The grim reaper went from limp and decorative to square-shouldered. It pushed away from the corn, the robe and hood obscuring any view of what was inside. Even its hands were in black gloves.

  Maybe Narzel knew what was going on. I sure didn’t.

  The grim reaper adjusted its grip on its scythe.

  I hadn’t paid much attention before, but that wasn’t a plastic scythe. The very real blade glinted in the moonlight.

  The breeze picked up, rattling through the corn. The spirits were unaffected, holding their positions. The one that had pointed at the maze lowered its arm.

  The grim reaper tilted its head up.

  I blinked.

  The reaper had moved a good twenty feet. One of the spirits floated in front of it. In a movement my eyes couldn’t follow, the reaper darted around the spirit. A student screamed and fell down, clutching their arm. The reaper threw the scythe to the side and reached for the student.

  A spirit appeared between the reaper and the student. In a flash, the spirit threw back the reaper. The spirit faded, shimmering less brightly than before.

  “Mannaz!” I flung a stun spell at the reaper as I ran forward.

  The reaper stumbled but regained its footing and darted toward another group of students. It grabbed a caveman by the arm.

  A brownie levitated the caveman out of the reaper’s grasp. Then it levitated the reaper back to the maze.

  All around me, students fled. A vampire picked up a human and sprinted out of the maze. Another brownie levitated a student in a wheelchair out of the festival. Fey and elves pulled slower students along with them.

  The reaper shook off being shoved back and was through the line of spirits in the blink of an eye.

  “Sowil.” I missed the reaper but shielded a student hobbling away on crutches.

  The reaper spun away from the shield.

  I unmade the shield around the student. “We need a ride!”

  A centaur slid to a stop next to us. I heaved the disabled student onto the centaur’s back. The centaur took off.

  Wand ready, I searched for the reaper. It was a good fifty feet away, chasing after a pack of human students and gaining on them.

  Tricks, wooden sword in hand, raced up behind the reaper.

  “No!” I had one chance. Just one.

  Picturing the wall in my mind, I willed it into existence.

  Tricks slid to a stop. “Michelle, pull it down!”

  The reaper spun around, hands outreached. Blood dripped off a glove. Its hand went through the wall, the blood twisting the magic.

  I shoved the magic into the earth where it couldn’t do any harm. There had to be a way to get Tricks away. If I had time.

  Tricks screamed as the reaper’s hand closed over her arm. She tried to stab the reaper, but it dodged easily. With its free hand, it ripped the sword away from Tricks and threw it to the side.

  “Nazid!”

  It sorta worked. Tricks rose into the air. So did the reaper, clinging to her arm. She kicked at it, but it didn’t matter.

  Elron darted over, grabbed the reaper’s foot, and yanked.

  The reaper landed on its feet and charged Elron.

  I levitated Tricks over to the entrance and set her down. There was too much commotion for her to hear me, but hopefully she got the idea and ran for the exit.

  The spirits milled around, as if not entirely sure what to do. One of them shrieked, but then stopped.

  Elron and the reaper grappled with each other, neither truly winning but neither losing.

  A levitated princess bumped into Elron. She, and the brownie levitating her, shouted apologies.

  It didn’t matter. Elron’s foot slipped. The reaper pushed Elron to the ground.

  Narzel.

  “Mannaz!” I shoved twice the normal power into the spell.

  The reaper swayed, but it didn’t release Elron.

  A black cat leapt out of the shadows and landed on Elron’s chest, facing the reaper. It hissed and clawed at the reaper.

  The reaper jerked back.

  Elron grabbed a fistful of the cloak.

  The reaper kept moving back, losing the cloak.

  A spirit darted in front of the reaper and screamed. Light flashed, and for a moment, he was illuminated clearly. Dirt and blood streaked across a masculine face.

  He snarled, showing his fangs. It was hard to judge under the dirt and torn clothing, but he appeared young. With vampires, it was hard to be sure.

