“Sounds like there’s too much magic injected in it,” Kendall said. “Hard to untangle that stuff.”
“Then we need to get back out there and ask more questions,” Callan said. “What’s the status on Toppers?”
Kendall rubbed his face. “Dead end. The Hunter covered his tracks there. Probably glamoured the guy to work for him. Identify young men with certain weaknesses and reel them in.”
“Why humans, though?” I asked. “What’s he trying to achieve? Assemble his own team? Like the fae and their Wild Hunt?”
“I wish I knew,” Callan replied.
Mona paced back and forth. “I already regret using the dream walker. Ben is our only connection to the killer.”
“Ben could not have helped us,” I insisted. “He didn’t have the potion in his system. He didn’t take it. The only thing he would’ve been able to tell us is the potion is green and we know that already.”
Callan moved to stand beside me. “Cerys is right. Setting Ben free was the right call.”
“No point in arguing now,” Kendall said. “That pegasus has flown the stable.”
Mona crossed her arms. “Great. Then we’re at another dead end. I love filing those progress reports that show absolutely no progress. The higher ups love it, too.”
Callan’s expression clouded over. “There’s an angle we haven’t pursued.”
Mona and Kendall exchanged uneasy glances. “I don’t know, Callan,” Mona said carefully. “Do we really want to go that route?”
“What choice is there?” Callan asked.
“What are we talking about?” I asked. “What’s the angle?”
“The Silent Sisters,” Kendall said. He did not seem enthusiastic.
“Silent and deadly,” Mona added.
“So we’re not talking about a vow of silence?” I asked.
“Nope.” Callan straightened, a determined glimmer in his eye. “That’s what we need to do, folks. Like you said, we’re out of options. I don’t blame you for steering clear, but they have their talents and this is one of them.”
Mona’s gaze flickered to me. “Maybe you and I should go. This requires a certain finesse.”
“And what?” Callan laughed. “Leave Cerys outside the gates and hope I don’t stray more than thirty feet from her inside that huge house?”
Mona appeared torn. “Kendall and I should go then.”
“You know you can’t do that,” Callan said. “They’ll kill you both.”
I blinked in confusion. “But not you?”
Kendall pressed a fist into his open palm. “Mona and I had an incident with the Silent Sisters two years ago.”
“She doesn’t need the details,” Callan interjected.
“Let’s just say there used to be three of them,” Mona said darkly.
Oh. I directed my attention to Callan. “What about you? No grudge against you?”
“I was outside dealing with a third party,” Callan said. “I missed the show.” He shifted his focus back to Mona. “Cerys has the chops. She can handle it.”
Mona closed her eyes and breathed a prayer. “You seem certain of her.”
“We need another break in the case,” Callan said. “Because we’re not getting it from Ben.”
Kendall glanced at the wall that separated us from Ben’s room. “Not anymore.”
Mona threw her hands in the air. “Fine. Go. I give you my blessing. Don’t make me regret it.”
“You won’t,” I said. “Whatever the Silent Sisters can offer, we’ll take it and run.”
Kendall snorted. “Oh, you’ll run. The question is will it be fast enough?”
Mona placed a firm hand on my shoulder. “You and Callan are partners now. That means you look out for one another.”
For a brief moment, I misunderstood. I thought she’d gleaned that something had happened between us and my heart began to pound. Callan must’ve sensed my distress because he edged closer to us.
“We do,” he replied. “And we will.”
“This witch is your responsibility, Callan,” Kendall said. “I know you didn’t create the blood bond, but you can’t let anything happen to her on your watch.”
Callan snarled. “When have I ever fallen down on the job?”
“No need to get your fur in a wad,” Kendall said. “Just saying what we’re all thinking.”
“I wasn’t thinking that,” I said.
Kendall’s expression grew more serious. “That’s because you don’t have enough experience to be frightened.”
