Page 89 of Witches of Dubious Origin
“Eloise!” I tried to jerk my legs away from the skeletal hands that clutched me but had no success. “Hang on, Eloise, we’re coming.”
“My name is not Eloise.” Eloise straightened back up with a jerk and strode toward me. With each step she took, stomping on the bony fingers reaching out of the dirt as she went, she began to transform. Gone were Eloise’s camel coat and business casual attire. Now she was rocking a long black coat over an emerald silk blouse, a black wool skirt, and high-heeled black leather boots. Long reddish-brown hair sprouted out of the ash-blond bob, her figure changed from boxy to buxom, and the years that lined her face vanished, giving hera youthful dewy complexion, and her eyes flashed green. What the hell?!
“Well, well, well. Ariana Darkwood.” Olive tipped her chin up in defiance, although I noticed her pale face was drained of all color, giving her an almost ghostly pallor. She didn’t struggle against the hands holding her, as if she knew there was no way to fight them.
“Olive Prendergast. It’s been a long time.” Ariana’s tone implied it hadn’t been long enough.
I clapped a hand to my forehead. What was happening? Eloise was gone and in her place was this beautiful and yet absolutely terrifying woman. The same woman Miles had said Mamie helped to banish. Oh shit.
“I heard you were dead,” Olive said.
“The report of my death was an exaggeration,” Ariana said.
“Mark Twain.” I didn’t mean to say it out loud, but as a librarian, identifying famous quotes was kind of my kink.
“What?” Both Ariana and Olive glared at me.
“That’s exactly what Twain said when he was mistakenly reported to be deceased. It gets misquoted all the time, but you were spot-on.”
“Why are you so annoying?” Ariana asked me. “Do you have any idea how many times I had to fight to stay inside of Eloise and not reach out and slap you?”
“What happened to Eloise? Where did she go?” I asked.
“Eloise has finally crossed over,” Olive explained. “Ariana has been a parasite, using Eloise as a host, and now Ariana’s magic has transformed Eloise’s vessel to resemble Ariana’s former self.”
“So, you aren’t dead? What are you, then?” I asked the smirking woman in front of me.
“I’m the one who has returned.” Ariana’s smile made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “This has been a long time in coming.” She ran her hands over her body and through her hair as if reveling in being her own person again.
“You’re a revenant.” Horror made my voice low and gruff. “One who was dead but returns.”
“That’s right. Bound by vengeance, no necromancy required.” Ariana reached for the book and I twisted away.
“Corpus regressus ad mortem!” The words flew out of me almost violently.
Ariana blinked and then she threw back her head and laughed and laughed. I glanced at Olive and she frowned and then looked deeply chagrined.
“You played us,” Olive said.
Ariana stopped laughing and the malicious delight on her face was palpable. “You actually believed that you returned Moran to his grave? It was me. All of it was me.”
“The Viking?” I asked.
“Me.”
“The pirates?” I asked.
Ariana glanced away with a shrug. “What do you think?”
“How?” I asked. “Why?”
“How was easy,” Ariana said. “I simply left the safe house Claire stuck Eloise—and me—in and followed you home. Using Eloise’s power, impressive for a hedge witch, I reanimated the Viking from that very handy Eternal Shade Cemetery and sent him after you and the book.” She glared atOlive and then at me. “I wasn’t aware that Jasper Griffin had been sent to guard you.”
“And Moran?” I asked. “How did you get him in place at Mystwood Manor before we arrived?”
“I don’t sleep,” Ariana said. “I did tell you the truth about that.”
“So you went to the cemetery the night before, raised him from his grave, and had him waiting for us at Mystwood the next day?” I asked. The fingers squeezing my foot tightened and I flinched. “Were you that desperate to keep us from finding out that my mother died from a Waning Curse?”
