Page 57 of Woven Souls

Willow heaves a large sigh. When she’s out of breath, spirits begin to pop up around us. The backyard is small. Between the stone pavers, thick and tall rose bushes to block the neighbor’s view, and a plain, small wrought iron table with two chairs, there’s hardly space for anything more than that. But somehow Willow manages to fit the five hundred and some spirits into the space without issue.

“Holy shit…” I gape at the sight before us.

Their attention is solely on Willow, none bothering to pay attention to the two of us. Willow said there are over five hundred spirits, but I’m sure there are more given the crowd that’s gathered.

“Incredible…”

Viktor’s voice startles me, but clearly not Kwil, who doesn’t flinch, as I do, at the noise. I look over my shoulder as Viktor leans against the door frame with his arms crossed.

“It’s always been unsettling to see Willow speak to spirits,” Kwil mutters softly so that only we can hear. “But do you think it’s because we know who her father is that suddenly makes this even more unnerving?”

I think about it.

“I’m not scared of her, but I think what she can do is pretty scary. We all saw her do some pretty incredible things last night, too.”

Walking over to the middle of the courtyard, Willow comes to stand beside the table and looks around at her audience.

“Okay, everyone, I know you’re anxious to get going, and I don’t blame you, but I can’t open the Veil all willy nilly without causing problems, so those of you who wish to talk about the process of crossing over, gather close. Everyone else, if you don’t have any questions, please back up and let me ease the concerns of the others. Then I’ll send you all over as one big group, okay?”

As she sits down in one of the wrought iron chairs, all the spirits start talking at once. I cringe. It’s like I’m right in the middle of a concert venue.

“This is going to cause us problems.” Theo’s grim commentary announces his presence.

“We already had problems,” Viktor points out softly as Willow starts conversing with her audience. “This is just one more to add to the growing list we seem to have accumulated.”

I move to sit at the bottom of the steps.

“How is this a problem?”

“Once she sends these spirits over, any witches and warlocks in the area are going to know she’s here,” Theo explains. “They’ll come to investigate.”

“They didn’t last night after dealing with Fredrick and his brother,” Kwil points out.

“We could have been long gone before anyone showed up,” Theo counters quietly. “We don’t have the luxury of simply vanishing right now.”

I shrug. “Willow says this city is a common ground for nomads and oddballs. I doubt there is an official coven here. And if people come knocking, this is your house. You can just answer the door and shoo them away.”

Judging by Theo’s heavy sigh, it doesn’t sound like my plan would work. This guy thinks way too damn hard.

“What are we going to do about our promise to Death? We can’t just walk back into Everlast demanding answers to questions we don’t even know to ask.” Kwil’s voice lowers as he comes to sit on the step above mine. “We shouldn’t have made a promise we wouldn’t be able to keep. Especially to that guy.”

The little iron railing beside me groans as Viktor leans against it behind me. “What else were we supposed to say? No? You try saying that to Death’s face.”

Viktor makes a valid point.

“Do you think it’s possible that our people have been manipulating barriers and inadvertently harming other realms like Death suggested? Or that the Fae could be affecting the Veil between the Third Realm and the Realm of the Dead?” Kwil pauses. “Because if so, then…”

“Then it sounds like we’re parasites,” Viktor finishes for him. “Not saviors, like our Brotherhood has been created to be.”

“There’s only one way to find out.” Theo pauses as a few spirits turn to look at us. A few raise their index fingers to their lips to quiet us.

Oh, arewebothering the dead now?

“I can hear your wheels already turning, Theo,” I tell the leader of the ex-Ghosts when he doesn’t continue. “Let’s hear it.”

He doesn’t answer right away. Those gears must be really turning in his head. When I look over my shoulder, I find that he’s taken Viktor’s place, leaning against the doorframe as he gazes at the spirits around us.

“There’s a book my father kept, he called it the Royal Diary. I never really gave it a second thought. I wasn’t interested in the crown or learning about what previous kings did but—”

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