Devon Monk - Stone Cold

“God, no.” I couldn’t lose her. She couldn’t be dead, hit by a spell that wasn’t meant for her. This wasn’t how it ended for her. Not like this.

I took a step, held out my hand toward her. A smoky black rope shot out from my hand so fast I couldn’t follow the path it took, couldn’t lower my hand in time to redirect it.

Holy shit.

Eleanor screamed, Shame, no!

I jerked my hand away, trying to sever the stream of Death magic pouring out of me.

Too late.

The rope looped around my mom’s throat and cinched in tight.

Her hands flew to her neck and she pulled against the tie between us.

Death magic had taken her, claimed her spirit. I could already feel the heat of her energy feeding into the vein in my arm.

“Oh God,” I breathed, not wanting to believe what I was seeing. Not wanting to face the horror of having just tied my mother’s ghost to me.

Mum stopped struggling and seemed to see me—really see me. Shamus?

She looked down at her body, where Hayden had gathered her in his arms, where Cody was slowly standing back up, the CPR having done no good.

Ah, son, she said, her ghostly eyes closed. No.

“I didn’t mean, I didn’t want . . .” I put my hand over my face and wished the world would go away. Wished I could be gone, dead. Wished I hadn’t done this to her, killed her. Worse: tied her to the monster inside me.

Terric walked up from behind me, then stopped next to me, his hand gripping my upper arm.

The contact was a shock of electricity. But instead of blowing me off my feet, it grounded me, cleared my head, steadied me.

“I got you,” he said. There was Life magic in his touch and kindness in his tone. “Do you have your mother’s spirit?” he asked. “Did you tie her to you?”

I nodded.

“You did what ?” Hayden bellowed.

“How about the others?” Terric asked. “The drones? Do you have them?”

“No,” I said. There was nothing inside them for me to take.”

Hayden gently lowered Mom back to the floor, then stood.

Man clocked in over six four and was half again as wide. “Did you kill your mother, Shame?”

“I—”

“He saved her.” Terric moved to stand between me and Hayden. Terric was a little taller than me but was still dwarfed by the size and muscle of the older man. If this came down to a physical fight, I had no doubt Hayden would mop the floor with both Terric and me.

“What do you mean?” Dash asked. He still had the gun in his hand, probably to put me down if needed. Smart.

“She’s tied to him, which means she isn’t dead,” Terric said. “He has her spirit. We have her. And we’ll find a way to heal her.”

“Then find a way now ,” Hayden yelled.

A phone rang. It sounded like it was coming from Dash’s pocket. He finally set the safety and answered the phone.

“I said now,” Hayden said again. “Or so help me, you two, I will make you wish you’d died with her.”

“We didn’t kill her,” Terric said. “That Impact the drones threw killed her. Understand me, Hayden. Shame caught her when she fell. He may have saved her.”

Hayden uncurled one massive fist and pointed at Mum. “Do something for her.”

“All right.” Terric gave me a hesitant smile. “It’s going to be all right, Shame. Relax.”

He so didn’t know that. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

Mum, who still stood near her body, cleared her throat. Listen to him, son. This is all . . . all going to be fine.

“No,” I said, the rise of tears choking back my voice. “I don’t think it’s going to be fine. You’re dead!”

Terric pressed his palm on my shoulder. “Just trust me for once.”

He walked over to Mum’s body and knelt. He breathed deeply and cleared his mind. Faith magic user. Terric had been one of the best many years ago. When he wanted to access his inner calm, it came snapping. With just a couple of breaths, he drew tranquility around him.

It was a technique Victor taught all his students—this Zen state of mind. One I’d never really gotten the hang of.

Terric stretched his hand out toward me and not knowing exactly what he wanted, I stepped over and clasped it.

Then he closed his eyes and prayed.

Great.

Terric had a thing about praying when he cast magic. It wasn’t required, and the prayers he spoke were derived from very old texts. But in each syllable, between each word, he hung his faith, his belief and trust that the good in this world, and the worlds beyond our reach, would be there to support his actions, to guide his choices.

That was another part of Faith magic I’d never gotten the hang of—the faith part.

Early on in my training, Victor had declared that if I couldn’t even manage patience, peace, and trust, I’d have zero chance surrendering myself to faith.

He hadn’t been wrong.

Terric kept praying, the same few verses over and over again in a voice just above a whisper.

Mum moved to stand a little closer to Hayden and put her hand on his, not that he noticed. Oh, she said. I see. I see what he’s doing.

I’m glad she could see something, because all I saw was her unbreathing body.

Terric opened his eyes, the last word tumbling from his lips, a gentle light pouring from his hand into Mum’s body. The soft yellow glow of healing, of Life magic doing what Life magic does best—thriving—filled her.

Mum glowed for a moment. Then the glow was gone.

“Did you?” I asked. “Is she all right?”

Hayden was on his way to her again, knelt on the opposite side of where Terric still knelt, Mum between them.

“She’s breathing,” Hayden said. “By God, she’s breathing. Call an ambulance.”

I think Cody or Dash called 911.

Davy showed up with a blanket to cover her.

I didn’t know what good an ambulance would do. Mum might be breathing, but she was still tied to me, her spirit, her soul, caught by the Death magic in me.

Shamus, she said, can you break this tie between us and let me back into my body?

The last time I’d tried that—with Mina—she had died.

I just shook my head, not willing to risk that with my mom. “I can’t—”

Maybe this time it will work, Eleanor said.

“No.” The last time it hadn’t worked. The doctor’s spirit had stepped back into her body and died.

I didn’t know how long I stood there. Long enough for Hayden to get Mum bundled in the blanket. Long enough for Terric to be standing next to me again. Long enough the ambulance pulled up to the place.

What a mess they’d find. Three dead bodies, a burned room, and a woman in a coma.

“. . . need to go now,” Dash was saying from somewhere ahead of me.

Terric pulled on my arm, Cody pushed at my shoulder. We were moving, running.

“Go, go,” Cody urged. Out the back hallway. Out the back door into the shaded afternoon light beneath the trees behind the inn.

“Where are we going?” I asked. “Why are we leaving?”

Sunny and Mum and Eleanor floated there next to me, looking just as confused as I felt.

“Did you see where the drones came from?” Dash asked. “When the gate opened. Shame, did you see where they came from?”

“Yes. Kevin Cooper’s manor. His house—the one out in the West Hills. I’m sure that’s where Eli was standing.”

“Kevin Cooper?” Dash asked. “What does he have to do with the drones?”

“Not him,” I said, “Eli. Eli was there. Right outside Kevin’s house. He told me to come and get him.”

“Wait,” Terric said. “You saw Eli? In a flash of an instant, you knew where he was?”

“It wasn’t like that,” I said. “Time stopped. You didn’t feel that? Hear that?”