Page 42 of Adepts and Alchemists

I hadn’t been able to do that before Murrain’s curse hit. I’d been caught, forced to be still as every muscle clamped down in agony. It wasn’t unlike having live currents running through my body, though the results had been more gruesome than your run-of-the-mill electrocution. I was fairly certain that even the most gory industrial accident had looked like child’s play after Murrain was through with me.

Bringing Lydia back into the world wasn’t as bad as that day in her shop. But that by no means meant that it waspleasant.I’d met root canals I liked more than this spell. Of course, I understood the principle of the thing. We wanted to make the return as likely to succeed as possible. That meant you had to use natural processes to smooth the way. Unnatural creatures like zombies and vampires were warped versions of the Goddess’ plan. Birth was a natural cycle, a magic all its own. Simulating it through alchemy and good old-fashioned witch magic was the easiest path forward.

The pain began at my center and radiated outward as Lydia forced her waythroughour body, reacquainting herself with the parts that made up her physical form. I felt her snake like oil through my veins, pound along each bone, and slide between and into each organ. I felt her like a vibration against my teeth. Her teeth. Our teeth. There was an instant when I couldn’t distinguish where we ended and began.

When she began to draw away from me, it was like tugging on a superglued limb. I wanted to tug her in close and beg her not to leave me alone again. It felt natural to share this spacewith her, even if it meant I couldn’t move. I would have made that trade to make sure she was safe.

But that wasn’t the spell’s intention. It was meant to rebirth her, not re-ensoul her body. She had to go. I had to grit my teeth against a scream when she began to pull into herself. I was vaguely aware of the stuff in the kiddie pool going mad, foaming and frothing like a disgusting blender was churning through it. I had trouble making my eyes focus past the steam of tears. Only when Angelo put his hands on me again could I suck in a deep breath and actuallywatch.I could have kissed him for holding the pain at bay.

The shape began to congeal and form a humanoid shape. I had to raise a hand to shield my eyes when magic began to course through, making the stuff glow amber-red. It flickered like a flame before dimming into the shine of supple, smooth, and utterly corporeal flesh that began to spread rapidly over the gelatinous shape. It firmed before our eyes, tightening until the creature looked like a blank doll. I could have wept when shape and dimension played out over the face. Deep blue eyes settled firmly in a dewy and youthful face, her blonde hair returned to her without the taint of my witch blood to turn it dark. It was Lydia in the features and the shape of the face and body and yet… yet, it also wasn’t Lydia. It was like the plastic surgeoned version of her. And that was courtesy of the demonic power that had been within me. The demonic makeover had made her appear exotic and strange, but she was still Lydia. Just way… hotter.

Angelo shoved me firmly into the empty kiddie pool, lunging to catch her before she could collapse face-first on top of us. I might have felt indignant about that on another day. Now, I could only blink streaming eyes up at her and croak, “Lydia?”

She smiled back down at me, positively glowing with good health. “In the flesh, thanks to you.”

I hurled myself at her. I only managed to wrap my arms around her legs, but it was enough. I let out a soft sob, not caring who heard. Lydia’s arms went around my neck, squeezing me to her with a soft laugh. I didn’t even mind when Angelo’s arms ended up around us both, crushing us to a ridiculously sculpted and bare chest. Though I did mind when she began fondling said chest right in front of me. Some things should be reserved for the after party.

Lydia buried her face in my hair. Tears soaked into my scalp and her voice wasn’t quite steady when she breathed against my skin.

“I missed you too, you big softie,” she crooned, petting my hair. I let her.

After all, it’s not often you actually win one.

Chapter Twenty-one

Indigo

Two Weeks Later

“This is outrageous,” I hissed into the phone’s receiver. “Unjust! Cruel, even!”

“You’re being covered in rhinestones, not stoned to death,” Lydia shot back from the other end of the line. I could tell the heartless girl was smiling as she spoke. She was probably kicking the strappy heels she’d bought to show off to Angelo behind her as she stuffed her nose into an absurdly large book. It was her way.

