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…while she was still outside. She didn’t appear to be losing it, but then again, I wasn’t an expert on people. Apparently, not even my best friend.
Before I could ask if she was feeling okay, she muttered a few words, licked her thumb, and drew in the air. A looping symbol materialized as she drew, glowing red against the wooden door before slowly fading away.
I should have known better than to doubt her sanity.
When Kit opened the door again, my mouth dropped open. And mine wasn’t the only one.
Lena stepped forward, gaping. “What…?”
Beyond the door was a cavernous, rectangular-shaped room with a marble floor. White Grecian columns stood at the corners, holding up the two-story ceiling and adding to the expansive feel.
I leaned sideways to see around the door and stared at the wrecked greenhouse. Everything remained exactly where it had been. The only thing that had changed was what existed beyond the door.
“This is Octavia’s storeroom,” Kit explained, gesturing inside. “I’d rather use up her shit than mine.” She slipped her arm around Angela’s waist again and helped her inside.
Lena glanced at me with wide, excited eyes before following.
“I’ll keep watch out here,” Ivan said, his hand already deep into a bag of chips. His wary gaze tracked Lena as she explored the room hidden within the greenhouse. “Gives me the shivers.”
I grinned. I would have felt the same if I hadn’t already experienced Kit’s hidden locker—more like her very own bat cave. Your eyes and brain just didn’t match up.
Thane and I followed the others inside. Like Kit’s space, shelves and baskets lined the walls, ingredients and potion supplies covering every inch. One long table with a granite top took up the room’s center, and two backless metal stools stood side by side.
Unlike Kit’s cave, this place was immaculate; not a speck of dirt in sight. Kit’s locker wasn’t dirty, but it was still a cave. A witch-made cave folded into the human dimension, but dirt came with the underground ambiance.
On the far side, Octavia had drawn a chalk star inside a circle on the marble floor. The design was roughly five feet in diameter. Because Kit hadn’t used much magic in the time I’d known her, I didn’t know what the symbol did. Magic, obviously, but no specifics.
I pointed to it. “What’s that?”
Her gaze followed the direction of my hand. “An amplification symbol. It strengthens any spell cast within it. Most witches use just the circle, but I’ll need the pentagram’s five points to remove my binding. The more elements we control, the harder it becomes to amplify.”
Letting her get back to collecting ingredients and supplies, I wandered around the room, reading labels and cringing away from certain items that looked especially nasty. Her mother had kept some weird stuff, way more gross and disturbing than anything Kit had. That or Kit just hid those items better.
Eventually, I sat on the steps to wait, and Thane and Lena joined me soon after.
When her arms were full, Kit set the items she’d collected on the table. Angela sat on a stool, grinding up something herb-like in a mortar, then tipped the dusty contents into a glass jar.
The two witches worked in silence, and I wondered whether they’d already practiced this spell for when the time came.
After removing the silicone lid of another glass container, Kit poured in two vials, creating a murky-looking reddish-brown solution. Slowly, she mixed the liquid into the powder Angela made, and the resulting concoction bubbled and fizzed.
When it settled, Kit lifted the glass to her face, peering closely at the contents, and sniffed.
“Okay, we’re ready.” She lowered the glass, and a slight tremor in her hand sloshed the liquid.
“Are you sure you’re prepared for this? Mentally?” I asked as Thane pulled me to my feet. “There’s no rush. We can wait.”
Kit shook her head and met my gaze. “It needs to be now. Just don’t let me…”
She didn’t need to complete the sentence for me to understand her fear. The last time she’d surrendered to her magic, she’d nearly lost herself when she thought Angela had died. Angela had brought her back once, and I believed she could do it again.
Mostly sure.
If not, I had a lot more firepower at my disposal—literally. Plus two more phoenixes and a realm walking, scythe-wielding mate.
Licking my suddenly dry lips, I clenched and unclenched my hands, my fingers cold and palms clammy.
Nothing we couldn’t handle.
