Page 88 of Divine Oaths

Vivian touched a finger to the withered root. I waited, but she just stared off into the distance, unmoving, unblinking. I recognized then what she was doing. It was the same thing I did when I had visions, except I usually closed my eyes to hide what was happening. But she was using her powers with her eyes wide open. She was channeling without performing for others around her. She was letting her abilities manifest as they were.

It took a moment for it to sink in. Slowly, second by second, the plant she’d been touching began to wilt more, aging forward in time. And then, just like that, it aged backward, unblooming, and regressing into a small bud in the earth.

It was incredible. Impossible. And yet, I’d just witnessed it.

“Every person who walks this earth has an affinity, but not all are able to manifest it. Few actually do. It often takes the circumstances of life and death to awaken one’s affinity. Or others—like Theta, Sigma, and we of Ԑnhye—train to channel our affinities by calling upon the realm of the living or the realm of the dead.”

Vivian raised her hand, her ghostly form illuminating brightly. At the presence of the light radiating through her, a moth hovered over her outstretched fingers. Its wings were dark, the patterns a kaleidoscope of shapes. It sat on her palm, measuring her, wings fluttering wildly, diluting her ghostly form into a transparent vestige.

“Theta and Sigma train initiates who have affinities linked to the realm of the dead. Whereas we of the sisterhood and our brothers of the Ԑnhye choose our members from those with affinities channeled from the realm of the living. Our familiars are creatures attuned to the realms of the living and the dead, creatures who can traverse through them at will. The most powerful affinity wielders among Sigma bear the vulture mask, while within the brotherhood of the Ԑnhye, founded by Kent, they once bore the mask of a marabou stork—though they have long since been defunct with Sigma growing in numbers.”

She gestured to the lace gloves I wore. “And of course,” she continued, “our sisterhood and Theta deem the moth our familiar, and our most powerful affinity wielders bear no hierarchy.”

Near the plants, there was a tray of utensils. A small blade for sutures was placed between a collection of rods and small spoons and forks. Angelica brought one of the blades to her finger and pricked the very tip. It was a small wound, but the burst of red sent my heart racing.

“My affinity for telekinesis channels natural manifestations within our living realm: wind and air. It allowed me to lift the teacup or stir the spoon without touch. Affinities such as speed, or sound, or pyro, are common. But an affinity for time, such as yours and Vivian’s? That is rare. It channels from both the realm of the living and the dead, from life and death.”

I reined in my questions, just as Vivian touched Angelica’s hand and the wound began to heal forward in time; first the red of a bruise, then the gray of healing flesh, until finally, it became little more than a small dot, as if weeks and months had passed.

“And while I do not possess an affinity for time,” Angelica said, “affinity wielders well-trained by their cohort learn to draw from the affinities of members within their society and invoke commands, be it in one’s mind or through their voice. We call these commands an ‘incantation.’ You may refer to it as magic. Summonings and banishments are incantations of the realm of the dead. While hexes, glamours, and spellwork are incantations of the realm of the living.

“Rewind,” Angelica said. As she spoke, she flicked her finger, channeling her affinity.

Her incantation didn’t work as quickly as when Vivian had channeled her affinity for time, nor were the results as strong. Yet slowly, the wound reopened, not as visible as before, but a slight tear in her skin echoing the moment when her flesh had been pierced.

“This is what you’re capable of. That is what you have done and can do again if you further your control over your powers. To heal, to stop time, to rewind it and resuscitate what is lost. And just as your affinity for time is one of the rare forms of channeling that taps into both life and death, so too are rituals,” Angelica said.

“Rituals like Theta’s banishments separate a spirit from its hold on the realm of the living. But there is also a difficult, yet powerful, ritual that lets the affinity wielder bind a spirit to a relic, reverting a wraith. If you perform a binding ritual on Kasem, his soul and body will be one. But his soul can only be bound back to his body on the day of his birth, once midnight strikes and the curse is broken. Should the ritual fail two weeks and one month from now, even if he survives his fated death, Kasem will be trapped as a wraith forever. Eventually, his body will die on its own without a soul inhabiting it.”

Her words were chilling, devouring my hopes.

“Then how do we bind his soul to its relic?” I asked. “How do we do the ritual?”

Angelica took my wrist, holding it up so the cowrie shell bracelet dangled in front of us.

“The bracelet will be the bind. A wraith is most vulnerable on the day they died. But they are also at their most powerful on the day their body and living soul was born. For Kasem, fated to die on the day he was born, those days are one. And so, at midnight, right as the curse is set to break, we must perform the ritual of revenant for his body and soul to be reunited. The incantation for the ritual will require the essence of his kinship—it can be the hair, nails, or any part of his kin, as long as their lineage is tied to Kasem and to the curse.”

Jojo, I realized. We’d need a part of him to do this.

“And you think I’m supposed to help?” I spun to face her. “I can’t even control my powers. I can’t even keep my visions from happening.”

“You will have us alongside you. I will do the ritual,” Angelica said. “And Vivian will help me with her time magic. Though your affinity is strong, it would be a risk and an impossible job for you alone. And in the meantime, should you choose to study with us, we will help you train your powers and control them.

“You’ve been warned by Jojo, by Kasem himself, to stay away, and now, I will warn you again. It will take immense power to save Kasem from his fate. Even if you keep him alive until his twenty-first birthday, you risk putting yourself in harm’s way. And honing your affinities is difficult work. We cannot guarantee your success, or even your safety. If you choose to continue this path, then you must make a choice. How much of yourself will you give to him?”

I didn’t have an answer for that. And that scared me. How, in these months, had Kasem become more to me than the stranger he had been at Gus’s shop? And if my powers weren’t at stake, would I be here, trying to break the curse, trying to bind him to his body?

“If you want my advice,” Vivian said, joining me as I made my way out of the courtyard, “I would suggest you don’t let your emotions make this choice for you. I made that mistake before. As much as you may care for him, feelings aren’t always as strong as destiny. Just ask those poets and playwrights he reads. Sometimes love isn’t meant to last. Sometimes, all that’s left is tragedy.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Myself I’ll forfeit

RUSH WITH THETA WAS IN less than a week, on the thirty-first of October. But I didn’t tell Kasem what I’d learned from Angelica and Vivian. As much as we spent our days researching his family and possible threads of the curse, a part of me was afraid of what he’d do if he learned that he’d died that night in the alleyway.

Angelica hadn’t done so herself, and I couldn’t bring myself to when I had the chance. It wouldn’t change the circumstances we were in, and with my oath to Ԑnhye, I now had a plan—with the help of Angelica and Vivian, we’d perform the ritual on Kasem to bind his body to his soul. The only way to break the curse and save Kasem was to ensure he survived another month and a half. And in the meantime, I’d train my affinity and prepare for the big day. All that was left was to stay the course.

So I smiled at Kasem and pretended nothing was wrong.