“Unfortunately, neither of them are here,” she replied.
“Aw, crap.”
She frowned. “Is there something I can help you with?”
My gaze drifted around, and I saw a couple other statues at the outskirts of the warehouse. One looked like a goblin, another a dwarf, and still another an elf. It was a bizarre collection of sculptures, and I had to wonder if Callie had decided to create some sort of artwork to represent all of the various magical creatures. The notion was strange, but then again, we were dealing with witches.
“I need those two,” I said. “I think they’re going to be the most helpful for what I need.”
The witch nodded knowingly. “I see. Well, if it’s them you need, I could send word, or Callie could probably do it more quickly.”
I sighed. With Medusa and Styx out, we were going to have to leave Callie in this state a little longer. I didn’t care for the idea of her being possessed by the desire demon, and I thought that if I could pull out the demon a bit faster, then perhaps we could get on with things.
Besides, I had my own issues. Find the Thelemic Guild. Find Nora. Stop Saxon. All of those were things that I needed to do, and I felt like I was staying so far away from all of them—and unfortunately, not getting any closer to the entire reason that I had gone to magic in the first place.
I headed back to Callie’s room. If we were sending word, I thought that I could do so more easily than the witches could. I knew of one way that might expedite things.
When I pulled open the door, I found Callie rattling the head of the bed, trying to break free of the handcuffs. “What happened?” I asked.
“I think she was mad you left,” Lilah said.
I shook my head. “We need to stop this.”
“Be my guest,” said Mumbles.
“Lilah, can you send your paper cranes to Medusa and Styx?”
“Why do we need them?” Callie asked. “Am I not enough for you? They’d better not lay a hand on you.”
“Of course not,” I said, looking at Callie. “I’m just suggesting they could come and celebrate with us.”
She grinned. “They would be pleased. I know how much they like you.”
“Great,” I said.
“Are you sure about this?” Lilah asked.
“Unfortunately. I think we’re going to need all the help that we can get at pulling this damn thing out of her.”
5
I opened the window, letting a gust of wind blow in. The cool air helped me, but it was also helpful because the air in the small bedroom had grown stale with the four of us there. Plus, it seemed to affect the desire demon. It made Callie a little bit more agitated, and I had begun to think that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I wanted her agitated, if only so that we could chase the desire demon out. We needed to make the host uncomfortable.
“What do you suggest?” Lilah asked.
“An anchor,” I said. “We have to bring Callie out, which means we have to figure out some way of calling to her and avoiding the effect of the demon.”
The problem was that I didn’t know quite how to do it. I looked around the room. Maybe there was something here that might help…
Her paintings.
Callie had taken to painting recently and really had gotten creative. I grabbed one, which reminded me somewhat of St. Mary’s Unorthodox Church. There was an inverted cross atop the building she had painted and a shadow sweeping around outside. That was slightly gothic, but not at all surprising, given Callie. I set that near her. I gathered some of the other paintings, one with a smattering of color—it looked like modern art, but I suspected it had meaning to her. Another looked like a pair of doorways, and it reminded me of what she had painted for me in the binding trial. There was another that was a still life, apples and bananas. I placed all of those around Callie’s bed, wanting to give her something to anchor to.
“These are lovely,” I said to Callie.
“I could paint you something even better,” she said. “I could paint you something that would truly signify my love.”
“I think these are great.”
Lilah had finished folding her cranes, and as she held them out the window, she whispered something to them. I knew that the cranes would fly quickly, and once they reached the other two witches, it was a matter of the witches teleporting here. Hopefully, we wouldn’t have to wait too much longer, especially as I didn’t want to have to deal with Callie like this.
“Music,” Lilah said.
I looked at her. “What was that?”
“Music. She loves music, doesn’t she?”
“That’s a great thought.” I pulled on my phone and opened a music app. “What kind of music do you want?” I asked Callie.
“Whatever you’re in the mood for. Probably something that would speak to my love for you.”
I knew that wasn’t quite right, and given the music that I remembered her listening to during the binding trials, that wasn’t all the kind of music that she would listen to while doing her creative work. I had to find something alternative to fit Callie’s personality and mood. As I scrolled through my options, I came across an album that seemed like it might fit. It was local, but maybe for Callie, that would be good enough.
When the music started playing, however, she frowned at me. “I hate that band.”
“Really?” Lilah asked. “The Howling Dwarves are great.”
“I used to think so before I met Leo.”
I let the music keep playing.
It was a bit harsh, heavy on the guitars, and every so often, a horn blared in the middle of it. I had seen them playing once, though it wasn’t the kind of music I usually sought out.
Callie tried to pull free, jerking on the headboard, but it didn’t work.
“What about her music?” Mumbles asked.
“There you go,” I said. “Having a good idea.” I scrolled through, came up with the Hex Sells album, and started playing it.
Callie frowned.
“What’s going on?” a voice asked from the doorway.
I spun to see Medusa standing there, her guitar slung over her back. She had a purple silk band around her eyes, and her wild, deep-green locks settled along her shoulders. She hunched forward slightly, as if trying to conceal her height. Styx stood behind her, holding a pair of drumsticks, her shaggy dark hair and heavy eyeliner making her look as gothic as Callie’s painting.
“Unfortunately, Callie was affected by one of her spells,” I said. “I’m trying to pull it off of her, but it’s going to take extra help. I thought the two of you might be able to ground her.”
“Ground?” Medusa asked.
“She needs an anchor,” I explained.
“What’s that?”
“Something that can hold her here. We have to pull the desire demon off her.”
“Oh,” Styx said.
“You know the spell?”
She nodded. “Callie told me about that one when she made it. It took quite a bit of power. Not too many of us can do it, but she could. She made a lot of money off of those.”
“And now she’s been affected by it,” I said.