Sam, Andre, and Ayla fell upon the pizza like a pack of hungry wolves. When all three of them had downed a drink and three pieces of pizza, Sam sat back in her chair, closed her eyes, and groaned.
“Even if it was sinfully topped with pineapple, I don’t care. That was the best pizza ever.”
“Okay, now you need to spill it.” My heart was thumping so hard, I worried it might crack my ribs. “Or I’ll take all this away,” I added, trying to infuse some lightheartedness into the room.
Ayla threw her arms over what was left of the pizza. “If you even try, I’ll aether-slap you.”
A laugh, half nervous, half real, burst out of me, inciting chuckles from the others. The sound was strange, far too infrequent these past couple days.
Finally, after the laughter died down, Andre leaned forward and began telling us what we wanted to know.
“We’ve been on the run since London. Before we had to disappear for good, we spoke to your parents. They told us that when you returned, you’d most likely come here—your house is warded better than Fort Knox. It was a safe bet. They’d hoped that you’d find that book.”
My eyebrows furrowed. “How did you know I found it?”
“They enchanted it. Once it opened, a spell would inform me that you had picked it up. A clever twist on a motion-detection spell.”
“But . . . If you’ve been on the run, why didn’t you stay here? You said it yourself, this house is protected. It always has been.”
Because Mom and Dad always rightfully suspected that someone was after me.
Andre shook his head. “The house is being watched at all times, and we needed to make sure it was still an option for when you returned. I had to warp us to a specific spot on the front porch so no one would see us. We set off the human alarm with our motion, but none of the more dangerous wards. Then I had to say a password your parents gave me to allow us inside.”
I leaned back, stunned at all the workarounds my parents had implemented. “But then why haven’t the baddies come inside and waited for me?”
“Some of your parents’ wards arerealdoozies,” Sam said. “Honestly, I’m impressed. Your mom and dad warded almost every inch of however many zillion square feet are in this place.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, tell me about it. It’s been like this since I was young.”
Sam arched her eyebrows. “Well, the wards have already killed off dozens of demons. I bet our adversaries figure it’s not worth it anymore. For now, as long as they don’t see anyone coming in or out, they won’t make a move.”
“So why didn’t you guys join the others in Faerie?” Diana twisted to face Andre, who sat at her side. “Demons can’t go to Faerie. You would have been safe there.”
“We wanted to,” Ayla replied. “But the spell your parents placed on the book to inform us that you’d come back wouldn’t cross realms. A fae had to stay behind to get you into the Fae Academy of Elemental and Arcane Arts, and from there, Faerie. I volunteered for the job—and to glamour everyone to make finding us more difficult. We needed Andre to warp us into the house, and Sam—”
Sam pulled a demon dagger from each of her hips. “To kill those bastards.” She tossed one of the daggers so that it flipped through the air before she caught its hilt. “I’ve gottenreallygood at throwing these, by the way.”
“Wow.” I shook my head. “You guys must have some stories.”
“We’ve had a few run-ins with dark witches, and one rogue pack looking for us. Just like you have stories too, I’m sure,” Andre said. “Where have you been hiding these past few months?”
“Months?!” Hunter leaned forward and swayed a little because he still wasn’t quite right after timewalking. “I’m sorry, what month is it? What year?”
“It’s July,” Sam replied. “You’ve been MIA since January.”
July? We’d been gone nearly half a year. My stomach wound into tight knots.
I missed a birthday,I thought. Even though there were clearly much bigger things to worry about it still felt sad. I’d always liked celebrating my birthday. And my parents must have been so worried on that day.
I’d just gotten over my personal pity moment when I noticed that Alex, Hunter, and Eva all were staring at me.
“Months, Odie?” Eva squeaked, wanting an answer.
I lifted my palms in a defensive shrug. “Morgan said that time passed strangely. Sorry, but I’m still pretty new to this. I tried to get us back just a few days after we left, but clearly, I was off a little. Honestly, though, I’m happy to have gotten us here in one piece.”
“Morgan?” Sam prompted.
“Morgan Le Fay,” I offered, to which three mouths dropped open. “And Merlin. Yes,theMerlin. That’s who we stayed with . . . and learned from.”