Despite my growing apprehension, I trusted Callan. Otherwise, I never would have done what I did in the Wild. Not in a million years. I didn’t trust easily, not with my history. Callan…He was different. There was a certain comfort in being so close to him all the time. I felt secure for the first time in ages—and if we survived a surprise visit from the Hunter, then we could certainly survive a visit to the Silent Sisters.
Chapter Fourteen
The lonely house of the Silent Sisters was set back behind a tall iron fence with spikes at the top of each post. The shutters were painted black and the siding was a faded gray. The northern side of the house had succumbed to an overgrowth of vines and weeds. The front yard appeared unkempt with weeds sprouting from every available crevice. It was the kind of house that salespeople avoided and children refused to walk past under any circumstances. There was no obvious point of entry. Callan and I stood on the pavement outside the fence, debating our options.
“It's the quintessential haunted house,” Callan said. “They might as well have headless corpses and spooky jack-o’-lanterns winding the walkway.”
I wasn’t sure about the need for decor, but he was right about one thing—the house was spectacularly spooky. Dark clouds hovered directly above the roof as though anchored in the sky by the house itself.
Callan gave me a quick glance. “You ready, Half Pint?”
My brow lifted. “Why do I get the feeling you’re trying to force another nickname on me?”
He grinned. “I figured you wouldn't be familiar with this one. It's a reference from a Terrene book called Little House on the Prairie. There was even a TV show.”
I bristled. “You’re supposed to be a professional. Every time you use a diminutive expression, it undermines me. I'm already in a particularly vulnerable situation, being bound to you. The last thing I need is for you to try to make me feel smaller than I am.”
His expression crumpled. “You’ve got to know by now that would never be my intention. Tearing down women…Tearing you down. That's not my way.”
“You don't need to try to convince me,” I said. “I’m just telling you how I feel, regardless of what your intentions are.”
He nodded soberly. “You make a good point. I guess for me it’s a sign of affection.”
I cast a suspicious look in his direction. “You’ve been doing it since we met.”
He held up a hand, palm out. “I do solemnly swear to make every effort to cease all nicknames, terms of endearment, and/or affection when addressing one Miss Cerys Davies. I’d do a blood oath, but I figure we’ve had our fill of blood between us.” He dropped his hand and looked me in the eye. “How's that?”
“Sounds good to me.” Although, secretly, I’d become partial to lemon drop.
“What about your friends? Would you have a problem with an affectionate nickname used by them or is it specific to me?”
“My friends call me Cerys or Mom,” I said. “But Mom would be too weird for you.”
“True. You haven’t gone full maternal on me. Not yet anyway.” He hesitated. “How about your boyfriends? Any adorable nicknames there?”
“There haven’t been any.”
“Boyfriends or nicknames?”
“Both,” I replied.
Callan whistled. “No boyfriends? How is that possible?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ve always been very busy.”
“Busy?” Callan burst out laughing. “
That sounds like an excuse if I ever heard one. You don’t kiss like you’ve never had a boyfriend.”
I closed my eyes. “We don’t need to rehash it. Thank you.”
He inched closer. “We don’t? What if I want to?”
I opened my eyes and looked at him. “We had a moment. Let’s move on.”
“Cerys, I don’t want you to…”
I cut off him, unwilling to discuss it. “How do you propose we get in?” I curled my fingers around the iron bars.
“Have it your way then. I get it, believe me. You opened up and now you feel vulnerable and full of regret. It’s scary as hell.”
“It’s not something I ever talk about.”
He nodded. “I won’t force you, Cerys. That’s not my way either.”
“Good to know.” My stomach was knitted into a tight ball and I tried to relax. We needed this visit to be successful. I had to focus.
Callan glanced upward. “I could jump it easily enough, but I don’t see a way of getting you in.”
“How’d you get in before?”
“I didn’t,” he said. “I told you I was out here preoccupied. Mona got them in.”
I produced my wand. “I could do a spell.”
