could probably take care of themselves better than I could at this point. Kelson joined me, carrying a cup of coffee and a plate of cookies.
“You look absolutely beat. Is there anything I can do to help?”
I shook my head. “No, but I appreciate the offer. Just help keep an eye on Bubba and Luna.” I glanced around, suddenly afraid. “Where are they?”
“Last I saw, they were hanging out in the library. Do you want me to go check?”
“Would you? I’d feel so much better if I knew they were all right.” It felt like I could barely move. I was tired, and it felt like something was sapping the life out of me. I briefly thought back to Trey, wondering if I was somehow undergoing the same effect.
Kelson dashed out of the kitchen, returning a few minutes later. Bubba and Luna followed her, and Bubba jumped up on my lap, rubbing the top of his head against my chin. Luna curled up on an empty chair, and Bubba jumped over to join her, spooning around her.
I let out a breath of relief. “Thank you so much for checking. I know Bubba’s a cjinn, and no doubt he can protect himself, but seriously, so many things have gone wrong the past few days that I’m jumpy.” For a moment, I thought about rubbing Bubba’s belly and making a wish. But Bubba had already done his best to help protect me, and hadn’t been able to fully negate Etum. He was a powerful cjinn, but I had a feeling that Etum was far more powerful than all of us put together.
Garret entered the kitchen, a frown on his face. “Sorry, Maddy, but there’s not much I can do. I can work you up a bundle of roots that will help protect you and the rest of the household, but I don’t know how long it will hold against the sorcerer’s magic. Whoever he was, he’s extremely powerful, and works in ways that even dirt magic can’t touch.” He sat down beside me, the pupils of his eyes mere slits, and I could see the snakeshifter in him reacting to the magic.
“I was afraid you were going to say that. But I had to try. I’d be happy to accept any help you could give us. I need to get this freak out of my house.” I leaned back, disappointed. I had been putting more hope than I should have in Garret’s abilities. I had to remember that some of the ancient ceremonial magicians and sorcerers reached almost godlike status. Unfortunately, a number of them fell on the darker side of magic.
“I really wish I could help. But I’m afraid I might just make things worse. I’m leaving town for a few days—I’m heading out tonight on a red-eye back to Kentucky. I’m going to go visit my family. But I’ll drop off the protection hex for you before I leave.” He glanced at the clock. “If I’m going to get it worked up, I’d better go. Good luck, Maddy. And be careful.” He slapped the table, then winked at me and headed out the kitchen door.
Sandy entered the room, dropping into a chair. “Lihi and I have tried everything we can think of. Her magic won’t work against this curse, either.” She paused, then looked at me. “Why don’t you try Auntie Tautau? If anybody can help, it will be her.”
I let out a snort. “Why the hell didn’t I think of her in the first place?”
Of course, Auntie Tautau!
The Aunties were a group of powerful witches who stood outside of time and space. As far as we knew, they were immortal, on par with the gods. They weren’t omnipotent, but they could often see the future and affect it. Whether they would or not depended on the situation. Nobody was even sure if they were witches in the proper sense of the term, but they were powerful beings, and they kept to themselves for the most part. In fact, they blended in with society in such a way that it was almost impossible to pick them out unless they wanted to be known.