Chapter 7 Resurrection

Sal watched as Katarina sailed through the air and crashed through the windows of Cecilia's Coven, the glass shattering and scattering pieces all over the floor, light from outside suddenly bursting forth in bright yellow rays into the dingy shop through the Katarina shaped hole.

This wasn't what he expected shopping would be like.

They'd only been there five minutes and they were already fighting, Katarina clearly getting the worst of it.

Sal looked outside through the hole, shards of glass littered the sidewalk, and the mortals around them looked down at Katarina's motionless body on the floor with eyes wide. Sal had no idea what they were seeing through the Shade and should have probably moved to help Katarina, but his heart was pounding rapidly, worriedly.

Then he heard her groan and he sighed with relief. She began to rise, slowly, but surely.

"Seriously" Sal said as he turned. "We only want the candles".

He was just in time to dodge a ball of fire shooting towards him, hissing past his face and dissipating as it met with an unsuspecting mortal.

"Why the fuck are you attacking us?" Sal yelled.

"You're Shemer" said the mage – a red haired, green eyed teenage Goth girl, who Sal assumed was either Cecilia or someone related to her. "You lot are always looking for trouble"

She shot another ball of white hot flame so fast Sal dropped to the floor in order not to get hit, the smell of his hair nearly singed wafted through his nose. It smelled like roasted fruit, which Sal prided himself in briefly, before focusing on the situation at hand.

"I already told you we want to buy candles, where's the trouble in that?" Sal said.

He took out his wand and quickly drew the Warrior glyph— two swords in a cross— on his forearm. The next roar of flame dissipated as soon as it reached him, he could still feel the heat of the attack though, and the glyph vanished as soon as the attack ended.

"You literally have no reason to attack me"

The girl didn't seem convinced, in fact she didn't seem to be listening. She whispered under her breath, a spell spilling from her lips in an old language. Gaulish, maybe?, Sal gave up figuring it out, the temperature in the shop was rising rapidly and though he knew he couldn't be killed he didn't think getting burned would be a pleasant feeling. He needed to act fast without hurting her.

A glyph immediately flashed into his mind, a pair of shackles, similar to the Confinement glyph, but this one would only bind her for as long as they were close together.

He was getting ready to pounce on the girl and draw the glyph when an arrow whistled through the air with the speed of a bullet and struck the mage girl square in the chest.

Sal's eyes went wide, and so did the mage's as she looked down at the arrow in her chest, her mouth open, her voice stuck on the part of the spell she'd been chanting. Then she fell to the floor, and the temperature fell with her, the silvery arrow jutting out of her chest, her eyes wide and terrified as she stared up at him completely motionless.

"No one throws me out a window" came Katarina's voice, as cold and hard as stone. "And I mean no one"

Sal turned at the sound of her voice and saw her standing at the open door of the shop with her bow in her hand and a trail of blood running down the side of her rage contorted face as she walked forward to retrieve her arrow.

"What the hell Kat?" Sal said standing from his crouched position and pushing his wand in his boots as he stood. He watched her dispatch her bow in a shimmer of light, completely ignoring him. "I thought we said no killing"

Katarina didn't answer as she bent and plucked the arrow from the girl's chest. Sal could see now that the head of the arrow wasn't tapered to a point as it should have been. It was needle-like and pointed, the needle itself slick with blood.

"She's not dead, I only paralyzed her" Katarina said, sliding the needle-arrow in her quiver. "Get the candles and I'll get the salt and knife so we can get out of here, I hate this place"

"This place was your idea" Sal muttered. "I wanted to go to Reyna's Rave right down the street"

Katarina shot him a reproachful look before she moved and disappeared behind one of the shelves.

Sal sighed and turned to search for candles.

