Ким Харрисон - The Good, The Bad, And The Undead

I glanced at Trent, seeing his satisfaction falter at the sudden questioning look I knew I must be wearing. Trent held up a finger to Jonathan, keeping the tall man quiet as he focused on me, clearly trying to figure out what I was thinking.

Making a search charm using earth magic was clearly white witchcraft. It followed that one made using ley line magic would be white as well. The cost upon my karma would be negligible, far less than, say, lying about my birthday to get a free drink. And whether stemming from earth or ley line magic, a search charm was covered under the search and seizure warrant.

My heartbeat quickened, and I reached to touched my hair. I didn't know the incantation, but Nick might have it in his books. And if Trent used ley line magic to cover his tracks, there would have to be a line close enough to use. Interesting.

"I need to make a call," I said, hearing my voice as if it were from outside my head.

Trent seemed at a loss for words. I liked seeing the emotion on him. "You're welcome to use my secretary's phone," he said.

"I have my own," I said, digging in my bag. "Thank you."

Edden gave me a suspicious glance and went to talk to Trent and Jonathan. By his polite stance and appeaseing look, I thought he might be trying to smooth the political waves his failed FIB visit was going to cause. Tense, I rose, going to the far corner to try and stay out of the camera's view as well as their earshot.

"Be there," I whispered as I scrolled through my short list and hit the send button. "Pick up, Nicky. Please pick up…."He might be getting groceries. He could be doing his laundry or taking a nap or in the shower, but I was willing to bet my nonexistent paycheck that he was still reading that damned book. My shoulders relaxed as someone picked up. He was home. I loved a predictable man.

" 'Ello," he said, sounding preoccupied.

"Nick," I breathed. "Thank God."

"Rachel? What's up?" Concern laced his voice, pulling my shoulders tight again.

"I need your help," I said, glancing at Edden and Trent, trying to keep my voice soft. "I'm at Trent's with Captain Edden. We got a search warrant. Will you look in your books for a ley line charm to find—um—dead people?"

There was a long hesitation. "That's what I like about you, Ray-ray," he said as I heard the sound of a sliding book followed by a thump. "You say the sweetest things."

I waited, my stomach knotting as the sound of turning pages came faintly over the phone.

"Dead people," he murmured, not fazed at all, while the butterflies battered my stomach with jackhammers. "Dead fairies. Dead ghosts. Will an invocation for ghosts do?"

"No." I picked at my nail polish, watching Trent watch me as he talked to Edden.

"Dead kings, dead livestock… ah, dead people."

My pulse increased and I fumbled in my bag for a pen.

"Okay…" He was silent, reading it over. "It's simple enough, but I don't think you can use it during the daytime."

"Why not?"

"You know how tombstones in our world show up in the ever-after? Well, the charm makes unmarked graves in our world do the same. But you have to be able to see into the ever-after with your second sight, and you can't do that unless the sun is down."

"I can if I'm standing in a ley line," I whispered, feeling cold. I'd never seen that tidbit of information written in a book. My dad had told me when I was eight.

"Rachel," he protested after a moment's hesitation. "You can't. If that demon knows you're in a ley line, he'll try to pull you the rest of the way into the ever-after."

"It can't. It doesn't own my soul," I whispered, turning to hide my moving lips.

He was silent, and my breath sounded loud to me. "I don't like it," he finally said.

"I don't like you calling up demons. And it's an it, not a him."

The phone was silent. I glanced at Trent, then turned my back on him. I wondered how good his hearing was.

"Yes," Nick said, "but he owns two-thirds of my soul, and one-third of yours. What if—"

"Souls don't add up like numbers, Nick," I said, my voice harsh with worry. "It's an all or nothing affair. It doesn't have enough on me. It doesn't have enough on you. I'm not walking out of here without proving Trent killed that woman. What's the incantation?"

I waited, my knees going weak. "Got a pen?" he finally said, and I nodded, forgetting he couldn't see the gesture.

"Yes," I said, jiggling the phone to write on my palm like a test cheat sheet.

"Okay. It's not long. I'll translate everything but the invocation word in English, only because we don't have a word that means the glowing ashes of the dead, and I think it's important you get that part exactly right. Give me a moment, and I can make it rhyme."

"Non-rhyming is fine," I said slowly, thinking this just kept getting better and better. Glowing ashes of the dead? What kind of language needed its own word for that?

He cleared his throat and I readied my pen. " 'Dead unto dead, shine as the moon. Silence all but the restless.' " He hesitated. "And then the trigger word is 'favilla.' "

"Favilla," I repeated, writing it phonetically. "Any gesture?"

"No. It doesn't physically act on anything, so you don't need a gesture or focus object. Do you want me to repeat it?"

"No," I said, a little sick as I looked at my palm. Did I really want to do this?

"Rachel," he said, his voice sounding worried through the speaker. "Be careful."

"Yeah," I said, my pulse fast in anticipation and worry. "Thanks, Nick." I bit my lower lip in a sudden thought. "Hey, um, keep my book for me until I talk to you, okay?"

"Ray-ray?" he questioned warily.

"Ask me later," I said, flicking a glance at Edden, then Trent. I didn't have to say another word. He was a smart man.

"Wait. Don't hang up," he said, the concern in his voice giving me pause. "Keep me on the line. I can't sit here and feel those tugs on me without knowing if you're in trouble or not."

I licked my lips and forced my hand down from where it had been playing with the end of my braid. Using Nick as my familiar went against every moral fiber I had—and I'd like to think I had a lot of them—but I couldn't walk away. I wouldn't even try it if I wasn't sure Nick would be unaffected. "I'll give you to Captain Edden, okay?"

"Edden?" he said faintly, his worry taking on an edge of self-preservation.

I turned back to the three men. "Captain," I said, drawing their attention. "I'd like to try a different finding spell before we leave."

Edden's round face was pinched with frustration. "We're done here, Morgan," he said gruffly. "We've taken up more than enough of Mr. Kalamack's time."

I swallowed, trying to look like I did this every day. "This one works differently."

His breath went in and out in a rough sound. "Can I have a word with you in the hallway?" he intoned.

Hallway? I would not be pulled into the hallway like an errant child. I turned to Trent. "Mr. Kalamack won't mind. He has nothing to hide, yes?"

Trent's face was a mask of professional politeness. Jonathan stood behind him, his narrow face ugly. "As long as it falls within the parameters of your warrant," Trent said smoothly.

I felt a jolt hearing the concern he was trying to hide. He was worried. I was, too.

I made my steps slow as I crossed the office and handed Edden the phone. "It's a finding spell tuned to find unmarked graves. Nick will tell you all about it, Captain, so you can be sure it's legal. You remember him, don't you?"

Edden took the phone, the slim pink rectangle looking ridiculous in his thick hands. "If it's so simple, why didn't you tell me about it before?"

I gave him a nervous smile. "It uses ley lines."

Trent's face froze. His gaze darted to my demon-marked wrist, and he leaned back into his chair and Jonathan's protection. I arched my eyebrows though my stomach was in knots. If he protested, he would look guilty. His hands moved with a nervous quickness as he reached for his wire-rimmed glasses and tapped them on the desktop. "Please," he said as if he had any say in the matter. "Invoke your charm. I'd be interested to see how much an earth witch such as yourself knows about ley line magic."