The Devil's Third (8 page)

He opened his eyes and the corner of his mouth curled. “God, you’re stubborn.” He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “All right.” He pulled out of the crowded parking lot and headed to his house.

Chapter Seven

Paige

I sat on the brown couch, watching Nathan pull a grimoire from the cherry wood book-shelf. We were at his house in a hidden room within a hidden room.

On the way here, I’d talked Nathan into stopping at a sandwich shop for subs to take back with us. Every muscle in his body turned to steel as we waited for our sandwiches to be made. I saw why when I noticed the girl assembling them had the same dime size mark on her neck as Carrie. It was a three-dimensional spiral, forming a conch shell–a self-protection mark a mortal received after an immortal cast a dark spirit out. It locked her body from ever having further spiritual possession again.

It surprised me to see somebody who didn’t look a day older than fifteen bear that mark. Maybe that’s why Nathan was on edge because of her youth, and she wasn’t soulless. If I concentrated really hard I could hear her soul’s low vibrations. It had a gentle yet chaotic sound, like waves lapping against a harbor wall. It made me sad to know she had a good heart yet issues hampered her life which probably drove her to dabble in the dark arts. But then again, it could have been something else. I didn’t know, but whatever it was, I hoped she would work through it and be okay.

Now, as I finished my veggie sub, I shoved all thoughts of the young girl aside and focused on the task at hand. Nathan owned seven grimoires he’d collected over the years and knew what each one entailed. The one he chose for me was the only one he thought would be the most helpful in Carrie’s situation.

“There’s a section in here,” he said, fanning the pages to find it, “on dream walking.”

“What’s dream walking?”

“Here it is.” He caught the page with his fingers and sat beside me, placing the book in my lap. “It’s when you enter somebody’s dream and interact with the person.”

I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear and looked at the open pages. They were yellowed from age, and the elegant penmanship looked ancient, scripted with a quill rather than a fountain or ballpoint pen. On the bottom of the page was a carefully hand-drawn picture of a man lying on a bed of straw.

My eyes skimmed the text, hungry for an easy way to accomplish this. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what I had hoped for. Of course not. Everything in my life had to be complicated. The text was informative but detailed. In order to dream walk, you had to practice lucid dreaming so you’d be aware you were dreaming. It could take months, possibly years to master, the author stated, but it could be done.

Great. This was going to be much more difficult than I thought. There had to be another way. There just had to be.

I continued to read the grimoire as my mind wheeled through alternatives. Nathan had said Pippins was skilled at the workings of the human mind. I wondered if there was a way he could still help us. “Have you followed up on that lead about Pippins’ whereabouts?” I asked.

Nathan pulled his phone out of his pants pocket and rose. “No. But . . .” He trailed off. Caught by his abrupt silence, I looked at him. He stared at his phone with a blank expression on his face. “Damn.”

“What?” That didn’t sound good.

He sighed. “I was hoping he still resided in Washington.”

“And?” I prompted when he fell silent, his eyes drifting to his phone again.

He frowned. “He’s in England.”

I had the sudden urge to scream but balled my hands into fists instead, willing myself not to. All I could think about was why couldn’t we get a frickin’ break? Pippins was our only hope to wipe Aosoth’s memories from Carrie’s mind. I knew he couldn’t help us while she was in a coma, but still. Unless . . .

“Do you think Pippins could tell us what to do over the phone?”

Nathan thumbed through his messages. He paused on one. “How could I have missed these last two?” he mumbled to himself. “I had the phone in my pocket the whole time. You’d think I would have felt or heard it vibrating.”

“Who are they from?” My stomach clenched.
Please don’t be more bad news.
He smiled, and my heart skipped.

“They’re from Pip. He wants me to get online so we can video chat.” Nathan moved to his desk and opened his laptop.

“Are you serious?” I’d never chatted by video before and had no idea Nathan knew how.

“Have you ever done this?” I set the grimoire aside to watch him, thinking maybe Pippins could help us after all. Things were definitely looking up now, and I could feel the excitement bubbling inside me.