  His eyes darted from person to person. He picked a target and charged.

  “Orzu.” I softened the earth in front of him.

  The vampire’s foot sank down, and he tumbled forward. He popped back up, never once looking away from his target.

  He didn’t act like a person. The personality—or for lack of a better term, humanity—that should have ruled his actions and thoughts was gone. What was left was evil.

  “Algiz.” Magical ropes twisted around the vampire’s legs.

  He toppled over and reached for the spell. It twisted again, because of the blood and the crazy in him, and melted away.

  So spells didn’t work against him directly, but indirect spells were fine.

  A spirit zoomed after him.

  He darted away from a plague doctor recording everything on their phone.

  I softened the ground in front of him again. He stumbled, giving people time to scatter.

  Elron, sword in hand, sprinted to intercept the vampire.

  Most of the students were getting out of the festival grounds any way they could. A bunch clogged the entry, while others were slipping through the corn. I couldn’t see Tricks or her parents. Hopefully, they were together and safe.

  “Orzu. Orzu.” I kept doing the earth softening spells.

  My relentless casting slowed the vampire but didn’t stop him. He kept moving, occasionally darting in an unexpected direction in one of those inhumanly fast moves.

  Elron wasn’t as fast, but he closed the distance. The vampire tripped again, this time on an abandoned mask, and Elron lunged forward, his sword going through the vampire’s chest.

  The vampire wrenched himself around to face Elron. The sword had gone all the way through his body, with several inches sticking out. He hissed and leapt at Elron.

  Elron darted to the side. The hell cat ran between the two men.

  The vampire screamed, stumbled, and ran in the opposite direction of the hell cat.

  “Thank you, but I had it under control,” Elron told the cat.

  The cat darted into the shadows.

  Keeping an eye on the vampire, who was currently busy trying to get the sword out of his chest, I made my way over to Elron. “Did you miss the heart, or do you need a stake?”

  “Both.” His face set in hard lines. “Know of one?”

  The vampire couldn’t quite pull the sword out, so he leapt up, ripped an ear of corn off the stalk, and used it to push the sword out of his body.

  “Couldn’t you dismiss your sword and resummon it?” Elron’s sword was linked to him the same way my wand was linked to me.

  He nodded. “When it ceases to occupy him.”

  “Right.” I watched the vampire struggle. “What about Tricks’s sword? I think it’s still over there.”

  Elron tipped his head toward the maze. “It is.”

  “You get the sword. I’ll keep him busy.”

  That was if he ever got free of the sword. He’d pushed it as far out as he could and was trying to find a way to grab it without cutting his hands.

  Elron ran for the wooden sword.

  The spirits drifted toward the vampire.

  A vampire in a medieval dress, complete with long, flowing sleeves, appeared next to the crazy vampire. She yanked the sword out of his back.

  Narzel blast it. So much for the sword keeping him busy. “Elron!”

  She got a good grip on the hilt and lined up to take off his head. The sword vanished from her hands.

  Crazy vampire swung around and tackled her.

  I bit back a spell. With the two of them rolling around, there wasn’t much I could do.

  Elron grabbed the wooden sword off the ground.

  A flash of movement drew my attention away from the brawling vampires. Tricks ran back into the festival grounds, the hell cat riding on her shoulder. Brilliant. Just what this mess needed.

  Crazy vampire landed a right hook, dazing the medieval vampire. Before she could recover, he grabbed her and hurled her up in the air. She crested, and stated to fall, her body limp.

  “Nazid!” I caught her before she hit the ground.

  Crazy vampire darted toward the exit. A spirit flashed in front of him, sending him careening into Tricks. She stumbled, catching herself against a corn stalk. The cat jumped off of her shoulder. Crazy vampire pivoted, nostrils flaring.

  I tore my eyes away to check on Elron. He wasn’t going to make it in time.

  Crazy vampire tripped as the cat darted away.

