Page 52 (1/2)

All around us there was shouting, chanting, and coht air I scrubbed at the fairy dust in my eyes and swore at Jojo, ore back at et those pipe cleaner arms around the jar, I couldn’t say

"Here" Stefan’s voice, calm and steady He handed ain, whateverhad turned into a standoff Letitia Palhter was guarding her back Sinclair’s mother had the jar raised above the headstone, and her face was grim

"Tell them!" she shouted at her son "If I sht," Sinclair said in a low tone "Stand down Don’t provoke her"

Stefan gave htly in one hand

And I hesitated

I don’t know if he would have killed her I don’t know if he could have killed her, not with the ward she earing Not without breaking the jar Maybe Orthe bounds of ive the order Obeah wo her in cold blood would have violated Hel’s rule of order And even if that weren’t the case, hell-spawn or not, I wasn’t a murderer

I shook my head

Letitia Palmer permitted herself a srandfather’s spirit," she said to Sinclair "The country needs you Your sister needs you I need you I’reat deal at stake Blood calls to blood, spirit to spirit Your grandfather knows He understands When you’re ready, truly ready, to coood, you’ll be able to recapture his spirit and return it to Jas When you do, I’ll lay it to rest Until then--"

"Mother, I a you," Sinclair said "Don’t--"

She did

With a sie Pal, there wasn’t anything special about the jar I don’t knohat it held before it held her father’s spirit Pickles, maybe

An eddy of ice-cold air spilled forth fro all of us My skin prickled at its touch, rising into goose bus It s hair, with a powerful underlying note of death and decay, likereflex, and I ca up A handful of maple leaves rose in a flurry

And then the wind died down as abruptly as it had sprung up Thesound We all stood around waiting for so to happen

"That’s it?" I said to Mrs Palan duppy? A stinky breeze?"

She gave me a flat stare, but behind the bravado there was a hint of uncertainty in it "Wait"

"For what, exactly?" I returned her stare "You don’t know, do you? Sinclair’s right You’ve turned this thing loose on us with Little Niflhei underworld, and you don’t have the faintest idea what’s going to happen" My tail untucked and began lashing "Right Well, you’re not going to stick around to find out As Hel’s liaison, I’ you out of town Now"

"Or what?" It was the sa with contempt Any trace of uncertainty in her eyes had vanished They were hard, hard as the granite headstones around us Her voice dropped to a lower register, laden with power as she uttered a word Don’t ask e that sounded like it dated back to the dawn of time, and every syllable of it tolled like a bell "You don’t dare lay a hand on me, child"

I opened my ed itself in my throat like a stone I couldn’t talk In fact, beyond opening my mouth, I couldn’t move I wasn’t entirely sure I could breathe Letitia Palhts Maybe I was huh that her ward didn’t protect her froic The Seal of Soloainst ry I ry It was the kind of rich, e in I let it fill an to crackle in the nearest pine trees

It felt like so when her hold on me cracked, like the stone stuck in h Yep, that worked I went back to Plan A and closed the distance between us, but this ti for the jar, I reached across the headstone and grabbed the cowry shell strung around her neck, yanking the chain taut I could feel a vibration of power against my palm, but the ward didn’t repel me