“Plenty of times,” Nathan answered, flashing me a heart stopping smile. “I’m surprised Pip even owns a computer since he’s an old school type of guy.” He sat and clicked on his Skype account. I watched as he entered Pippins into his contact list.

“Is his real name Pippins?”

Nathan shook his head and laughed. “No. It’s his middle name. His birth name is actually Cornelius.” He glanced at me, his dark blue eyes twinkling. “But don’t ever call him that. He loathes his name.”

I smiled, feeling in good spirits. “You should ask him if he needs T.P. for his bunghole.”

Nathan stared at me, completely clueless.

“Omigod. Haven’t you ever watched
Beavis and Butt-Head
?”

The corner of his mouth lifted, and he shook his head.

I rolled my eyes. “Never mind,” I said when he turned his attention back to the computer.

He entered Pippins’ information, then just like that, Pippins popped onscreen.

“Nathan!” he said. “How the bloody hell are you, old chap?” Pippins looked like he could be in his mid-twenties. His dishwater blond hair disheveled, framing a scholarly type of face. I imagined if he were still mortal, he’d be wearing wire spectacles.

“Hello, Pip. I’m sorry to cut to the chase, but I need your help,” Nathan said.

“Of course, dear boy, but may I ask who this little bird is behind you?”

Little bird?

“Oh, excuse me. This is Paige, my girlfriend.” Nathan reached around and pulled me onto his lap. I’d never heard him call me his girlfriend before, but I liked it. A lot.

“Hi, Pippins,” I said with a little wave.

“Hiya there, Paige.” He smiled and winked. “Now, what can I help you two with?”

“My best friend has some horrible memories that need to be wiped out, but the thing is she’s in a coma.”

“Oh, my.” The corner of Pippins’ mouth pulled down.

“I’m afraid she’s trapped in those memories,” I continued. “Can you tell me what to do so I can help her? I read about dream walking. Is it possible for me to do it?” I realized I was rambling, but my sudden anxiety overwhelmed me. I had to know if Carrie was okay and help her if I could. Right now that was the most important thing to me. Screw the incantations. They could wait, whereas Carrie couldn’t. For all I knew she could be stuck in hell.

Pippins wiped a hand across his face and ran his fingers through his hair. “The human mind is tricky and complex.” He sighed. “But it is possible to enter other people’s dreams. However, it takes considerable discipline and practice to accomplish.”

“But I don’t have time,” I said, hearing the panic in my voice.

“Okay, love. I need to know more about you and what you’re capable of.”

Nathan and I both told him everything we could about me. Of course we didn’t tell him about Solomon’s power residing inside me or that I could communicate with animals or about the incantations. We did tell him about me performing the rite of consciousness but were vague with the details. When we mentioned it, Pip’s doubtful mood shifted to a perky one. A hopeful excitement surged through me, causing my heart to race.

“Crikey, Paige, I think you can bloody hell sort it,” he said. “The rite of consciousness is your ticket in.”

“Are you serious?” I almost couldn’t believe it. Finally, we got a break.

I thought it would be complicated, and we were going to have to take notes or have him stay online and guide me through it, but I was wrong. Pippins told me all I had to do was think about Carrie as I executed the rite of consciousness. Also, I had to be in a place where there were no disturbances and orchestrate it within a sacred circle with four candles representing the four corners. It was for protection, he told us, in case I encountered some
dodgy
spirits.

“How do you know Carrie is in the spiritual realm?” I asked, thinking about what my grandmother had told me, my blood running cold.

What if Carrie’s astral body had withdrawn from her physical one? What if she was trapped on the etheric level in the dark region where the dark spirits roamed? This could be worse than I thought.

“Of course she’s in the spiritual realm, love.” He said it as if I should have known that, like, duh, bacon comes from pigs. I knew he wasn’t being rude because he sounded more surprised than sarcastic. “And since her conscious mind is shut down, you can assist her into eradicating those awful memories.”

“But how? I don’t understand.” The panic rose in my voice again. Nathan wrapped his arms around me. “How could she have had nightmares from those memories yet be in the spiritual realm? I didn’t think our spirits disconnected from our bodies every night.”

