“I know. It’s probably time to try and figure this out,” Kushiel agreed.
Aunt Ro, who had been surprisingly quiet throughout breakfast, disappeared and then reappeared a moment later with the lost soul. They definitely had more form as a ghost. In fact, it almost looked like they had features now. They were clearly human in form, although they were still androgynous and hard to see clearly.
“Aunt Ro! The ghost looks great!” Cass declared, staring at it. “They have even more light than before. How did you manage that?”
“While you two were off galavanting, I was giving our ghost an intense tutorial on kindness, family, and being generally good. I felt quite like the Ghost of Christmas Present. Only it isn’t Christmas. And it wasn’t really the ghost’s life in review, but it was mine. Anyway, it seemed to do some good,” Aunt Ro replied. “Although I don’t think I could’ve done any good if Kushiel hadn’t already given so much of his light to the ghost, so I don’t think this would be a viable solution for all the other lost souls out there,” she added.
Cass nodded his agreement, but Kushiel wasn’t so sure. He didn’t mind giving of himself if he needed to, especially if it redeemed lost souls. He didn’t think Cass would like him putting himself through that, though, and he didn’t want to make Cass upset.
“Well, we found out it isn’t Levi, so we’re left with Mammon as our main suspect. Any more clues?” Cass asked.
Aunt Ro sadly shook her head. The lost soul had gravitated over toward Kushiel, and they sat on the floor beside him, leaning against him. He felt a light draw on him, and Cass looked over at him sharply, but he only smiled in reassurance. The ghost was taking so little of his light that Kushiel could barely even sense it.
“Mammm…” the ghost uttered, and they all looked at them in shock. The ghost was nodding their head, as if agreeing that it was indeed Mammon responsible.
“I’ll text Michael and see if Ari has gotten any more information. Maybe they can help us track down this demon as well,” Cass said, picking up his phone. “I also know of a hellhound in the area, and they might be able to help…” Cass said, trailing off as he typed into his phone.
Kushiel was surprised that Cass knew a hellhound, although he probably shouldn’t be. His Cassius was full of information and seemed to know everyone.
He thought hellhounds kept to their own kind, though, and didn’t interact much with humans, aside from killing the ones that deserved it. They could track down evil quite easily, but as far as Kushiel knew, that was only mortal evil. He didn’t think it extended to afterlifers, or he would have tried to find a hellhound to help earlier. Since they had emigrated to the mortal plane centuries ago, hellhounds really weren’t something that most afterlifers thought about, sort of like ghosts, so it was no wonder it hadn’t occurred to him.
“Mammon… circle… trees…” the ghost uttered. Each word was clearly difficult for them, but the ghost seemed to be getting clearer in their ability to communicate.
“Well, this will certainly be helpful—” Aunt Ro began, but then the ghost screamed in a wail of agony, and as Kushiel watched, they started to fade away.
Without thought, he grabbed onto the ghost’s hand, surprised when he felt it within his own. He heard Aunt Ro and Cassius yelling, but the sounds were fading, as were his surroundings.
Chapter 25
Cassius
“Fuck!” Cassius cried out. Kushiel and the ghost had literally faded away right in front of his eyes. He tried not to panic, and instead he focused his sight.
He breathed a sigh of relief. The golden ropes—because that’s what they were now, as opposed to simple threads—were strong and led off through the wall in the direction that Cass thought might be west. Cass could find Kushiel.
“Oh my, oh my,” Aunt Ro whimpered, wringing her hands. “What happened to them?”
“My guess is Mammon,” Cass replied, anger flowing through him. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that the ghost started to disappear just as it was able to communicate.”
Cass reached out and placed his hand through the golden ropes linking him to Kushiel. He felt… reassurance and composure. Kushiel was obviously ok, and he seemed to be sending that message to Cass.
Cass took a deep breath, looking over at Aunt Ro. She was wearing a dress with purple hyacinths. Cass couldn’t help rolling his eyes. “He’s fine, Aunt Ro, and I can find him, so let’s go.”
She stopped wringing her hands and breathed her own sigh of relief. “You’re sure he’s fine?” she questioned.
“Yes. I’m getting reassurance from him. No anger or fear or anything. No pain. He couldn’t hide those things from me,” Cass reassured her.
“Well then, what’s the plan?” she asked.
“Get Kushiel back,” he answered, walking toward the door, pulling on shoes, and grabbing his keys. Luckily he had gotten dressed before coming down to breakfast.
“And what are you going to do about Mammon?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Cass said, walking out the door and turning to pull it shut behind him. When he turned back around, Aunt Ro was blocking his path, her hands out.
“Well I think you need a plan. Slow down a minute and breathe. You said that Kushiel is fine, right? How far away is he?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Cassius bit out, trying to hold onto his frustration. He just wanted to get to his soulmate. Yes, he could sense that Kushiel was fine, but he wanted to see it with his own eyes, and what if Kushiel didn’t stay fine?
