“The stories about wraiths are consistent about a few things. The practitioner who creates one must feed it to maintain control. A wraith who feeds on its own has broken free of its creator.”
She absorbed that. “You think this wraith is no longer controlled by its creator?”
“It’s possible, even probable, given the sudden change in its feeding pattern. And if so, I have no idea how to stop it.”
“Mage fire burns anything. You’ve always said that.”
“Lily, even mage fire won’t kill someone who’s already dead.”
TWENTY-FIVE
LUNCH was lively. As Rule expected, Lily didn’t join them—he gave her some pizza to eat while she worked—but Toby’s friends did. So did Louise’s neighbor. Connie Milligan was a short, merry woman about Louise’s age with unlikely brown hair and a sly sense of humor. She and Cullen hit it off.
“Uh-oh,” Toby said when Louise invited her friend to join them for dinner.
Rule leaned closer and murmured, “I thought you liked Mrs. Milligan.”
“I do,” Toby whispered back, “but it’s growing. It started out just a dinner, and now it’s turning into a dinner party.”
“That’s a problem?”
Toby looked as if his faith in his father’s wisdom had been shaken. “I guess you haven’t ever seen Grammy when she has a party. She frenzies. We’re gonna clean everything.”
“Hmm.” Rule nodded knowingly. “Worse than Lily was at Christmas when her parents were coming?”
“Well . . . close. But Lily had decorating stuff to do, too,” Toby said in a fair-minded way, “only she didn’t have time because of all her work, so probably that was worse. Except that we did have a couple days for that cleaning, and now we’ve just got this afternoon.”
When the pizza was gone, Rule said he and Cullen would walk Justin and Talia home “as soon as we all clean up.” This prompted protests from Louise, who insisted on tidying up, and startled looks from Justin and Talia, who doubtless thought themselves able to walk the short distance on their own. Toby whispered something to Justin, who whispered to Talia, and both children looked at Cullen with questions in their eyes.
And Toby, of course, wanted to go along, so Rule reminded him of math. He grimaced, but accepted the necessity. Finally they set off.
Walking the children home was both necessary and useful. Obviously Rule couldn’t let them go alone, not with every person they saw a potential killer. Also, Cullen needed to help Talia gain some protection. Rule wasn’t entirely sure what a wraith was—Cullen’s description had been brief when they spoke on the phone, in part because Rule’s focus was fragmented. No doubt Lily had pulled more details from him. But the danger was obvious, after what happened yesterday.
And once they dropped the children off, he and Cullen would be able to talk where Toby couldn’t overhear.
Oh, God. Oh, Lady, let him say there is no chance of Toby developing the wild cancer.
As soon as Rule thought that, he knew it was foolish. There was always a chance. But the cancer was rare in Nokolai, very rare, and had barely crossed Rule’s mind before. Now it was lodged right in front, a sullen lump poisoning every other thought.
The air was sweating under a sullen sky hazed by clouds. Once more they took the alley, needing its relative privacy. They stayed on the grassy edges—the red clay was slick and full of puddles.
They were a few steps from the gate when Justin said, excited, “Toby says you can help Talia, Mr. Seabourne.”
“It’s more that I hope to show her how to help herself.” He smiled at Talia. “I understand that you’re a pretty good medium, but you have no control of your Gift.”
Talia’s eyes were large. “Are you a medium, too?”
“No, my skills lie in other areas. I can’t teach you specifics about controlling your Gift, but I can show you how to raise a protective circle.”
“That’s magic, right?” Talia exchanged a glance with her brother. “Daddy wouldn’t like it if I did magic. He thinks magic is wicked.”
“Normally I wouldn’t encourage a child to go against her parents’ wishes, but this is not a normal situation. You may be in danger.”
“What kind of danger?” Talia whispered.
“To your mind. I don’t know enough about how your Gift functions to say for certain, but those screaming ghosts worry me. I want you to have a way of protecting yourself from them, if necessary.”
Justin frowned. “We’re all in danger, aren’t we? Something is making people kill people. That’s a lot bigger danger than ghosts. Ghosts don’t hurt people. Will your circle protect her from whatever wants people to kill?”
“Hmm. How to put this? You two are good at keeping secrets, I’m told.” They both nodded seriously. “Well, for now this part has to be secret. The thing that’s making some people kill is called a wraith. When this wraith possesses someone, it takes over the body and uses that body to kill. A circle won’t protect you from bullets.”
Justin’s eyes were large. “Can this wraith possess anyone ?”
“We don’t know yet. Probably not, but we don’t know the parameters it operates under. Talia, you have an advantage the rest of us lack. You’d be able to see the wraith. If you see something that . . . hmm. Tell me what ghosts look like to you.”
“Like people, only not as solid. You can kind of see through them even when they’re real present. They’re not all bloody or scary or anything. The older they get, the more bleached-out and wispy-looking, and finally they just fade away. Except for the tall man. He’s wispy sometimes; almost solid, others. I think it’s up to him how solid he looks.” She frowned unhappily. “But the newest ones, the ones this wraith made, they’re all wispy like they’re really old.”
“Do these new ghosts look exactly like the old, wispy ones? Think about it a minute. This may be important.”
She did as he asked, looking at her feet as they walked along the dirt and ruts of the alley. “They’ve got holes in them,” she said after a moment’s contemplation. “Or not holes, exactly, but they aren’t the same see-through everywhere. Parts of them are a lot thinner than others.”
“That helps. Thank you. Well, this wraith probably won’t look like a person. It will be see-through the way ghosts are, but it might be just a blob, or a mixed-up version of a person, or something that isn’t shaped like a human at all. I suspect it will be dark and murky, not pale, and it may be thinner in places, the way the damaged ghosts are. If you see something like that, Talia, I want you to get away quick. As fast as you can.”
“You don’t think I should make a circle?”
“No. If you see the wraith, you run. Period. If you get away and can’t see it anymore, you call Lily and let her know where you saw it. The circle is to protect you from the screaming ghosts.”
Talia sighed heavily. “I don’t like this. I don’t like it at all.”
“Well, duh,” said her sympathetic brother. “At least you’ll see this wraith if it comes around.”
Cullen switched his focus to the boy, his voice and smile light. “One thing that may help the rest of us is that this wraith is not good at acting like a person. If someone you know acts a little bit funny, well, he’s probably okay. If he were possessed, he’d be acting a whole bunch funny.”
The kids giggled, as much from pent-up feelings as humor. Cullen began describing the casting of a circle to Talia. And Rule’s thoughts went back to the sodden lump of fear squatting at the front of his mind.