A Darker Past (The Darker Agency #2)(50)

We took a right at the end of the path, then veered into the woods. The Archway was just beyond the next set of trees.

“Jessie,” Kendra called, coming out of the woods a few feet ahead of us. We met her halfway. “Hey, Lukas,” she added with a smile.

“Do I even wanna know what’s in there?” I asked, inclining my head toward her bag.

It moved. Lukas groaned.

As we pushed past the last row of trees, she frowned. “You don’t wanna know.”

Of course, that naturally made me want to know.

“What’s going on?” Lukas asked as we reached the small stone altar. He bent down and unzipped the bag, and a pair of long white ears popped out. They were attached to a tiny head with a pink button nose and frightened eyes. “Why is there a rabbit in your bag? Is this like that joke? Only without the hat…?”

“No joke.” She gently pushed him aside. I didn’t like the look in her eyes. Sadness with the slightest hint of fear. “So my idea… We need to talk to Lorna, right?”

I hated to agree with her because I had a sneaking suspicion I wasn’t going to like where this was going, but it was true. We were up a demonic creek without any quartz, and other than Charles, Lorna was the only one who knew what they’d done to get Gressil into the mirror. “It would help…”

She squared her shoulders and stood a little straighter. “I’m going to make it happen.”

“But didn’t you say witch souls couldn’t be summoned?” I asked, suspicious.

“I said I didn’t think a necro could do it.”

“But you can?” Lukas was understandably skeptical. A month ago Kendra had given him paws. It’d only been for about five minutes during a practice session—one he volunteered to help with—but the damage was done. After his ex and her magical mayhem, Lukas wasn’t a fan of witch spells.

“I can’t summon her, no. But I can channel her.” With shaky hands, she pulled out the rabbit and set it on the grass in front of her. “I think.”

“You think?” Lukas snorted. He grabbed my hand and waved it in front of her. “You two make a great pair, you know? I’m not sure which one of you is more detrimental.”

Kendra rolled her eyes at me and nodded slowly. “I see what you mean.”

“What?” Lukas dropped my hand and looked from her to me. “What does that mean?”

“Oh,” I said, patting his shoulder. “I just told Ken the truth. You know, how you can be a little…dramatic?”

He was annoyed, but tried to keep it to himself. I could always tell, though, because the top right corner of his upper lip rose slightly and his eyes got all squinty. “Can we just get on with this?”

“Good call.” Kendra grabbed the rabbit when it started to hop away. It squirmed as she set it back down in front of her, then dug into the contents in the bag.

That’s when it hit me. “Oh my God. You have to kill the Easter Bunny to do this, don’t you?” My stomach turned. “You, who will spend an hour trying to catch a fly so you don’t have to squish it? No way.”

She gave a shrug, trying to come off as casual, but I could see it in her eyes. She was freaked. “Sometimes you have to suck it up…”

This was a Kendra I was unfamiliar with.

I snorted and her eyebrows rose. “I’d think you’d be thrilled. Didn’t you, like, already try to kill the Easter Bunny?”

Wasn’t she funny… Bringing up my childhood trauma. I knew I couldn’t be the only kid freaked out by those costumed mall people. “I was six. And I wasn’t trying to kill him. I was trying to get away.”

“The type of magic you’re talking about is dangerous,” Lukas interjected. His lips twisted in a grim line, and I knew he was thinking of Meredith. “I think I speak for the entire town when I say that this is not a spell you should be attempting.”

“That’s a little offensive,” I said.

He narrowed his eyes and folded both arms. “Am I wrong?”

He wasn’t, and that was the problem. Kendra was still learning to use her magic. Yeah, she’d passed the tests and had been inducted into the coven as a full-fledged member, but that didn’t mean she should go slaughtering rabbits and channeling powerful, dead witches. At least, not yet. “I love you, Ken, but—”

She stood and shooed us away, then spilled a circle of light blue powder around herself. “I know what you’re thinking, and normally I’d say you were right.” She frowned. “Trust me, no one is more aware of my limitations than me…”

Great. Way to be a supportive best friend, Jessie. “I didn’t mean—”

She held up a hand and finished the circle, setting the vial down. She then picked another and repeated the process, this time with a green powder. “It’s okay. I get it. But you’re running out of time, and this really isn’t as hard as it looks.”

Lukas unfolded his arms. His jaw was clenched and his stance ridged. If he was still saddled with Wrath, it’d be duck and cover time. “Any magic involving a blood sacrifice is as hard as it looks.”

She ignored him and kept her eyes trained on me. “Jessie, please. Let me do this. I know I can do this.”