“Come here,” Gray said. “There’s something I need to give you first.”
Reva did as she asked, and Gray unclasped the amulet from around her neck, fastening it around Reva’s instead. She pressed her fingers against the crescent moon and whispered a protective spell that made the charm glow brightly.
“Reva, I know you can do this,” Gray said, once the amulet had dimmed again. “I wouldn’t send you in there otherwise. But there’s no shame in retreating. The goal of connecting with any remaining Bay witches and sussing out the situation? That’s our second priority tonight.Youare our first. The minute you feel scared or uncomfortable, the minute you get even theslightestvibe that something isn’t right, you pull back. Got it?”
“I will. I promise.”
Reva turned her bright eyes my way, and I put my hands on her shoulders, kneeling down before her, again wishing I could protect her with magic or sheer force of will.
But all I had now were words, and I offered them freely.
“Remember everything we talked about,” I told her. “The shadows are your domain. You are not bound by physical constraints, by the natural laws of the universe. But while your astral body cannot be harmed in the way that your physical body can, fae magic is treacherous, and could very easily sever the cord that connects the two. You must avoid Darkwinter at all costs—their traps, their servants, their spies. You must keep to the shadows and avoid being seen by anyone but the witches and known allies.”
“I remember,” she said. “I won’t let you down. Either of you.”
At this, Gray pulled the girl to her chest, capturing her in a fierce hug. “You could never let us down, Reva. No matter what. Just come back to us.”
We brought Reva into the common room, where Verona had blessed the space and set up protective charms and crystals throughout the room. Reva took a position before the fireplace, and all around her, the witches formed a half-circle, joining hands, whispering more protective chants and Reva stared into the fire.
All of us watched as she slipped into a trance-like state, her eyelids fluttering closed, her shoulders drooping as her consciousness departed her physical body.
As the witches continued their protective whispering, I stood to the side with Asher, Darius, Emilio, Ronan, Jael, Emilio, and Elena, all of us exchanging glances, no one daring to speak.
Other than the witches, none of us made a sound, though I was certain the vampires in the room could hear the frantic thumping of my heart, the fraying of my nerves. I felt as if I’d stopped breathing, and wouldn’t dare to start again until Reva was wholly returned, her astral and physical selves united and safe.
An hour passed. Two. And then, just before the passing of the third, when I was certain one more minute would have us all charging blindly into the Bay to right whatever wrongs had most certainly been committed against her, Reva emerged.
Her face was as blue-white as the full moon shining on the snow.
“Reva,” Gray said gently, kneeling beside her in front of the flames. “Are you okay?”
Reva blinked rapidly, then turned to look at Gray, her eyes going wide with shock. “I… I couldn’t stay,” she said. “Not more than a day.”
Gray nodded, deciding not to tell the child that she hadn’t even been gone three hours by our reckoning. Another trick of the fae magic.
“Why couldn’t you stay?” Gray asked.
“There weren’t enough shadows.”
“What do you mean?”
At this, Reva looked up and met my eyes, her own clearing a bit as the shock receded. “It’s morning there. All the time now. There’s no snow, no fires, no armies, no darkness. There are flowers blooming on every street, and birds singing, and warm breezes coming in off the Bay… It’s like… It’s like this weird, twisted paradise.”
“What of the people?” I asked. “Did you see anyone?”
“I saw everyone,” she whispered. “Witches, vampires, humans. Everyone was smiling. Happy. Chatting with their neighbors, riding bikes through the park. But the thing is, something felt off about their smiles. They seem kind of like zombies. Well, not the kind that eat people. Just the spaced-out kind. I tried to talk to one of the witches and tell her we were coming, but the woman just kept asking me if I was lost, over and over again, even when I told her I lived in the neighborhood.”
“Are you sure you traveled to Blackmoon Bay and not to another location by mistake?” I asked her.
“Yes. I saw Norah’s old house, and the café where she used to take me for peppermint mochas sometimes. Not Luna’s—the other place.”
“Covington’s Cup,” Haley said. “It’s around the corner from Norah’s.”
Reva nodded. “It was definitely home. Just… super messed up. And not in the way Jael said. I swear, you’d take one look at it and think that nothing bad hadeverhappened there.”
“It must be glamoured,” Jael said, “and heavily at that. Kallayna didn’t mention it during our last conversation, so I presume it’s a relatively new situation—one that makes our endeavors that much more challenging.”
“Can you undo it?” Gray asked. “We really need an accurate picture if we’ve got any hope at sorting out friend from foe.”
