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When we got back to Texas, we split into two groups. Dastien and Chris went with me to the compound, while everyone else went back to campus to start researching a spell to make this all work. Claudia didn’t want to step even a foot onto the coven’s land again, and I didn’t blame her. Not even a little bit. She would be better off researching anyway. For everything I learned about spells, I felt like there were twenty things I didn’t know.
We turned a corner, and the sound of the tires on the cattle guard filled the car.
We were officially on the coven’s land.
My stomach twisted into a tight ball of anxiety. “God, I hate this place.” Not counting my visions, I’d been here twice in the last couple of days, and that was two times more than I wanted. Even though it was daylight, this place was still way too creepy. The burned remains of the houses and the abandoned cars parked in front of them reminded me of everything that had been lost here. It felt starker in the daylight, and I wanted to get gone. Fast.
Agreed. Let’s keep this quick.
Yes, please. Even if I’d had a nice time getting to know my cousins, I wouldn’t say that the short time I’d lived here had been good. I’d been here against my will, and only because Luciana wanted to drain me of my power.
I shook myself free of the past and focused on what I needed today: to find whatever magic was still active here and take anything I could use to forge a bond across supernatural lines. That was the only reason I was here. To detect the magic and counter it if I could.
“In two of my visions, we were digging through the remains of Luciana’s house, and that’s when he came. Which means somewhere in that mess—” I pointed to what was left of Luciana’s house. “There’s an active circle.”
“What happened the third time?” Chris asked.
“You don’t want to know, but there’s a reason demons keep showing up in those woods.” We were lucky nothing worse had happened when we’d met Eli, but I assumed that was because the archon was there.
Dastien stopped the car in front of the burned down remains. The chimney was left, as well as a couple support beams, but the rest was ash. When the pack torched a place, they didn’t leave much behind.
“How the hell is it possible for a circle to be active in there?” Chris said as we got out of the car. “There’s nothing left but some tile floors and the slab foundation.”
I shivered as I got out of the car. It was so much colder here than LA. I was glad I’d brought a change of clothes with me on the plane. I was still in my Uggs and leggings, but I switched my T-shirt for a cozy plaid button-down and sweater. I reached back into the car for my hoodie and zipped it all the way up.
I shoved my hands in the pockets and looked at the house in question. “I’m not saying it makes sense, but that’s what happened. So, I have to assume that there’s an active circle inside that mess. The craft room was over there somewhere to the left of where the front door was, but it’s gone. Which means any circle left in the craft room should also be gone.” This was going to suck. “Something in there is still doing its thing, and we’ve got to find it.”
“Well, at least we know it’s not safe for you to go in there,” Chris said. “And to be extra cautious, I don’t think Dastien should step anywhere near this house. I don’t know anything about demon ties, but if you’re tied to a demon and Dastien is tied to you, then I can’t be certain that Astaroth doesn’t have at least a weak link to Dastien. But I should be able to go in there without an issue. I don’t have a tie to the demon and Luciana’s magic never touched me. If I step into the circle accidentally, I don’t think it’ll have the same effect, but be ready to run.”
“We’ll be ready,” Dastien said.
Chris started forward, but I grabbed his arm. There was a lot I wanted to say to him—most importantly that he shouldn’t go in there, but someone had to and he was the best choice. It was smart, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. “Be careful.” It was all I could come up with, and it was all that really mattered.
He nodded and then started forward again.
Dastien got back in the car and turned it around, ready for a quick exit. Just in case, he sent to me through the bond as I watched Chris step into the burnt-down house.
I placed a shaking hand over my stomach and reminded myself that this was different than the two times we’d gone in there in my visions. Everyone had been with me. I’d led the charge through the compound. Just because I was here didn’t mean that Astaroth was about to show up.
Chris grabbed a pipe from the ground and pushed the mess around.
He’ll be fine, Dastien said as he came around the car to stand with me.
He has to be. If something happened to him because I was too scared to go first, I’d never forgive myself.
My eyes started to burn, but I couldn’t look away. I was too afraid to blink. I didn’t want to miss anything. If something happened, if we were wrong and Astaroth showed, we weren’t going to have a second before we needed to run.
Chris dropped the pipe with a clang as he squatted down, clearing a space on the floor. “Are there basements in these houses?”
I shrugged. “I don’t think so. I mean, I don’t think Claudia and Raphael’s house had one.” At least not that I remembered. I started toward the house. “What’d you find?”
“I don’t know, but I thought this solid cement was the foundation.” He looked at me, and I could see a glow in his eyes. His wolf was near and I knew he had to be freaked out, but other than the electric blue light from his eyes, I wouldn’t have known. “There’s a trapdoor here.” He was standing in the middle of the living room. I didn’t remember that many details from Luciana’s house, but I thought there was a rug in the middle of the room, which would’ve covered a trap door.
I grabbed my cell, dialing Claudia. “What do you know about basements on the compound?” I asked as soon as she picked up.
“We don’t have any.”
“Luciana’s house did. Chris found a trapdoor where her living room used to be.”
