"Well, then, you have to be willing to assume the risks. Like you said, you have the power. This ritual wouldn't work with anyone else. But you can do it. I'm sure you can."
A hand touched my arm. I looked up to see Lucas, who'd broken his cover spell. He jerked his chin toward the sidewalk. I broke my spell and pointed at the house, gesturing that I wanted to hear more.
"Heard enough," he mouthed.
I hesitated, then cast the blur spell and darted across the lawn and behind the neighbor's fence.
"So that's how she'll do it," I said. "She'll make Savannah think she knows a way to contact me. And when we-you and Paige, I mean-wind up dead, she'll say it was because of the spell, that Savannah screwed up."
Lucas nodded and motioned for us to talk as we returned to the motorcycle.
"But how is she going to kill us while Savannah's performing the ritual?" I said. "Necros can't kill anyone-not with magic, at least."
"I suspect the plan is to kill us ahead of time," Lucas said. "Probably individually. That may have been part of her ruse with the bike. Find a way to kill me, hide the motorcycle, and claim I went off on an errand."
"Then kill me-Paige-and, after the ritual, find us dead. Leaving Savannah to think that in her eagerness to contact me, she killed you two. God, when I get hold of that demi-demon bitch-"
"Careful. We have to take this slowly. Play at her pace." He glanced at me. "Is that going to be a problem?"
"Not if it means I finally will get hold of her."
As safe as we assumed Savannah was with the Nix, neither of us wanted to test that theory more than necessary, so we skipped the take-out run, and instead decided to tell Savannah and Jaime that the wait had been too long and we were opting for pizza-delivered-instead.
Lucas would do the explaining, leaving me to retreat to Paige's office once again. Then, when he had the chance, he'd get Savannah away from Jamie, and with any luck, Jaime would take advantage of the opportunity to strike at me.
Up in Paige's room, I did a quick drawer search. Took me a few minutes, but I found what I wanted: a length of strong ribbon. I used it to tie back Paige's long, thick curls, adjusting the knot so it would pull free with only a tug. Lucas and I had decided on suffocation as the safest way to "almost" kill Jaime's body. While I had every intention of putting my bare hands around her throat and looking into that demi-demon's eyes as I throttled the life from her, I needed a backup tool. The ribbon would do.
Twenty minutes later, a loud thump sounded outside, followed by a shout from Savannah. I bolted from my chair and flew to the window. Another thump, coming from behind the house. Savannah groaned and yelled something. I opened the window farther, pried off the screen, and leaned out. Savannah and Lucas were at the far end of the driveway, playing basketball.
As I watched them, I thought of Kristof. I'd dreamed of boy-talk with Savannah. Is this what he dreamed of? Is this what I'd taken away from him? The thought pinged another, and I remembered what he'd said before I'd transmigrated into Paige's body. That he'd stay close. My head shot up so fast I hit the windowsill and yelped. I imagined him laughing, and a shiver ran through me. I turned slowly.
"You're here, aren't you?" I said.
I scanned the room, and strained to listen, to see some sign of Kristof. It was one thing having a ghost around when you didn't know it. But if you knew it, and if you tried hard enough, surely you should be able to pick up some sign. But I couldn't.
"Savannah's outside," I said. "Playing basketball with Lucas."
Nothing. Not even a twinge of awareness that told me he was there.
"Basketball was never your thing, was it?" I said with a smile. "Mine neither. But she's good at it. And she likes it. That's what counts."
The silence swallowed my voice. I shivered, and the quaver went right down into my gut. What if something went wrong, and I couldn't get back? Was this what it would be like, stuck here, talking to myself, wondering whether he was still listening? At least on the other side, I could see this world. From here, the separation was absolute.
Savannah yelled something outside, and I jerked up. If Savannah and Lucas were outside, that meant I was alone in here with the Nix. And if she was making no effort to come and get me, I had to give her a push.
"Sorry, Kris, but we gotta run." I grinned. "Time to try getting myself killed.'"
I found the Nix in the living room, sitting on a chair-my chair-and staring into space. At first I thought maybe she saw the crying woman residual. She wasn't looking toward the dining room, though. She was staring straight ahead, eyes as blank as a mannequin's.
"There you are," I said, walking into the living room.
"No!" the Nix leapt to her feet, lip curling in a snarl. "Get out!"
I feigned a wide-eyed back-step. "Jaime? Uh, are you okay?"
Her eyes flicked to mine and she frowned, as if just noticing me.
"What?" she snapped. Then she blinked fast. "Oh, Paige. Sorry."
"Ghost bothering you?" I asked.
Another quick blink, startled. Then a sharp head shake that morphed into a nod and a wry smile. "Yeah. You know how it is. They never leave us alone. So is your work done?"
"Pretty much. I just popped down to see whether we had anything in the freezer for dessert. I should be able to dig up a pie."
"Sounds good."
"If Lucas or Savannah comes in, just tell them I'm downstairs. In the basement. I may be a while-that freezer's packed with stuff."
She nodded, then sat back down, gaze going blank, as if she'd already forgotten I was there. I headed for the basement steps. When I reached the back-door landing, I looked outside. Lucas caught the movement and glanced over. I motioned that I was going into the basement. He nodded, then distracted Savannah before she saw me, and they resumed playing.
"Heading downstairs now," I murmured under my breath. "Into the dark basement. All alone."
For a second, I thought I heard Kristof's chuckle, but the sound turned into the thumping of a dribbled basketball against the driveway.
Once downstairs, I had to look around for the freezer. I knew there was one here somewhere, and I was pretty sure there'd be a pie in it. Not a store-bought one, but something homemade, probably from berries picked by hand. I don't know how Paige found the time. I never did. Of course, I'd never tried to, either.
I finally located the freezer. Sure enough, it was just as full as I'd imagined. There was a whole stack of pies, so I moved some bread on top to hide them, then busied myself pretending to hunt. Upstairs, all was silent.
"Come on, come on," I muttered. "One secluded victim, head conveniently stuck in a freezer. What are you waiting for? Until I've cleared enough room to stash my body?"
The words had barely left my mouth when footsteps sounded overhead.
"About time. Now hurry it up before I get frostbite."
The footsteps crossed the kitchen, then descended to the landing, and paused there, as the Nix presumably reassured herself that Savannah and Lucas were busy outside. I shuffled two boxes of cookies. Chocolate-chip cookies. Were those made with Ruth's recipe? Mmmm. ltd been twenty years since I had those. Maybe I could slip a couple-
The Nix's footsteps stopped.
"I know there's a pie in here somewhere," I muttered.
Paige wasn't the talks-to-herself type, but the freezer was around the corner, meaning the Nix might have some trouble finding me. Yet at least a minute passed, and nothing happened. Would I hear her footsteps? On a concrete floor? What are you, stupid? I backed out of the freezer fast, before I did an Abby Borden and caught a hatchet to the head.