There was something about it—I could feel it even from where I was sitting. She had put something in it. A sedative, maybe? Or perhaps a conduit to help the energy flow more smoothly into her, or maybe… Could she be on to us?
“Do you have a restroom I could use?” I asked. “I’ve drunk a lot of coffee today.”
Sheryl gazed at me for a moment. “To your right, second door down.”
I hustled out of the room, hoping Ari could feel the same peculiar vibe off of the cocoa. As I stepped into the bathroom, I closed the door and pulled out my phone. I quickly texted Rowan. i think something’s wrong with the cocoa. i’m not sure whether we should drink it or not. can it negate the potion?
i don’t know if it can, came the immediate reply. it depends on what she put in it. is there a graceful way you can bow out of drinking any?
i don’t know. i’m not sure if ari knows about it. what if she’s on to us and it’s some sort of poison?
My imagination was running away with me. Surely Sheryl wouldn’t try to poison us? She wouldn’t be able to drain our life energy if we were dead. And if she suspected we were from the Court Magika, wouldn’t she just tear up the forms and tell us that she had changed her mind?
My grandmother texted me again. use your best judgment. try to get the information we need. but if something happens, yell and we’ll come in, aborting the mission.
I flushed the toilet and ran water in the sink, in case Sheryl was listening. I hurried back down the hall. She glanced up as I entered, and I quickly looked at Ari. It didn’t look like she picked up the cocoa yet, and I had an epiphany. As I walked back to my place, I deliberately tripped and knocked over the cookies and both mugs of cocoa all over the floor.
“Oh no, your carpet!” I looked around frantically. “Paper towels?”
Sheryl looked annoyed but she jumped up and ran out the door again. As I bent to pick up cookies, Ari did the same and I whispered in her ear, “The cocoa was doctored.”
As I tossed cookies back onto the plate, Sheryl returned with a roll of paper towels. I took them from her and quickly began mopping up the cocoa. The stain was obvious on the carpet, and I affected a flustered, apologetic tone.
“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what got into me. I’ll pay for the cleaning.” I glanced over at Ari and she gave me a slight nod.
“Well, shall we get started here, then?” Sheryl said. Unruffled, she carried the tray over to a sideboard and set it atop the console. Then she turned back to us, giving me a long look. I decided it was time to drop the bait and opened my purse, pulling out my checkbook.
“I have to admit, I’m so excited! You really think we can make a lot of money? And…I noticed the part about the energy exchange. That means we’ll have more oomph in our day,” I said as enthusiastically as I could muster.
Sheryl’s eyes lit up when she saw the checks. “Yes, you will.”
“But we have to recruit more reps in order to get back our energy, right?” Ari said, hesitating with her pen over her check. “And we get financial bonuses for that, as well?”
Sheryl paused, then said, “Right. But you’re going to find that recruiting others will boost your income so much that you won’t miss the little bit of energy I’m going to draw off of you today. You’ll be rolling in money and health within a couple of weeks. The oils sell themselves, and your friends will be begging you to onboard them. I guarantee it!”
“Well, my wife wasn’t sure about this,” Ari said, still poised with her pen over the check.
“Once you start bringing home massive amounts of money, she’ll change her mind.” The irritation in Sheryl’s eyes had faded. In fact, she was looking relieved, like she had been afraid we’d back out.
I wondered if that was enough for the Court Magika to make their move, but before I could say anything else, a movement directly behind Sheryl caught my attention. I blinked and glanced again, out of the side of my eye.
Why I hadn’t noticed it before, I didn’t know. A shadow that shouldn’t have been there was right behind Sheryl. But now, it was as plain as day. A cold shiver ran up my back. There was something malignant about it.
Goose bumps rose along my arm. And then, the shadow turned toward me and I knew that it knew I was watching it.
Nauseated, I wanted to run. I tried to move but couldn’t shake off the fear.
Sheryl stepped forward, looming over me. “Why don’t we get this started with the energy exchange? You first, January,” she said, only her voice was an octave deeper.
I wanted to scoot away from her, but I couldn’t. This close to her, the full force of whatever it was that was shadowing her swept over me.
What the hell? Where had this come from? Why hadn’t we sensed it before?
Ari, who was at the other end of the sofa, jumped up. “January, get out of there!” Her eyes were wide as she circled away from Sheryl, trying to get behind her and closer to the door.
I willed myself to move, trying to force my frozen muscles to unlock so I could defend myself. A cold feeling of dread paralyzed my muscles and all I could think was, I’m not going to make it out of here alive.
Ari held out her hands and closed her eyes. The next moment, a gust of wind blasted through the room, jolting Sheryl to the right. As soon as her focus was off of me, I could move. I leapt up, sidestepping to the left.
Ari turned to me. “It’s a shadow person, it’s attached to her!”
At that moment, Sheryl turned back toward Ari and lunged. In that fraction of a second, I could clearly see the shadow person latched onto Sheryl. A cord bound them, burrowing directly into Sheryl’s crown.
The shadow person was dark as night, black as jet. While I had occasionally dealt with shadow people, I wasn’t prepared for one this strong. I knew how to exorcise a regular spirit from a person, but breaking the link between a shadow person and their host wasn’t the same thing—and it was far harder.
In my ear, from the hidden earpiece, I could hear Rowan shouting, asking what was wrong. I had forgotten all about the wire during Sheryl’s attack. Now, I scrambled to alert them.
“We need help! A shadow person’s attached to Sheryl!”
The line went dead. We would have to fend for ourselves until they got here. The van was parked two houses away, which meant we had to manage for at least several minutes.
I held up my hands, trying to deflect the shadow person’s attention away from Ari. “Hey, over here. Attack somebody your own size.”
Sheryl turned, a calculating look on her face. “It will be much easier if you submit.”
I started to back away. “Why are you doing this? Why are you possessing Sheryl?”
I didn’t expect an answer, but if we could keep the creature busy until Rowan got here, we might make it through this.
“Hold still,” Sheryl said, panting hard.
The shadow person was taxing her body. Possession was a very delicate balance. Sheryl’s body wasn’t meant to withstand the onslaught of the extreme energy a shadow person contained. I could feel a crack in the bond forming. Behind it I could see a very frightened young woman. That was enough to tell me there was still a chance to save Sheryl from the shadow person.
“If you can still hear me, the walk-in hasn’t fully possessed her. She’s still in there,” I said, hoping that Rowan heard me. Usually, when a shadow person had been attached to a human or one of the witchblood for a long period of time, they eventually eliminated every drop of the original personality and the host had to be put down.