Before Lucca reaches the stairs, Tish shouts, “They’re back!”
He turns around so fast, I almost bump into him. He shoves me out of his way and runs back to his room. I run too because I need to make sure Sophie is all right, and I also need to protect her from Lucca’s wrath.
“Vivi! How could you leave like that without telling me?” Lucca asks.
“I didn’t think you noticed. It was fine.”
I pull Sophie into a hug. “I thought you had left me for good.”
“Why would you think that?”
“You weren’t in bed, and then I couldn’t find you or Tish. Why did you go back to your apartment? I thought it wasn’t safe.”
“I had to get this.” She shows me an old leather book.
“What’s that?” Aurora steps closer, her eyes as round as saucers.
“A book I bought at the Nightshade Market for Sophie,” Tish explains.
Aurora’s eyes become even rounder. “I know that book. It belonged to Elena Montenegro.”
“Hell no. Burn that damn thing right the fuck now,” Saxon blurts out.
Sophie steps back, clutching the book against her chest. “I’m not burning anything.”
“Back off, dude,” I warn him.
“That’s not the same grimoire that she used to summon the demon, is it?” Lucca squints, focusing on the tome. Shit, I think he’s a second away from prying it from Sophie’s hands and tossing it into the fire.
“No, it isn’t that grimoire, but Sophie’s book also contains dark magic spells,” Aurora says. “Why do you have it?”
“Duh, because Sophie is a witch,” Tish cuts in again. “She even helped your mother trap the ghost of Madeleine Boucher.”
“She escaped again?” Vivi asks.
“Yeah, unfortunately,” I say. “But the fact of the matter is, Sophie did help the High Witch strengthen the wards. And it was thanks to that book of spells that she could come to our assistance in Indigo Mountain.”
“The book doesn’t only have dark magic spells,” she says. “I wouldn’t perform any of them.”
“Why did you risk going back to the apartment to retrieve it, Miss Sophie?” Igor asks, mercifully fully dressed now.
“It has a spell we want to try to unhex Tish,” she replies.
“I see.”
“Have we satisfied everyone’s curiosity?” Tish asks. “Can we carry on with our plan?”
“Hold on, Tish. I need to see what other ingredients are needed to perform the spell.” Sophie opens the book.
Aurora steps closer. “May I see it?”
Sophie hesitates, and Aurora adds, “I’m not going to destroy it.”
“Oh, all right.” She hands her the book.
Aurora scans through the page quickly, frowning at a specific portion of it. “Blood of… Does that mean Nightingale blood?”
“What the fuck! Let me see that.” Lucca yanks the book from Aurora’s hands, earning her glower. “You didn’t agree to this, did you, Vivi?”