  “Orzu!” The ground under the crazy vampire softened, and he sank into the earth. I’d forgotten about the medieval vampire I was levitating, and she zoomed through the air to stay in line with my wand. “Oops.”

  I lowered her down and ended the levitation spell. That was all the time I had for her. Crazy vampire dug his fingers into solid ground and hauled his torso out of the softened earth.

  That wouldn’t do. “Fehu.”

  The earth closed around him.

  A spirit appeared beside him. Then a second.

  Tricks ran over to me. “I shouldn’t have come back. I’m sorry. I just… This is all my fault.”

  “It’s not your fault.” Maybe, and that was a maybe on this night, she’d summoned the spirits, but the rest of this had nothing to do with her actions. When this crisis was over, I’d tell her that until she believed it.

  Elron charged the vampire, but a third spirit appeared, knocking him back. Then the fourth floated over, and they surrounded the vampire. Elron joined Tricks and I, her wooden sword still in his hand.

  “Any idea what they’re doing?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “I do not believe they can kill him.”

  “Murderer. Murderer. Murderer.” It started with a single voice, but it grew as the rest of the spirits joined. “Murderer.”

  Tricks whipped out her phone and started recording.

  “Murderer,” they shrieked, their voices overlapping until it sounded like a hundred people were screaming with them.

  The sound rose and rose until I had to cover my years. Students who’d been slow to flee gathered round, most of them watching the scene while they recorded it.

  The shriek cut off. The rightmost spirit vibrated. “Twice turned from your target, by magic of cat and ward of old, you fell upon me. Shredded and drained, you scattered my remains before the talisman that turned you away.” The spirit flashed white and vanished.

  “You hunted again, for naught but a simple drink. Magic of the cat could not hold you back. Mind warped under the strain of the ancient ward, you drained me dry.” The second spirit stopped paused before continuing. “Oh, that fateful day. Her bite you desired, your devotion she required. Staked through her heart, and none knew of you. And, so, the start.” The spirit stopped vibrating and glowed brighter and brighter until it flashed white and vanished.

  The third spirit picked up the chant. “More creature than man, you killed for your thirst. You carried me to the ward, an offering for forgiveness. A ward cannot offer forgiveness, and I have none for you.” It too flashed into nothingness.

  “Murderer,” the fourth continued. “From habit, not hunger, you killed me. Oh, the ward, the cat, how they tried, but they could not hold a crazed mind.” The last spirit vanished in the brightest flash of light.

  It took several seconds to blink away the spots from my vision. I hated verse, riddles, the lot. There were clues about exactly how and why the vampire had killed, but I’d have to translate them out of obscure riddledom to put it together.

  Elron stood over the vampire, who dug his fingers deeper into the earth in an attempt to pull himself free. Elron had both hands on the wooden sword, ready to plunge it into the vampire’s heart.

  “Wait!” I screamed. “Don’t kill him. We need to hand him over to Rodriguez.”

  Elron nodded.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  Elron went up on his toes and thrust the sword through the vampire.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “No!” I screamed, not that I could heal a staked vampire.

  Elron stepped back and summoned his sword.

  “What are you doing?” I skidded to a stop.

  “Ensuring he causes no additional problems prior to transport.” Elron took up position in line with the vampire’s neck.

  “The earth was doing that just fine.”

  “He was escaping.” Elron met my gaze with calm eyes.

  I took a moment and actually looked at the vampire. The earth around his waist was cracked. Chunks had broken free and long cracks radiated out. His fingers had sunk deep into the earth, and even now, they tightened. The wooden sword, which I’d thought had gone through the vampire’s heart, had hit too low and in the wrong spot. Judging from the angle, Elron had pushed the sword between two ribs and pinned the vampire to the earth.

  The sword would hold. It would have to be removed before the vampire could heal the wound, and by then, the authorities would be here.

  “May I behead him now?”

  I didn’t feel qualified to answer that question.

  The vampire reached for Elron’s leg. Elron slipped from his grasp, and the vampire screamed.

