My blood skittered in my veins, and I stampeded out of the room.
“What is that?” Eva squealed.
“An alarm!” Diana shot back. “Where the hell do you live that you’ve never heard a house alarm? Pleasantville?”
I ignored them and rushed into the living room. “Get up! Now!”
The guys, who were wide-eyed and already struggling to stand, swore.
I darted over to Alex and hauled him up. Eva did the same with Hunter. If someone broke in, we needed everyone on their feet, and all the magical power we could get.
“That’s a human alarm, not a ward,” Hunter said, his tone low.
“Yes, but my parents’ alarm differs from others. The human alarm goes off when someone approaches the home. It’s only when—”
Another sound, something similar to a cat yowling, pierced through the shrill beeping of the human alarm.
I stiffened. Someone had breached the front door.
“Everyone, conjure a weapon, and get ready to fight,” I ordered.
A blade appeared in my hands. For a moment, I wished it was my demon dagger, the weapon I had given to my friends the night we disappeared into the past. If the intruder was a demon, the hell blade would supplement our black magic.
Hunter reached for his totem, an emerald encrusted dagger, which he’d had on him the night we first timewalked. My other friends conjured blades too, and everyone stood stock-still, waiting.
Footsteps sounded in the hall, coming closer. Listening through the blood rushing in my ears, I tilted my head. They sounded like normal human footsteps, not the tread of a large demon. There was no snarling or growling. No whiff of a noxious scent.
Still, not about to be caught off guard, I pulled my weapon back, prepared to strike as the shadow of a figure entered the room.
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
“Whoa, Dane! Back up!” Andre entered the living room, his hands raised in surrender.
Right behind him, Sam and Ayla Torna dropped the daggers they held out in front of them.
“Andre!” Diana ran to her boyfriend and flung herself into his arms.
They embraced and shared a kiss so thorough, it would normally make me avert my eyes. But this time, I couldn’t. I was too shocked.
I lowered my weapon, blinking at the figures before me. Welcome friends, yes. But how had they gotten past my parents’ wards? And more importantly, how did they know that we’d returned?
A smile blossomed on Sam’s face as she approached me. “We’ll explain everything. If you have food and booze, I’ll even make the story good.”
My eyes ran over her. She looked much thinner than the last time I’d seen her. Almost too thin. Andre and Ayla had lost weight too. Clearly, they’d missed a few meals.
“On it.” I ran into the kitchen.
Eva followed a half-step behind me. “How did they—”
“No idea. Just get them what they asked for. I think they’re starving.”
As much as I wanted to hear about the events happening outside my home, Mom would keel over if she knew I didn’t get our guests any food or drink. Particularly guests who were going hungry.
As it turned out, everything in the fridge had gone bad. Not a good omen. Luckily, there were lots of frozen pizzas in the freezer, all with a thick crust of ice on the boxes.
Pizza was not something my mom usually kept on hand. That made me think she’d anticipated this situation. When I realized that the pizzas were my favorite type, Hawaiian, tears pricked my eyes. Mom had suspected that I would be hungry.
With a found tube of slushy margarita mix and a bottle of tequila, I prepared drinks for our friends. Once the first pizza was ready, we popped another in the oven, and brought the food and cocktails out, alongside a pitcher of water.