“I don’t want to sneak up on them,” Callan said. “Magic will trip a ward. I’m sure of it.” He reached into his pocket and produced an ID card. “I’ll try the old-fashioned way.” He stood squarely in front of the bars in line with the front door and held up the card for inspection. “This is Callan Mulroney, a member of the League of Local Paranormals. My colleague and I are here to speak to you on official business. We have no interest in hurting you. We only want information. We’ve brought payment.”
I laughed. “You think they’re monitoring the sidewalk at all times?”
“This place is warded to the hilt,” Callan said. “Can’t you feel it? The second we stepped in front of their property, they knew we were here.”
After another tense moment, the two bars in front of us dissolved. Callan swaggered across the boundary and I hurried to catch up. As much I didn’t want to go in, I didn’t want to be left behind either. Now that we were inside the property line, my body registered the sheer volume of energy present here. As I passed by an untended flower bed, a stalk shot forth and the mouth of the purple flower opened, revealing a set of razor-sharp teeth. I pulled my arm to safety in the nick of time.
“What on earth is that?”
Callan offered a casual glance over his shoulder. “Snapdragon.”
“We’re in Terrene,” I pointed out. “How can this exist here?”
The werewolf cleared three steps and landed on the front porch. “A lot of things exist here that shouldn’t,” he explained. “Otherwise, I'd be out of a job.”
He made a good point. I joined him on the front porch and the wooden boards sagged beneath the weight of our bodies. I pictured a trap door and a dungeon below and shuddered.
“You sure you’re up for this?” Callan asked, appearing mildly amused. “The Silent Sisters aren’t for the faint of heart.”
I straightened my shoulders. “And what about me so far suggests I fall into that category?”
He suppressed a smile. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
The door cracked open and Callan pushed it forward, striding into the house with an air of fearless confidence. I envied him that. I’d been fearless once, when called upon, and I'd had to live with that decision ever since.
The foyer was dusty and covered in cobwebs. My first instinct wasn't fear, it was whether to do a spell to clean up the mess.
“Whatever happens,” Callan whispered, “stay with me. Don't let them separate us.”
I gave a wry smile. “Well, no matter what they do, they can't separate us more than thirty feet.”
His dark eyes danced with amusement. “Sometimes you surprise me, Cerys.”
A noise upstairs interrupted our idle chatter. Callan brought his finger to his lips. I wasn't sure what the point of an ambush would be considering that we announced our presence, unless they’d decided to take revenge out on us for what happened to their sister.
At the top of the staircase, a snake slithered to the edge and undulated down each step until it reached the bottom. It was at least twenty feet in length, its skin covered in a design of brown and black. Callan instinctively placed a protective arm in front of me and I swatted it away.
“I’m training to be an Enforcer of the East,” I reminded him. “I don't need your protection.”
He gave me a sharp look. “As long as we’re bound, you are under my protection. You heard Kendall. You’re my responsibility and I won't let anything happen to you.”
“Fine.” I put a protective arm in front of him. “Then I won’t let anything happen to you either. You heard Mona. We have to look out for one another.” The snake slithered across the foyer floor as though we didn't exist. “Besides, you don't need to protect me from a snake. Don't forget I'm an earth witch. Animals tend to like me.”
Desire sparked in his dark eyes. “They sure do.”
A few more snakes wound their way down the staircase. It seemed like a meeting had been called to order. The thought amused me, but only for brief moment. Three snakes quickly became six and then nine. I stared at them in wonder. Callan seemed equally confused. The house began to rattle and shake from its core. We stood with our backs together, uncertain what to do next. Without warning, snakes burst forth from all available pathways. They shot out of doorways and dropped from the ceiling. Still, we were of no consequence to them. They hissed almost absentmindedly, as though on autopilot. Their main focus seemed to be whatever was in the room behind the set of oversized wooden doors to our left.
