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“But Father,” she says, sending another shock through me.
He is Steph’s dad? He looks like a fucking movie star.
“I need more time to prepare,” Shannon goes on.
The slap echoes around me before my brain registers the movement of his arm. Shannon’s face swings to the side, her hand coming up to cover her cheek as she cowers back from the imposing figure.
“You’ve had your entire life to prepare,” he grits out between clenched teeth. “Do not act like a coward, and do not question my edicts again. That bitch Bernadette hasn’t had enough time to prepare your sister. You will take her power easily. Come to me when it is done.”
With a shaky nod, Shannon turns and hurries in the direction from which her father arrived. I need to follow her, but navigating through the group of witches undetected isn’t going to be easy. Taking a deep breath, I clench my jaw and steel my resolve.
I have to do this. It might be my best and only chance to find Steph and get us out of here.
Moving slowly, I squeeze in between two blond men who are still staring sadly at the prone form on the floor. I keep my eyes averted, not wanting to see the blood or her lifeless face again. I’ll deal with my remorse over that later. I freeze as a woman in a long white dress steps forward, directly into my path, and bows her head to recite a quiet prayer over the body.
Shuffling to the side, I move around her and come face-to-chest with Steph’s father. He’s really fucking tall with a wide, muscled chest. The material of his suit jacket strains as he clasps his hands behind his back and bows his head in deference to the other witch’s prayer.
“Malediction.”
My heart leaps into my throat as one of the blond men I passed says the word. It sounds like the language used in magic, and for a split second, I’m sure he sensed my presence and used the word to break my invisibility spell.
The twins’ father raises his head to look at the man and says, “Yes, Brandt?”
Oh. That’s his name. What the fuck kind of name is Malediction, anyway?
The man asks about moving Tamelen’s body to prepare it for a funeral pyre––yuck––and I realize I’ve wasted far too much time being careful. Shannon is gone, and if I don’t chase after her right now, I’m afraid I’ll never find her.
So, taking a deep breath, I slide past Malediction and hurry in the direction she left. I don’t know if any of the witches hear my footsteps, but I refuse to look back for confirmation. I just run and pray that the sound doesn’t carry.
I have to find Steph, save her from Shannon, and get us both the hell out of here.
41
YOU’RE A WITCH
I make it up the stairs to the main floor just in time to see Shannon hit the landing on the second story. Her dark hair whips out behind her as she turns to the left, and I pray for silent footsteps as I rush up the staircase behind her. When I hit the top and swerve to the left, I skid to a stop.
Shannon stands before a closed door, her hand on the knob and her head bowed as if in prayer. I don’t know if she’s actually praying or just trying to work up the nerve to kill her sister, but her pause gives me a few seconds to catch up.
Her head jerks up, and I panic and freeze when she looks right at me. Can she see me? Did my invisibility spell falter? She blinks a few times, cocking her head as if she’s listening for something, then heaves a sigh before turning the knob and pushing the door wide open.
There’s a flash of light, and Shannon stumbles back a step before straightening and walking through the doorway.
“I have a barrier spell to protect me,” she shouts as Steph yells and light flashes through the doorway once more. “Stop it, Stephanie.”
“Make me, you bitch!” Steph yells, and as I peek through the doorway, I see her rear back and shoot something that looks like lightning from her fingertips.
Well, that’s new. As much as I watched Steph and Bernadette practice magic, they never performed that spell in front of me.
The light energy bounces off Shannon, who heaves a sigh of impatience and mumbles something about Steph making this harder on herself than it needs to be. Inhaling deeply, I hold the oxygen in my lungs and step inside the room. Neither of the witches seem to notice my presence as they face off against each other. I pause behind Shannon and silently recite the spell to bring down a magical barrier in my head.
I don’t know if it will work. The fact that she protected herself with the spell in the first place leads me to believe Shannon is convinced Steph wouldn’t be able to dissolve it. So why would I, a mere human, be able to?
But I have to try.
Thinking the words again with all my might, I see the moment they start to work. Shannon gasps and stiffens as she feels her spell dissipate. Knowing I don’t have a second to waste, I leap forward with an echoing war cry. Slamming into Shannon’s back, I push her with every ounce of my strength. She stumbles and falls to her hands and knees with a yelp, and I jump on her, pushing her all the way to the floor and straddling her.
I look up to see Steph staring at us with wide eyes, then I remember she can’t see me, so I whisper the words to release the invisibility spell. Steph’s eyes grow even wider, nearly bugging out of her head as her mouth falls open.
