“It is customary,” he whispered, his mouth pressed to my ear. “A tradition started about a century ago.”
“Happy birthday, Chutney and Willow…”
My eyes widened. “Everyone knows it? This is for all birthday parties?”
“That is a safe assumption, especially in this country.” He kissed my temple. “I forget how much you have missed. You handle it so well.”
“Happy birthday to you!”
Everyone cheered and clapped and hollered. Willow and Chutney curtsied and then posed in front of their cake while Chutney’s mom took a picture. This was a completely foreign tradition to me and yet I liked it immediately.
Willow and Chutney picked up knives at the same time and sliced into the bottom tier of their cakes.
“Now, I just want to thank Tegan for this extra special spell she gave to me for the cakes,” Willow’s mom called out with a wide grin as she pointed to our High Priestess. “The cake will taste like whichever flavor you want it to taste like!”
Tegan, who was sprawled like a cat across Tennessee’s lap, grinned and shrugged one shoulder. “Well it is a surprise party.”
“What spell is —” My words dried on my tongue as a sharp, cold chill slid down my spine.
It felt like fingertips tracing down my back. The hairs on my neck and arms stood tall. Electricity rushed through the air, making my hair lift off of my shoulders and fly. My pulse quickened as adrenaline rushed through my veins. My stomach tightened into knots.
“Saraphina?”
I felt…something. There was an energy in the room that hadn’t been there a moment before. It was strong…it was intense…it was bursting with passion, like someone begging to be heard. NO. Someone demanding to be heard. Someone panicked.
Terror burned on the edges.
“Saffie?”
“Safferella?”
I heard them calling out for me but the energy was forcing me to ignore it. Forcing me to focus only on them. Like it was rewiring my brain. My own thoughts and feelings were gone. All I knew was this panic, this fear, this need to…to…
“Deacon.”
“I’m right here, Saffie.”
I spun toward his voice and found him only a couple feet away. I scanned him up and down but I saw no cause for concern. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing…” He frowned but those violet eyes shined bright. “I’m not doing anything.”
“Your magic…”
“I’m not using it, Saffie.”
“We are not alone.” Riah’s deep voice rumbled behind me. His hand tightened on my shoulder.
“It’s a Card,” Paulina whispered, her thick accent curling the words. “A deceased Devil Card—"
“Someone is summoning the dead,” I heard myself say. “Someone is using a Ouija board.”
“No,” Bettina breathed nearby. “NO. No way someone else has a Ouija board lying around like at —Haven?”
Tennessee cursed violently.
Cooper groaned. “We confiscated one last summer from a human—”
“And you left it here?” Kessler roared.
“It was the day we caught that demon with the tool,” Cooper said in a rush. “The one Saffie took—”
“Let it out, Saffie,” Paulina shouted. “Sometimes they get stuck their first time back. Call it forward!”
“Show yourself.” My pulse skipped. “Come out, NOW.”
Blue light shot up from between the hardwood floors. I heard the crowd gasp. A few screamed. I could sense exactly where each of my Coven-mates were by the single spots of calm energy amidst a swirling hurricane of fear.
The blue hazy light swirled like a tornado until it took the shape of a person – a girl. A girl I recognized instantly by the light hair braided to one side. The Coven gasped. Riah cursed.
“LIBBY?” Tennessee shrieked, but he seemed frozen in place.
Everyone was. This wasn’t just some random deceased Card coming back from the dead. This wasn’t any past Devil Card. This was Libby Tarbell. She’d only just died a few months ago. She’d been the Devil Card right before Deacon – that’s why I thought it was Deacon! I was still new at this side of my magic. I was still learning. I needed to get better, faster.
Monica screamed and tears poured down her cheeks. She collapsed into the arms of the man beside her. HE looked like he’d stopped breathing, and I knew that was Libby’s father.
“Oh no…ASPEN,” Bentley whispered. “That’s what I saw.”
Tennessee lifted Tegan off his lap and stood. The pain in his eyes was haunting. “LIBBY?”
Ghost-Libby seemed dazed, confused, but she spun toward him. “Tenn. Where is she?”
“Who, Libby? Who? What’s wrong?”
“Where’s Paulina?” Ghost-Libby spun around in circles. “Where is Paulina?”
“I’m here!” Paulina leapt forward with tear-filled wide eyes. “Libby, I’m—”
“You have to help me!”
“I’m not Death anymore, Libby. I’m not Death.” She thrust her arm out to show her faded Mark.
“I AM,” I shouted and jumped out behind her. “Libby, I can help you. Talk to me—"
“My sister is trying to summon me in the —" her ghostly eyes went wide and I saw the fear in them. “NO, THAT’S NOT ME!”
Ghost-Libby spun and shot across the room toward the hallway.
The party-goers screamed and dove out of her way.
I threw my wings out and flew after her.
I felt Tennessee’s raw power right behind me, but I knew he was letting me go first. Ghost-Libby went through a bedroom door. Tegan materialized right in front of it. I swerved around her, yanked the handle, and shoved the door open.
A large black shadow towered in the center of the room, in the center of the pentacle. It looked up with sinister glowing red eyes I recognized instantly.
“Hello, Henley.” It hissed.
And then it was gone.
Chapter Forty-Five
Saffie
“Deacon, get all civilians out of here,” Tennessee shouted as he glared at the four little children kneeling in front of a Ouija Board. “NOW.”
I turned just in time to see Henley lunge forward, then vomit in a garbage can.
“Ah.” Royce bumped Savannah’s shoulder. He looked green, like he was going to need to garbage can after his sister. “There it is, the fuckening I knew was coming.”
Riah glared at the floor, then sprinted out of the room.
Easton scowled. “Where’s he going?”
I eyed the floor where Riah had been staring but saw nothing. “I don’t know but he must have—”
“I can feel it,” Henley said in a voice that sounded like gravel. Her face was pale, her eyes bloodshot. She snarled, pulled a dagger out of her thigh-high leather boots, and then sprinted after Riah. “It went this way!”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tennessee lunge forward into a sprint, so I jumped out…and landed right on his back. He didn’t miss a beat. He charged through the house like he hadn’t noticed me here. The house and party went by in a blur of panicked energy and screaming.