If the Council was still around this was something we would have been forced to contact them about it so they could investigate.
With no more Council around we’d usually move down the list to the next person. Which would he Rain now that he no longer had to hide his presence from the Council. And we’d just promised Ariel we wouldn’t get her dad involved if we could help it.
Outside of learning we’d come here searching for something that had belonged to his sister without telling him I wasn’t so sure how this would actually hurt him. But this was bizarre and we’d have to tell someone because Vivian hadn’t been a witch, to my knowledge, and it was obvious she’d been in contact with one for some reason.
I didn’t even know the reason but I knew enough just looking at the design on the floor to be nervous.
Trenton pulled out his phone and snapped a bunch of pictures of the pentagram form every different angle. He stuck his phone back into his pocket and covered the floor back up with the rug. All nice and tidy like it hadn’t been disturbed in the first place.
He stood up and motioned towards the open doorway. I ushered Ariel outside and crowded her while I got her in the backseat of the SUV and waited by the passenger door for my brother to lock everything up.
I scanned the parking lot one last time before climbing back into the vehicle after Trenton got in behind the wheel. The parking lot was the same as it had been when I’d checked it last.
But this place didn’t feel safe anymore. It had been tainted by the black magic hidden beneath that dirty rug. And I needed to get Ariel far, far away from this place. I hoped my brother agreed with me that she would not be coming back to this place ever again.
We’d brought her here with the hopes of her being able to finally get some closure or something from the dead bitch who’d raised her after ripping her away from her loving parents. We’d accomplished nothing of the sort and were now leaving with more questions than answers. And didn’t that just suck.
Simon and I were both extra vigilant on the way back to the hotel. There was nothing out of the ordinary.
Ariel remained silent but it wasn’t like before. She wasn’t hiding from anything. But she was very much present and alert.
We made it back to the hotel without any issues and my brother and I ushered Ariel inside like she was a celebrity and we were her personal bodyguards.
I guess in the witch community that’s exactly what she was and we really were her bodyguards. We just had something more to lose if something happened to her because of the soul deep connection we shared with her.
When we made it up to our room I immediately knew something was wrong before Trenton even swiped his card through the reader.
“Brother,” I growled out in warning.
“I feel it too,” he growled right back. “You stay out here while I clear the room. Don’t fucking take your eyes off of her.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I just wished he didn’t have to walk into the unknown by himself without me at his side to back him up if he needed me.
But Ariel came first. She always came first.
He was in the room for eighty-two seconds. I counted each and every single second in my head,
Ariel had just grabbed ahold of my hand and intertwined our fingers when he opened the door and peeked out in the hallway.
“There’s no one here now but someone was inside the room and left a calling card for us. I don’t trust that they won’t be back or didn’t leave any surprises around the room. We’re not staying here and I don’t want her in the room at all. Stay out here while I grab our shit and then we’ll figure out where we’re staying when we get in the car.”
The door shut once again and Ariel looked at me with huge eyes.
“Calling card?” she asked hesitantly.
I squeezed her hand but didn’t respond. I didn’t know any more than she did.
We had to wait. And waitingsucked.
10
You Already Shine So Bright
Trenton
My brother was inside the small cabin we had rented with Ariel. I wasn’t so sure it was a good idea to leave him alone with her right now when he was struggling so hard to keep his damn hands to himself but I was kind of out of options here if I didn’t want her to be alone at the moment.
And her being alone right now absolutely was not an option.
