Page 25
Kole looks at his watch. “Two minutes.”
“We’ll wait ten, then follow,” I tell him.
So, for ten long minutes, we stand staring at one another. Something in the air is different. Snow can sense it and is breathing heavily. It is thick with magick.
“Why does it have to be tonight?” Sam asks quietly. “Did we ever find out?”
I rub my beard with my thumb and forefinger. It’s too long. It needs to be trimmed, but somehow the unruliness seems fitting.
“The moon,” Luther replies. “There’s a different energy on a full moon.” He frowns at Sam. “You should know that. You’re a were.”
“I was locked in an underground club for ten years, Luther. We didn’t see much of the night sky.”
“But you should feel it,” Luther says.
Sam flexes his head from side to side. “Who said I didn’t?”
“It’s not just the moon,” I interrupt. “I wasn’t sure whether to keep this to myself or not.”
The others turn to stare at me. Kole looks perplexed, but Tanner, Sam, and Luther look pissed that I was thinking of hiding something from them.
I sigh and push my fingers through my hair. My gray sweats aren’t nearly warm enough, which is odd because usually Snow and I can tolerate pretty much any drop in temperature better than most. “I’m not sure it helps. But the reason it has to happen tonight—it’s to do with the alignment of the planets. They haven’t been like this since before The Shadow King was banished. Thousands of years ago.”
“How do you know this, Mack?” Kole asks darkly.
“I went to Rev’s,” I tell him. “While you were at the cabin with Luther, and Sam and Tanner were tracking Kayla, I went to see Rev.”
Kole’s eyes widen.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Luther asks gruffly.
“Because I knew you’d think me going into town was a bad idea.”
No one argues. They know they would have tried to stop me.
“Are they okay?” Sam asks. “Is Sarah okay?”
I smile at him and put my hand on his shoulder. “She was when she learned you’re alive,” I reply, watching him blink back tears.
Sam clears his throat and nods, ducking out of my grip. “Good,” he says. “I hope you told her I’ll see her soon, and that I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner.”
“I explained everything,” I tell him. “They’re both fine. Town is much as it was before—unruly, but not too dangerous yet. Rev says many have already left. Mostly mages and witches who can feel the power balance shifting.” I fold my arms and notice that all five of us are feeling the cold now. “She also leant me one of her grandmother’s books. Ivy was a powerful astrologist. She wrote several volumes on the link between magick and planetary alignment.”
“And she wrote about tonight?”
“She didn’t know when it would come, but she predicted the alignment we’ll see tonight would bring a great surge in magick.”
“Giving Eve the power to bring The Shadow King back to earth,” Kole mutters.
“And Nova the power to rise?” Sam asks the question burning on everyone’s lips. I close my eyes and breathe deeply.
“Maybe.” A smile twitches on my lips. “I hope so, but we don’t know that. So, we stick to what we agreed. Kayla takes out Eve. We take out Ragnor. The ritual never happens.” I look around the group of men I’ve grown to love like brothers. “Agreed?”
They nod in unison. For the first time in days, glistening kernels of hope flicker in their eyes.
15
EVE
