Where are you?
I smile at the sound of Daphne’s voice in my head. This morning, after meditation and coffee, Lucien led us in the spell that opened our minds to each other. It’s better than any cell phone service.
In the farthest tent. Headed back toward the house now.
I walk past several people I used to know when I was a child and stop to say hello, shaking hands and offering hugs.
I’m grateful. That’s what it boils down to. All of these people took time out of their lives, some even traveled thousands of miles to be here with the six of us. To help us face the toughest battle of our lives.
How do you repay something like that?
“I know you have plenty of pieces of protection on you,” Miss Claudette, an elderly woman who has to be in her nineties says as I pass. “But I put some extra blessings on this worry stone. Just tuck it into your pocket.”
“Thank you, Miss Claudette.” I lean down and kiss her wrinkled cheek, slipping the smooth stone into my pocket as I turn to go and find my love.
Suddenly, the edges of my sight turn gray, and I know I’m being sucked into a vision—a premonition.
Wind. So much wind, I can hardly catch my breath. He’s trying to fight us, to keep us from being able to defend ourselves against him. I hear screams, but they’re not human.
So many spirits rush around us—his army, doing their best to frighten and disarm.
But we’re not in Miss Sophia’s field. We’re standing before Daphne’s childhood home. Lights flash like lightning inside the house. Shutters fling about, and shadow spirits float in and out, all around the old house.
“The new moon phase is here,” I hear Lucien shout. “Everyone, take your marks!”
Suddenly, we’re plunged into darkness when the shadow of the Earth completely covers the moon, turning it an ominous red.
Lucien lights the torches with the wave of his arms, Millie raises her hands high and directs the wind.
We hear a horrible scream, and then, suddenly, we’re under attack by wolves, ravens, and bats. I watch in horror as an enormous gray wolf charges Daphne and bites her throat, tackling her to the ground.
“Jackson?”
I blink and frown at Lucien.
“We need to talk with the others,” I say immediately. God, my heart is hammering, and I’ve broken out in a sweat. “We have this all wrong, Lucien.”
“We have two hours,” he says, his voice full of frustration. “What do you mean we have it wrong?”
“Wait. We’re linked, but you couldn’t see the premonition?”
He just shakes his head in frustration.
I need all of you. I reach out with my mind, calling to the others. Meet me at the house.
Lucien and I jog across the field and meet up with Cash and the women.
“It’s damn weird having y’all in my head,” Cash says and props his hands on his hips.
“What’s wrong?” Daphne asks.
“You look horrible,” Brielle adds, scowling at me.
“I had a vision.” I take a deep breath, trying to calm my heart rate. “We can’t do this here. Not here. Not at Miss Sophia’s. It has to be at the old house. At your childhood house.”
Daphne goes pale and shakes her head. “No.”
“It makes sense,” Lucien says. “It started there. It should end there.”
“I hate that you’re right,” Millie says and shares a look with her sisters. She reaches for Daphne’s hand. “We can do this. It’s going to be okay. We have to alert the others. We have to get over there right away and set up. I think the sound system is ready to go.”
“Someone brought a sound system?” I ask Cash as Millie rushes away.
“It’s easier to talk to a hundred witches with a microphone,” he says with a nod.
“I need your attention,” Millie says. She holds a black mic and waves her free arm to get everyone’s attention. “We have to move our location.”
She explains what needs to happen, and I expect everyone to groan and be irritated, but that’s not the case at all.
I see nods of agreement. Immediately, everyone works together to gather the tools we’ll need, loading them into cars so we can hurry to the other house.
Thankfully, it’s less than ten minutes away.
“Before we go,” Millie says to everyone, “you need to know that this house is the epicenter of something truly evil. It’s dangerous. Keep your shields up. Be careful. Blessed be.”
We hurry to our vehicles. When Daphne and I are in the car and on the road, I glance over to see that she’s still as pale as a ghost, and her hands are fisted in her lap, her knuckles white.
“Hey, talk to me, sweets.”
“You don’t understand,” she whispers. “That house is the biggest source of terror in my life. It’s horrible, Jack. Not to mention, my father’s spirit is there. I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Stop it.” I take her hand and pull it to my lips. “You’ve been told, several times now, that the key to stopping your father is in you. That you need to stand up for yourself. Confront the bully.”
“Easy to say when it isn’t you he’s bullying.”
“That’s true enough. You won’t be alone, though, Daph. You have about a hundred witches with you. You’re a badass woman. You’re not the shy, unsure young lady I met at that Samhain party all those years ago. You’re strong, and you’re fucking amazing. I have every confidence that you’re going to kick some serious ass today.”
“Thanks.” She takes a deep breath and then lets it out slowly. “I needed that pep talk.”
I love you, she says silently.
I love you, too.
We step out of the car and immediately hit a paranormal barrier. It’s like walking into a twenty-five-foot wall of water.
Shields, Millie says in our heads. Keep them up.
The others follow us and park anywhere there’s empty space, then immediately begin casting spells to push back the energy.
The six of us flank Ruth, who stands before the house, her head tilted as she examines it with wide, blue eyes.
The four women join hands.
We watch as shadows stand on the roof, on the porch. As lights flicker inside without the help of electricity.
They turned that off long ago.
I hear moaning and maniacal laughter. Banging and scraping.
All coming from the house.
“How did I live there for so long?” Ruth wonders aloud.
“Mama, you stay strong,” Brielle says. “Nothing in there can get to you while we’re here with you.”
“I’m not worried about that, child,” Ruth says calmly. “I’m just thinking. I’ve known since I came to stay with Sophia that I would play a part in this. Why else would he have handicapped me for so many years? Made certain I couldn’t protect you?”
I frown down at Ruth. “You think it was Horace’s doing? That your possession all those years was because of him?”
“I know it was,” she says flatly. “I know it now, anyway. I’m stronger now. I have tools, especially after many long hours going through everything with Sophia. And I have my girls and their brave men. I know what I have to do. But in order to do it, I have to get inside this house.”