Once I had Poppy out of immediate trampling range, I sat back on my heels. “Now!”

  The rest of the coven piled into the circle with us. They all converged on Poppy, while Lorcan and Taliyah kept the Tsuchigumo at bay. I could hear the high buzzing scream of the spider demon as Lorcan got a good hit on it, and the tinkling crack of Taliyah’s ice as it broke and reformed. My breath fogged in the air as the warmth of the night drained away, but all of my focus was on Poppy.

  There wasn’t time for delicacy. Her skin, always fair, was looking gray and brittle, more like the papery husk of a wasp’s nest instead of healthy, living flesh. I kept one hand on the side of her neck, making sure that she was still breathing. Her pulse was thready and weak, but still fluttering against my fingers. I mumbled every healing charm I knew under my breath, feeding a trickle of my magic into her, now that the Tsuchigumo was, hopefully, too distracted to try and finish its meal.

  Olga and Betanya knelt down on either side of me, while Imani and Maverick stayed down by Poppy’s feet. Together, they all reached forward, their hands blazing with magic, and they grabbed fistfuls of the curse strands, and started ripping them away. Poppy whimpered, her head whipping to the side. I tried to soothe her, stroking a hand over her brow, and clearing off a few strands while I did it.

  It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t elegant. It was furious, and desperate, and so full of anger that I was half surprised that the sticky bits of gray webbing didn’t go up in flames on the spot.

  Poppy was ours, our own. She was a founding member of Circle Scapegrace, and anyone in the supernatural world knew, if you came for one witch, you came for the entire coven.

  Hunk after hunk of curse was torn away, while in the distance, the Tsuchigumo gave a disturbing scream that was more of a high-pitched buzz. I could hear the scuffle of its legs, the ground being torn up. At one point, someone must have stepped in the remains of the fire, sending embers scattering everywhere until the circle grounds looked like a field of stars.

  It was Betanya who finished first. She’d always been skilled that way. She rose to her feet, and before she turned, I could see the fire in her eyes.

  With a vicious motion of her hand, Betanya launched her collection of curse strands right back at the Tsuchigumo. The gray webbing stuck fast, and the draining curse hit even harder. The spider demon staggered, one of its legs losing consistency.

  One by one, the others rose. And one by one, they threw their collected webbing back at the demon. It shrilled, tried to avoid the sticky strands, but soon masses of thick gray webbing clung to its shadowy hide, and its seemingly delicate legs buckled.

  Lorcan and Taliyah darted back out of the way, and they stood with the coven as the Tsuchigumo thrashed and lashed out with legs that were only in our world sometimes.

  It was more difficult than I was strictly comfortable with to stand and step away from Poppy, but I did it. The others would make sure she was stable and okay, but this had to be done.

  I moved until I was level with Lorcan and Taliyah. She had a lacy pattern of frost creeping up both her forearms, with her silver hair gleaming in the moonlight with its own soft radiance. The narrowed, watchful gaze had nothing to do with the Faerie princess, though. That look was all Chief of Police Taliyah.

  Lorcan’s eyes were shining green in the dark, backlighting like a cat’s. His teeth were barred, full lips pulled back off his fangs, and his muscles were tensed and ready to pounce at any second. If I spent a second too long admiring the corded muscles in his forearms, well, I didn’t think anyone could blame me. It had been way, way too long.

  I turned and faced the spider demon.

  In one hand, I clutched a nasty, squirming pile of curse strands. They writhed between my fingers like worms. Or maybe leeches, since worms didn’t bite.

  In my other hand, I clutched a tiny scrap of silk, no bigger than my own palm. It was the largest piece of the original silk that was left. It was fragile, crumbling a little around the edges, worn down by time and the corruption it had been containing. But it was enough. It would have to be.

  I launched the curse first, right back into the monster’s face, but I didn’t let go. I felt the curse connect, felt it stick, nasty and greasy and clinging in a way that made me desperately want a shower.

