“It’s good to see you, too. And it’s good to see you looking so . . . happy.”

He was referring to my flushed, post-make-out-session appearance, obviously. My blush deepened as Rebecca turned away from the dishes that she’d been washing in the kitchen sink.

“Oh. Do you two know each other, Amelia?” she asked, clearly surprised.

“Uh . . . yeah,” I replied awkwardly. “He was . . . at that party that Jillian picked me up from in New Orleans. Felix was one of the nice guys.”

“Yeah, that’s how we met, too,” Annabel offered, slipping her arm around Felix’s waist. I watched her do so, confused until it hit me: Felix had arrived with Annabel. And they were . . . dating? Felix noticed my confusion, and his grin widened.

“Annabel brought me for moral support,” he explained. While Rebecca wasn’t looking, Felix used his free, non-Annabel-occupied hand to make air quotes around the phrase “moral support.” The two of them winked meaningfully at me, and I finally understood: Annabel must have contacted Felix for help this weekend, and he had tagged along under the pretense of being her new boyfriend. Funny, they seemed awfully cozy for a fake couple.

“That’s sweet of you,” Rebecca said, her voice once again muffled by the sounds of clanking dishes. “Just so you kids know: there’s going to be a big family dinner tonight, up at the community center. Y’all are welcome to eat with us, but we figured that you teenagers would want to spend some time away from all the adults. Considering . . . what we have to do tomorrow.”

The mood among the young Seers grew solemn for a moment. No matter what we had planned for Saturday, tomorrow’s first order of business would be Ruth’s funeral—an event that no one had expected to attend. Not yet, anyway.

Annabel broke the melancholy silence first, shifting forward from the island and gesturing to the rest of us. “That’s a good idea, Aunt Rebecca. I think we’ll all go outside to talk about what we want to do tonight.”

Annabel made a sort of round-’em-up circle with one hand. In various states of enthusiasm and reluctance, the rest of us followed her down the back hallway and out onto the patio. Annabel waited until the back door had shut solidly behind Drew and Hayley before she turned toward us with an intent expression. But before she spoke, she caught my eye.

“Okay if I talk about my ideas for Saturday?” she asked me. “Jillian’s already briefed us on what happened the last two times you guys tried to fight the demons.”

I blinked back, startled. Then, for lack of anything better to do, I nodded at her and resisted the urge to say “proceed.”

Now that she apparently had permission, Annabel settled against a deck chair and shifted her messenger bag forward. I’d assumed it was a purse, but as she began to remove strange, witchy-looking items from it, I realized that the bag served as some sort of supply kit. None of the items themselves—candles, spell books, etc.—really surprised me. Not until she pulled out a wide-mouthed jar full of what looked like gray powder.

“Seer dust?” I hissed. “Seriously? After everything that you guys did at Christmas, and after last week’s disaster in the netherworld, you still think Seer dust is a good idea?”

Annabel shook her head. “Not Seer dust, Amelia. Transfer Powder.”

Sensing my confusion, Joshua tugged me closer to him and then leaned forward, toward his cousins. “What exactly is Transfer Powder?”

“Well, it’s kind of a new invention,” Felix interjected. “We used Voodoo and some Seer spells to create this powder. In fact, Marie even helped.” He flashed a brief smile that was both mischievous and a little sad. “After I convinced her that she needed me to rid the Conjure Café of its ‘wandering spirit.’ Apparently, Gaby broke a lot of expensive bottles while she was invisible.”

I almost grinned in spite of myself. “What does the powder do?” I asked, moving cautiously toward Annabel and her mysterious offering.

Still keeping eye contact with me, Annabel lowered her head and smiled darkly. “It transfers supernatural power, from the dead to the living. If you and I both ingest this in a Seer circle and say the right spells, then I should be able to absorb whatever power you’re exhibiting at the time. So for instance, if you go invisible when we both take the powder, we should both be able to turn invisible.”

“Neat trick,” I murmured, reaching out gingerly to touch the surface of the glass jar.

“Yeah, but not all that helpful. You see, what we really need is the one thing that Ruth got right about her attack: the one thing that can turn you into a weapon.”

With a wave of her hand, Annabel gestured at all of me, from my head to the toes of my boots. The gesture meant something, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what. Until suddenly, I could. Then I smiled, too.

“Glow,” I whispered. “If you all take the powder, then you’ll all be able to glow.”

Chapter

TWENTY-ONE

After some debate, Annabel and I agreed that we couldn’t practice with everyone—there just wasn’t enough Transfer Powder to go around. So that evening, after the older Mayhews gathered at the community center for the dinner, the young Seers and I drove to Robber’s Cave Park, where we could test the powder without too many witnesses.

We found a relatively secluded fire pit, a good distance into the woods—far enough away from the nearest campgrounds that no one could see our fire burning under the moonless sky, or even hear us scream. Still, I feared that someone might wander past. I paced nervously around the edge of the clearing until Annabel finally shut the spell book she’d been consulting and set it beside her on the rock bench where she’d been sitting.

“Okay,” she said in a commanding tone. “Now that it’s full dark, shall we get started?”

“Yes, let’s shall,” Hayley mimicked, and then composed her smile into something more serious when Annabel shot her a disapproving glare. Taking that as their cue, everyone formed a circle around me as I took my place in front of the fire.

The young Seers linked hands, drawing together until they all stood only a foot from me. Quietly, they began to chant—strange words that would bind and give strength to the spell. I thought that Annabel would be the test subject. But to my surprise, Joshua broke free of the circle and joined me at its center, holding a small handful of Transfer Powder.

“I don’t think—,” I started, but Joshua cut me off with a shake of his head.

“Who could make a better guinea pig than me?” he joked, offering me his powder-free hand. Not knowing what else to do, I took it and pulled him closer to me.

“I don’t like this, Joshua.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?” When I quirked the corner of my mouth, he laughed softly. “I know, I know: everything. But I’m willing to try, if you are.”

I hesitated, tugging nervously on my bottom lip with my teeth. Then I lifted my other hand and allowed Joshua to pour half of the powder into it. Once we both held a palmful, I glanced over my shoulder at Annabel, who stood to my right and slightly behind me. She didn’t stop chanting but she jerked her head at us—apparently, as a signal to move forward with the ritual.

Holding tight to both Joshua and the powder, I closed my eyes and began to whisper my own sort of chant. I ran the word “glow” through my mind like a song. Like a prayer. But the longer I prayed, the more I felt like I was wasting my time. I released a deep sigh and opened my eyes.