So, you’re my great-aunt?
Yes. Your mother and sister had no other siblings, but I had seven sisters. They’re almost all with us—the Ladies—now. And Teran and Althea have cousins spread out through the country, and more than a few back in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Your family is large and diverse, though you may not realize it at this point. Eventually, you will meet more of them. Now, go to bed. You’ll need your strength come sundown.
At first I was confused, but then I realized she meant for the ritual.
Good night, and thanks for talking to me. Give my mother my love, I added wistfully. I miss her.
She misses you, too. One day, she’ll be able to say hello herself, once she’s acclimated to the spirit world.
And with that, Esmara vanished.
“What were you doing?” Ari asked. “You just froze, like you were in a trance.”
“I was, kind of. I was talking to my great-aunt Esmara. One of the Ladies.”
Ari laughed. “Well, let’s get to bed. I’m tired, and tomorrow night isn’t going to be easy. I’ll cancel my appointments tomorrow because I think I’ll need my rest.”
“I’ll call Tad first thing. Night, Ari,” I said, climbing into bed.
She slipped in the other side and it felt like we were little girls again. I held out my hand and she took it. “Best friends forever?”
“Best friends forever,” I murmured, very grateful that Ari was in my life.
Chapter Seventeen
The next morning I called Tad first thing. Ari was in the shower and I was still in bed. I propped myself up against the headboard, glancing out the window to see the skies overcast and silver, but it didn’t look like any new snow had fallen during the night, for which I was very grateful. I liked snow—a little to cover the ground and be all pretty—but this was ridiculous.
“Hey Tad, I’m not coming in this morning. My car’s in the shop and the roads are dicey, but I wanted to fill you in on what’s been going on with Louise and the Spit & Whistle.” I told him about everything that had happened, and that Rowan, Teran, Ari, and I were headed there in the evening to clear out the joint. “We know what’s going on better than any exorcist would. And there’s no way Louise can safely return home until the restaurant is cleansed and the portal closed.”
“You know how to close a portal created by the Covenant of Chaos?” he asked, sounding suspicious.
“No, but Rowan does. Also, about Rameer—he’s agreed to the interview, so I’ll call Professor Madison later today and set up an appointment for him to authenticate Rameer as a djinn.” I paused, then added, “It seems so odd for me to require that, given that I saw Rameer emerge from a bottle in a plume of smoke.”
“It may seem odd, but you’d be surprised by some of the things that have happened. And there are other spirits who can travel like that. We need authentication because…say one type of spirit has it out for another and pretended to be them, in order to give a false impression.”
I thought about it for a moment. On the surface, it seemed like a ridiculous idea, but then again, suppose a bear shifter had it out for a wolf shifter and simply claimed to be one, and then acted like an ass. It would shed a bad light on wolf shifters in general.
“I guess that makes sense. All right, are you good with us trying to clear the restaurant?”
“I’m good with it. Wren’s still stuck at home. Caitlin lost power yesterday and they’re snowed in. Hank said he could make it to the office, but even though the power is back on, there isn’t much he can do for now other than monitor the other sites. But…I need you to sign a waiver that you’re making the decision to attempt this and you in no way will hold Conjure Ink liable if you get hurt.” He sounded almost embarrassed.
“That’s fine,” I said. I understood totally. He hadn’t asked me to do this, and he didn’t want to be stuck with a big lawsuit if something should happen to Ari, Teran, Rowan, or me. “Email me the waiver form and we’ll print out copies, sign them, and scan them back to you.”
“Thanks for understanding, January. And thank you for attempting this. Finding the right people to clean up messes like this isn’t as easy as you might think.”
“Oh, I believe you,” I said, and disconnected. I tossed my phone on the nightstand and curled up beneath the covers again, trying to decide whether to get up early or just lounge around for an hour or two. But my phone rang and I reached for it, deciding that nope, my day had definitely started without me.
“Hello?” I answered before glancing at the caller ID.
“January?”
Crap. Ellison’s voice echoed through the line. I groaned.
“What do you want?”
“I just wanted you to know that if you need to reach me, I’ll be at my parents’ house in Bellingham. Because you refused to help me, my lawyer has advised me to sell the house. Since I have nowhere else to go, I guess we’ll be closer than we expected to be.”
I stared at my phone. “You have to be kidding me, right?” The thought of Ellison being less than ten miles away made my skin crawl.
“No, I’m not kidding. I wish I was. The insurance company dropped me when they heard it was a cigar to blame. They’re paying the settlements, but they’ve kicked me to the curb. I’ve lost my house insurance and I won’t be able to keep the house, anyway, because it looks like I’ll be facing civil lawsuits as well.” Ellison sounded fit to be tied.
I steeled myself and cleared my throat. “Well, then, I suppose you’d better hope you have a good lawyer.”
“Is that all you’re going to say, after all we went through?”
I sighed. I had no intention of becoming his go-to shoulder to cry on, but that didn’t mean I was as cruel as he was. “Look, I’m sorry you’re in this mess. Really—it sounds horrible. I’m really sad that you lost the magazine. I worked damned hard to build it up and you took it away from me in one sweep, but I didn’t want to see it go down. But dude, there’s nothing I can do for you. And there’s nothing I want to do for you.”
He paused, then said, “Can I at least come visit you?”
Wincing, I bit my lip, then finally said, “No, I’m busy. I can’t do anything to help. Good-bye, Ellison. And good luck.”
As I ended the call, I thought that maybe I should change my number.
It wouldn’t do any good, Esmara said. He knows where you live. Remember?
Oh, right. I sighed again as I dragged myself out of bed to dress and put on my makeup.
Ten minutes later, Ari emerged from the shower. When we were young, I’d been jealous of her figure until I had mono and dropped a ton of weight and gotten sicker than I’d ever been. After that, I tried to welcome my body feeling healthy, regardless of what weight I was at. It had been hard, given Ellison’s pressure for me to diet, but mostly, I felt comfortable in my skin, and I liked my curves and padding.
She took one look at me and frowned. “What’s going on?”
“Ellison. He’s moving in with his parents up in Bellingham, which means he’ll be ten miles away. I told him that I didn’t want him to visit—he asked—and hung up.”