Cecilia's Coven was a relatively old shop. The walls were made of old brick stone that left the inside of the shop cool, the wooden floor boards were creaking from years of being trodden and the shelves were of old, unstable wood holding up the dingy and moldy items sold in the shop; vials of various odd looking liquids in a rainbow of colors, jars of organic looking substances ranging from an ox's lungs to a lamb's heart, and then there were stranger things; a widow's tears corked in a bottle, a lion's courage held in a wooden box, a unicorn's purity bound by chains in an iron chest.

Then there were the candles, lined up on a wooden shelf most likely infested by termites, which Sal needed more than anything this shop could offer him.

He grabbed the candles as he reached the shelf, three white ones and three black ones, their waxes smooth and hard like marble, and stuffed them in the satchel slung across his shoulders. He made his way back to the front of the shop where the mage girl still stay as motionless as he'd left her. He could hear the clinking of glass from beyond some shelves, could see the semi luminous sheen of Katarina's quiver on her back, the purple of her tunic slinking up and down the gaps between the shelves.

"I got the candles" Sal announced as he raised the mage girl from the floor with a grunt and leaned her weightless adolescent body against the counter. Her eyes followed him, which Sal found unnerving, so he looked away and pretended she wasn't there, focusing on the sound of glass clinking.

Then shuffling feet.

Then clanging iron.

Maybe Katarina hadn't heard him.

"Having trouble over there?" he asked.

Glass clinking, feet shuffling, iron clanging, but no answer.

"You know sooner or later you're going to have to speak to me"

There was silence, the little strips of purple between the gaps suddenly still. So she had heard him.

"Kat, come on"

There was a loud thud, as if she dropped something, and then the sound of boots. A second later she appeared from behind the shelf lined with jars of dark colored liquids— midnight blue, obsidian black, nightshade purple— and leaned on it, the liquids and sunlight shining through them blending beautifully with her hair and eyes and tunic.

"I have nothing to say to you", she said menacingly, her voice hard.

Sal noticed, without meaning to, that the line of blood on her face was still red and moist, her eyes on Sal, though angry, were a bit unfocused.

"Katarina you're hurt, you must have grazed your head on the pavement" said Sal as he drew closer to her, his eyes trained on the part of her head her soft hair might be shielding the wound. As soon as he spotted it he pulled out his wand and settled it in his grip. "Let me heal you"

"It's just a scratch" she protested in that same stubborn tone he adored, though her voice sounded tired. "I'm fine"

Sal smiled inside himself, the memory of that moment in Nowhere when he'd healed that cut on her cheek resurfacing in his mind. The situation had been almost the same, except they weren't in a pocket dimension created by a necromancer, and this wasn't a mere wound on the cheek, she was losing blood and her eyes were rapidly growing more and more unfocused, so he drew closer still.

She didn't move to protest him, whether it was weakness or something else he didn't know, but she didn't move to evade him either.

"No, you're not fine, Kat, I can feel it" he said, pushing aside her hair –soft, silky, wet with sweat and blood.

She chuckled, then groaned softly, closing her eyes in pain..

"Why are you laughing? You know that I can literally feel your pain, right?"

He took her chin between his fingers, adjusting her head so he could better see the wound.

"I know" she said with a weak laugh on her lips, her eyes bright and glazed as she opened them and looked up at him, she even managed to cock an eyebrow. "But that's such a cliché line"

He laughed with her, placing the wand over her temple and carefully drawing the Healing glyph.

Blue light shone in the space between them, illuminating his face and hers, making her fair skin bright, her dark eyes reflecting the light perfectly, making them shine bright blue, before she shielded them by shutting her lids, exhaling her breath in one sigh of pure relief, like a great weight had been taken from her shoulders.

Sal didn't take his eyes off her the entire time, he took in everything about her, not just watching her but experiencing her, her face smeared with blood, her eyes closed with pleasure, scent thick with sweat and sunshine. She was still somehow perfect in her distress, still flawless in her physical pain, and ultimately beautiful, even with her injuries.

