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“Was there anything else?”
Maya studied Peri with blatant concern. When Peri refused to blink, she conceded defeat with a soft sigh.
“Someone managed to get a picture of the bodies and posted it on the internet.” She moved to place her fingers over the keyboard, hesitating as if she regretted revealing that there were photos. “Are you sure you want to see it?”
No…
“I’m sure.”
Peri squared her shoulders, her gaze locked on the monitor as Maya touched the keyboard, bringing up a fuzzy image. At first Peri couldn’t make out more than a blur of dark objects on a wood-plank floor. She stepped closer and bent down to make sense of what she was seeing. At the same time, she tapped into the magic that flowed through her blood. She couldn’t alter the picture, but she could intensify her vision until she could pick out even the smallest detail.
What she noticed first was the strange way the bodies were laid out. They were arranged in a perfect circle with their feet pointed toward the center. Like macabre spokes in a wheel. They were all wearing heavy white robes that fanned around their bodies, concealing any hidden injuries, but there wasn’t a speck of blood on the pristine material. Not on any of them. She leaned closer, studying the faces that were pointed at the rafters highabove them, their eyes wide open and their gray hair smoothly spreading across the floor.
“Wait.” Peri shook her head. “This can’t be my mother’s coven.”
“Why not?” Maya demanded.
“They’re way too old.”
She studied the deep wrinkles that marred each woman’s face. Witches aged like normal humans, but her mother couldn’t be more than fifty. The corpses looked like they were all at least a hundred.
Moving her attention from one woman to the next, her breath was abruptly squeezed from her lungs as she caught sight of a distinctive tattoo. Her mother. It had to be. The large raven on the side of her neck was supposed to be a symbol that she was destined for greatness. Returning her attention to the other women, she slowly managed to recognize them despite the dramatic aging.
This was the coven that had raised her from the day she was born until she turned sixteen.
“Oh my God. What happened to them? They look like mummies.”
Maya moved to stand next to her, studying the monitor. “I have no idea.”
“Someone knows,” she suddenly breathed.
Whoever had taken the picture must have been standing at the front entrance. They’d not only captured the image of the dead women, but the stalls that lined the side of the barn.
“Why do you say that?” Maya asked.
“Look.” Peri pointed at the eyes peeking through the wooden slats of a stall. “There was a witness.”
Maya studied the image. “There’s no way to see who it is.”
“We might not need to,” Peri said. “My mother insisted that there always be thirteen witches in her coven. Specificallythirteen at all times. It was supposedly her lucky number. So one escaped whatever happened.”
“Do you know which one?”
“I suppose I could try to guess by process of elimination.” Ignoring the sickness that churned in the pit of her stomach, Peri moved her gaze from one face to another. “There are three I don’t recognize,” she finally concluded. “They must have joined after I left.”
“So that means there are four possible witnesses. Assuming the eyes belong to a witch from the coven,” Maya murmured. “Who’s missing?”
“Irene Webster. But she was close to eighty when I was still at the ranch. It’s likely she passed years ago,” Peri said, sorting through the names of the women who weren’t among the dead. “Pamela Foster.”
“She created her own coven in New Mexico,” Maya said.
Peri wasn’t surprised that Pamela had started her own coven. She’d been blatantly ambitious, often challenging her mother’s authority. It also wasn’t a surprise that Maya knew she’d created her own coven. The older woman kept a close watch on their enemies.
Peri came to the end of her mental list. “Unless it’s a stranger hiding in the stall, then the eyes must belong to Destiny Mason.”
Destiny had been four years older than Peri and barely capable of performing the easiest spell. If she hadn’t brought a sizable inheritance with her, Peri’s mother would never have allowed her to stay at the ranch. It would make sense that she might be excluded from whatever the other witches were doing in the barn.
Peri pressed her hand against her stomach, which continued to rebel at the sight of the mummified women. What the hell had happened? A demon attack? A vampire? Humans?
