“He heard or seen anything?”
Nocame his immediate response.Though there is movement inside.
One or two people?
Can’t say.He paused.I am not even sure it is people.
I repeated that to René, who frowned. “Then we need to enter from both the corridor and the balcony. Let’s find Ginny.”
He parked directly opposite the apartment building and, once we were both out of the car, placed a hand on my spine and guided me lightly across the road and through the park. Luke’s building was right on the racetrack’s fence line, meaning three of its four sides had glorious views over the course.
Ginny jumped down from her tree and held out her hand. “And you would be the infamous René Jones. Pleasure to meet you.”
“An avid follower of the tabloids, I take it,” he said. Though his expression was polite, it definitely lacked some warmth.
“Only when it comes to interesting people, and you, my good sir, definitely qualify there.” She glanced at me, her dark eyes gleaming with appreciation. “How are we tackling this?”
“You and Atticus?—”
“He’s here?” she cut in. “Why?”
“Because he got bored with chasing mice and decided to go after something bigger,” I replied, even as he said,Truth. “As I was saying, when I give the word, you and Atticus will go in through the balcony door—if it’s locked, Atticus will open it—while René and I hit them from the front.”
“Have you seen any movement within the apartment since you’ve been here?” René asked her.
“No.”
I glanced at him. “Which counters Atticus’s assessment there is something inside.”
“I can’t sense magic,” Ginny said, “so it’s possible there’s some sort of shielding spell in place over the windows.”
“Possible.” I glanced at my watch. “You want to contact Betty and give her an update? Then, in ten minutes, fly over to the balcony and get ready to head in.”
She glanced at the time on her phone, then nodded. René and I continued on. The apartment building, like most upper market ones, had full security in place, but after another wave of his fingers and a spell I couldn’t feel, René had the door open without setting off any alarms. We made our way up to the sixth floor, then down the hall. Atticus was sitting near the stairs, his tail swishing lightly from side to side.
Any further movement?
None. There is a wrongness in there, though.
“Define wrongness,” René asked quietly. “Because I feel no magic or otherworldly creatures.”
My gaze shot to him. “You can feel otherworldly creatures? As in, demons?”
“I walk in the same shadows as them, remember.” It was lightly said, but there was a seriousness behind his eyes that belied that.
He’d made a similar statement in the mall, but at the time, the demons were visible and hunting us. I hadn’t thought it expanded beyond that.
I glanced at Atticus. “You’d better go join Ginny on the balcony.”
His form dissolved into a faint shadow that slipped down the hall and straight through the outer wall.
A few minutes later, he said, Both here and ready.
I glanced at René. “It’s a go.”
The words were barely out of my mouth when the screaming began.
ChapterTen