“Callan, I recognize those images.” The doors featured intricate carvings depicting a familiar scene. On one door was an image of a kraken. On the other door was an image of Perseus, the great warrior. He clutched his sword and shield. I knew all about the history of Perseus. We'd learned about him in primary school. I'd also read his stories to my younger siblings. They’d been fascinated by history and were always eager to stay up later than their bedtime to listen to me read aloud.
A snake slithered across the tops of my shoes and I instinctively jumped backward. Beside me, Callan snickered. “I thought you weren't afraid of snakes, Miss Earth Witch.”
I glared at him. “I wasn't exactly expecting a parade of them.”
The volume of the hissing grew increasingly loud to the point where I wanted to cover my ears. I resisted the urge, knowing I would never hear the end of it from Callan.
The werewolf crooked his finger, motioning for me to follow. Snakes continued to surge ahead from all directions and I gingerly hopped between their cascading bodies to avoid stepping on them. The last thing I wanted to do was provoke them.
Callan placed a palm flat against each door and heaved them aside. Snakes filled all the available gaps. The room ran the entire width of the house and appeared to have once been a formal parlor, complete with floral settees and a dusty chandelier. Antique card tables were set up at the opposite end of the room.
My gaze swept the room, but I couldn’t figure out what the attraction was for the snakes. No one seemed to be summoning them. I was just about to retreat back to the foyer when the wooden doors slammed closed behind us. A larger snake’s mouth cracked open and a forked tongue flicked from side to side, appearing to test the air. I recoiled as its jaw literally unhinged and another, smaller snake emerged from its mouth. As several more snakes ‘gave birth,’ my body went into full alert mode and I could tell that Callan had done the same. The vein in his neck throbbed and I noticed his hand crumple into a fist. Despite his body language, he turned to me and said, “Stay calm. You don't want them to sense your fear.”
I lifted my chin a fraction. “What makes you think I'm afraid?”
His lips melted into a gentle smile. “I’m a shifter, Cerys. You reeked of fear from the moment I met you.”
“I
f that were true, then how could you think for one second that I was guilty of murdering those young men?”
Callan shrugged. “Depends on the reason. Maybe I sensed your fear that you’d been caught. Fear doesn't make someone innocent. It just makes ‘em scared.” The wooden doors creaked open again. “Ah, looks like our hostesses have arrived.”
“Gorgons,” I whispered. My pulse raced. I’d met a few Gorgons in my life, including one that worked at Stake-n-Shake, a local vampire diner. These two, however, weren’t ordinary Gorgons. The pair seemed to be stuck in their ancient form with a serpentine lower half and a woman’s upper half, complete with glowing eyes and coiled snakes for hair.
“Will we turn to stone?” I whispered.
“I didn’t notice any statues on the way in, did you?”
That didn’t allay my fear. I decided not to take any chances. I summoned my will and pulled magic from the earth in an effort to create a protective shield around us. The more I tugged, the more resistant the magic became.
“Great Goddess of the Moon,” I muttered.
Callan looked at me in alarm. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s some kind of energy block on the house,” I said. “I can’t access earth magic.”
Callan’s jaw set. “By all accounts, you’re a talented witch, Cerys. I bet you can do more than earth magic.” His whole body tensed as the Gorgons moved closer. “And can I suggest whatever you do, that you do it quickly? I’m starting to regret our plan.”
I didn’t hesitate. I whipped out my wand, the perfect spell springing to mind. My father had taught it to me when I was eleven. My siblings had been impossible that day, clinging to me and begging me to play games. When my father had arrived home from work and heard me complaining, he’d taken pity on me. We’d spent the evening in the backyard, practicing new spells while my mother put the little ones to bed. Even now, it was a cherished memory. Especially now.
The spell spilled from my lips. An invisible force field sprang up between the Gorgons and us. It allowed us to safely view them, as though glimpsing their native forms in a reflection.
“Was that Etruscan?” Callan asked, clearly impressed.
Outwit: Spellslingers Academy of Magic (Enforcer of the East Book 1) Page 16
