"No-Thea, watch out-"
She saw the thing come free of Eric, who staggered. She saw it re-form, gather, then dive straight for her.
"Thea!" Eric knocked her sideways. Cold air rushed by.
She and Eric fell in a heap. She gasped "Eric, go," even before she got up. She tried to shove at him, looking around for the wraith. "Go-get out of here! The jeep's running-get in and just drive. I'll call you later."
"Stay back to back," Eric said breathlessly. "She's incredibly fast." He added through his teeth, "You know I'm not leaving."
"This is witch stuff, you jerk!" she snarled, standing back to back. "I don't want you. You'll just get in my way!"
It was a valiant effort. She even managed to inject something like hatred into her voice. And Eric wasn't perfect. He turned around, grabbed her by the shoulder, and yelled, "You know I'm not going, so don't waste any more time!"
Then he shoved her sideways again and freezing wind streaked by her cheek, leaving her ear numb.
"Sorry," he said in his normal voice. "You okay?"
Thea spun and looked behind her. The wraith was bobbing there. It was shaped like a woman made of vapor, with arms and legs only suggested, but with a long tail of hair that whipped around.
"I've got the stuff," Thea muttered to Eric. Admit-
ting she knew he'd never leave. "But it'll take a few minutes to do the spell. We'll have to keep out of-" She was watching the lashing tail, but she wasn't fast enough. There was a sound-something between the snap of a whip and the crackle of electricity- and the tail flashed out. It was around her neck.
At first it just felt cold. Insubstantial but icy, like a scarf of subzero wind. But then the wraith gave a jerk and it tightened and it did have substance. It felt like metal, like a pipe full of supercooled liquid, like the tentacle of some alien creature with ice for blood. It was choking her.
She couldn't breathe and she couldn't get her fingers under it. It squeezed tighter, hurting her. She could feel her eyes start to bulge.
"Look at me!" Eric yelled. He had a stick that was blazing at one end and he was dancing up and down like a crazy person on the other side of the fire. "Look! Suzanne! I'm going to get your little sister!" He poked the burning stick at the dummy Lucienne, not at the wood piled around her, but at the actual doll.
"There! There! How do you like that?" He jabbed at the doll. A ring of fire blossomed in the black clothes. "Confess you're a witch!"
Thea felt something slide away and her neck was free.
She tried to shout a warning to Eric, but all that came out was a croak. He was already diving to one side anyway. That must be what he's been doing all this time.
Dodging.
"Eric, keep it up!"
"Okay, but work fast!" He threw himself the other way.
She forced herself to turn her attention from him. Her backpack was at the edge of the circle where she'd dropped it. She grabbed it and dumped the contents out on the ground.
She had to do this right and she had to do it faster than she'd ever worked a spell before.
Oak and ash. She threw them on the central fire, then scooted toward it, dragging the other materials close with a sweep of her arm.
She ripped open a plastic bag and grabbed the quassia chips. They were light, and she had to thrust her hand into the flames to make sure they actually went in the fire. Blessed thistle was powder; she threw it. Mandrake root was solid, she threw it, too.
She had just grabbed the ounce vial when Eric shouted, "Thea, duck."
She didn't look up to see what she was ducking. She fell flat instantly. It saved her. Icy wind blew her hair almost into the fire.
"Suzanne!" Eric was yelling. "I've got your brother! Look!"
There were fires at all three stakes now, and Eric was dashing between them, poking at one figure after another.
Thea pulled the plastic cap off the vial with her teeth. She shook it into the fire, her hand in the flames again. One, two, three.
The fire roared up, louder than ever, and pure blue. Thea fell back from it.
"Suzanne! Over here!" Eric's voice was faint beyond the roar.
Tears were running down Thea's face, her nose and eyes stinging from the acrid smell. She fumbled for the last object necessary for the sending-back... the bag of residue from the bronze bowl. She took a handful in her left hand and dropped it between two charcoaled logs at the edge of the fire.
Then she stood up-and saw that Eric was in trouble.
He'd lost his burning stick. The wraith had him by the throat and it was whirling him around, changing shape every second. His mouth was open, but Thea couldn't hear any sound.
"May I be given the Power of the Words of Hecate"
She screamed it, into the roaring fire, toward the wheeling, changing spirit shape.
And the words came, rolling off her tongue with a power of their own:
"From the heart of the flame... I send you back! Through the narrow path... I send you back!"
She put all her own power into the words, too, screaming them with an authority that she'd never felt in herself before. Because the wraith was fighting. It didn't want to go anywhere.
"To the airy void... I send you back! Through the mist of years... I send you back!"
Eric staggered, was jerked sideways. He seemed to be lifted off his feet by the wraith.
"To beyond the veil... I send you back! Go speedily, conveniently, and without delay!"
Eric's feet were kicking in the air. This is how Kevin died, Thea realized suddenly and with absolute certainty.
She found herself yelling words she'd never heard before. "By the power of Earth and Air and Water! By the power of Fire on this night of Hecate! By my own power as a daughter of Hellewise! Go speedily, conveniently and without delay, you bitch!"