"Al!" I exclaimed, squinting to see Ford's smile through the cloud of sparkles Jenks had made, hovering in midair, in shock. Even Ivy paused, bagel halfway to her mouth. "What does Al have to do with this?" I stammered as Jenks made self-congratulatory sounds.
"I knew it!" he crowed. "I knew it all along!"
But Ford was still smiling, the faint wrinkles around his eyes making him look tired. "Nothing intentionally, I'm sure. Remember that tombstone your demon cracked?"
I shook my head, biting back my ire at his use of the term "your demon." Then I changed the motion into a nod. "The night I rescued Ceri?" I said, then blinked. "My God. Pierce is buried here? In our backyard?"
If pixies could have coronaries, Jenks was having one. Sputtering, he hovered, his face frightened and a steady stream of black sparkles puddling on the center counter to spill over and eddy about my stocking feet. "You're talking about the one with the weird-ass statue of the angel?" he managed, and Ford nodded.
No way! I thought, wondering if I had enough time to find my flashlight and go out and look at it before Marshal got here.
"The name was scratched off!" Jenks shrilled, and Rex stretched, going to twine about my feet as she tried to get closer to her tiny master.
"Take a chill pill, Jenks," I said, "before you set your dust on fire."
"You shut up!" he shouted, then flew to Ivy. "I told you! Didn't I tell you? You don't chisel off someone's name unless..." His eyes widened. "And he's in unsanctified ground!" he squeaked. "Rachel, he's trouble. And he's dead! Doesn't it bother you that he's dead? How come he's dead!"
Ivy's dark eyes went from me to Jenks, and then to Ford, who was sitting back and watching it all in a rather clinical way.
"He was dead when I met him," I said dryly, "and he was nice enough then. Besides, a good slice of Cincy's population is dead."
"Yeah, but they aren't lurking in our church, spying on us!" he yelled, getting right in my face. "Why are you trying to make him real!"
I had endured just about enough. Slamming a cupboard door shut, I stepped forward to push him back. "He's been trying to make contact," I said, eyes narrowed and inches from him. "Making him solid is the only way I can talk to him without a frickin' Ouija board. If you have to know, he was cemented into the ground because he was accused of being a witch in the 1800s. He's probably trying to find a way to get out of purgatory and just die, so lighten up!"
Ivy cleared her throat, her bagel perched on her fingertips. "He was accused of being a witch?" she asked. "I thought you guys were really careful before the Turn."
I backed off from Jenks and took a cleansing breath. "The vamp he tagged as a blood pedophile ratted on him," I said. "Told everyone he was a witch. The ignorant SOBs cemented him into the ground alive. He's not a black witch any more than I am."
Ford's chair scraped as he rose. Grabbing his coat, he came forward as he shuffled into it. "I have to go," he said, giving my shoulder a squeeze. "I'll call you tomorrow and we can set up a time to do the hypnosis."
"Sure," I said absently, glaring at Jenks, glowing fiercely by the fridge.
"Pierce wanted me to tell you that he's been here since Al cracked his stone. It made a path a willing spirit could use, and he followed his thoughts back to you." Ford was smiling at me as if it was good news, but I couldn't smile back. Damn it, I had been in such a great mood, and now it was gone. First the thing with the failed earth charms, and now Jenks thought Pierce was a demon spy.
"This is bad, Ivy," Jenks said, lighting on her shoulder. "I don't like it."
My anger flared. I wanted him to shut up. "I don't care if you like it or not," I snapped. "Pierce is the first person I helped. The first person who needed me. And if he needs my help again, I'm going to give it." Frustrated, I threw a handful of ley line stuff in a drawer and shut it so hard Rex darted away.
Ford shifted from foot to foot. "I have to go."
No doubt, after my little show of temper. Jenks got in his way, and the man hesitated. "Ford," he said, sounding desperate. "Tell Rachel this is a bad idea. You don't bring back the dead. Not ever."
My heart seemed to clench, but Ford raised a placating hand. "I think it's a great idea. Pierce is not malevolent, and what harm can she do to him in one night?"
Jenks's wings hit an unreal pitch, and his sparkles sifted to gray. "I don't think you grasp the situation here," he said. "We don't know this guy from Tink! So Rachel feels sorry for him and brings him back for a night. He was buried alive in blasphemed ground. We don't know the way to bring him all the way back from the dead, but I bet a demon does. And what's to stop this guy from whispering in some demon's ear, exchanging our secrets for a new life!"
"That's enough!" I shouted. "Jenks, you need to apologize to Pierce. Right now!"
Trailing a ribbon of sparkles like a wayward sunbeam, Jenks flew to me. "I will not!" he said vehemently. "Don't do this, Rachel. You can't risk it. None of us can."
Jenks hovered before me, tense and determined. Behind him, Ivy looked at me. Suddenly, I didn't know what to say. I'd met Pierce, saved a little girl with him, but had I been looking at him through innocent, eighteen-year-old eyes, easily misled and hoodwinked?
