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“But it happened to us,” Mack mutters.

“Because you consumed a power greater than anything that has ever existed.” Thornfield looks at me. This time, I do not fizz or feel giddy. I feel… powerful. Because he is staring at me as though he is terrified of what I am.

“I wondered…” I meet his eyes. “If my blood did this… could my blood reunite them?”

Thornfield inhales slowly. “Believe it or not,” he says, “I have been doing a lot of research since I heard about what happened to you.” He gestures to the textbooks surrounding us. “Sadly, I believe not. The transformation that happened to you was intertwined with the prophecy. And prophecies have a law all of their own.”

He looks at Kole as if he expects him to laugh because they’re sharing a funny in-joke only seers and supers would understand.

Kole simply glowers at him.

“You could try it, but I fear all that would happen is that you’d get a nice high from the Fire Bird’s very special blend.”

“You need to watch your mouth, vamp.” Tanner – clearly feeling overly protective of every single one of us right now – bristles and closes the gap between him and Thornfield.

Thornfield holds up both hands and smiles apologetically.

“If my blood won’t help,” I nudge Tanner to stand beside me and take his hand in an attempt to keep him grounded, “then what will?”

“Ah…” Professor Lucien Thornfield casts his stony gaze around the room, his eyes flickering with something that looks almost like excitement. “Well, this is why I was so keen for you to visit my fine city.” He puts an arm around Mack, then one around me. “Because I believe we can help each other…”

20

SAM

“Have you heard from them?” I ask, lingering by Luther’s desk.

He glances up from his paperwork, curls his fingers around the coffee mug next to him and waits for it to start steaming before he drinks from it.

Another magick trick I wish I knew how to perform; heating lukewarm coffee until it’s piping hot again is probably the skill of Luther’s I’m most jealous of.

Apart from his ability to get Nova riled up in a way the rest of us don’t; the way he coaxes anger from her and weaves it into passion.

“Mack texted when they arrived.” Luther looks at his phone and taps the screen. No new messages. “Guessing they’ll have found Thornfield by now.”

I pace over to the window and look out at the quiet street in front of the station. Since The Split healed, Phoenix Falls has been different. Not just because half of its residents left, but because of the invisible gray mist that hangs over us now. A sense that nothing will be the same again. A sense that, despite what we’re telling ourselves, it is too early to be complacent about our safety.

“Do you think he’ll come back?” I ask, tracing a bead of condensation with my index finger.

Luther slurps his coffee and sighs. “No,” he says bluntly. “But it’s not demons we need to worry about right now.”

He picks up the remote next to him and flicks on the TV. Already, news coverage of the explosions at the barrier has morphed into footage of what looks like two demons attacking a bunch of peaceful protestors. Thankfully, they didn’t catch Nico shifting back into human form.

Hell knows what would happen if they had concrete evidence of the town’s deputy walking side-by-side with a hellhound.

“Bastards,” I mutter, snaking my hands through my hair. Thick and curly, it reminds me of my mother every time I catch a glimpse of it. And when the memory hits, so does the vision of her. So close. Then gone.

I grit my teeth and stride over to the fancy-ass coffee machine in the corner of the room.

I make myself a double espresso and down it quickly.

“You could have gone with them,” Luther says, leaning forward onto his elbows.

“No,” I mutter. “I couldn’t.”

“Sam—”

Before he can say any more, his phone starts to ring. He holds up a finger to indicate ‘one second’ then picks up. “Luther speaking… Annalise. Sure. But—”