When they reached the second house, Noah was addressing the household much in the way Jackson had just done. The room turned as one when he entered.

“Ah, Jackson,” Noah said, reaching to shake his hand. “I was just about to send someone to get you. After all, you’re the one with the experience dealing with the Templars. Any advice for the troops?”

“The Curse of Ra is their weapon of choice. If the priest wielding it is powerful enough, it can kill. When it hits, it hits hard.”

“We were practicing against it with Tameri. I mean Docia.” Adam smiled grimly. “Sorry. Still getting used to this whole two souls one body thing. Don’t know what to call you half the time.”

“She prefers Docia. I prefer Jackson. It doesn’t matter. I answer to Menes as well. Are there any questions I can help you with?”

“Other than the Curse of Ra, what else can we expect?” Adam asked.

“Some paralyzing spells. Some elemental spells. Those are their go-to spells.”

“Jasmine, maybe you ought to sit this one out,” Adam said worriedly.

“Oh, I know you did not just say that,” she said with rising indignation.

“Babe, it’s just that with your—”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Jasmine said quickly and harshly. “I’m going. End of story.”

Adam knew when to argue with his wife and when not to. If he fought with her on this she would just dig her heels in harder. He let it go and prayed for a miracle. Prayed she wouldn’t get hurt. Prayed to Destiny that their child was meant to be.

Jackson fielded a few more questions, then told everyone to meet out on the front lawn of the main house by the end of the hour.

Jackson wrapped up the meeting by going to Sagan.

“The Curse of Ra is a light spell. One hit and you’re literally toast. You might want to—”

“No. I’m going. Valera can protect me from light. We’ll work in tandem. As long as she is conscious and focused, I’m good to go. I’ve beat worse odds in worse situations.”

“Worse than this?” Jackson said skeptically.

“Well, not worse than this. But pretty close.” He exchanged knowing glances with Valera.

“All right, if you insist. I can see I can’t talk you out of it.”

Sagan shook his head.

“Well, I’ll see you on the front lawn then.”

Jackson left the house and went walking toward the third house on the property where he would do it all again. By the time he was done it was almost time to meet on the front lawn. He had just enough time to find Marissa and pull her into a hard, fiery embrace. He kissed her so deeply her toes curled. She clung to him, her hands trying to hold him closer…forever…but she knew she had to let him go and that he might not make it back.

“Come back to me or I’ll kill you,” she said illogically.

“If I don’t see you again in this life, know that I’ll be waiting for you in the next one. Only…you have to promise me something.”

“What?” she asked, tears in her eyes.

“You won’t go the route I took last time. You’ll be brave and lead our people for the next hundred years until I come back. Someone is going to need to lead them if I’m gone and it has to be you.”

The route he took last time. He had lost her so quickly after finding her again that it had devastated him to the point where he had taken his own life. They were soul mates and it was so hard for one of them to live without the other.

“But I can’t—”

“You can. We’ll have a divided people trying to come together and they need a strong leader for that.”

She nodded and now her tears were tracking down her face. She knew how hard this was for him. She could feel his emotions as if they were her own. He wanted to be selfish, to tell her to come and be with him in the Ether rather than stay here where she would be without him. But they would be disembodied souls in the Ether and though their souls could occasionally touch, it was not the same as when they were physically present with one another.

“I will stay and I will wait for you. A hundred years or a thousand, I will wait for you.”

Jackson breathed a sigh of relief. It would be a hard separation, but they had been through it before. But maybe now, after this was over, if he survived…maybe they would be able to finally live in peace, without the Templar threat hanging constantly over their heads.

He kissed her again, then moved away from her. Her hands clung to him for as long as they could, then fell away. She lifted her chin and followed him out onto the front lawn.

Docia was there, sitting in the middle of a drawn circle with the five points of a pentacle transecting into it. She had a variety of herbs strewn about in a way that would only make sense to a magic-user. Ram was standing just outside the circle watching her with a stern look on his face. He didn’t like this. Didn’t like what this promised to do to her. But they had no choice.

“They’re in California,” she said, “if Kamen’s location spell is accurate.”

“It’s accurate,” he said, sounding slightly affronted.

“Everyone should think about how you’re going to get back. Some of you are going to have to take conventional means. Kamen can’t bring all of you back.”

“We’ll have Mind Demons as well. They can teleport pretty easily,” Noah said. “I’ll have some standing by.”

“All right then. I’m ready. Everyone, get as close together as possible. I mean a huge press of human flesh,” Docia said.

They did as instructed, a little over a hundred bodies pressing into each other.

“Good luck,” Docia said.

Then she began to cast her spell. It was a highly physical spell, her body twisting and folding and gyrating as she put every last ounce of energy into it. She could feel it draining her, but no one was going anywhere. They were still there. She was starting to panic when a sudden explosion of power burst out of her and everyone on the field disappeared.

She collapsed, her whole body going numb and weak. No, not weak…paralyzed. She couldn’t feel anything. She couldn’t even feel Ram’s touch on her as he lifted her into his arms. It was a good thing he was as strong as he was, because he was lifting dead weight. She couldn’t even hold up her head.