“Waiting at the end of the drive.” Zara started walking. “Come on.”
They moved quickly through the gardens, away from her childhood home, away from the banewood tree that stood silent and terrible in the darkness of the garden.
“Remember how you offered to burn down the manor if I needed?” Ramona asked.
Zara stiffened beside her. “Are you asking me to? Because I’d love that. Just say the word.” She held up her free hand, and a tiny flame appeared at the top of her finger.
Ramona laughed. “Just nice to know I still have that in my back pocket.”
Zara squeezed her hand. “I’d burn down the entire world if you asked me to.”
Ramona leaned against her as they walked. “I know.”
Zara’s voice lowered to barely above a whisper. “And I’d never burn anything again, if you asked me to.”
Ramona smiled to herself, her throat tightening with emotion.
They walked on in silence. The night had been a disaster, but they were together.
“So, you could have been shadows this whole time?” Ramona asked as they continued walking. “That would have been so much easier at work.”
“No.” Zara glanced at her. “It’s just closer to my true form. I couldn’t change before. The longer I’m away from Hell, the more demon I’m becoming.”
Ramona processed that. “Is that… bad?”
“I don’t know yet.” Zara’s voice was honest. “But it’s happening whether I want it to or not.”
They walked along the drive in the dark, Ramona’s hand in Zara’s, the loss of the grimoires heavy between them.
Headlights appeared in the distance. Felix, idling at the end of the road.
He leaned across to open the passenger door. Gerald cooed from his shoulder — concerned, questioning.
“Get in,” Felix said. “Kashvi’s at home with Cammie and Posey.”
Ramona slid into the back seat. Zara followed.
“Did the cops torture you?” Felix asked, pulling onto the main road.
Ramona nearly laughed. “Yes, but only by letting my mother and sister get near me.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you okay?”
“No.” Ramona closed her eyes. “But I will be. Once we break this fucking curse and fix the convergence point and figure out how to break the tether.”
Through the tether, she felt Zara’s hand find hers. Squeeze.
“We will,” Zara said quietly. “I promise.”
Felix drove them home through empty streets, while Gerald kept watch.
Everything was falling apart. She hadn’t even gotten the grimoires they’d risked everything to steal. They were either confiscated, or, best-case scenario, sitting in Ramona’s impounded car.
But for the first time in twenty-seven years, Ramona knewwhy.