  “He will not recover.” The vampire in medieval dress joined us, a distasteful expression on her face. “His mind is broken. Nothing will fix him.”

  Vampire health hadn’t been a topic I studied in school. “How do you know?”

  She pointed at the enormous jack-o’-lanterns. “He tried to kill in front of a ward tonight.”

  “The pumpkins?” It was common knowledge that they warded off evil, but I’d never heard of them being particularly effective.

  “Pumpkins are new world.” She snorted. “The ancient ward? That has to be the turnip.”

  I blinked. Sure, the turnip was traditional, but they weren’t common here. It never would’ve occurred to me they were the better ward. “He doesn’t have magic to shield himself, and the wards are intact, so his mind must be broken.”

  “Precisely,” She said. “Individuals of sound mind are turned away. They don’t leave bodies before the ward.”

  Some magical expert I’d been. I had no idea pumpkins and turnips made different levels of wards.

  “This is so cool.” Tricks bounced over, still recording. “Are you going to behead him?”

  “No,” I said.

  Elron raised a brow.

  I caught his gaze and then pointedly looked at the students and teachers gathered round. “We aren’t executioners.”

  The medieval vampire sighed unnecessarily. “At least properly restrain him.”

  “Orzu.”

  His hands sank into the earth.

  “Fehu.” I solidified the earth and started a spell to hold him.

  Once I finished this spell, I wouldn’t be good for more than lighting a candle. At best. This spell took enough magic and focus, I hadn’t even tried it since recovering my power. But it would hold. It could hold a demon, and the vampire wasn’t that tough. “Obala o sowil en kannu, alkaz a esaz.”

  The shield snapped into place around the vampire, going through the earth to completely surround him.

  My arms felt heavy, and I swayed. I was down to the dregs.

  “You can’t fall.” Tricks heaved my arm over her shoulders and steadied me. “This won’t look impressive if you fall.”

  “Noted.” I dismissed my wand and got my phone. While I called Jerry, the various faculty, including Elron and the medieval vampire, moved the students away from the crazy vampire. Once Jerry was on the way, I gave Rodriguez a call. If I’d understood the spirits, the vampire here was the murderer we’d been hunting.

  When I finished with my calls, Tricks helped me sit with my back to a stalk of corn. “Thanks.”

  She grinned. “Can’t have you falling over before my birthday party.”

  “What about at it?” Which was feeling like all too real of a possibility.

  “Nope. After.” Her smile faded. “I made things worse, didn’t I?”

  A glance reassured me the vampire was still inside the shield and inside the earth. I leaned my head back. “It’s more complicated than that. Most people have no idea what they’ll do in one of these situations until they happen. Do I wish you’d run and stayed away? Yes. But if your nature is to run toward danger, you need to have the skill to improve the situation once you’re there. Elron will have ideas about that.”

  She sat next to me. “Sometimes it feels like all I do is mess up.”

  “Are you constantly repeating the same mistakes?”

  “No?”

  “Then you’re growing up, and that includes making the wrong choice so you know what not to do next time.” I sighed. “That’s true as an adult too.”

  “Ick.”

  “Yup.” I gave her a one-armed hug. “You’re doing fine. Growing up isn’t easy.”

  Sirens sounded in the distance.

  “That reminds me.” I held out my hand. “Phone. That video is evidence.”

  Tricks groaned. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  She dropped it in my hand. “So much for that.”

  “They’ll pull the video, and you’ll get it back. Besides, I thought your parents were getting you a phone.”

  Tricks paled. “Parents. Where are they? Oh, they aren’t going to be happy with me.” She jumped to her feet and raced over to Elron.

  The sirens got closer. Jerry would be here any minute, and I’d have to explain everything that had happened. It would be a little longer before Rodriguez got here, and I’d get to explain everything again. Lucky me.

  I pushed myself to my feet, every part of my body protesting the movement, and shuffled over to Elron and Tricks.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22