Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“Yeah.” Though I know perfectly well it can still be that easy. Claire could be lying dead on the side of a road somewhere. At the bottom of a ditch. Scattered across the woods after animals found her body. Or Vivian could already have her. I shove the thought away.
At least Claire knows what Vivian looks like now. And if her powers are finally coming in, maybe she’ll be able to sense that something is wrong with her. She might not understand that Vivian is possessed, but hopefully her instincts will tell her to stay away.
“I’m going to keep digging here,” Marie says. “I’ll keep you posted. And you keep me posted.” Her voice firms. “And promise me, Wren. Don’t cast that locator spell. I have a bad feeling about it.”
I bite the inside of my cheek.
“If you absolutely cannot resist,” she continues, “tell me first. I’ll come get you and bring you to the Covenstead. At least there, we can protect you while you do it.”
“I won’t cast the locator spell,” I promise. Not right now, anyway. I keep that part to myself. Because it is still the quickest and easiest way to find Claire. And once the sun goes down, I’ll have vampires on my side. Having vampires on my side is also part of the reason I’m so desperate to get to Claire before Vaelric does. One of my biggest fears about necromancy has always been what it could mean for Xavier. Things are already bad enough with his alliances falling apart from every direction. Vaelric knew exactly what he was doing when he manipulated the Reapers into performing that ritual.
And even though we killed the chaos demon, the circumstances surrounding that whole thing left us with more questions than answers.
How were the Reapers influenced? Were they possessed by lesser demons? Manipulated? Was the chaos demon ever the real objective? Or was it always meant to keep us distracted?
“I’ll call you back in an hour,” Marie says. “Even if I have nothing new to report. Just to check in.”
“Okay.” I hesitate. “And thank you for helping me. Seriously. You don’t have to be doing any of this right now.”
“I know,” she says warmly. “And you’re welcome.” She pauses. “This is what family does for each other. And once you’re part of our coven, you’ll be family too.” We end the call. I can immediately feel everyone staring at me.
“Yes,” I say, more irritated than I mean to. “She wants me to join her coven.” I spread my hands. “I’m a witch, okay? I’m supposed to be around my own kind.”
“What about us?” Mabel asks. Her face falls. “I thought we were your family.”
“You are.” I turn toward her quickly. “You guys are my family. I love all of you. And I love Xavier in a very different way.” My voice threatens to break. “But everything happening right now is happening because I’m a witch.” I look away.
“And I can’t stop thinking that maybe if I understood my powers better, or understood where I came from, I could’ve gotten myself out of this mess before it escalated this far.” I shake my head. “Or maybe I never would’ve gotten into it at all.”
“Then you never would’ve met me,” Mabel says. I look at her. “I know it’s not the greatest silver lining,” she continues, “but I really do believe things happen for a reason.” Her expression softens.
“I hated my life when I first came here. I hated that I had babies I was forced to give up. I still hate that I have children who are immortal and don’t speak to me.” Her gaze drops to the floor. “And I hate that some of my memories of them are gone because I asked for them to be taken away.” She blinks back tears. Then suddenly lifts her head and smiles. “But look. We’re friends now.”
I smile despite myself. “And I’m really grateful for that.”
“Let’s get to work,” Antonio says. Typical man. Emotional women make him uncomfortable, so naturally he changes the subject.
“I’ll start with Ryder,” Leo says. “Then I’ll call around to different police departments while I run whatever facial-recognition searches I can.” He pulls the laptop closer. “If Claire has run away multiple times, there’s probably a pattern somewhere.”
“She doesn’t have money, right?” he asks. “But you said she had a job?”
“Yeah. She worked at a coffee shop two days a week after school. That’s all I know. It was within walking distance of the group home.”
“I’ll find it.” Leo picks up the computer. Devon, who has apparently developed a sudden passion for demon hunting and locating missing teenagers, follows him out of the room.
“Do you want me to order food?” Mabel asks.
“I’m not particularly hungry.”
“But your brothers always are,” she says.
“Pizza doesn’t sound bad,” Antonio admits.
“I love ordering pizza!” Mabel claps her hands. “What toppings do you want? There are so many options.”