"What is it?" Katarina asked, her eyes opening slowly, her voice regaining its composure. The light from the wand had faded, but her eyes were still bright, still somehow distinct in the dimness as they focused on him. "Sal, you're staring at me"

"I'm sorry" he whispered, blinking himself out of his daze. "You're all healed up now"

"Thanks" she said.

He turned away from her, tucked a single strand of hair away from his eyes, and shoved his wand painfully, casually, in his wrist.

He'd forgotten, he thought, he'd forgotten and the pain served as a reminder of what it was like to love Katarina, to have blunt pain run through him at every sight and every touch and every moment her voice found its way to his ears.

"We should get going" he said without facing her. "Antony might be back by now, did you manage to get everything?"

He didn't hear her say anything but her boots clicking against the wood and the warmth of her presence by his side made it clear that she was ready to leave. He didn't face her as they both turned to the front door, as he slashed his wand and the portal erupted to life, even as he let her go through the portal first and followed immediately behind her.

They stepped through the portal and emerged in the basement at Katarina's house. The place was just as dingy as Cecilia's Coven but with the air of neglect hanging in the room. Cobwebs occupied the corners, dust settled on the floor and empty shelves, and the air was thick with the smell of wet wood and concrete.

The only clean and familiar thing in the basement was Antony leaning on the wall, right beside the stairs leading down from the door. He looked disheveled, his hair unruly, like he'd had a fight with it, his armour shirt rumpled, his eyes staring down wonderingly at the wooden box in his hand.

He hadn't noticed them portal in yet.

"Antony?"

Antony looked up, his expression going from thoughtful to startled to happy in a second as his face instantly lit up, the dark look of worry and wonder in his eyes gone.

"Finally you guys are back" he said as he pushed against the wall and walked to them. "How'd it go?"

Katarina handed her satchel to Sal without a word and without any contact. She didn't look like she wanted to tell the story so Sal evaded as best he could.

"We should be asking you" said Sal. "How'd it go with your father?"

The smile on Antony's face flickered with discomfort, then he covered it up so quickly Sal thought he imagined it. Judging from the disheveled look about him Sal guessed Antony's visit to the Bermuda was just as bad as their encounter with the Goth mage of Cecilia's Coven.

"It didn't go as expected but I'm good" Antony said as he held out the wooden box in his hand. Sal collected it and hesitantly lifted the lid. There was dark dust inside the box, the inside of it thick with the smell of ash and water. "I checked on Julika by the way, she's asleep but we should probably get this done before she wakes up"

Sal nodded and turned to Kat who was staring at the empty space in the middle of the basement where the ritual would be taking place, twisting her hair in her fingers.

"You ready?" he asked.

She looked at him, dark eyes sharp with anxiety.

"Yeah, let's bring my brother back"

Sal took a deep breath and moved to the center of the room with the components in his grasp, reciting the spell and the steps in his head and muttering it under his breath.

"The remains of the lost" he whispered, and upended the contents of the box on the cold, concrete floor. The ash fell soundlessly, and formed a small, black mountain of dust on the floor.

Sal heard Katarina gasp with shock and disgust, but he went on, tuning out the noise of the world and focusing on the spell.

"Salt" he said as he pulled out a jar and opened it, pouring it in a circle around the ash. "To repel the influence of other spirits"

Then he took out the knife. The handle made of gleaming white bone, the blade as silver as moonlight.

"Kat?" he called.

She was there immediately, and then Sal took her hand and, as careful as he could, sliced two lines across her palms in an X shape. Then he took an obsidian bowl and allowed the blood to drip inside it, steadying Katarina's hand as it shook with discomfort.

"The blood of his blood" Sal whispered, as he let Katarina go and poured the blood in the bowl over the salt, blood on salt glittered like the pieces of a shattered ruby. "To allow and acknowledge only his presence"

Then Sal put the ball aside, took out his wand and began to draw on the floor. The memory of drawing on Lester resurfaced, that feeling of wrongness returned, along with a bitter taste in his mouth.

Still he continued.

