Death's Avatar (The Descent Series) Read Online Free Page B

“This is all I have
left. It would ‘fix me,’ but requires a small sacrifice.”
    “How small?”
    “If I used you as the subject, it would also
render you unconscious for a week.”
    She couldn’t afford to be useless anymore
than he could. She considered the page. “I could get someone else.
A survivor from a nearby village.”
    “This spell might kill a normal person.”
    “That’s dark magic, James. Your aunt would
be ashamed.”
    He snapped the Book shut. “As I said, we’ll
use a ritual.”
    James made a list of supplies, and she
collected everything from the village of the dead. The bodies were
in the same places she had left them. Nobody was coming back to dig
graves.
    When she returned with the stones he
needed—pried from cheap jewelry at a tourist shop—and some herbs,
James had created a circle of power out of pillow feathers on the
bed. “What next?” she asked, eyeing his circle dubiously. He was a
powerful witch, but she wasn’t sure he was powerful enough to work
with such a weak circle.
    “I’m weak. Let me piggyback for
strength.”
    Elise didn’t hesitate to offer him a
hand.
    He took it, and his magic washed through
her. It sent warmth cascading from the top of her skull to her
toes. Her awareness of James’s senses came to her one at a
time—first, the smell of rain grew stronger, and then she felt his
knee (which hurt as bad as she imagined), and then she glimpsed her
face as though peering through his eyes. Her cheeks and eyes were
hollow. She looked skeletal.
    His emotions came upon her last. He was
tired. Worried. Relieved to have painkillers. Happy to see Elise.
Angry at all the devastation. Too much, too much. Once the power
securely fastened around them, it faded, but Elise was left
unsettled. James felt too much.
    He leaned back against the wall with a low
chuckle. “I didn’t realize I looked that bad.” Of course, he had
seen through her eyes at the same time she saw through his.
    She rubbed her own aching knee. “You’re
fine.”
    Elise followed his diagrams to apply the
stones and herbs to his leg. James activated several spells from
his Book and left them on the bedside as they worked.
    “Careful now,” he said when she pulled out
the bandages.
    She closed her eyes to process the
information coming silently from James. He showed her the motions
to make, and she did.
    When she was done, he eased back against the
wall with a groan. “How long?” she asked.
    “I’ll be dancing again by tomorrow.”
    Elise could tell he was lying through the
bond. It would be days before he was in service again—and with a
crippled Book of Shadows.
    Her knee throbbed. James looked sympathetic.
“I can lift the bond.”
    “No. You’ll heal faster while piggybacked.”
She locked what was left of the Book in its case. “I called
McIntyre again,” she said, just to change the subject.
    “Is he coming?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good.”
    There was nothing else to say, after
that.

VI
    Rain coursed down the eaves of the condo.
Ocean rushed up the beach like it was going to devour them, and
then receded after lapping at the wooden supports. It made the
condo feel just this side of dangerous, though James was safe on
the bed. He kept Elise in the corner of his eye. She stood on the
edge of the porch, and it made him nervous. He could easily imagine
an errant wave rising to slap her off the balcony.
    The spray blew back her hair as another
crest swept toward their temporary condo. A thin layer of water
sloshed over her feet. She reached out a hand so the rain drummed
on her exposed fingertips, and a thrill raced through his stomach
when he saw that her glove dangled from the other hand.
    “Careful,” James said.
    She turned her hand over so the rain fell on
her palm instead. “Who cares?” she muttered. “He can’t get me if
the world’s going to end anyway.”
    “Let’s not test the theory. Come in and
close the door. Our room is getting wet.”
    She pretended not to hear him.