Good, Link thought. Or she’ll tan my hide.
Necro took a deep breath. Even in the candlelight, she looked pale.
Sampson touched her arm. “Are you sure you’re okay to do this?”
She nodded. “I’m not channeling Abraham Ravenwood. If Amma is the kind of woman they say she is, she won’t hurt me.”
The Darkborn glanced at Link.
Link shrugged. “Amma would never hurt anybody, unless you mess with someone she loves. So we’re good.”
Necro closed her eyes and spoke softly.
“Into my breath and body,
Flesh and bone,
I call the spirit of Amma Treadeau.
Let my voice guide you back
From the unknown.”
“In spiritum et corpum meum
Carnem et ossam
Voco animum Amma Treadeau.
Vox mea te reducat
Ab incognota.”
Link held his breath, but after a minute or so, he felt like he was going to pass out.
It’s not gonna work. What the hell was I thinking?
He should’ve known no one was strong enough to summon Amma. She never did anything she didn’t want to do back when she was alive.
Please, Amma. I’m in trouble.
Necro inhaled sharply, and her chest expanded as if her body was filling up with something—or someone.
The blue-haired bass player still looked like herself, until she sat up straighter than his mom’s uppity friends in the DAR and stood up with both hands on her hips.
She gave Link the Look.
He’d seen that look in Amma’s eyes a hundred times before, mostly when he screwed up, and there was no mistaking the way she was looking at him now.
“Wesley Jefferson Lincoln. You’d best hope the Good Lord Almighty himself told you to call me back from the other side.” Amma’s eyes settled on Liv and John. “I’m surprised to see you here, Olivia. And John. You both should know better.” Amma glanced around at the others and crossed her arms, unimpressed, before turning back to Link. “Dark Casters? That’s what you called me here for, Wesley Lincoln? They’d better be threatenin’ your life, or I will.”
“A-Amma, I can explain,” Link stammered. “I’m real sorry, but this is a life-or-death situation, and you’re the only person who can help me.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Help you do what, exactly?”
This was the part he was dreading—the part where he had to explain exactly what he wanted Amma to do, knowing there was no way in hell she’d want to do it. “Silas Ravenwood’s alive, and he’s got Ridley. He’s gonna kill her or use her as a slave or somethin’ even creepier if we don’t save her, and I can’t do that without you.” Link swallowed hard. “Ma’am.”
He swore he could see Amma’s dark eyes staring back from behind Necro’s gold ones. “Ridley Duchannes? That’s why you called me back from the best hand a gin rummy I’ve had in twenty years?” She eyed the pecan pie on the ground. “And this is what you bring me? That’s the sorriest-looking pie I’ve ever seen, Wesley Lincoln. You should know I don’t eat anybody’s pie except my own. Why don’t you just toss one a those Oreos at me and spit in my face while you’re at it?”
“Well, your loss. I’m starving.” Angelique reached for the pie, and Amma gave her more than the Look. Angelique frowned and put her hand back in her lap. Even the Cataclyst sensed she shouldn’t mess with Amma.
“I’m sorry, Amma,” Link said, his stomach twisting in knots.
Amma held up a hand, silencing him. “Explain to me why I should care about any a this. These are Dark Caster problems you’re talkin’ about, and I don’t want any part a them. If Silas Ravenwood is involved, you’d best steer clear a him. I’m sure Ridley can get herself outta whatever trouble she’s gotten herself into this time.”
Sampson stood up tentatively, as if he sensed Amma wasn’t the kind of lady you wanted to tangle with. “Excuse me, ma’am.” He tried to make his Yankee accent sound a little more Southern. “My name is Sampson, and I’m a friend of Link’s and Ridley’s. I can tell you’re not fond of Dark Casters, but my friends aren’t like the ones you’ve probably met, and they definitely don’t hurt people, the way a Blood Incubus like Silas Ravenwood does.” The Darkborn slouched, but he was still a good two feet taller than Amma.
“And from everything I’ve heard about Ridley from Link, it sounds like Rid’s done some good things, too. If there’s any way you’d consider helping us, I’d be in your debt, ma’am.”
Amma snorted. “I spend my days in the Otherworld sittin’ on the porch, drinkin’ sweet tea and playin’ cards with my Uncle Abner, Aunt Delilah, Ridley’s Aunt Twyla, and an ornery old Mortal lady. What makes you think I want anythin’ from you?”
Link was pretty sure the Mortal lady Amma mentioned was Ethan’s Aunt Prue. He couldn’t imagine an ornerier Mortal old lady in the Otherworld.
Amma took a step closer to Sampson. “And I know you’re not a Caster or an Incubus, so why don’t you tell me what you are?”
“I’m a Darkborn. I’m not sure if we were around before you crossed over, but we were born from the Dark Fire after the Order of Things broke.”
“So your heart’s as black as the rest a them,” she said without missing a beat. “I’m not interested in a boy like you owin’ me any kinda debt, and I’m done with Dark Casters and all their business.”