  I’d shielded myself with my magic, but I still felt the echoes of the curse as it got to work trying to drain the Tsuchigumo. The thing was probably ticked off, maybe even a little scared. Plenty for the spell to stick to and glut on.

  That big, thrashing body lost its crisp edges, fading back into the shadows as its intended meal started feeding on it instead. It was eating its own tail, and finding nothing of substance at all.

  A spindly, barbed leg lashed out, and I didn’t even bother to duck. There wasn’t anything left of it, and it felt like the night breeze passing by.

  I held out the other hand, with that one pale piece of silk lying on my palm.

  Then I wrapped my other hand in the curse strands, winding them around and around in my grip.

  And I yanked.

  Chapter Nineteen

  There were a surprising number of blankets and quilts and warm fuzzy socks in Poppy’s house, but it still didn’t seem like enough.

  I tucked yet another blanket around her while she laughed too hard to protest, until she looked more like a burrito than a person. Finn, the little enabler, just crawled under the blankets to worm up close to his mother’s side, and Poppy brushed a kiss over the top of his head that was met with only performative teenage grumbling. That told me more than anything just how worried he’d been.

  After the Tsuchigumo had been bound down into a piece of fabric that was smaller than a handkerchief, I’d passed it to Maverick and Taliyah and told them to stick it somewhere until we figured out a more permanent solution. I was considering resin and the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, but I was open to suggestions, as long as that eight-legged trash heap never darkened my doorstep again.

  Between Olga, Maverick, Betanya, Imani and me, we’d managed to anoint Poppy with as many healing potions and charms as witchly possible, and we didn’t stop until she’d blinked her eyes opened and, in true Poppy fashion, apologized for being a bother.

  I was still riding the adrenaline high, and I’d been torn between the urges to hug her and shake her until some sense came rattling out, but in the end, I’d just held her hand and told her that I was glad she was okay, without really looking in her direction, just in case she thought I was being sappy or something.

  Once we’d got her more or less upright, Olga had brought her a cup of tea so full of sugar that I was sure a hummingbird might have said if it was a little much. But Olga had stood over Poppy and tutted until Poppy had dutifully drank every drop, and then followed it up with something called ‘beef tea’, which sounded horrendous, but Poppy was too polite to turn it down.

  Served her right. Let that be a lesson against scaring me like that. Olga must have been more worried than I’d realized, too, because she sternly told Poppy if she didn’t drink it that something called ‘liver tea’ was next, and frankly, I would have rather kissed the Tsuchigumo. It sounded like something the Victorians would have come down with cholera to avoid.

  While Poppy had gamely been chugging down her drink with the resigned look of a martyr, I’d texted Andre to let him know that everything was okay, and to tell Finn, and that I’d have her home soon.

  But not before I’d layered every protection charm I knew on top of Poppy’s little blond head. And then the others had followed suit. Considering that there were four witches, and a warlock, who had been members of multiple covens in their lives, that was an impressive amount of protection spells, and it had taken a while. Taliyah and Lorcan had stood by, impatiently bemused. More impatient for Taliyah, more bemused for Lorcan.

  Lorcan had helped me bundle Poppy back into my car, and then he’d taken the keys from me when my hands wouldn’t stop shaking for some reason. Poppy dozed in the back seat while we had a short, silent drive back to the farmhouse. My thoughts were a tangled, snarled mess, and I didn’t even want to start trying to sort them out. I just wanted to breathe, and occasionally glance back to peek that Poppy was still buckled in behind me.

  How silly. Where would she have gone?

  And if halfway through the drive, Lorcan had reached over and slipped his hand into mine, well, it would have been rude not to squeeze his fingers back. I was baffled by him, but I wasn’t angry. That might come later, but for the moment, I was happy to have something to hang onto that didn’t feel slippery or sticky or make me want to shower in Lysol.

  And if I squeezed a little too hard, he was undead. He could take it. And he certainly never once complained.

