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I plop onto a bench and throw my head back, looking up at the sky. “So, that was a bust.”

He sits beside me, placing a comforting hand on my thigh, is thumb tracing an absent circle. “Don’t give up yet. We have one last stop.”

“Where?”

“I heard of this coven in town. Apparently, some of the most powerful witches go there. Maybe she’s there or they know of her.”

Quickly, we head over there. It's a quaint shop that looks closed, dust visible on the windowsill. We try the door and surprisingly it’s open. We walk up to the register and ring the bell. Ten minutes later, no one has yet to answer, so we head towards the back and down the stairs.

There’s a low indistinguishable humming of some sorts.

“I think I hear something downstairs,” I whisper, and he looks at me, brow furrowed, like he hasn't caught it yet.

When we walk in there is a group of people standing in a circle with some type of animals littered around.

Dead animals, I might add.

Well, this was a big mistake.

Rowan yanks me behind a large bookshelf, I think. It’s so dark that I cannot see much of anything.

I feel something dripping on me, but I ignore it. I can tell Rowan feels it too. He tried wiping it off but gave up. I decide in that moment that I do not want to know what it is.

They continue their chants. “Here us now, here our cries, we call upon Abaddon⁠—”

Hold on.

Wait.

“Isn’t Abaddon the demon of destruction?” I ask.

He doesn't move his eyes from them, jaw set. “Yes.”

“So they are chanting to a demon.”

“Yup.”

“I’m guessing that’s not good.”

He looks at me from the corner of his eyes. “You are absolutely right. There is only one group of people that worship Abaddon, and they are a cult. Not the witches we are looking for. I just hope it isn’t the Sisters and Sons of Hallow.”

“And what if it is?”

He tenses. “Then we just interrupted a cult that does not play well with strangers.”

“Why are you worried? It’s not like they can kill us.”

He’s silent.

“Right, Rowan?”

Still silent.

“Oh, crap.”

It would be just my luck to end up in this exact scenario. When am I going to see peace again?

Rowan turns to me and cups my face, his palm rough and warm against my cheek. “If this is our last moments, you should know that I was madly in love with you since we were kids and was devastated when you moved away. I would like to take you on a date when all of this is over.”