Bone Cold: A Soul Shamans Novel (Volume 2) by Cady Vance Read Free Book Online Page B

this.”
    I didn’t have the energy to argue. Instead, I strode through the front door that swung eerily on cracked hinges and glanced around at the high-vaulted ceilings and looming staircase. Everything was quiet and still. But cold.
    Suddenly, a cloud of bitter wind swept into the hallway, knocking over an antique vase and smashing it to the ground. I reached out and took Laura’s hand in mine, gritting my teeth against a supernatural onslaught we couldn’t see. None of it made any sense, but Jason was right. A spirit was here.
    Laura and I didn’t have time to cast a binding spell. Instead, I dropped to the floor while Laura chanted against the wind whipping through the room. I drew the rune onto the flapping parchment and lit the match, but the flickering flame died against the wind. There was no way we’d be able to cast the spell that would let us enter the Borderland. Not like this.
    “Outside!” I yelled to Laura, and we pushed against the wind until we were back out on the front lawn, gasping for breath and wiping the hair out of our eyes.
    “So,” George said, and I jumped. “You’ve got yourselves a demon.”
    “Yeah, that’s an accurate description,” I said, dropping onto the grass and rustling through my bag. We’d have to enter the Borderland out here before confronting the spirit inside the house. That was the one annoying thing about shamanism. I wished I could toss some fireballs at the spirit’s head, but instead, we had to take our time, draw runes, and wander around tossing bones everywhere we went.
    I was definitely no Wolverine.
    “No, I mean an actual demon.” George’s hand found her necklace as she watched me dump my collection of candles onto the grass. “You should probably just leave him alone, or you’ll piss him off.”
    I gave George a sharp look, frowning at where she lounged against a tree that had been stripped of all its leafy dressings. Now that she was away from Wanda, she looked as if she was lazing about on the beach instead of talking about evil creatures that lived on another plane of existence.
    “Listen, I guess since you’re in this you’re in this.” My hands found a black candle, and I tossed it to Laura. “That thing in there is called a spirit. Not a ghost. Not a demon. A spirit. If we don’t banish it, then it’ll suck the life out of whoever lives in that house. That happens to include Jason, one of my only friends in this town.”
    “You just have to get the balance right.” George raised her eyebrows as if we were the ones talking nonsense, not her. “But if you’re going to attack it, I’m out. I don’t want to stick around for the fallout from that.”
    “Fine.” I stood from the ground, my hands full of candles, matches, and bones. “That’s probably for the best anyway.”
    She shook her head before glancing at Laura. “When you decide you want to do things differently, let me know.”
    “What are you talking about?” Laura asked.
    George frowned and strode halfway down the driveway before turning back. “You’ll understand eventually if you don’t already.”
    I opened my mouth to say something but just shook my head instead. If she was going to talk in riddles, then so be it. I had more important things to worry about right now. Jason strode toward me, still huddling in his sweatshirt. He took my hands between his palms and stared down at me. Even though he usually towered over the top of my head, like everyone else in the world, his height didn’t do anything to keep him from looking small tonight. Like a wounded animal. Tears leaked out of his eyes, and I reached up to brush them off his cheeks.
    His mother was dead, and I’d done nothing to stop it. If my spell had failed, it was all my fault.
    “Are you going to be able to fix it?”
    “We will. Don’t worry.”
    He glanced away, his jaw clenching as he stared at his house, his expression full of pain and anger. “How did this happen, Holly?”
    “I don’t