  Lorcan helped me escort Poppy inside her home, while she protested that she was fine, she could walk, like I couldn’t feel the way her muscles were trembling just from sliding out of the car. The instant we’d pulled into the driveway though, Finn and Andre had come boiling outside, with a leather-bound book racing behind them, flapping its red ribbon tail as it went. The book ran on the points of its cover, more like a dog than something someone might find on the best-seller shelf.

  Finn had been very pale, and I’d thought for a second that he would throw himself at Poppy, but he checked himself at the last second, folding his hands together like he was afraid to reach out.

  “Finn,” she’d said weakly and her smile was even more weak.

  “Are you okay, Mom?”

  It had come out a thin whisper that shook at the edges, and I saw Poppy open her mouth to quickly reassure him. Then she paused and thought about it before finally answering.

  “I will be.”

  Finn’s shoulders relaxed at hearing it. It must have been true, then. Or at least Poppy believed it was, and that was enough to reassure her son. And me too, for that matter. It wasn’t enough to keep Finn from hovering around us like a persistent little moon, but still. I’d take my victories where I could get them.

  Andre was slightly more useful. He was a tall, slender man, with more of a swimmer’s build than Roy’s extreme body builder physique. But there was a great deal of strength in his broad shoulders and his corded forearms, marked as they were with inky dark numbers. It was a Magician thing, Poppy had said. I hadn’t been interested enough to question it.

  He came to take Poppy’s arm from me, to help Lorcan get her into the house, and for a moment I tensed, unwilling to let go. But then he scooped Poppy into his arms, bride-style, and she smiled up at him.

  It was silly, of course it was. Andre was Poppy’s boyfriend, her soulmate for spell’s sakes. He wasn’t going to drop her or something. But it was hard to let go, to trust someone else with someone so important to me. Truly, she was the most important person to me, and Lorcan was a close second.

  Andre didn’t push it. He just waited, patiently while I got my nonsense in order and finally stepped away so he could get her into the house.

  Lorcan gave me a smile, but I just sniffed and looked away, pretending not to know what that look was for. Honestly, that man. No matter how helpful and understanding he was being, he needed to still know that he was very much in the dog house with me. And we’d be having that particular argument just as soon as I could allow myself to let Poppy out of my sight.

  Andre managed to get Poppy inside her house and deposited onto the couch. That was when the quest for the ultimate blanket nest began, because in spite of everything we’d done, Poppy was still pale, and cool to the touch. And while she was trying very hard to hide her shivering, it wasn’t easy to miss while we were all in physical contact with her.

  While I’d been hunting out every textile comfort item in her linen cupboard, with Finn as my very enthusiastic sidekick, Andre had made tea. Apparently, that was a thing. Poppy just looked relieved that it was chamomile, from the smell of it, and nothing involving beef or boiled liver.

  When I’d started seriously considering heaping a raincoat and what might have actually been a rug on top of Poppy on the couch, Lorcan pulled me into a hug and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

  My eyes burned at the gesture. It must have been dusty in Poppy’s house.

  With a jerk of his head and a little squeeze, he let me know that he would wait in the car.

  I gave him a suspicious look out of narrowed eyes. “If you try to slip away while I’m distracted, I will turn you into a salamander. And not the cute kind. The warty kind.”

  He shivered, a little theatrically, in my mind, and slipped out the door.

  Poppy was looking a little brighter, smiling at Finn and sharing disgustingly saccharine looks with Andre. I knew Poppy was used to taking care of everyone, and she didn’t like a fuss being made about her, and I didn’t feel like I had the right to unpack all of that, quite frankly.

  But seeing her there, surrounded by her loved ones who were doting on her, pressing close, keeping in contact with her like they were afraid she might float away… Poppy was almost glowing. There was a healthy flush coming back into her cheeks, and her eyes were bright, a smile stretching across her face that must have been painful for her cheeks.

  It made something hard and cold wedged up behind my heart thaw, just a little. It was going to be a long time before I could forget the sight of her lying pale and faded on the ground like a tossed away tissue, that was for sure. But it was a start.

