Page 39 of Cursed
Seth added another peck on the lips. “I have every intention of doing that. Love you too. Watch out for each other. I’ll see you when it’s over.”
With that, Seth picked up the duffel and headed out the door without looking back.
“Get ready,” Tony told Evan. “Dawn is in twenty minutes, and the musicians are waiting for a link for the video conference.”
Evan madea quick pass through the bathroom to wash his face with cold water and get dressed. As the sun rose, Evan’s phone pinged with a call from Seth. He put in an earbud and checked his signal strength.
“We’re in position,” Seth told him. “You should be able to pick up on the drone feed in a couple of minutes.”
“The musicians are ready to play the spell,” Evan told him. “Let me connect to the drone, and I can tell you what I see.”
Evan pulled up the drone’s video feed. He guessed that Seth had flown it in through a hole in the building’s ceiling because he could see rafters where it had perched. That meant Vernon’s people might not notice the robot, but it had as good a view of the battle zone as possible.
As Evan adjusted the angle of the camera, he saw an empty industrial space that looked like it once held vats and piping. A ritual area had been set up with sigils painted on the floor and pillar candles set at intervals around the workspace.
Pax hung suspended by chains, dangling in the middle of the large warded circle. He wasn’t moving, but the lack of blood assured Evan that the ritual hadn’t begun yet.
“Pax, oh my God,” Tony gasped.
“I’ve got a visual.” Evan filled Seth in on what he saw. “Someone had to light the candles, so I’m guessing at least a few of Vernon’s coven members are present but out of sight. I can’t tell if Pax is breathing, but he’s not bleeding heavily.” He paused. “There’s something inside the warding, along with two guards—large men—be careful. Whatever the other thing is, it doesn’t look human. More of a dark shape, but it moves wrong to be a person.”
“Noted. Thanks. And remember, they need Pax alive for the ritual,” Seth’s voice sounded soft and staticky through the earpiece. “We’re not too late.”
“We should have the music spell going in about five minutes,” Evan said.
“We’ll be on the move by then. Keep the chatter on this line minimal, but if you see something, let me know. You’ve got the bird’s eye view.”
“Good luck.” Evan instilled the two words with everything he felt.I love you. I need you. Please be safe.
“You, too.” Seth’s tone told Evan everything he needed to know.
Evan glanced at Tony, who looked pale and shaken. “Are you okay?”
“Hell, no. Pax…” He swallowed hard. “I want to kill those motherfuckers and make sure Pax comes home safely.”
Tony pulled up his laptop and opened the video conference program, sending the link to Evan and the others. Evan had already tried it to make sure he could keep the drone feed separate from the group program. He would be able to monitor the scene, but the others would not share his screen.
“Here.” Tony handed Evan the empty spaghetti pot from under the stove. “You’re officially our drummer.”
One by one, Tony’s friends popped up on the screen. “Ava, Josh, Tim, this is Evan. Evan, meet the gang.” Everyone smiled and waved, exchanging greetings.
Despite the early hour, everyone looked remarkably awake, or maybe they hadn’t yet been to bed. Ava had dark eyes and brown hair in a ponytail. Evan guessed she was the flute player. Josh pushed a comb into his bushy black hair and gave them a broad grin as he held up his ocarina.
“Ready when you are, boss,” Josh said.
Tim was a pale ginger with curly hair and light blue eyes, and Evan could easily imagine him and his lute cosplaying at a Renaissance festival. “I went over the score you sent. It’s odd. How about telling us what’s really going on? You don’t usually want to jam before sunrise.”
Evan and Tony exchanged a look. Tony gave an encouraging nod, and Evan threw caution to the wind.
“Go for it,” Evan said, shrugging.
Tony cleared his throat. “I told you about Pax getting kidnapped by a witch who wants to hurt him. The witch also cursed Evan. Evan’s partner and their friends went to rescue Pax and stop the witch, but they need all the help they can get. I know there’s no reason for you to believe me, but this song is a type of spell that can send energy to the good guys to help them power up.”
Tony’s friends blinked at them in silence for a minute, and Evan braced himself for them to break out laughing or call Tony out on playing a joke.
“I told you it was some sort of magic,” Tim said to the others.
“This is so cool,” Ava chimed in. “I’ve seen this kind of thing on TV, but I didn’t think it actually worked.”
