Ritual Magic

choices correctly. Which reminds me—”
    Benedict broke in. “Hardy is the supposed saint.”
    Lily cocked her head. “You don’t believe he is one? Or you don’t believe in saints?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t know what the word means.”
    “I don’t, either, and no one . . .” Lily used both hands to push her hair back. “
No one
will define anything for me! Saint, spirit, evil—all that shit’s tossed into the mix and I’m just supposed to guess what it all means! Though Cullen did say a saint was a holy man or woman . . . God, I wish he was here.” The moment she said that she shook her head. “No, I don’t. He’s needed with . . . but his ability to see magic would sure help right now.”
    Rule glanced around. Uselessly, of course, but he couldn’t resist the impulse. “Is Drummond here?”
    She shook her head. “He hung around awhile, then said he had places to go, things to do.”
    “You’re accepting his statement as fact? Even if Drummond’s on the side of the angels now, he isn’t one himself. I don’t think ghosts are infallible.”
    “True, which is why I’m calling it expert opinion, not fact. But all three of my experts agree that the contagion is evil, so I’m considering that as established.”
    “Drummond’s one of your experts. And Hardy?”
    She nodded. “The third is Miriam.”
    Rule had met Miriam. She was the head priestess of the coven the Unit called on in this area. “Not Karonski?”
    “He said no, not for this. Since spirit, not magic, is the—”
    “Discuss their credentials later,” Benedict snapped. “Rule has described the shooting to me in detail. Nettie was not a random victim. She was targeted specifically.”
    “So we concluded.
We
meaning me and Drummond and Karonski. Not Miriam. She thinks the overdose of evil caused Crown to commit evil acts, but without a specific target. In other words, he just started shooting, didn’t matter who he killed. I don’t agree. If all Crown had wanted was to kill people, he would have kept firing at the ones near Nettie. He didn’t, which tells me he had specific targets in mind. He was turning to shoot the next one when I dropped him.”
    Had she shot to kill and missed? Probably. That was her training. As she put it, when your target was using deadly force, you did, too. Or, as Benedict put it: In battle, take the easiest shot. You’ll do well to hit at all. Don’t make it any harder to win than it has to be.
    “Who was the other target?” Arjenie asked. “Do you know?”
    “Drummond thinks it was Karonski. That’s based on his observation of the shooter, not on some special ghostly knowledge, but he was a cop for a long time. He may be right, but another possibility is—”
    Benedict broke in. “But Nettie was primary. He had time to select his first target, and he chose her. Why?”
    “We think it’s because she’s a threat, and she’s a threat because she’s a shaman. This goes back to the contagion being evil. That’s a spiritual quality, and spirit is what Nettie works with. Wiccan and Native practices both have spiritual aspects, but with Wicca the spiritual part is sort of fenced off.”
    Arjenie frowned. “I wouldn’t put it that way.”
    “I probably said it wrong. Here’s what Karonski told me. That Wiccan star of yours—Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Spirit? They’re the points or arms of the star, and they’re all tied to the Source, which is represented by the open space at the center. But spirit is only one aspect of the Source. That’s why so many unbelievers can use Wiccan spells. And—again, this what Karonski said—a lot of Wiccans don’t work with spirit that much, except during your major rites, because it’s so unpredictable. With Native practices, it’s different. Spirit is at the center. It’s the way they access power, so Nettie’s used to working with spirit directly.”
    Arjenie nodded. “Okay, that makes sense. Not that I know a lot about Native practices, but that fits what I do know.”
    “Sam said we needed Nettie.” Lily sighed. “Maybe she could have dispelled the contagion. Karonski can’t. The coven can’t.”
    “What?” Arjenie’s eyes widened. “But—but if the usual cleansing techniques weren’t effective, surely Miriam tried an elemental cleansing. Not everyone can handle those, but she’s extremely competent, and she’s got strong Gifts in her coven to channel each of the elements.”
    “She did try. It didn’t