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To be honest, I was starting to have my doubts about the coven’s effectiveness, but even I could feel that this spell should have worked Since it didn’t, I won’t belabor the details, but I atching from the sidelines as they encircled Sinclair, who stood in the center with the empty pickle jar, a look of deter to Casian’s spirit in the circle, it wouldn’tto fulfill the terms of the burden his mother had laid on him Once the duppy was bound, their collective ould overpower it, and Sinclair could recapture it on his own terood, anyway And when the coven finished their incantation with a resounding, "Sotheir joined hands before rising into the night sky with a sense of purpose that’s hard to describe

Well, actually, it’s not all that hard--it felt like the supernatural equivalent of casting a net or a fishing line For a few tenuous moments, my hopes soared And then it felt like the supernatural equivalent of that net or fishing line coine it would feel like, since the closest I’ve ever gotten to fishing was accidentally getting sucked into an episode of Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel

A bitter sense of loss suffused me Until the coven’s effort failed, I hadn’t realized exactly how much hope I’d pinned on their success I let the disappointedthe what their failure meant

"It means his spirit is already bound," Casimir said soberly

"To what?" I asked "Or who? By who? Orwhom?" Despite Mr Leary’s best efforts, I still had a hard time with that one

Casimir shook his head "I don’t knoould have said there wasn’t anyone outside this circle capable of it"

"What about Liz Cropper?" Mark Reston froered a five- and bitter quarrels with former members

I pulled out my notepad and jotted down "Liz Cropper" and a couple of other na Sinclair out of the corner ofpart in the conversation

"You don’t think it’s a disgruntled ex-coven ed "I can’t say for sure, Daisy Whatever they’re talking about was before randfather’s duppy is bound to so"

"Towhom?" I asked "Like, whoeverwhomeverstole the Tall Man’s remains?"

"Whoever," he said "Yeah, maybe Do you have any new leads?"

"No," Iritual would work Any further thoughts on what kind of deathabout?"

"No" Sinclair was silent a moment "I’ve tried, you know Tried to will myself to consent to do what my mother wants"

"You don’t--"

He shot ht this on Pemkowet If it’s withinEither I just can’t, or randfather’s spirit isn’t bound to the terreement"

"Or both," I said

"Or both" He su to be good for the paranormal tour business And you look pretty badass in them"

"Yeah, that’s an unexpected bonus" I tucked"Do you think it’s worth it?"

"No" Sinclair’s srave "I think that if we don’t catchvery, very bad is going to happen"

I sighed "Me, too"

Forty-two

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, after Stacey Brooks’s ghostbusting footage went viral, Pemkowet experienced an unprecedented boom in tourism for the o Tribune got wind of the story and caate Under pressure from Amanda Brooks and the PBV board, ere over the -ar on a call to a site where we laid to rest the particularly gruesohost of an old lus in 1857

After that, the reporter was convinced; and after his story was published, touriset a scoop as good I drew the line at cooperating with any h So far we’d been lucky, but the bad feeling I had about this whole thing persisted Maybe Letitia Pal her dead obeah man father’s spirit had proved a boon instead of a bane for Pe to be the case in the long run