Page 66 of Winter Lost

Elyna had quit breathing and leaned forward, the firelight reflecting in her eyes.

“Most ghosts are just a lingering impression,” I told her. “It still can act like the original, but it is not the person who died, any more than a photograph or a video is. And that’s right and proper. I’ve seen what happens when the soul is trapped in its ghost, and I worked really hard to stop the—” Vampire, I almost said, but I thought that might lead to a digression. Frost had been a monster even among monsters. “—the creature doing that. It was an abomination.” I didn’t know how to explain the wrongness I’d felt about what Frost had done. One of his victims had been a friend of mine.

“Jack—” I fumbled as I tried to express something I sensed, something I didn’t entirely trust, in a way that would do the least harm. “His soul is trapped.”

Elyna’s face closed down, though that had been the answer she’d hoped for before I started talking. “I see.”

“Here’s where it gets unclear,” I said.

“Woo-woo,” murmured Adam with more humor than the situation called for.

“Well, yes,” I snapped. “I am going by instinct. Jack doesn’t feel like an abomination. He doesn’t feel wrong in the same way that other ghosts with souls have felt to me.” For whatever that meant. “But his soul is still stuck, and I’m very much afraid I made that permanent tonight.”

She sucked in a breath and looked away. “Ah. So, he’s really here?”

“Yes.”

“And it is bad for him.” She stared at the row of white robes on the back wall. “Is this something I have done to him? Called him back with my need and trapped him here?”

I shrugged uncomfortably. “I don’t have those answers.”

When I’d been trying to help Jack with the spider, I’d understood why that was—how something about the necromancy that kept Elyna up and moving affected what Jack was.

“Spilt milk,” said Adam briskly. “He is here. You can’t change it. Make the best of it and move forward.”

The icy wind blew through my jacket and I shivered, tucking myself closer to Adam. The fire was pretty, but it was too small and too far away to provide any warmth.

Elyna wiped her eyes and kept her face covered for a moment before she brought her hands down to her lap and straightened her back. “Thank you,” she said.

“Be careful what you ask for,” I offered.

“No,” she said. “Information is good. Speaking of which, you wanted to know about the people trapped here in the storm.”

“That’s right,” Adam said, accepting her change of subject.

“And you want to know about something someone stole? Something that you think might have some bearing on why Gary Johnson isn’t up at the ranch where he should be.”

I was keeping my chin tucked in my coat so I couldn’t see Adam’s face, but I heard the smile in his voice. “That’s right, too.”

“Maybe,” she said, “if you tell me more about your mystery, I will be more use to you.”

Fair enough.

“My brother has been cursed,” I told her. “Because of the nature of the curse, he can’t communicate. He showed up at our house yesterday. We came here looking for a way to help him. But before we can do that, we need to find an artifact—you know what those are?”

Not everyone did. There were a lot more fae in the Tri-Cities than there were most places in the US. Artifacts were mostly a fae thing.

“An artifact?” she said. “Like a fae artifact?”

“Yep,” I said, my voice wavering with the chattering of my teeth. “Well, not fae, I don’t think. But an object bound with magic.” I thought of the deal we’d made. “If we don’t find it, the being who is causing this storm isn’t going to let anyone leave here alive.”

Silence—except for the howl of the wind—hung in the air.

“There is no reason for you to freeze while we talk,” Elyna said. “Let’s go soak in the hot water.”

I glanced at Adam. He’d been treating Elyna like an ally since he’d matched her to a vampire whose story he had heard. I didn’t know if that would make him willing to share a hot tub with her. It sounded like a good idea to me. Except for the “stripping naked in subzero temperatures in a snowstorm” part.

Elyna didn’t wait for us to agree. She stood up and removed her clothing.