None of this makes sense. They killed her—and not in the normal way, by draining her blood and then taking her essence. There was no bloodlust. Just a dagger, fireworks, and death. Why would they waste the magic that way? Why are they working together? What are they looking for?
One of them sniffs the air and another follows. I step back into the trees, but I know it’s too late. They’ve found me. But I run anyway.
All I notice for the first twenty seconds is feet and ground. Then trees and ground. Then my heartbeat racing against the pulsing of my feet. A tree branch snags on my shirt and the fabric rips while I race forward. I can’t stop. There’s no way this is how I’m going to go down.
I turn, and two demons stand right in front of me. I have to stop running so I don’t race directly into their arms. Demon eyes peer out from paper-thin, graying human skin, and what used to be hair is now more like brittle string. One’s male, one female. Neither of them is happy to see me.
I cross my arms and exhale deeply. “Whew, you guys scared me.” That was probably not the right word. I flash a smile and run in place.
“Need to keep the heart rate up,” I say.
There’s something else hidden in their eyes. I’m not fooling them. They know I was there. I saw them do whatever they did to that witch. I have to get out of here.
“Have a nice day,” I say. It’s lame, but maybe it will work! Maybe they’re regular old dumb demons. I race past them in a jog. They don’t stop me. They let me pass. Thank God. I want to go home. This is possibly the dumbest idea I’ve ever had and—
“Not so fast,” the male says, grabbing me from the side. Its hands are rubbery around my arm. It runs its nose along my neck, sniffing.
“You saw us back there. We smelled you.”
They smelled me—how? Demons sense the essence, and I don’t have that. But they keep saying that to me. I file that away to research later. If there is a later. Maybe I need a new body wash.
The other one joins it, its bristly hair running across my neck. “This little witch smells different.”
I laugh. “It’s called sweat. It’s what happens to the living. You know, exercise and all that.”
The first one snickers. At least I make someone laugh. “That’s not it, little witch.”
“I’m five eight,” I say. “I’m hardly ‘little.’ You obviously have the wrong girl.”
The woman demon laughs. “I think we have the right one. Don’t you?”
“I do. Kriegen said the witch would smell different.”
Who’s Kriegen? It’s probably not good that I smell different. There’s no way that’s a good thing when a demon is saying it. When they keep saying it to me.
One of them mutters something, and my hands are tied together by magic. I curse, and the female demon yanks my head back by my hair.
“Let’s take her in,” it hisses.
Panicked, I lock into the things I’ve been doing with Carter. I try to imagine him beside me, guiding me, and focus on the magic, even though it won’t come since he’s not here. I shuffle on my feet. It’s hard to keep my balance with my hands bound, but somehow I keep my movements fluid. I jam my knee into the male demon’s stomach. It doubles over, hands clenching its abdomen. I swipe my feet across its legs. It crashes to the ground with a heavy thud.
The female hisses at me, trying to grab me, but I dodge it. My leg lashes out at it, connecting with a solid blow; it doesn’t fall. It kicks me hard in the side, and my ribs protest in pain. I collapse on the ground, gasping in sharp breaths.
The male demon crawls to its feet as the woman rushes at me, punching me until my lip bleeds, the taste of iron filling my mouth. I struggle beneath its weight, thrashing and bucking it off me. My hands are useless, still tied by magic, so I jab with my elbows, again and again, determined to hit something.
One blow smashes into its head as it rolls off me. I flip on top of the woman, digging my elbows and knees into its chest and thigh, pinning it down as best I can. I rip the salt out of my pocket. It’s falling toward its face when the male grips me by the neck and tears me off the other demon. It’s not as nice as the female was. Its magic anchors my feet to the ground and now I’m useless. Completely useless.
I close my eyes and wish that I had magic. I try to envision it, to feel it—the growing heat and pull of the power, the hope that comes with it. But nothing happens.
The demons each take an arm and pull me through the woods.
