“The belle of the ball had to stay home in bed,” Jerry murmured.

Everyone turned to him wide-eyed and jaws slacked. A grin spread across Donovan’s face and his shoulders started to shake with suppressed laughter. Thane covered his mouth and turned away, his eyes tearing up. Boman guffawed, his face pointed at the ceiling, unabashed. Even Zorn allowed himself a smirk.

Dylan’s face turned beet red, but some of the tension left his shoulders. For someone who didn’t joke around often, Jerry sure knew how to make one land.

“Five,” said one of the other Necromancers, a man with a grisly gray beard and a ring of chub around his middle. “Four…”

Bria braced herself, her hands out, ready. I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall as the countdown continued, happy for the break.

“Go!”

Bria burst into action, moving faster than her opponents as she grabbed up black stones that looked like onyx before backing up behind the bodies, shooing us back as she did so. She dotted the carpet from wall to wall with the stones, then hopped over the line to grab a set of purple rocks. Those got lined up behind the black stones, the two rows staggered.

“I’ve never seen you do that before,” I said.

“When I was researching how to trap a spirit because of a certain…guy who has been training you, I found all sorts of interesting things. There are some lesser-known texts full of old-school Necromancy teachings. It’s almost like witchcraft. Given you’ve stolen my thunder and made life boring, I’ve been playing with this stuff. We’ll see if it works.”

“The Soul Stealer can’t help you,” Gray Beard called down, lighting a candle. The other guy had a tchotchke in hand, and I knew he was about to stuff a spirit into one of their very fresh-looking bodies.

“The Soul Stealer can too help me,” Bria yelled back, fashioning a semicircle of candles in front of the stone and rock line. She grabbed incense next, arranging them in a diamond shape within the semicircle. “She is a type of Necromancer, she is just way better at it.”

“This is a Necromancer duel, not a type of Necromancer duel.”

“And you have two against one, you feeble-minded, goat-milk-drinking whore of a dingleberry.” She sprinkled some ash across the entire setup before jumping out in front and sprinkling ash there as well. “But don’t worry the hairs on your ass; I told her not to help. I’ll beat you fair and square. Underdog always wins.”

“Only in movies,” Gray Beard replied.

“Welcome to the movie of my life, sweat pea. Get ready to lose.”

The other Necromancer huffed out a laugh, smiled, and shook his head. “I forgot how distracting you can be in these things,” he said.

“Yeah. It’s not just about working the cadavers.” She paused for a long moment, looking over her setup. “Oh shit.” She snatched up her backpack and rooted around in an outside pocket. “That would’ve been a disaster.”

A man drifted through the hall, his brow furrowed and his fists balled. He joined the Necromancers at the other end of the hall, but he was not happy to be there. I said as much.

“I’m sure they use the same spirits repeatedly.” Bria pulled out a little silver marble and placed it in the center of the diamond. “It’s easier to control spirits when you’re familiar with the ways they try to revolt. Easier to call them, too, actually. It’s a common practice.” She pulled out a handful of items from the front pocket of her backpack, and I saw that they belonged to the spirits we always had hanging around. “It’s even easier when you trust the spirits, they aren’t pissed at you, and you don’t actually need to control them to get the job done. Thanks for that.”

A woman drifted through this time, pulled faster than the last, her face as calm as a quiet spring day but tension making her body rigid. Hate fueled her, I could tell, kept on a tight leash until she could exercise it properly.

These spirits were as trapped as those in Lydia’s house. As trapped as those in Valens’s air and spirit cages.

Trapped for the last time.

Although I’d promised not to intervene in the fight, I hadn’t said anything about what happened afterward. This crew would have to find some new spirits. Good luck calling this bunch back after I sent them to the farthest reaches of beyond.

Jack drifted in like the others, not appearing as quickly as he would’ve if I had called him.

“Hey, guys,” he said when he stopped moving. I relayed what he’d said.

“Hey, Jack.” Donovan nodded, looking at the wrong pocket of space. “You’re more help in death than Thane is in life.”

“But is he more encouraging and supportive of your wins? That’s the real question,” Thane said, crossing his arms over his chest. His large biceps flared.

John flew in next, right behind another pissed-off spirit heading to the other side. John looked at me, annoyed.

“That wasn’t as pleasant of a ride,” he grumbled.

I pointed at Bria. “She’s in charge. I’m not allowed to help.”

“He better not be complaining, that bastard.” Bria grabbed up a button—Mia’s.

“I hadn’t properly appreciated how quickly Lexi can get bodies animated,” Dylan mumbled, sinking down to a crouch.

“Trust me, I have,” Bria said. “It’s more fun to stop messing with all this stuff and just stab people.”