CHAPTER 38

"Have you ever run across one before now?"

"I hadn't. I'm still young for my kind, and the Arachne had largely migrated to Europe. Between the big cities clustered together and a population unfamiliar with them, they were better able to thrive." Yuki paused, then looked back. Her ears twitched. "You feel that?"

He stopped and looked where she was looking. The forest was silent, other than the occasional thud of falling snow. "I'm not picking up on anything dangerous, if that's what you're asking."

Yuki frowned. Her tarot cards appeared in her left hand, and she fanned them out. "I feel like we're being watched."

"Maybe some of the Nirumbi got locked out?" He readied the rifle, his finger resting on the trigger guard. While not a sharpshooter by any means, he had been able to earn the Marksmanship merit badge when he was a scout. If anything came out of the woods, he was confident he could at least hit it.

"Not Nirumbi," she said.

They stood this way for so long enough that Abella joined them. The gargoyle tilted her head from side to side, then shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't hear anything," she said. "If something's out there, it isn't even breathing."

"That's ominous as fuck," Mike said. "Let's head back and hope whatever it is will be just as scared of us as we are of it."

"I was never scared," Abella muttered, then took back to the sky. Mike watched her circle overhead and then let out a sigh. Hopefully whatever was bothering her would resolve itself.

🏠🏠🏠

Beth sat on the edge of Naia's fountain with Ratu's crystal ball in her lap. Naia was lying in the water, her features barely visible above the surface.

"And?" asked Ratu. It looked like she was in bed, her dark hair fanned out around her head.

"Nothing out of the ordinary here," replied Zel. When Beth had sent word to the centaurs that she needed a checkup, she had been surprised when Zel herself had arrived. "Vital signs are normal, and I'm not seeing anything in her bloodwork."

"That's all you have to say?" asked Beth.

"I love what you're doing with your hair," Zel added. "But that's to be expected, right?" She looked over at Naia.

"Indeed. Beauty without peer, and minimal effort, too." Naia smirked.

"Hmm." Ratu's voice barely came through the crystal ball. She picked up the cup of tea on her nightstand and sipped it. "That certainly rules out a few theories of my own."

"Such as?" Beth asked.

"Hybridization. I wondered if perhaps you had become part nymph, beyond the soul swap, that is. I also worried that perhaps a recent breeding had caused some overlap. Your dalliance with the dullahan could have unexpected consequences, much like Mike did with Cecilia."

Beth blushed.

"As far as I can tell, she's still human." Zel packed away the small apothecary she carried with her. "I'm afraid I can't be of much help."

"Your assistance was very valuable." Ratu bowed her head. "Now that we have ruled out the obvious, we must step into the realm of hypotheticals."

Beth frowned. She didn't like the idea that what was happening with her was hypothetical. In fact, nothing strange had happened after the tub incident, and she was already content to leave the issue alone. However, Naia had insisted on Ratu's input.

"Have you spoken with Mike yet?" Ratu asked.

Beth checked her phone. The picture Lily had sent Mike was still on delivered, which meant Mike hadn't seen it yet. This troubled her, but there wasn't much she could do about it. "I haven't," she told them.

"That man gets himself into the best kind of trouble." The naga chuckled, then refilled her cup. "I am ready to posit a theory."

"Lay it on me."

"According to Naia, your mind was actually inside of the soul swap with her. This is not a normal occurrence, and proof that something exceptional has happened. I believe that your soul may have a special susceptibility to change."

"How so?"

"Let's look at the evidence. Your soul has left your body on more than one occasion, allowing your body to give host to a tormented soul."

"She prefers that we call her Jenny," Naia added.

"Regardless, Beth's soul has been displaced on more than one occasion. In a separate instance, a powerful entity, the demon Oliver, was able to graft a piece of his essence onto your soul. This required that we run your soul through a magical filter, which almost didn't work, I might remind you. You were purified, in a manner of speaking."

"So how is this all related?" Beth asked.

"Souls aren't liquid in nature. Think of them like a slow-moving fluid. You dip your finger in a pond, it will look the same after you pull your finger out. Poke your finger in pudding, not only will some stick to your finger, but it will take some time for the hole to close."

"But I control the process," Naia said, sitting up in the fountain. "She shouldn't have been able to take more than I offered."

"And I don't think she did." Ratu paused and leaned away from the orb. When she came back, she was holding a small sandwich. "Think back on the finger analogy. If Beth was the finger, and your magic the pond, it wasn't just a quick dip—it was a soak. Her soul, while mixed with yours, had a giant open wound. You can't soak an open wound in water and expect nothing to happen."

"I'm infected with magic?" Beth asked, barely able to contain her excitement.

"I prefer the term blessed. But yes. Over the course of her years, Emily was able to nurture and grow her own talents in the realm of magic. It required hard work and dedication, but it did start with the nymph's blessing. For you, I suspect that your soul may have attuned itself to Naia's, thus fast-tracking the process. Think of it like a transfusion. You've been steeped in powerful magic, or maybe calibrated is a better word? Aligned? No matter." Ratu waved her hand dismissively.

"Beth can do magic now?" Zel had pulled out a notebook and was scribbling notes. "Water magic specifically, or...?"