"Jenks," Ford said, looking pained by my sudden doubt.
The small pixy darted up, his frustration obvious. "Can I talk to you in private?" he said, looking angry enough to pix the man.
Head down, Ford nodded, angling to leave the kitchen. "Let me know if you can't find the spell, Rachel, and I'll come over and you can talk to Pierce some more."
"Sure." I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the counter. "I'd appreciate that." My jaw was clenched, and I was getting a headache. Rex followed Jenks and Ford out, and I wondered if the cat was following them, or Pierce. The sound of Ford's feet faded, and then a soft, one-sided conversation started up from the sanctuary. Ivy could probably hear Ford clearly enough to make out the words, but I couldn't, and that's all Jenks was after.
Forcing my teeth apart, I looked at Ivy across the long length of the kitchen. She had gotten out another small plate, and as I nodded sourly, she put the other half of her dinner on it and handed it to me. I stiffly took it. "You don't think this is a bad idea, do you?" I asked, and Ivy sighed, staring at nothing.
"Is it a demon curse?" she asked. "The one to give Pierce a temporary body, I mean."
My head moved back and forth, and I took a bite of bagel. "No. It's simply hard."
Her dark eyes focused on me and she lifted a thin shoulder. "Good," she said. "I think you should do it. Jenks is a paranoid old man."
Relief brought my shoulders down and I managed a thin smile. Turning my bagel to get to the side with the most cream cheese, I took a bite, and the tart tang of cheese hit my tongue. "Pierce isn't up to anything," I said as I chewed. "I just want to help him if I can. He helped me realize what I wanted to do with my life, and I sort of owe him." I looked at her, seeing her eyes distant in thought. "You know what I mean? Owing someone for changing your life in a good way?"
Her attention flicked to me. "Uh, yeah," she said, then set her plate down to go to the fridge.
"I know I can do the spell; all I need is the recipe, the equipment, and a gathering of witches to siphon off the power." I looked at my bagel and sighed. This was going to be hard.
Ivy was silent as she poured a glass of orange juice, then said softly, "I'm sorry. This means a lot to you. Jenks is being an ass. Ignore him."
I ate another bite of my bagel and said nothing. Pierce was one of the few people who knew me before I had demon marks, or smut, or anything else. I had to help him if I could.
Ivy shifted to the sink to wash the crumbs from her plate, and knowing my agitation was hard on her instincts, I slid away a few feet. "Can't you just buy the book?" she asked, gazing at the porch light shining on the snowy garden. "If it's not demon magic, it should be out there."
My head nodded. It was nice that someone didn't think Pierce was a spy. "I'm sure it is, but level-eight-hundred Arcane ley line textbooks aren't common. They usually don't show up unless someone is teaching a class. Getting one before New Year's will be a problem. That and the crucible. If Robbie doesn't know where it is, it might take months."
The front door thumped shut, and Jenks darted in with the icy scent of a summer field on a winter night. He was in a much better frame of mind, and I couldn't help but wonder what Ford had told him.
"I'm out of here," I said, snagging my bag from the far chair before Jenks could try to start a conversation. "I probably won't be back until almost four. It's going to be bad," I said around a sigh. "Robbie has a girlfriend and my mom's nuts about her."
Ivy smiled, a closed-lipped smile. "Have fun."
I glanced at her sword on the counter, thinking I'd rather go with her and face ugly vampires than my mom and Robbie and the inevitable "when are you going to settle down" conversation. "Okay. I'm out of here." I glanced around the almost-tidy kitchen, and wondered if they would think it was weird if I said 'bye to Pierce. "You going to be okay here alone with Pierce, Jenks?" I mocked as I shoved the invoked locator amulet in my bag to ask my mom about, and Jenks flashed an annoyed red.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," he muttered. "We'll have a nice chat, Mr. Ghost and me."
"A little one-sided, isn't it?" I said, and Jenks smiled, his eagerness worrying me.
"Just the way I like it. He can't talk back to me the way my kids do."
My coat and boots were in the foyer. "Call me if you need me," I said, and Ivy gave me a wave. Jenks was already on her shoulder, and the two clearly had things to discuss. Even more worrisome. Giving them a last look, I headed to the front of the church, keys jingling against my lethal-magic detector.
The pixies were busy in the corner with a terrified mouse, and ignoring the drama, I wiggled my feet into my boots and tightened them up. I shrugged into my coat, and looked out from the dark room into the shadowed sanctuary, still decorated with Ivy's Christmas stuff and my solstice things. A soft, warm feeling took me, relaxing me. I wondered if I could really smell the scent of coal dust and shoe polish, or if it was just my imagination. I hesitated when the tinkling of Rex's bell joined the noise of the pixies, and I watched her sit primly in the opening to the hallway to stare at me. Maybe she was staring at Pierce?
"'Bye, Pierce," I whispered. "Don't mind Jenks. He just wants to keep me safe." And with a small smile, I pushed open the door and headed out into the cold.