Read The Reckoning for Free Online

don’t you take it off?” Tori began.
    “Because she—” Simon snapped, then caught himself. “Let her try a bit more with it on. These things take time, andwe’re not in any rush. If you’re bored, our room’s empty.”
    Tori looked like she wanted to snap back, but couldn’t, not when he’d said it reasonably.
    “I’m good,” she said, and I resumed the summoning.
    Because Liz was the one I really wanted to see, she was the one I concentrated on, throwing out only the occasional calls to my aunt, praying they wouldn’t be answered. Finally, when Liz didn’t respond, I ramped up the appeals to Aunt Lauren. If I wanted reassurance that she was still alive, I needed to know that I’d tried as hard as I could to summon her.
    “Don’t,” Tori whispered.
    My eyes snapped open. “Don’t what?”
    She frowned.
    “You said ‘don’t,’” I prompted.
    “Um, no, I didn’t open my mouth.”
    “She didn’t,” Simon said. “You must be hearing a ghost.”
    I closed my eyes and concentrated on Liz.
    “Don’t,” the faint female voice whispered. “Please, baby.”
    My gut seized. That wasn’t Liz. But it wasn’t something Aunt Lauren called me, either. Or did she? I wasn’t sure.
    “If you’re there, whoever you are, please show yourself.”
    Nothing.
    “The amulet,” Tori whispered. “If she can’t get through, that must be stopping her.”
    I reached for my necklace.
    “No!” the voice whispered. “Not safe.”
    “You don’t want me to take it off?”
    No answer. My hands shook so badly the amulet knocked against my neck.
    “Go on,” Simon said. “We’re right here. Anything happens, I’ll get it back on you.”
    I started lifting it.
    “No! Please, baby. Too dangerous. Not here. He’ll come.”
    “Who’ll come?”
    Silence. Then I thought I heard her whisper, but it was too faint for me to make out.
    “She’s trying to warn me about something, but I can’t hear it,” I said.
    Simon gestured for me to take off the necklace. I raised it over my head—
    “What the hell are you doing?” a voice roared.
    Derek strode into the room and yanked the amulet back down. “You’re summoning without your amulet? Are you crazy? A ghost lured you onto the roof this morning, could have gotten you killed.”
    Simon got to his feet. “Ease off, okay? We were trying to get hold of Liz. Then a spirit wanted to warn Chloe about something, but she couldn’t hear her, so we suggested she take off the necklace, see if that would help it materialize.”
    Derek’s trademark scowl didn’t waver. “Just becauseyou suggest it doesn’t mean she needs to listen. She knows better.”
    “No, but the suggestion made sense,” I said. “I was being careful. If you had stopped to watch instead of charging in here, you’d have seen that.”
    Derek kept glowering, looming over me. No one looms like Derek, but I’d had enough experience to stand my ground.
    “I’ll leave the necklace on,” I said, “but I’m going to try again. If she’s still here, then I might take it off.”
    “Who is it?”
    “I—I—” I faltered, chest seizing. “M-maybe my aunt. I—I—don’t think so, but…I should try again.”
    Some of the anger drained from his face then. He ran a hand through his hair, sighed, then nodded. “Okay. You should. If she comes back and she seems to be trying to warn you, then…we’ll see what we can do about the necklace.”
    I could point out that it was really my decision, but he was calming down, and I wasn’t about to crank him up again.
    So I tried one more time. No luck.
    “She didn’t want me summoning here,” I said.
    “Yeah? Probably because you could call up that half-demon jerk.” Derek paused, then took the sarcasm down a notch. “We’ll go for a walk tomorrow, get farther from the house, and try again.”
    “I’ll come,” Tori said. “And if the idiot shows up?”
    She lifted her fingers. A ball of energy appeared, whirling over the tips. She grinned