14

Kieran

The strange feeling he’d felt yesterday tugged on his middle. Kieran leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, and stared at Alexis’s back as she sat cross-legged in front of him, her head bowed. Bria peered intensely at her from across the badly orchestrated wooden circle. The precautions Bria had insisted on taking, including her insistence that all of them needed to be present, told him she was scared of this spirit. Something he’d rarely seen.

“What are we thinking?” Kieran asked, rising from his chair and then lowering beside Alexis.

Bria shook her head. “I don’t know. She wasn’t in the trance this long last time. I have the bells that should speed her way back to the surface, but it’s all book knowledge. I don’t want to use them unless it’s dire.”

“She’s okay,” Daisy said, nudging her chair to the side of the circle so she could scrutinize Lexi’s face. “She’s okay right now. She’s got that little stubborn crease between her brows.”

Mordecai stood and knelt next to Daisy’s chair, his focus on Alexis. “Yes, she’s right. Lexi always makes that look when we point out she’s missing something. She’s frustrated she doesn’t know something, I’d bet.”

Bria nodded, an unlit candle in one hand and a bell in the other. “I’d listen to the kids. They know her best.”

A hard tug made Kieran grit his teeth. Those occasional tugs on their soul connection helped him feel closer to Lexi. Her presence, her emotions—they were all gone. Even seeing her living and breathing next to him wasn’t quelling his anxiety. Her body might be safe, but her soul was not.

He took her hand, cool to the touch, and focused on that tug. On grabbing the other end. Maybe if he…pulled it taut? He didn’t even know if that was possible.

Hell, he didn’t even know how to grab it.

Alexis suddenly jolted backward. She sucked in a deep breath, blinked her eyes open, and then scrambled further back. Kieran’s empty chair tumbled away as he stood. The guys all jumped up, clearing their chairs away too. Magic built around them, rolling and boiling, waiting for the enemy to emerge.

If only this were a normal battle. But no, they were dealing with the magic of Hades, the pit dweller, king of the underworld—a blind spot for most of the other gods and their descendants. Hades had been dealt a bad hand, but he’d turned it around into something hard to combat.

A man stepped out of the air and into the center of the glowing circle. Wearing a smirk and tousled, wheat-colored hair, he looked around him in amusement.

Bria was staring at him as well. Then she was moving, grabbing up various candles and moving them around the circle.

“This all for me?” The spirit put out his hands, his smile wider now. He zeroed in on Kieran. “Look at you. You have the power of a Demigod, but you’re only a quarter god. That’s quite rare.” He hooked a thumb in his pocket. “I think you got touched by the divine, that’s what I think.”

Alexis stood slowly, her hands out, braced for action.

The spirit turned in a circle, looking at each of the Six in turn, none of whom could see him. Didn’t matter. All of them awaited Kieran’s orders.

“Loyalty. I like it.” The spirit nodded, coming to the kids. “And children, in a potentially dangerous situation. Odd parenting choice.”

“I never claimed to be mother of the year,” Lexi said, then her teeth clicked shut. She hadn’t meant to say that.

The spirit chuckled, as though he could tell.

“And then our resident Necromancer, with all her bells and whistles. Or…candles and boards, in this case. You’ve gone old school, my dear.”

Alexis repeated what was said.

“I had to brush up on my reading skills, but yeah, I got the gist,” Bria said as she finished shifting a candle and picked up a bell. “It oughta hold you. I have everything placed exactly as it should be, moved at the right time. I’m sure of it. It’ll hold.”

The spirit bent to study the boards, turning as he did so, until he was all the way around. He pointed at one. “Weak link, right there. It is an inch too far to the right.”

After Alexis relayed what was said, Bria paused in what she was doing, studying the offending candle. She ignored it and turned to another. “He certainly doesn’t have any problem with lying.”

The spirit laughed merrily. He turned to Alexis. “And another quarter god, this one without the divine touch. Our god clearly doesn’t like you as much as his god did him. But look, you’ve tried to amend that all by yourself. That shows initiative. I don’t think any other Spirit Walker in history has had a Demigod as a soul mate.”

“Is he still talking?” Bria asked, checking her watch and then moving around the circle to switch out a candle.

“Mouthy, that one. I like her. She’s definitely one of Hades’s.” The spirit winked at Alexis. “So.” He sat down with crossed legs. “Why have you called me? I don’t feel your influence, which means you aren’t trying to control me. You have faith in your friend.”

“Kind of. Look, I’m just…” Alexis lifted her chin and walked closer, stopping just in front of Kieran. She was assuming control of the situation. “I’m not trying to control you because I’d like you to help me of your own volition. I don’t like the idea of forcing people to do my bidding.”