We’re halfway back to the demon nest when something stirs inside me. At first it’s only a little twinge, a little like the ground has shifted, but then it’s something else. It’s warmer and rooted, growing, sort of like sunshine coming through parted clouds. My hands twitch at the sensation and my heart lunges in my chest. This is magic.
Carter’s here. That’s impossible. How would he find me out here? There’s no way.
But this is his magic. This is what it feels like. He has to be nearby.
I picture my hands being free as I let the magic fill me. My hands tingle, warm, and then I can move them. It worked! Carter is here. That’s the only explanation. I keep my hands together so dumb and dumber don’t expect anything.
We walk on through the woods. It probably wouldn’t take much magic to get one of those large trees to fall over. I smile to myself, and a large oak topples right in our path. The demons mutter to each other, distracted.
An animal howls in the distance, and they both look up, curious. Something sways up in the top of a tree. The demons argue, trying to determine which will figure out what it is first. Definitely not the sharpest crayons in the box. They say that name again—Kriegen—and when one of them turns its back on me, I pull my hands apart. I see it all in my head: Magic flowing from me, knocking them off their feet, leaving them tied together to that fallen tree. Magic, making salt fall from the sky like rain.
And then it happens.
The girly demon flies across the woods and lands, headfirst into a tree. The male looks at me as if it’s going to pounce again, but then it’s flying too. Moving through the air, then trapped next to her as another tree falls on them. They both let out agonizing screams as salt that looks more like hail starts to pelt their skin. Part of me wants to stay, to finish the job, but I know there are other demons out here, and it’s only a matter of time before they come. I can take on two, but four more? I doubt that.
So I do what any self-respecting witch in my situation would do: I run.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I’m out of breath by the time I get back to my car. Too many thoughts burst through my mind. The witch girl, the black knife, the magic exploding out of her, the demon nest, Carter. Where is he? I need to get to my phone and call the Enforcers.
Carter’s sitting on the hood of my car when I get to the parking lot, and when he sees me, his eyes widen. I probably look a mess. He watches me for a second as I approach, and jumps off my car before I even make it there.
“What happened to you?” His hands run across my arms, which are bleeding apparently. I didn’t even know that. I wince at his touch against my face. His finger comes away with blood from the cut on my cheek. A parting gift from the demons or the woods. Concern’s etched on his face.
I shake my head. “I need my phone,” I say. I move past him and dig through to my jeans in the backseat for my phone. Six missed calls. I dial the number to the Enforcers and lean against the door of the car. Carter stares at me, but neither of us say anything while I wait. A voice on the other line answers.
“This is Penelope Grey. I need to report a demon attack. They killed a witch! I saw them do it,” I say. Carter’s eyes widen. “There were two who came after me, but there were six demons.” The voice on the other end makes me repeat the number.
“Yes, six. I saw them when I was running the C&O Towpath. They were all working together; I escaped about twenty minutes ago.”
The woman keeps asking me questions, but there’s too much going on in my head. Why can’t she just send
someone already?
“I know it doesn’t make sense, but I know what I saw—”
Carter reaches over and takes the phone from my hand. “Hi, this is William Carter Prescott. I think the best thing for everyone is if you send the Enforcers to the woods near the mall and save the questioning for later.”
I stare at him. He smiles back at me weakly, and then listens to other end of the line. “I’d hate my father’s reaction as well.” He pauses. The last time he took charge was the mall incident. Did he drop his name then too to get us all out of trouble?
“Yes, thank you.” He ends the call and hands me back the phone. I take it from him, and our fingers linger together a couple seconds. “The Enforcers will take your statement when they arrive, and you have to report to the council. I’ll go with you,” he says. “Are you okay?”
I nod my head, but somewhere in the middle of “yes” and thoughts of “no,” I stop. Carter steps closer to me and rubs my back. Tears sting my eyes. I squeeze them shut against a flood that I don’t want to release.