He held up his hand. “We go through five cycles a night. During REM there is a high level of brain activity. This stage is associated with dreaming. The thalamus and the cerebral cortex are responsible for most thought processes.”

I squirmed against Nathan, feeling anxious and restless. I hope Pippins wasn’t going to seriously lecture us on the mechanics of the brain and why we sleep. I didn’t give a flying flip about it. I just needed a clear, short answer, so I could get on with this. Thank God Nathan was on the same page as me.

“You sleep so your body can repair and go through detoxifi--”

“Pip,” Nathan said. “I don’t mean to be rude, but isn’t there an easier way to answer Paige’s question without getting into a detailed, scientific explanation?”

I noticed Pippins’ cheeks coloring. “Right,” he said. “My apologies.” He touched his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat. “Simply put, you experience both while you’re asleep but not simultaneously.”

“Okay, but what happens if Carrie isn’t in the spiritual realm?”
If I could even get there
, I thought.

 I’d only done the rite of consciousness twice. The first time I failed, and the second time I somehow ended up observing a secret meeting the dark spirits were having, which might had been a fluke. But then I remembered my grandmother telling me I had the ability to unlock the door to the spiritual realms connected to this one. So maybe I could pull it off.

He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. “You call to her and her spirit will respond. Once she does, it’ll be up to you to guide her through the process of plucking those unwanted memories.” He went on to explain the steps, warning me of potential danger of unforeseen events that might occur. But despite his caveat, he seemed rather optimistic about it, stating since Carrie would be interacting with me on a subconscious level instead of a conscious one, it would make it a lot easier to tap into those memories.

After Nathan and I thanked him and said our goodbyes, promising to pay him a visit when we were in England and to let him know how things went, Nathan started gathering candles. I rolled the rug over to the couch, unveiling a black pentagram painted on the concrete floor. There were cool markings inside the points of the star that looked like ancient Rune symbols.

Nathan placed the four candles where they were supposed to be around the circle. The green one representing earth, he placed on the north side of the circle. The yellow one standing for air went on the east. The red one depicting fire went on the south, and the blue candle symbolizing water went on the west. He then filled a small copper bowl with salt.

“You’re going to have to incorporate the rite of consciousness ritual with invoking this pentagram,” Nathan told me, pulling his Athame from a wooden trunk that looked like it belonged on a pirate’s ship. The artificial light in the room glanced off the silver blade when he handed it to me. My fingers tingled as soon as the knife touched it. “I have some of the incense you made out of sandalwood, cypress, and pine resin. You’ll need to burn it to increase your psychic powers.” He dug into the trunk and pulled out a small wooden box. “Here are the incense and matches.” He set it outside the circle and closed the trunk.

Looking at all this stuff made my stomach churn. I had no idea how to conduct this ritual, and as I watched Nathan fluttering around, knowing the exact procedure, my confidence began to dwindle.

“How am I going to know what to do?” I asked, rubbing my thumb over the smooth black handle of the Athame.

Nathan handed me a black book with a pentagram etched into the cover. “This
Book of Shadows
shows you how.”

I set the Athame on the couch and flipped open the book. Sure enough, the instructions were there. I read through them a few times while Nathan finished his sandwich. I realized we were lacking some things mentioned in this book and how methodical it was going to be to cast a circle. I wondered if there was a quicker way, so I asked Nathan.

“Considering your abilities and circumstances, I think there is.” He finished his Coke and placed the paper cup in the plastic bag our subs came in. “But you need to follow your instincts and perform this ritual by what feels right to you.”

Great. Just what I wanted to hear.

He pulled me into his arms. I sighed against his chest, curling my arms around his waist. But then I pulled back when I realized he hadn’t mentioned taking part in any of this. I thought at least he’d help me with casting a circle. “Wait a minute. Aren’t you going to help?” I didn’t like the idea of me going through this on my own. I mean, what if I totally screwed up? Maybe I should have taken notes when Pip verbally illustrated the tasks to follow in order to help Carrie. No. Nathan was my safety blanket, and I needed him here.