Chapters (46)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- one
- two
- three
- four
- five
- six
- seven
- eight
- nine
- ten
- eleven
- twelve
- thirteen
- fourteen
- fifteen
- sixteen
- seventeen
- eighteen
- nineteen
- twenty
- twenty-one
- twenty-two
- twenty-three
- twenty-four
- twenty-five
- twenty-six
- twenty-seven
- twenty-eight
- twenty-nine
- thirty
- thirty-one
- thirty-two
- thirty-three
- thirty-four
- thirty-five
- thirty-six
- thirty-seven
- thirty-eight
- thirty-nine
- forty
- forty-one
- forty-two
She laughed. “No, thanks. Do you know how tough it is to get out of there? And that’s just escaping. Then I needed to track down a necromancer who owed me a favor and use my poltergeisting skills to torture him until he agreed to get me into a new body. Which is not easy either, let me tell you. And now that I’m here, I intend to stay, which is where you come in.”
“To do what? Cast a super Krazy Glue spell to keep you in Jesse’s body?”
“Um, no. Sorry. Once again, it seems, it’s not about you—it’s about Mom, who is one relentless bounty-hunting bitch, dead set on bouncing my ass back into my hell dimension.”
“You want me to ask her to back off?” I laughed. “Not likely.”
“Um, no. Wrong again. I don’t need you to ask her anything. Your only job here is to play daughter-in-distress. You’ve had some practice at it, I’m sure. You call Mom. She comes running. I cut her a deal—if I get to stay in the living world so do you. I’ll release you, with the name of the poison, which will be the only way any doctor can treat you in time. Haul me off to hell ... and you die a slow, painful death.” She grinned. “A brilliant scheme, if I do say so—”
She stopped as I disappeared under a blur spell. She swung the hammer, but I’d caught her off guard. I scrambled out of the way, then leaped to my feet.
I won’t say I ran—it took all my power just to lurch, and even then my brain kept screaming at me to slow down, conserve energy to cast, not escape. I ducked into an aisle, then another, as Leah whipped who-knew-what at my blur. Finally, when I was far enough ahead, I slid into a shadowy corner and hunkered down.
Leah needed me alive. As much as I raged at being used as a pawn—and not for the first time—I clung to that as proof that I wasn’t as close to death as I felt. Save Adam. Save myself. Then come back, hunt the bitch down, and send her back to hell.
thirty-eight
thirty-eight
“Do you think this is going to help?” Leah yelled. “You’ve been poisoned. You have no idea what it is. You get that, don’t you? Please don’t tell me you’re going to get all noble and sacrifice yourself to save the countless innocents I might kill if I’m allowed to live.”
She laughed. “No, Paige hasn’t rubbed off on you that much. You’re still your mother’s daughter. You don’t give a damn about my future victims.”
I held my breath as she walked past me.