But Carter holds me against him, trailing soft touches that make me think that maybe, with him, everything could be okay after all. I don’t want to cry—I don’t mean for it to happen—but now that I’ve started I can’t stop. I want to be strong, but the tears fall on their own. I was an idiot for going in there when I heard the scream. Such an idiot. What was I thinking?
I sag against Carter, letting my body melt against his as his fingers continue to rub small circles on my back.
I almost died. Someone did die. Demons attacked me. I used magic. Carter is here. I don’t know what would have happened if he hadn’t. And here I am, snotting all over his shoulder—and I can’t even stop that either.
“Thank you,” I mutter through the tears. He presses his lips to the top of my head. The motion is quick and intimate. “If you hadn’t been nearby I would’ve died out there.”
Carter shifts to lower me to the driver’s seat of my car. He crouches down between me and the open door and uses the corner of his shirt to wipe tears, dirt, and blood off my face. Even though this is strange, it’s good to know I can pull magic from him from farther distances. It just saved me. He saved me. Again.
“What happened?” he asks.
I tell him the story. How I saw the demon nest, what they did to the girl, how they released the essence instead of draining it. He looks as shocked as I feel.
“I’ve never heard of a demon doing that. Have you?” I ask.
“No, and they don’t usually work for another demon, but from what you’re saying that black one seemed to be in charge. Sometimes they hunt the same places, but for one demon to call the shots? No. Never.”
I nod. “And then they were pulling me back, and I felt you. My magic responded and I used it to escape. How did you know I was out there?”
Carter shakes his head. “I didn’t.”
He didn’t know I was here, and yet here he is. This really was destiny, or sheer dumb luck. Some sort of messed up, unfair, crappy destiny, but I can’t deny that. Ever since we met there’s been a bigger purpose. What is it? Carter tucks a lock of hair behind my ear.
“How did you find my car?”
Carter looks away. “Coincidence,” he says. “I know you run when you’re upset, and I figured I’d look at the trails for your car. This was my third stop.”
So dumb luck it was.
“You should get cleaned up before the Enforcers come.”
“I’m fine.”
One of those signature side-of-the-mouth smiles bursts onto his face. “Maybe you should at least change your clothes?”
I look down and he’s right. My running clothes have rips and holes. Damn. I loved these pants.
The last two hours of questioning have left me exhausted. But now I have to meet the council for debriefing. The Enforcers insisted. Carter drove us, and he fiddles with the dials on his stereo and some soft folk-rock music plays through the speakers as we drive.
“I want to explain about earlier in the library,” he says. Carter taps on the steering wheel as he drives. Part of me feels that I’m not going to like the answer.
“I was there because I’m looking into what Vassago said. ‘Someone seeks the same as you.’ I’m seeking one thing, Penelope.” His mom. He looks at me, all serious and brooding. “If someone else is seeking her too then I need to know why, and who. So I was in the library looking for clues about that to find my mom.”
“You think your mom is still out there?”
Carter nods. “What if someone else is looking for her, too? It’s the only thing it can mean,” he says after a pause. “When I met you I was following the first real lead I got on her in months. That demon you killed? He was the one who took her. And ever since then there has been a huge spike in demon attacks.”
I killed his lead. I took away his hope and I never even asked him why he was there in the alley that morning. He falls silent and music fills my ears as he parks the car.
“Carter, I’m sorry. I—”
He stops the ignition and his hand reaches out for mine. When they touch, my whole stomach turns into butterflies and rainbows. I almost miss the vomiting urge.
“I know you don’t want to hear this, but the best part about all of this is you. Please, please don’t be sorry about that.”
My mouth is suddenly cotton. I feel everything around me more intensely. The last time he kissed me replays in my head and I want him to do it again. I want his lips on mine and his body pressed close to me more than I knew could be possible. I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want this. It’s scary and exhilarating all at once.
“We should go in,” Carter says.