He drew a circle around the mound of ash and the circle of blood and salt, his wand charring the floor and distinguishing the black starkly as he completed the cycle. He then drew a glyph three times around the components in the middle of the circle, his mark burning with the intensity of the magic flowing through him. The glyph was a drop of blood falling on an upturned crescent moon, the Resurrection glyph.

He reached into his bag instinctively and brought the candles.

"Candles, both black and white, the doorways from the Gap to this world" he said. Then he placed the candles around the circle in a pattern— black, white, black, white —and with a flick of his wand the Fire glyph shone and they lit up with bright blue flames.

"I think you guys should take a step back" Sal said.

Antony and Katarina obliged, and as soon as Sal was sure they were far enough away from him he closed his eyes, sat crosslegged on the floor and opened his mouth to start the spell.

From the first word he uttered the blissful burn of magic took over him.

"Redde mihi qui perierat, ab hiato voco eum forth E summoxis profundis ignotis, ut reclamet vas sanguinis et ossis"

The latin words imbued with magic and power sent pleasant chills down Sal's spine, and as he'd heard it done by Percival he chanted the words over and over again, his mark burning, his veins pounding with intoxicating power.

Sal didn't see it, but he knew when the Resurrection glyphs began to glow and the temperature dropped drastically, he knew when the flames of the candles began to flicker, their colours changing from blue to red to green and back again.

He continued chanting, even as he heard Katarina and Antony scream and fall to their knees in terror, even as his body lost contact with the floor and he was lifted into the air, his chest searing with the burn of his mark.

Suddenly the voices came.

Thousands of spirits boomed into the basement, their wails echoing in the hollow room, reverberating off the walls in cries and pleas. Pleas that Sal could hear in his mind and through his ears.

Bring me back instead, they cried, their voices, their presence, brimming with their regrets, their sorrows, their desperate desire to live and be free from the terrifying vastness of the Gap.

But Sal was unfazed.

There is only one, he answered.

"Casmir!" he called.

A sharp cold lanced up Sal's body, as the wailing grew louder, the flames flickering faster, even as the glyphs shone brighter behind Sal's closed eyes, as if they were a light showing Casmir the way back from the darkness.

"Casmir!" he called again, and the cold, sharper this time, made him gasp and open his eyes.

The ashes, the bloody salt and the flames from the candles began to rise into the air, swirling in a tornado of fiery orange and bloody red and pitch black, the thick smell of salt and sulfur spread in the basement as Casmir's body reformed from the ashes like a phoenix. His flesh came together first and Sal could almost see the atoms being pieced back molecule after molecule, until his body became one, then his hair flowed into view, longer, but still as inky black a Sal remembered it, his face frozen in a peaceful expression, the corners of his pale lips turned up so slightly you wouldn't know it was there.

'He's smiling'  Sal thought as he felt his heart pound with joy, and breathed his friend's name one last time.

"Casmir"

A thunderous boom shook the house, dust falling from the basement ceiling, light flashing as the tornado of fire dispersed in wheels of roiling heat.

For a while there was only sound and fire and cold and bliss.

And then everything stopped.

The wailing hushed, the glowing winked out, and Casmir crashed to the floor, all of it happening in the space between one breath and the next.

Sal descended just as fast, but managed to land on the floor in a crouch instead of flat on his butt. He could make out the sound of Katarina and Antony rising from the floor with grunts and groans, probably trying to get over the sudden drop in temperature and pressure in the room.

"Did it work?" Antony croaked.

Sal didn't answer at first, he was still thrumming with power, nearly drunk with it, no wonder Percival had been so overly confident in himself, anyone with this kind of power was sure to go insane.

"I'm not sure" Sal said finally, rising slowly and approaching Casmir's body. He was naked, which Sal tried not to notice, and colour was rapidly returning to his usually pale skin, but he was unmoving, not even the rise and fall of his chest to indicate he was breathing.

