The voices rose in their chant and Heddy took a step toward me. She slipped a long, narrow sword out of the sleeve of her robe. I unfortunately recognized it as the Sword of Bethesda—a sweet little instrument of death that had once before been used in an attempt to gut me. I slid away as Heddy brought the knife dangerously close to my ear.
“Wait!” I held up my hands and looked from girl to girl to Heddy. “It’s obvious I’m not getting out of here. So just tell me why. Tell my why you took Kayleigh if you already had Alyssa?”
“Alyssa was worthless,” Heddy spat. “Not even as a morsel to appease the Dark One. But Kayleigh . . .” Her eyes glittered with a hunger so fierce it shot ice water through my veins. “She’s the key.”
Kayleigh began trembling, her whimpering more panicked.
“The key to what?”
Heddy ran her tongue over her teeth, forcing a grotesque smile. “The key to this world and the next. The key to finally freeing me from this plane. She is the key to Heaven and Hell. The keeper of souls.” Her voice had gone from secretary sweet to a grainy, desperate pitch. She bellowed something else and the swirling vortex in front of her expanded and rose, reacting to her voice like a hellish version of Fantasmic. And maybe it was me being mesmerized by the swirling vortex or me waiting for a savior, but I didn’t register what she said until right that very moment.
“Wait. Do you mean the Vessel of Souls? That Kayleigh is the Vessel of Souls?”
Heddy couldn’t hide her surprise—then her disdain. “What do you know about the Vessel?”
“I know that it’s the preternatural Vessel—not key—that houses all human souls in what we know as limbo.”
I widened my stance and crossed my arms over my chest, shooting her my best “beat that” expression. Heddy seemed to shrink considerably.
“Wikipedia?” she asked, eyes narrowed.
“I also know that Kayleigh is not the Vessel. If you use Kayleigh, you’re going to fail again.”
Heddy seemed to regain a little of her bravado and she narrowed her eyes into angry little slits. “And how do you know that?”
I caught my reflection as the vortex swirled and blew my hair around my shoulders, which were thrown back and strong. The leather that seemed to chafe and pucker hours ago was like a second skin now and all I saw was me—and my power. My “bulging thighs” were pillars of strength. My belly disappeared as I stood up tall.
“Because I’m the Vessel of Souls.”
I guess I thought the vortex would swirl and rise to the voice of its rightful owner or at the very least, suck Heddy the infidel in, but nothing happened.
And then it did.
Heddy’s eyes started to tear and wrinkle. She doubled over and held herself. Then she howled like a hyena. She laughed so hard that tears rolled down her face.
“Oh, Sophie. Do you think I don’t remember you from high school?” she said when she regained her composure. “You were a lovable dolt back then. Now you’re just nosy, delusional, and frankly, kind of a bitch. You’re not the Vessel of Souls. Kayleigh’s father is the most powerful witch in a hundred years. The Vessel needs protection like that. Careful watching over. Who watched over you? Your nutcase Grandma?” Heddy took a step toward me. “The Vessel comes from a place of power, Sophie. Kayleigh has that power.” Heddy looked down at the terrified, trembling girl and huffed. “Though you wouldn’t be able to tell it now. It’s in her blood. You have no one. You’re worth nothing. Never were, never will be.” She grinned, her teeth gray and pointed in the dim light. “High school never ends.”
I felt myself bristle. My insides roiled and heat shot through me, rage invading my every cell.
“You don’t know a thing about power, Heddy. What it is, or where it comes from. People don’t watch over me, they guard me. And while Kayleigh’s dad may be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat? My dad can drag you to hell, where you belong.”
Before I had a chance to think, my boot was square in the center of Heddy’s chest as she was vaulting backward, screaming as the vortex sucked her in and closed around her.
The girls’ screaming started when the door to the room was vaulted open. Will crashed in and the girls ran out, dropping their candles and stripping out of their robes as they did. Paramedics pressed in behind him, rushing to Kayleigh. I vaulted over them and followed Will out the door.
“Miranda killed Bud,” I huffed. “We have to find her!”
It didn’t take long. She had cut across the back hall and was already on the first floor, reaching for the double doors when they flew open in a haze of licking flames and smoke.
“Another witch?” Will asked me.
“Where is he?”
I took a step forward, coughing and squinting. “Kale?”
She was outlined in a crackling flames. Her hair was wild and her face was drawn. Eyebrows pressed into a furious V. Eyes as black as night.
And she was talking to Miranda.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Miranda said coolly.
Kale’s nostrils flared and I half-expected steam to come shooting out of them. She took a step forward and Miranda’s hand went up. Her lips were moving and I knew from watching Kale and Lorraine that she was chanting.