As the room filled with the hum of general conversation, she realized most of the werewolves were rehashing the events of last night’s doomed battle at the Joneses’ home. She supposed she could understand why they were still talking about it. It had been a catastrophe of epic proportions.
One moment, she, Connor, and the other three werewolves had been standing in the middle of the yard, trying to comprehend the magnitude of their defeat, and the next her Look Away spell had faded, and everything had turned to complete chaos.
The kids who’d been playing basketball had understandably lost their minds. They’d been hanging out tossing a ball around, and just like that, a blown-up, postapocalyptic war zone had made an appearance. But the shouts those three boys cut loose with had been nothing compared to the scream the older woman on the porch swing had let out. Kat’s ears were still ringing a little bit.
The police and fire department had arrived quickly, neither group really sure what had happened. Connor had gotten everyone pointed in the right direction soon enough, the firefighters dealing with the parts of the house still burning while the uniformed officers talked to the Jones family about their missing son—the one they seemed to have no pictures of, thanks to Marko scrubbing the scene of anything related to Demarcus.
Detective Sandoval had also shown up, along with a woman Kat was quickly becoming very familiar with—Chief Leclair. Kat had slipped away to hide out in Connor’s truck, having no desire for people to ask her questions that she couldn’t answer.
Connor had later told her that the official story from the fire department was that the explosion had been caused by a gas leak and that Demarcus Jones was currently being listed as missing, probably running away in terror from the blast and fire that had ripped apart his family’s home. Sandoval hadn’t been fooled, though. The detective from Missing Persons seemed to realize he had another strange disappearance on his hands.
When Chief Leclair had wanted to know how her SWAT officers had ended up all bloody and scorched, Connor had spun a story about being in the area and seeing the flames, then running into the burning home to look for survivors. Connor made sure the story lacked a lot of details so it would be harder to catch them in the lies. The chief had apparently bought the fabrication without too many questions. Still, by the time everything was done, it had been midnight before Kat, Connor, and the others were allowed to leave. Kat had spent most of that time sleeping in the back seat of Connor’s truck, wrapped up in one of his uniform tops, having nightmares about Marko finally getting his hands on her.
The murmur of conversation stilled when Gage walked into the room and made a beeline toward the computer in the corner.
“I just got off the phone with Davina,” he said, not looking away from the monitor as he booted up the overhead projector. “She’s come up with something that might tell us where the ritual will be held. Or at least get us close. She believes Marko will want to conduct the ritual from a place that will allow him to control every aspect of these new ley lines. She said it’s the epicenter of the convergence.”
Kat knew where this was going before Gage said another word, and all she could wonder was why she hadn’t figured it out before now.
“He’s going to find a place near the center of the pentagram,” she said. “The closer to the exact center, the better.”
“That’s what Davina said, too,” Gage replied, pulling up the map Davina had shown them a couple days ago, the one with the red lines connecting the five points of the inverted pentagram. As they watched, he used a graphics program to start laying lines across the middle of the pentagram. “This isn’t going to be the most precise method, but I’m hoping that the point where all these lines intersect will be close to the place Marko plans to use for the ritual.”
It didn’t take long to figure out that the crossing lines were leading them toward a section of northwestern Dallas, above Las Colinas but below Valley Ranch. Kat waited impatiently as Gage continued to work, until the crisscrossed lines came to rest over a part of the map covered with mostly green and blue.
“That’s the Sam Houston Trail Park,” Hale announced. “I go there on the weekends sometimes to jog or bike. There are a lot of trails, a dozen ponds, and a few places where the interstate crosses overhead, but not much in the way of buildings.”
“Would Marko be able to use a place like the one Hale’s describing for his ritual?” Connor asked. “Doesn’t he need some kind of building?”
“A building, an open field, a graveyard,” Kat said with a shrug. “Marko can do the ritual anywhere, as long as it’s large enough to carve out a protective circle. He’ll probably want a place that’s relatively quiet and mostly private. Even with Obscuring and Look Away charms, he still can’t take the chance that someone may see or hear something.”
“Well, the park definitely fits the bill for those requirements,” Hale murmured, getting up and moving closer to the map on the projector screen. “There are over twenty miles of trails and paths in there, with little secluded spots big enough for that circle all over the place. This time of the year, the park closes at around five, so the place will be completely deserted by the time the sun goes down at about seven.”
“Anyone notice that this park is barely two miles away from the farmhouse where we fought with Tatum and the other members of Marko’s coven?” Trevor said, walking over to the screen and pointing at the location near the North Lake. “We should have realized there was a reason they were keeping those kids out there in the middle of nowhere.”
“How could we have known?” Rachel said. “And at this point, I don’t think it matters anyway. All that matters is finding those kids before the ritual starts. At least now we know where they’re going to be.”
Hale crossed his arms over his chest. “It still doesn’t help us a lot. Like I said, with twenty miles of trails and paths, the place isn’t exactly tiny. If Marko’s Look Away charm is as good as Kat’s, we could walk right past those kids and never realize it.”
“I think it might be worthwhile to have a look around the park while it’s still open to the public,” Gage suggested. “I’m hoping that if we get a peek at the place before Marko arrives, maybe we’ll see something that will tip us off to where he plans to set up.”
Kat couldn’t argue with his logic, even if she doubted they’d get that lucky. Of course, Connor wasn’t thrilled when Gage refused to let him, Trevor, Rachel, and Hale go with them. “If Marko’s people are in the park, we can’t take a chance that they’ll recognize any of you from your previous encounters.”
She could tell that Connor and his pack mates wanted to argue, but at the same time, they had to know Gage was right. Still, none of them looked happy as the room cleared out, Gage and everyone else leaving them behind.
“I can’t just sit here and do nothing,” Connor said after the training room had been silent for a good five minutes. “Maybe we could drive around the neighborhoods near the park and see what we can find? Marko was obviously keeping Addy, Ben, and Cheyenne in that farmhouse because it was close to where they were going to do the ritual. It stands to reason he still has them somewhere nearby.”
That made sense to Kat, and she joined the rest of them around the map, scouting out different places around the park they thought might have potential as a hiding place for five teenagers and a coven of witches and warlocks. They came up with a long list of possibilities, and Kat was excited about getting out there to start looking when Connor and his pack mates suddenly turned and looked toward the door of the training room.
“Someone’s at the gate,” Connor said.
For one terrified moment, Kat thought Marko had come after them, ready to finish them off before he even started the ritual. But before she had a chance to go into complete freak-out mode, it dawned on her that Connor and his teammates didn’t seem to be too concerned with whoever was out there.
Kat followed Connor and his pack mate out of the training building, relaxing when she saw that it was Detective Sandoval and a half dozen other cops she assumed were people from his Missing Persons Unit.
“I’m probably going to regret this, but we’re here to help with whatever you’re about to do to find those kids,” Sandoval said. “Even if it’s likely to get us all killed.”
Connor regarded the men and women with Sandoval before looking at the detective. “We appreciate the offer from all of you, but none of you have a clue what you’re getting yourselves into by volunteering to help.”