  I hovered in the doorway, hesitant to leave. I was being foolish, and sentimental. Poppy had her family, the Tsuchigumo was gone and would never be coming back, not if I had any say in the matter, and only time and rest would help now.

  So why was it so hard to walk out the door?

  Poppy turned, and that brilliant sunny smile shone over on me.

  “Oh, wait, I just thought of one more protection.” I hurried back to the couch and perched on a sliver of space just in front of where Finn had vanished under the blanket pile, with only a few wisps of blond hair peeking out the top.

  “Another one?” Poppy laughed, bright and happy. “For repelling monsters?”

  I hesitated. “No,” I said, reluctantly. “It’s for averting hexes that cause blemishes from witches who happen to be your BFF and get very angry when you scare them half to death.”

  Poppy’s laughter was bright and happy, and it almost made the warmth burning in my face worth it.

  She wormed a hand out from under Mount Blanket to pat my arm. “Thank you, Wanda. For everything.”

  She would be fine, and I was just keeping her up when she should probably be sleeping. And maybe taking some vitamins. I let out a slow breath.

  Andre gave me a look and nodded once. He’d look after her. He was probably one of the few people in the world that I could trust to do it wholeheartedly.

  So, I turned to the door, twitching one of my cuffs to hang better. “Alright, then. Try to rest. And maybe try not to cause any more trouble for a few days.”

  The look Poppy gave me was far too fond. “I’ll try.”

  Yes, it was time to go. Before I got all maudlin, or worse, sappy.

  I nodded once and was out the door and down the driveway before I could fall under the urge to look back just once.

  Lorcan was leaning against my car, his arms crossed over his chest, waiting for me. I looked him up and down as I came closer and stopped just a couple of feet away.

  “Good choice,” I told him with an imperious tilt of my head.

  He smiled.

  ***

  We went back home. The coven house was a little too public a place for the conversation Lorcan and I were about to have, and I didn’t want even one more thing interrupting it, or the curses I was about to start slinging around would have made the Tsuchigumo look like a toddler with mudpies.

  I stalked into the front hall and spun around on my boot heel just as Lorcan was locking the door behind him. I jabbed one perfectly manicured deep purple nail into his chest and scowled.

  “Alright, Rowe. If you don’t start talking, I’m going to take a note from the spider demon and start wrapping you up in silk.”

  He ducked his chin down so he could look up through his eyelashes at me. Then he had the utter audacity to waggle his eyebrows at me.

  Yep. I was definitely going to turn him into the warty kind of salamander.

  “Start. Talking.”

  Lorcan heaved a sigh that was so deep he must have dragged it up from his toes. Then he lifted his right arm and tapped the face of the watch he was wearing.

  I gave him an unimpressed look. “Yes, it’s a very nice watch. I’d say you paid a ridiculous amount of money for it, but considering that you spent about four times that on a cursed piece of silk, I don’t think I have much of a leg to stand on, there.”

  A little wrinkle formed between his brows, and he tapped the watch again before lifting his hand to his throat.

  I’d never been very good at charades, having experienced a childhood where not many people had been willing to play childish games with me. It took me a second to grasp what he was telling me.

  “Wait.” My brows drew down, a little thundercloud forming over my head. “Are you telling me that your watch was cursed, too?”

  Lorcan nodded, resigned.

  “Oh, that miserable, shoddy, scam artist auction house. What kind of business are they running? Where is their quality assurance?” I raked a hand back through my hair, half-surprised it wasn’t standing on end with my fury. “What is the curse doing to you, exactly? You can’t speak at all?”

  Lorcan hesitated, and of all things, a tiny hint of pink slipped into his cheeks. He made a so-so gesture, tipping his hand back and forth.

  I stared for a long moment. Vampires used blood for sustenance. They didn’t have a lot to spare for other things. The fact that Lorcan was so flustered over what was going on that he’d actually managed to work up even that little hint of a flush, had me intrigued and concerned in equal measure.

  “Alright. Well.” I twitched the cuffs of my sleeves down further over my hands. “How about you say something, so that I know what we’re dealing with? If you’re able to.”