Thirteen (Otherworld 13)

"You can see him, right?" I said.

She nodded.

"Good," I said. "So now he's going to talk and you're going to tell me what he says."

"I want out."

"Which he'll do, as soon as you've helped me talk to him."

She turned her dark eyes to me. "So you can't hear him?"

"No."

She smiled. "Then I have him all to myself." She looked up and said, "Get me out of here."

My father managed to trick her into passing on a message, telling me to demand to call Lucas, but after that, she caught on. She whined at him that she wasn't stupid and he was supposed to help her, with me. Then she started to wail.

"Ignore her," Jaime croaked as I tried to calm the old woman. "I can hear him better now."

I got up and went over to Jaime. My father must have followed, because the woman let out a scream of frustrated rage. She flung her hands out and shouted something I didn't catch.

Then she smiled and lowered herself to the floor and started mumbling to herself.

"Shit," Jaime muttered. "She's not crazy. Or not only crazy. She's a necromancer."

"What?"

"She just banished your father."

"Without vervain?"

"She used a nastier method. One I've never learned because I don't want to be tempted to use it. It knocks a spirit through dimensions."

"Shit!" I leaped to my feet and looked around.

"Don't worry, Savannah. Your dad will find his way back. Or your mom will track him down."

"Can you let her know?"

She shook her head. "Not now. When she's on assignment, I can't call."

I wanted to argue that this was an emergency, but I trusted Jaime wouldn't let my father suffer unnecessarily. Okay, she might, but only if my mother wouldn't find out about it, which in this case, she eventually would.

"All right," I said. "My father was telling me to go ahead and demand my phone call. I'm not sure I like the sound of that, but . . ."

"He wouldn't suggest that if it wasn't safe. So go ahead. Try to flag someone down."

The hall had been empty since I'd arrived. I walked over and leaned against the bars, but couldn't see anything. I started casting a sensing spell, then stopped. I shouldn't automatically reach for a magical solution when mundane methods would do the job. Now that I was the spell-powered equivalent of a twelve-year-old, I had to conserve all the juice I had. And, I suppose, it was a good rule in general.

So I called for a guard. When no one answered, I shouted. When still no one came, I started the sensing spell again. Stopped again. Walked over to Jaime. "Do you have a mirror?" I asked.

"They took my purse and patted me down."

I stood there, waiting, until she sighed and pulled a necklace from under her blouse. It was a locket. I popped it open. On one side was a tiny picture of Jeremy. On the other, a mirror.

I shook my head. "With some people, it's hidden weapons. With you, mirrors."

She pulled a face.