I nod, unable to speak. I don’t think I could talk even if my brain was working. We walk toward the entrance of the Nucleus House.
An escort is waiting for us once we’re inside, and much to my surprise, he leads us into the Triad chambers—not the council chambers, the Triad. I look at Carter, and he grips my hand. If we’re going to see the Triad then this is big.
The inside isn’t as elaborate as I expected. The council members sit in ten chairs and above them are three more—the Triad. The small group of Enforcers from the mall all turn around to look at us.
“Miss Grey.” Sabrina Stone, one of the members of the Triad, says my name. She’s more beautiful in person, smooth marble-like skin and long red hair. “Glad to see your encounter left you with little injury.”
I nod at her. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“Let’s skip all the pleasantries,” the man beside her says. He towers over his empty chair; his dark bushy beard grazes the high back of it. Victor Prescott. He and Carter have the same set to their jaw.
“Though we are glad to see that your training has not been wasted,” Mr. Prescott adds.
There’s something in his voice and in his stare that’s a challenge, like he’s testing me. I stare straight back at him. I’m not scared of Victor Prescott, though I’m sure he wants me to be. Intimidate the little girl to see if she cracks. I’m all bricks and mortar though—because I know what I saw. He turns away first, settling his gaze on Carter instead. And then on our entwined hands. His face becomes stone then.
“Enforcers on the scene, what say you?” Mr. Prescott says
Shira Plum steps forward. She’s tall, supermodel tall, and I forgot how pretty she was. Shira was two years ahead of us in the ST classes. Everyone always whispered her name in the hallways because she was witch and prom queen. She knew how to break the quarterback’s nose and get everyone to sign up for No Shave Week with only a smile. Her younger sister Taylor is her opposite. She isn’t popular, has brown hair, is short and Static, but Taylor is so much nicer than Shira.
Shira was and is the badass. Her voice is sweet and dripping with venom all at once. “We dispatched ten Enforcers to scour the area at the park as we speak, per Miss Grey’s phone call, and so far they have found no demons.”
“What?” I say.
>
She doesn’t look it me. “There are traces of sulfur in the air, rotted human flesh, graying and dry—so we can assume that there were demons present recently. But how many, we can’t say yet.”
“Six,” I say. The Triad looks at me. I shouldn’t be speaking, but this is wrong. They weren’t there. “There were six. One that seemed to be in charge of all others—it was black and it killed that girl.”
Another Enforcer clears his throat. Graying hair, glasses, short. “The girl, yes. We did find a witch there. About sixteen, red hair, deceased.”
“Was she drained?” Rafe Ezrati, the third member of the Triad, asks. His hair is graying, but his chin is strong and his assurance clear. I wonder for a moment what Rafael Ezrati looked like. I almost wouldn’t be standing here because of his great-great-whatever-grandfather. Because of that one question I almost missed day one of Enforcer exams.
The Enforcers all shift. Gray-hair speaks up again, “No sir. There was no evidence upon examination that her essence was drained in the normal way. Her magic was no longer present, but we believe her source of death to be the claw wound to the neck. There were no other indications of death besides a stab wound to the chest.”
The whole room grows quiet.
“What we can’t seem to figure out is why the demons would be working together, why they are gone, and why they would waste the essence of a young witch. It doesn’t seem to fit any of the patterns we have ever seen before,” Gray-hair says.
Rafe nods. “Yes, well, it seems that the demons are playing a new game.”
“Indeed,” Sabrina says, but doesn’t add anything more.
Victor Prescott speaks next. “I expect that everyone present can keep these matters among us until we figure out what’s going on. We must be cautious and we must maintain the highest level of discretion.”
Slowly, everyone agrees. I cross my arms because levels of discretion aren’t going to solve the mystery here. In fact, I think it’s just the opposite. But nobody asked me. The others start to clear out of the room, and I hear Victor Prescott call Carter’s name.
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