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Naomi shook her head. “Let’s wait and see how this goes. If they really do just want to talk, no point in making a commotion up here.”
My brother leaned over, his voice pitched low. “Can’t they force your mother and Irene to tell the truth? Isn’t there a spell for that?”
“They’d need reasonable proof of wrongdoing and an order from the high Assembly court, or they’d be using illegal magic too,” Rose said. “If they were sure Ginny was harboring us, I’m thinking this faction wouldn’t care about that, but it doesn’t sound as if they’re sure at all.”
“So they’re playing it cautious,” Naomi added. She glanced over at Kyler. “We may not be in the trendy west coast witching crowd, but our family has a long history and plenty of magic to call on. They wouldn’t want to be careless with us.” Even though she still sounded nervous, a fierce sparkle had lit in her eyes.
The conversation below had faded out, muffled by the walls as they’d moved deeper into the house. I resisted the restless urge to shift my weight. Ginny had indicated there were only two Assembly people here, and at least the guy couldn’t use magic on his own. Though I guessed he might have one of those batons. But even so, if it came down to some kind of fight, we had four powerful witches on our side.
It wasn’t so much whether we could survive the next hour as how we’d survive if we had to reveal our hand that far. And I knew Rose didn’t want to get her mother’s family in that kind of trouble. She was biting her lip, her fingers worrying at the hem of the blue cotton blouse Naomi had lent her.
Several minutes passed in that tense silence. Then Ginny called up, “Naomi, Stella, would you mind coming down for a moment? We’ve got a visitor who needs to speak with you.”
Naomi scrambled up. “Just a second, Mom,” she called back. Then she turned to Rose and patted her pocket with her phone. “I’ll send you an SOS text if you need to get going. But if you feel safer, you can go up to the attic now. Just make sure you’re quiet about it.”
Her younger sister emerged from her room down the hall. Naomi ducked her head close as they went to the staircase, presumably filling Stella in on everything she’d missed. Stella’s eyes widened. She nodded and shot a quick smile our way.
Rose looked around at us, a question in her gaze. Stay here or really go into hiding. I hesitated, not liking either option. The thought of being shut up in the attic with only a dormer window for escape made my skin creep.
“Let’s pull back into the bedroom,” Gabriel murmured. “Leave the door open so we can still hear if anything major happens.”
As one being, we got up and eased across the hall to the master bedroom. Rose slipped into the closet and hopped onto the chest so she could push open the trap door. “In case we need to head up there in a hurry,” she said. “Maybe the rest of you should go up ahead—”
Damon was already shaking his head. “We’re sticking with you, angel.”
She frowned, but she didn’t press the issue. Her fingers curled into her palms. I wondered how much it bothered her having all that magic in her but feeling it wasn’t safe to use it. She could have sent those Assembly people off in an instant if she’d wanted to. It just wasn’t worth the consequences.
Her phone vibrated in the pocket of her jeans with a faint hum. Rose flinched and reached for it, waving us toward the closet. Then she let out her breath.
“They’re leaving the house,” she said. “The Assembly people and my family. Naomi didn’t have time to say why, but she promised she’ll text us when they’re heading back so we know when to be on guard again.”
As she spoke, the thud of the front door carried from downstairs. I exhaled some of my tension in a rush and reached to pull Rose to me.
She melted into my embrace. I hadn’t realized how tenseshe’dbeen until that moment. I tucked my head close to hers and stroked my hand up and down her back, encouraging her to let go of it all.
It wasn’t right that someone so powerful should feel this scared.
“I’m going to go grab a few things to be ready if they do come back,” Damon said, his expression dark.
Jin raised an eyebrow. “Things that shoot bullets?”
Damon glowered at him. “You can have one too if you know how to use it.”
The other guy raised his hands. “I’ll stick to working with paintbrushes and clay, thanks.”
“I’ve got the general idea,” Ky said. “Can I at least take a look?”
I stared at my twin. “Where did you learn how to shoot?”
He laughed. “Where do you think? The internet can teach you anything. I’m just not sure how comfortable I’d feel using that information with a real live gun.”
“Well, c’mon,” Damon said. “Have a look, see what you think.”
“You know, I’m actually curious to see what exactly you’ve picked up,” Jin said. “I’ll tag along.”
Damon rolled his eyes but didn’t protest. The three of them headed out of the room. Rose snuggled deeper into my arms.
“I wish I could think the Assembly will finish their little talk and then leave Aunt Ginny alone, and we could just stay here somehow,” she said.
