Which is why preparations for the Raising have taken me all this long night. The necessary objects have been assembled. I have spent several hours invoking spirit guardians, calling on witch spirits and departed necromancers to assist us, and offering prayers and entreaties to our Goddess protector, Hekate. Should I prepare inadequately, should something go wrong … should I be taken, then Freddie, too, is doomed. Doomed and damned, for the spirit being called for Raising would be in a highly vulnerable state, and without me would fall victim to the nearest avaricious demon or twisted creature.

I am wearing the Robe of the Head Witch, and have Maygor’s Silver Thread wound about my arm. Standing before the statue of Hekate I look into the face she presents me, the other two gazing out in opposite directions, watching, ready to warn of danger. She is very beautiful, and tonight her eyes seem gentler, somehow. Does she fear for me? I wonder.

“Stay with me, Queen of Witches,” I ask her. “Please, do not let this Daughter of the Night fall into the pit of everlasting darkness. Guide me, so that I can do what it is I have to do.”

At last, I am ready. I turn my back on the altar now and step into the circle. I had Withers place Freddie’s body along the Rubicon, as he hovers on the threshold of the Land of Night. With his death so recent, calling his spirit back would be a simple matter, particularly as we were so close in life. Summoning the power required to make his body live again and his spirit to inhabit it, so that he is as returned as near to his previous state as is possible, that is far more difficult, and success is far from guaranteed. He is still dressed in his evening clothes, and he looks quite peaceful, with his eyes closed and his hands folded across his chest.

I have the witch’s trove in the circle with me, and take from it a vial of bone dust, which I sprinkle onto my palms, rubbing them together. The grit is harsh on my skin, but bones provide an important connection between the living and the dead. Next, I take up a lighted candle and walk around Freddie’s body, pouring a thin stream of melted wax to form a loop on the floor about him.