"What do you mean you're not sure" Katarina said angrily. "You're supposed to know everything"

"I'm supposed to doesn't mean I actually…"

Casmir's body jerked and his eyes flew open. For a second Sal's heart jumped in his chest and he took a startled step back.

Casmir was wheezing on the floor, his body shaking as he exhaled ragged breaths, his chest heaving as he struggled to breathe, or was he trying to get used to breathing again?

"Casmir" Sal exclaimed.

"So cold, so cold" Casmir wheezed, his whispers were painfully soft, nearly inaudible, like a fast wind blowing by your face in the breath of a second.

Sal quickly got over his shock and dashed down to Casmir's side, wrenching off his jacket and draping it over Casmir's shoulders.

"Don't worry buddy, I got you" he said, but Casmir wasn't listening to him or looking at him. He looked confused, scared and lost, his eyes roved the room as if searching for something, anything, that was comforting.

"Casmir" Sal said, sending all his will into his voice. "Look at me"

And he did.

Sal gasped when their eyes met. He was expecting the familiar silver eyes filled with mischief and humor, but Casmir's eyes weren't silver anymore, they were blue, not light sky blue like Sal's, but dark blue, like the sky just minutes before dawn, when the sun hadn't risen but you could see it's light peeking from the horizon.

"Sal" said Casmir, his voice came out raspy, his breath against Sal's face— which was new considering Casmir never used to breathe before— was oddly cool, his lips were cracked and white, but he was alive, and he was speaking, and that was all that mattered. "First you freed me and now you bring me back to life"

"Cas, I—"

In an instant he was in Casmir's arms, the other boy's lean arms wrapped around him and his face buried in Sal's tunic. Sal returned the hug and held on to Casmir, clutching him hard and sighing in relief, as he felt Casmir for the first time in such a long time.

"I knew you could do it" Casmir said, pulling away from Sal. "I never doubted you for one second"

"Really?, cause I doubted myself everyday" Sal said.

Casmir chuckled and it was then Sal realized he'd been crying, all the tears he'd kept closed off since Casmir died had come out and fallen in sparkling lines of salt and water down his cheeks, tears of guilt and pain, now becoming tears of joy and relief.

They both got up, Sal holding Casmir up, afraid he might fall. He couldn't stop his tears, they just kept coming, and he let them fall.

When they turned they saw Katarina and Antony watching them with astonishment on their faces. Katarina had a towel bundled up in her arms and she hastily walked forward and handed it to Casmir, her hands shaking. Casmir did his best to wrap the towel about his waist, and then he pushed Sal away gently and slowly edged towards her, a slight limp in his footsteps.

She was hugging herself, the way she always did when she got emotional, tears welled up in her eyes and she stared at her brother with a whirlwind of emotions that Sal both felt and understood; joy, unbelief, a painful, sorrowful longing.

"Seriously" Casmir said, his signature smirk lighting up his face. "C'mon Kat I just got back from months of fighting death and the best you can do is…"

She crashed into him.

"Casmir" she whispered, capturing his neck and standing on her toes in order to reach his height. "You fucking idiot, the next time you die I'll kill you myself, do you understand me?"

Casmir smiled and kissed her head, smoothing down her hair and holding her body tight.

"Yes ma'am, I promise you, I'm not going anywhere"

Sal smiled at the siblings and went to stand beside Antony, who put a hand on his shoulder and faced him with concerned eyes.

"Are you okay?" Antony asked.

"Yeah, actually" Sal said, wiping another tear from his eyes. "Better than I've felt in a very long time"

"Sal you're still crying" Antony pointed out. "You haven't cried this much since.."

"Lester, I know" he chuckled sadly. "But I lost Casmir to death, and even with everything going on I still managed to bring him back"

He watched the siblings separate and Casmir's eyes landed on his, brimming with the fire of humanity, filled with the soul Sal had looked for on that first day they met.

"It just feels so good to finally do something right, I've gotten back what I lost, and I will never let it go again"