“What is it?” he asked.
I frowned. “I’m not sure. It just makes no sense. Rhiannon attacking us atThe Magic Beanand staying at the house across the street, yet not making any moves to harm me. What is she waiting for? What does she want?”
Then it hit me. I stiffened and looked up, as though I could see through the ceiling and second floor into the attic. “Oh, shit,” I whispered.
“What is it?” Kerry asked.
“The book,” I murmured. “I have to check the book.” I met Rhys’ eyes. “Gaius’ grimoire. I have it.”
Actually, I hoped I had it. If Rhiannon had been after what I thought she was, it could well be gone.
I set my cup to the side and whispered the spell that would transport me into the secret room in my attic. It wasn’t actually part of the house, more like a pocket of space and magic. The physical entrance to the room was in the attic, but I could transport directly there from any part of my property, even the yard.
I saw Macgrath’s furious expression for a split second before I vanished and appeared inside the room where I kept my spellbooks, journals, herbs, and other supplies. Even inside this room, I’d placed a protection spell on the grimoire, especially after I understood what it was. I hadn’t realized it had once belonged to Gaius, the warlock who created Rhys, until my first run-in with Rhiannon a few months ago.
When I had, I began storing it in the witch’s equivalent of a safe. Only my particular brand of magic could open it, almost like a retinal scanner. Or DNA. It would require a tremendous amount of power and a lot of time to break into it.
I walked to the cabinet against the wall and opened the doors. Working quickly, I moved jars and bottles of herbs and tinctures out of the way and pressed my palm to the back.
Just as this room existed separately from my home, yet within its walls, my magical safe was the same. The opening to the safe was physically located at the back of this cabinet.
I was about to utter the words to disengage the lock when I hesitated. If Rhiannon had managed to gain access to the safe, she could also have laid a trap for me. I might be confident in my abilities but I wasn’t stupid. I wasn’t willing to risk my life or the lives of the people waiting for me downstairs.
Working quickly, I cast a protection circle. Actually more of a sphere. True circles created a sphere, the bottom portion below the surface where the circle was marked, and the top portion shielding the upper half.
If nasty, dark magic waited for me inside that safe, it would not make it out of the circle. I laid my palm against the wood once again and murmured the words. The door to the safe popped open, but nothing happened.
I waited for a few moments. I wanted to be sure. There was nothing there. No residue of Rhiannon’s power. Nothing.
The book was also gone.
Carefully, I went through the contents, just to be sure, but it was gone. And it was the only thing missing.
With a sigh, I stepped back and locked the safe once again, wondering how in the hell she had gotten through my spells and all the protection I placed on my home. She shouldn’t have been able to.
Our fight a few months ago had weakened her considerably. Though she would have regained some of her strength, even at full power, she shouldn’t have been able to do this.
I could vaguely hear Macgrath’s angry voice on the other side of the attic door, but I ignored it. I had to know how she did it.
I moved to the corner of the room and invoked a spell I used when Macgrath kidnapped Savannah a few months ago. It would show me what happened in the room in my absence.
I’d been in the safe for another item the day before yesterday and the book had been there, so she must have come sometime in the last forty-eight hours. I sped the spell through the first few hours, believing she would have waited until after the explosion to come. It had been her diversion and we’d all fallen for it.
Sure enough, as time passed on fast forward, I saw something shimmering in the air. I stopped the spell, backing it up a bit and letting it move forward in normal time.
I watched as a barely visible cloud coalesced in the center of the room. It never fully formed as it undulated in slow, rolling waves. Then it moved to the cabinet and disappeared inside.
A few moments later, it emerged, the book caught in its shadowy form. Even the book was nearly transparent and moved through the wooden doors with ease.
Whatever this was, it was magic like I’d never seen before. And it scared the shit out of me because it meant that the protection spells I’d cast not only on my home, but Savannah’s house and the coffee shop, were useless against it.
I reached out with my power, feeling the residue of Rhiannon’s magic that had been left behind and felt my breath catch in my chest. It felt like my magic but slightly different. Like an echo that had been recorded. It was so similar but softer.
Something heavy hit the door that led from the metaphysical room into my actual attic and I realized that Macgrath was trying to break it down.
Sighing, I moved toward it and yanked it open, stepping aside a split second before Macgrath careened inside.
“Ava,” he growled. “What the fuck? Why did you lock us out? What in the hell have you been doing?”
