White Witch, Black Curse

Lips pressed, I couldn't help but wonder what she gave him in exchange, then squelched it. Not my business. As long as Ivy was happy, I was happy.

"So did your chat with Ford bring anything to light?" Ivy asked over her shoulder, and I pushed into motion behind her, headed for the kitchen.

"Just that we've got a freaking ghost!" Jenks said loud enough to make my eyeballs hurt. Rex padded at Ivy's heels, ears pricked up and eager. "Aren't you listening? I think it's one of her old boyfriends she killed, spying on us."

"Jenks. Listen to me. Pierce is not an old boyfriend," I said, exasperated, as I followed them. "I only knew him one night. And he was dead when I found him."

Ivy chuckled. "You could fall in love in an afternoon when we worked at the I.S.," she said, then added, "But he's dead?"

"That's what I've been saying!" Jenks shouted, flitting from me to her. "Tink's little green panties! You got fairy dust in your ears?"

I entered the kitchen through a sheet of glittering sparkles. The room was a mess, and I flushed when Ivy stopped short and stared. My spelling cupboards were all open, stuff strewn across the counters, evidence of me cooking up the locator amulets. I should have just used the demon curse and been done with it, 'cause the last two hours had been a big waste of time. I hadn't even bothered invoking the last six potions, lined up at the back of the counter.

Ford looked up from the far corner where he had put himself to talk to Pierce. Beside him was the makeshift Ouija board and a pocket-size notebook with Ford's messy scrawl filling a page. Seeing us, the man brushed cookie crumbs from himself and leaned back. I wondered if I should say hi to Pierce. He was in here…somewhere.

"I'll tell her," Ford said softly when Rex jingled in and twined around his feet. The psychiatrist clearly wasn't talking to us, and his amulet turned a thankful blue, rich and deep.

Jenks darted about like a hummingbird on steroids. "Tell her what? What did the ghost say?" he asked, and I glared. His paranoia was getting old.

Her eyes still wide and questioning, Ivy delicately nudged a mesh sack of herbs down the counter to make room for her sword. "Doing a little cooking?" she asked mildly.

"Uh, a locator amulet to find Mia," I said, not wanting to admit that my first attempt hadn't worked. Shifting my shoulders, I started to put things away.

"If you'd let me organize your stuff, you wouldn't make such a mess," she said, and after pushing a box of candles to the back of the counter, she shifted the toaster forward. "Hi, Ford," she added, sashaying to the fridge, then coming out with the bagels. "Rachel giving you problems?"

Ford chuckled. "It wouldn't be Rachel if she wasn't."

I took in a breath to complain, catching it when Jenks unexpectedly dropped in front of me, hands on his hips. His green shirt had a tear in it, which was unusual for the usually meticulous pixy. "Tell her what you're trying to do," he demanded, putting his arms down to hide the small rip when I noticed it. "Tell her!"

Rolling my eyes, I turned to Ivy. "If I can find it, I'm going to spell Pierce a temporary body so I can talk to him."

Ivy paused with the sliced bagel in one hand, my ceremonial ley line knife in the other. The ornate handle looked odd in her fingers, and her expression was amused. "That's the ghost, right?"

A burst of light came from Jenks. "He's been spying on us!" he yelled, and I wondered why he was freaking out. Ivy and Ford weren't. "Tink's titties! Doesn't anyone see a problem with this? He's been here a year, listening to everything! Do you have any idea the crap we've been through in the last twelve months? And you want to give this guy a voice?"

My brow furrowed as I realized Jenks had a point. Secrets. They were what kept me alive: Trent being an elf, me being a proto-demon, my arrangement with Al. Crap, Pierce probably knew Al's summoning name. Mine, too. Everything.

"Pierce wouldn't say anything," I said, but Jenks took my soft voice for insecurity, and he flew triumphantly to Ivy.

Ignoring him, Ivy shoved the bread in the toaster. "You can do that?" she said, still facing away. "Give a ghost a body…?"

Her voice cut off, and she turned. The hint of hope was like thin ice, rimming her eyes, fragile. It hurt to see it there. I knew where her thoughts had gone. Kisten was dead. Seeing her hope as well, Jenks lost some of his vim.

I shook my head, and the skin around her eyes tightened almost imperceptibly. "It's a temporary spell," I said reluctantly. "It only works if a person's sprit is stuck in purgatory. And only if you have a huge amount of communal energy to work it. I'm going to have to wait until New Year's before I can even try. I'm sorry, but it can't bring Kisten back even for a night." I took a careful breath. "If Kisten were in purgatory, we'd have known it by now."