I held her gaze, my heart hammering behind my ribcage. I needed her help—wanted her by my side through this—but if she wanted to bail, I’d find another way. There would be no talking me out of this—not even from the woman who shared my blood.
Haley rolled her eyes. “Of course I’minon this, you crazy bitch. God.” She set the supplies on the bed and plucked the feather from my hand. “I just wish we had more to go on. And better supplies. And maybe some of Nona’s lasagna.”
“Help me figure this out and I’ll bake you a month’s worth of lasagna.”
“Do you even know how?”
I leaned in and kissed her cheek. “For you? I’ll learn.”
After that, I was a whirlwind, scouring the room for anything else we could use while Haley sorted through the stuff Darius had scavenged. The Tarot cards Emilio had given me were on the dresser, so I gathered them up into a neat stack and placed them with the other supplies, hoping we could harness the power of the cards as well as their connection to Emilio.
Stuffed in draws or shoved out of sight on the closet shelves, I found a lighter, which I slid into my T-shirt pocket, and a couple more half-melted candles. Then I unearthed a terra-cotta bowl, a half-spent tube of bright red lipstick, and—a more recent addition to the space—one of Emilio’s T-shirts. I brought it to my face and inhaled, his woodsy-vanilla scent bringing tears to my eyes.
This was the room we’d shared together. The room where we’d spent one amazing night in each other’s arms. The room where we’d shared our first time… and our last…
I closed my eyes, barely stifling the tears.
Focus, Gray. Get him back.
Shaking off the melancholy, I opened my eyes and tossed the shirt to Haley. She found a pair of scissors and got to work cutting it into seven strips.
“We need a circle,” she said, toeing the dark green throw rug that covered the floor beside the bed. “Help me with this.”
We rolled it up and shoved it out of the way, revealing the bare wood planks beneath. Dropping to my knees, I drew a pentacle on the floor with the old lipstick, then set the candles at each of the points.
As Haley lit each one, I poured a line of salt over the threshold before the door and along each of the windowsills. Haley poured the bottled water into the glass bowl and blessed it, and then we sprinkled that around the circle, too.
Between our actions in here, the witches’ collective protection magic, and the perimeter Jael had set up, we’d be safe for a little while—hopefully long enough for me to track down my guys and bring them back. There were dark fae to hunt, threats to eliminate, people to save, order to restore… and I needed them by my side. We all did.
Certain we’d prepared the makeshift space as best we could, Haley and I knelt down at the center of the circle, the terra cotta bowl resting on the floor between us, the blade in her lap. Following her lead, I helped tie each of the T-shirt strips into seven knots, then placed all of them into the bowl.
From the deck of cards, I selected the two that most reminded me of the guys. For Emilio, I chose the King of Cups, honorable and compassionate, sensitive, full of love and strength and wisdom. For Liam, the Death card.
My eyes lingered on the words carved in stone before the black-robed angel of Death.
Vita mutatur, non tollitur.Life is changed, not taken away.
The last time I’d drawn this card, it’d brought me to Liam. I hoped now it would do the same. That the message would hold true.
I placed the cards on each side of the bowl.
Haley set the blood-drenched feather on top of the knotted fabric strips, then nodded at me.
It was time.
“Okay, blood priestess,” I said. “Let’s conjure up something good.”
“Blood priestess. I like that.” With a wicked gleam in her eye, Haley reached for my hands, clasping them tight over the bowl. At her touch, my magic sparked, and she let out a little gasp of surprise, then laughed. “Okay, we need to work on your grounding skills after this.”
“We will,” I told her. “We’ll work on everything.”Including the part about us being sisters,I thought. I still wasn’t quite sure how to tell her—there were so many implications, so many unanswered questions. But that was a conversation for later. Right now, we had a job to do.
My magic settled, allowing me to feel the pulse of hers, our bond growing stronger the longer we held tight. Her touch was warm and solid, a reassuring connection in a night that had threatened to blow us all away.
My eyes misted again, but not because of Emilio or the struggles that still lay ahead. In that instant, I thought of Sophie, and a smile touched my lips. She’d brought Haley into my life, despite my resistance. She’d brought my sister and me together. I felt her presence now, her friendship. Her support.
I sensed Haley did, too. I saw my own emotion reflected in her eyes, and a silent understanding passed between us. She might not yet know about the nature of our relationship, but even if weweren’tbiological sisters, Haley and I were sisters in all the ways that counted.
And it’d all started with our connection to Sophie.
