Page 63 of Darkside

“Yeah?”

“It’s kind of long the lines of work smarter not harder when it comes to burning the body.”

“I’m listening.”

“Okay, so this—” I conjure a ball of fire in my hand. “—doesn’t need fuel like a normal fire. What if instead of digging up the entire casket, we make like a tunnel or something, bust through the wood, and I like shove the fire in? There will be oxygen so what’s inside should burn, right?”

Ethan sets the sponge down and looks at me thoughtfully. “If we were trying to use normal fire, no, it wouldn’t work. The fire could choke itself out. But magical fire…it seems possible. It would definitely save us some time and trouble.” He tips his head a little to the side as he thinks. “There’s a spell to cast a circle of silence in your book.”

I nod. “There is.”

“And we have a post-hole digger in the barn. If we make two tunnels—a chimney, so to speak—smoke can come out one end the fire in the other.” He raises his eyebrows and shrugs. “I say it’s worth the try. I’ll check in with Jules and see if she’s made any progress.”

* * *

“What about now?”Rene asks, holding the phone up to her ear as she waves her other hand widely in the air.

“You’re good.” Keith gives a thumbs up and carefully puts a piece of black fabric over the bird cam. I wave for Ethan to join us at the grave and he jogs over, effortlessly carrying the tools we need.

“Everyone ready?” I ask, knowing we have to act fast. We’re in the middle of the graveyard, not easily visible from the street, but it’s dark and the light from the fire will be really easy to see.

“Ready.” Rene pockets her phone, picks up a canister of salt and moves down two graves. Keith does the same and Ethan I stand right over Stuart’s grave. Closing my eyes, I visualize a large circle of white light surrounding us. Ethan holds a piece of paper in front of me, using his phone as light so I can read the spell.

“Silentium nos circumdabit. Nullus sonus hunc circulum relinquet,” I chant and feel the slight buzz of magic in the air. “Did it work?” I ask Rene. She puts her hand to her ear, letting me know she can’t hear me. “Cool,” I whisper and then Ethan and I get right to work, removing the top layer of grass so it doesn’t get burned. Then he fires up the electronic post hole digger and I wince, waiting for Rene or Keith to react to it.

They don’t.

We start on the first tunnel, needing to stop and move the dirt a few times, widening the top of the hole so the digger can go all the way down to the casket. My heart is in my throat, and I look from Ethan to Rene and back again. She has Julia on speaker phone and she’ll let us know if there’s a problem with the loop. We won’t be seen, but a die-hard bird watcher might be concerned enough to come check out what happened.

Finally, we hit the top of the casket, and Ethan moves to the top of the grave. I shine a light down in it, startled to see that Stuart was buried in a basic wooden box, not a fancy, overpriced casket. Though it’s not like he had family to splurge on his funeral or anything. I pick up a long broom handle that Ethan fashioned into a spear and put it in the hole. Using all my strength, I shove it down onto the wooden top of the casket. The wood, softened from being underground, breaks easily and a horrible smell comes out, making me gag.

Keith, who can’t hear anything thanks to the spell, makes a face that lets me know he can smell it too. Turning away, I break off as much as I can and then wait for Ethan to get the next tunnel dug out. They’re much wider than I expected, since I didn’t take into consideration having to widen the top of the tunnel to allow for the machine to go all the way down to six feet.

Ethan takes the spear from me, jamming it down and breaking the wood. “I think that’s bone,” he says when he pulls it up. He picks something off the blade and drops it down inside. “Ready?”

“Yeah. Let’s do this.” I sit at the top of the grave, wishing I brought a mask or something to wear to help filter out that horrible smell. It’s giving me a headache. Ethan pours a circle of salt around, hands me a kerosene soaked ball of paper, and steps back. Holding the paper in my right hand, I conjure a small ball of fire in my left hand and try to drop them both one right after another. The fireball goes in first and the paper ignites immediately. I lean back, sucking in a breath, and hope it drops right into the casket.

It does. I scramble to the second tunnel and do the same thing and then hold my hands up, magically fueling the fire. I close my eyes, envisioning the flames growing. Heat rises inside me and flames fall from my fingers, dripping down like melted wax.

“Ignis,” I whisper and the flames grow brighter. Suddenly, the air grows cold around me and I look up just in time to see a dark shadow swoop down from the sky.

ChapterTwenty-Seven

The dark shadow swoops down from the sky, heading straight for Rene.

“Rene!” I shout, but she doesn’t so much look in my direction. “Rene!” I yell again, thinking maybe only I can see it, but then I remember she can’t hear me.

“Keep going,” Ethan tells me, reaching into his jacket. He pulls out a primitive looking knife made out of iron. The tip is on the dull side, but that doesn’t matter.

“Rene, duck!” he shouts as soon as he steps out of the circle and throws the knife. Rene yelps and drops down just in time, and the knife soars through the air, slicing through Stuart’s dark spirit. It sizzles and screeches, dissipating into the air.

“What the hell was that?” Rene asks as Ethan jogs over to get his knife. I turn my attention back to the ground in front of me, forcing more magical fire into the ground. Smoke starts to rise out of the other tunnel and the smell of burning fills the air.

“Ignis,” I whisper again and the flames pulse, igniting the remnants of fabric inside the coffin. Turning, I look out at Ethan and my friends, making sure they’re okay. It won’t be much longer. The flames start to warm the ground underneath me. I just need a few more—something pushes me back, like a strong misty wind. It’s trying to put out the flames. Gritting my teeth, I push myself forward and muster the energy to summon another ball of fire.

The wind blows again and bits of rain fall on me, making the fire in my hands hiss and start to dim.

“No,” I say, clenching my jaw and reach deep inside myself for more energy. “This is the end, you asshole. Just accept—fuck!” The flames shrink and I realize what Stuart is doing. He’s in the spirit world, sucking up all the energy from the magical flames. It will make the fire go out and give him a temporary boost of energy so he can attack again.

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