“I’mpink!” I raged into the phone. “Wearing pink spandex at my age should be a capital crime!”

Lydia’s laugh trilled over the line. Absurdly, it made me feel better. The fact that she was alive, even if she was a patchwork crime against nature, was nothing short of a miracle. I’d begun to approach the Goddess in worship again after so many years of skulking in the shadows. A feat this large could only happen through determined witches and divine intervention. I could handle a bit of gentle ribbing if it meant I didn’t have to face the alternative.

“Do you think I look bad in pink?” she asked. I could hear the suppressed mirth in her voice. It warmed something in my chest. She was alive. Alive and laughing at me, but still. “I mean, it is my original body. I’m in the upgrade. You’re stuck with the prototype. Is it everything you wanted, or is it defective because it can’t pull off magenta?”

I scuffed the toe of the spiked boot I’d been given on the hardwood floor. I was pacing the foyer of a dusty colonial home while I fielded this call. It had been done up in shlock B-movie style, complete with monsters that would lunge out at you from shadowy corners. It was late afternoon and the vampires whoran the place weren’t up yet. I was even early for the daytime staff, who didn’t begin setting things up until five o’clock.

The haunted house had started as a way to plausibly deny any monster tales circulating around the Hollow. It had transformed into a sort of halfway home for wayward creatures. Anyone who wanted temporary lodging while they passed through or a place to stay when they had none settled here. A witch had sold the idea that a traveling circus had broken down on Main Street in a desperate attempt to explain dragons, sirens, and other creepy crawlies that had spilled out of a faerie portal. The result was a permanent fixture of a big top full of monsters in the colonial’s backyard. It had been a hit from the moment it had been established. The transplants from our sister Hollow, Misty Hollow, had set up trailers for their people on site, and I’d been invited to room with an oversexed imp named Anne. She’d been the one to select my outfit.

My verypinkoutfit.

“No,” I said with a sigh. “You don’t look bad in magenta.”

With the addition of the succubus that had glommed onto her soul, Lydia looked good in just about everything. I had to admit that it was a little undignified to find myself the ‘ugly’ stepsister. We explained away the small differences between our physical appearances, claiming we were fraternal twins. I had to admit, I liked that part. It was like having a family again. If I could find and free Estelle and Livinia from Murrain’s grasp, I might feel...happy.Perish the thought. It was just sad that my newfound kin was hotter than I was. Lydia’s body was plenty attractive, but I wasn’t literally part sex demon. Koloth, sure, though even that had dwindled. She’d soaked up most of the demonic energy I’d absorbed, leaving me with greater control over water and shadow, thanks to the kelpie and hag respectively.

Which was why I was in pink. It popped against the shadowy show I’d been hired to put on. The rhinestone-studded bodice would pop against all the undulating darkness. I would insist on red next time. It just wasn’t my color, regardless of what looked good on Lydia’s body. I was the least pink person on the planet. I didn’t bubble, prance, or blush. I was a fucking witch, and that meant I had an obligation to wear more distinguished shades when on stage.

“Good. Because I found this mauve teddy at Wanda’s show, and I wouldn’t want to disappoint Angelo when I model it tonight.”

I rolled my eyes. “As if you need to spend hundreds at that shop. Angelo would still ravish you even if you approached him in a garbage bag and oversized clown shoes.”

Another laugh bubbled into my ear, and I bit my cheek to contain an answering smile. I wasn’t a smiley person, but I found myself doing it more and more. The relief of being stationed in a Hollow with winter sentries that the Queen Regent trusted was incredible. Taliyah had finally taken Fox’s advice and given her royal guard something to do. It meant that the Hollow was safer now than it had ever been before. I was in the closest thing to a fortress I could find. So perhaps I should have stopped bitching about the bodice and ruffled skirts.

Even if they were pink.