In a flash, we were outside on the dark street. The lamps that lined each side went out in a row, as if something was running away from us. Tennessee slowed to a stop in the middle of the street beside Henley. She threw her hand up and stretched her fingers. The moon grew full instantly and dropped lower in the sky, shining brighter white light on us.
Tegan materialized beside us. “Where is it?”
“He’s still here,” Henley growled.
A stream of gold shot across the dark street up ahead and my chest warmed. “RIAH! THERE!”
We sprinted toward him but the street was absolute mayhem. Civilians fled like bees from a disrupted hive. They ran in wild patterns, splitting in every single direction. There were dozens of them. How many witches live in this town?
Henley hissed. Tegan cursed. Tennessee growled.
The shadow demon dove for a young girl on the left side of the street — but Riah slid in between them. He swung his long gold sword through the air and the shadow monster vanished. Riah spun and leapt into the air, his silver wings carrying him two houses down. The shadow monster lunged for an adult man and Riah jumped in front of him.
It hissed and snarled and charged for a group of girls only to find Riah blocking the path again. Every time he moved, Riah got there first. My heart pounded with pride as my soulmate pushed the shadow monster back. Riah reached out and somehow grabbed the shadow monster’s chest like it was solid and not made of smoke. Then he slammed the demon into the pavement.
“Tegan, twelve o’clock!” Riah ordered and sank his knee into its chest. “Hope, three! Haven, nine!”
What do those numbers mean? Everything was somehow moving in blinding speed yet in slow motion all at the same time.
Tegan materialized ten feet in front of Riah. Tennessee slid with blinding speed to Riah’s left hand side. Light flashed and then Bettina suddenly appeared across from Tennessee – I gasped. Oh, they circled him!
“Tegan, BOUNCE!” Riah ordered as he threw his arm behind him. “Haven, SWORD!”
Silver magic coiled around my waist and then I was flying through the air. I slammed into Riah’s back and wrapped my arms around his waist.
Riah slid his knee off the shadow monster’s chest and flipped it over his head.
The shadow monster flew in the air straight for Tegan – and crashed into a wall of rainbow magic. He bounced off of it and shot right at Tennessee and Michael’s glowing sword. The air crackled and his sword flared brighter, like lightning from Heaven had struck down. The shadow monster’s red eyes widened. It hit the ground and slid right for the sword. Tennessee lunged forward. The shadow monster hissed and vanished right before it hit.
Tennessee cursed violently.
Royce ran up behind me. “Is it gone?”
Riah snarled and shook his head. “No, he’s on the move.”
“I can feel him.” Henley stormed up the street between all of us with rage pouring from her eyes. “Follow me.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Saffie
As Henley stomped off, I glanced over my shoulder at Tennessee. With Michael’s sword gripped in one hand, he waved us forward with the other. Riah took my hand and then charged after Henley. We stepped into the grass of their neighbor’s front yard then raced through two people’s back yards and onto the next road over.
“Why does this feel familiar?” Tegan whispered right beside me.
I knew she wasn’t asking me, but the question made my pulse skip.
Henley took a sharp turn to the right so fast I had to pop my wings out to stop myself from sliding. Tennessee was practically walking as we followed a jogging Henley down the street. The night was calm and almost eerie in its silence. There were no dogs barking or birds chirping. No sirens blaring. No trains thundering by. There weren’t even the subtle roars of cars driving around town. I had no idea what time it was, but it couldn’t have been more than nine or ten in the evening. Up above, stars dusted the black sky. A crescent moon hung low with a yellow glow – wait, it was a waning gibbous when we came out, how did it change? Wait. Of course. Henley is the Moon Card. A breeze swept down the street. It was warm and carried that salty ocean breeze I loved so much, but it did nothing to ease the tension in my body.
Something’s not right.
Henley knows it.
Tennessee and Tegan know it.
RIAH KNOWS IT.
The fact that the entire Coven was right behind me not making a sound or a single joke told me two things: one, they knew something was wrong, and two, they were used to that.
About a dozen houses down, Henley turned left and then an immediate right on the next street over. I had absolutely no idea where Henley was taking us, and truthfully, I wasn’t paying much attention to my surroundings. I was too busy scanning every dark shadow.
Four houses later, we turned left at a slightly wider road. We sprinted to the second stop sign then turned right. Henley didn’t glance back at us a single time, she was locked in on her target. I was thankful for it but furious that she recognized the damn thing. The wind kicked up a few notches, whipping my hair back. I wished I knew what we were looking for, but I was clueless. I didn’t even know how close we were.
Tennessee cursed under his breath.
Tegan gnawed on her bottom lip. “This is definitely familiar, babe.”
“I know…dammit, I know.”
Just when I thought we might be getting closer, the houses ended and Henley led us into a park. I slowed my pace, wanting to stay near Riah. His hand landed on the base of my neck and squeezed. I sighed and let the warmth of his skin chase the lingering fear from my body. We walked under countless overgrown oak trees with dangling moss. Under the cloak of trees, it was almost pitch black.
“Dammit, dammit, dammit,” Tegan mumbled under her breath.
I glanced over to Tennessee and found him holding his blue pendulum named George in the air. Whatever question he asked it…George was saying yes. Tennessee growled a curse so vile I had to look to see if the adults were upset about it. But none of them showed any signs of hearing him.
Whatever this is…it’s bad.
We walked all the way to where land turned to water. It was some kind of lake, the surface was flat and shimmering. It was hard to tell just how big it was in the dark like this.
“Over here,” Henley growled and turned to the right.
Tegan stomped after her, her rainbow magic swirling around her body with every step. Tennessee flashed up by her side, carrying Michael’s glowing sword like it weighed nothing.
Riah growled. Light flashed out of the corner of my eye. When I looked down I found Riah had pulled two swords out of thin air – or wherever he stashed them. He saw me watching him and shook his head once. “Be ready.”
Henley led us down the lakeshore until we reached a pier…and then she stopped short.
“Son of a bitch,” Tennessee hissed.
I frowned and looked around for whatever threat they saw...and that was when I saw it. A pentagram was drawn in black in the dirt, almost like it was burned into place. But then I blinked and it was gone, like it was never there in the first place.
“Babe…this is where—"
“I know.”
Something about the air under the pier was thick and dense. It clung to my skin like humidity’s evil twin.