9
Idrop the necklace as if it’s poisonous, staring at it with horror. Jacques doesn’t move. His lips part and a few seconds tick by before he raises his gaze to mine. My heart is racing and I’m starting to feel as panicked as I was in the dream. The door bursts open and the rest of the guys rush in.
“Ace,” Thomas starts. “What’s wrong?”
Right. They can sense when I’m in danger or when I’m scared shitless. And right now I’m both.
“This.” I point to the necklace on the bed.
Gil comes over and picks it up. “Is it cursed or something?”
“Or something.” Jacques gets out of bed, pacing to the other side of the room.
“I’m not following.” Gil sits next to me, and seeing how I’m still freaked the fuck out, puts his arm around me. I turn on the bedside lamp and scoot back in close to him, feeling tucked in and safe with his arm and his wing behind me.
“I had a dream that Braeya gave that to me.” I apprehensively reach out and take the necklace. “And then I woke up and it was around my neck.”
“Why would she give you a necklace?” Thomas asks.
Jacques turns around. “Because I gave it to her.”
Silence falls over the room, and I look at the necklace. Something is engraved in the gold in Latin.
“On nobis, Domie, non nobis, sed Nomini tuo da gloriam,” Gilbert says softly, not having to read it directly off the cross. “It was the Knights’ motto. It means, ‘Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name give glory.’”
“Sounds like a cult,” I grumble, and he smiles, gently taking the necklace from my hand. He gives it to Hasan, who places it on the dresser and stares at it with disdain. “Now what?”
We all look at Jac, who seems too spooked to think rationally right now. He’s been my Mr. Giles this whole time, teaching and guiding me through this new world of magic. Seeing him unsettled makes my stomach twist into knots.
“Banishing spell,” I say. “Tom and Gil, can you get the ingredients ready?” I get out of bed and grab the notebook, flipping through pages until I find it.
“On it, boss,” Gil says, taking the notebook and heading down the stairs. His twin follows right behind.
“In my dream, there were people performing a ritual in the woods,” I tell Hasan. “I don’t think anyone is out there, but can you fly over and check? Stay out of sight.”
He gives me a nod and leaves the room, jumping over the balcony. He lands with a soft thud and I hear the front door open and close.
“Are you okay?” I ask Jac, taking his hand. He’s standing by the window, staring into the dark night.
He turns, eyebrows furrowed and a deep frown on his face. He doesn’t speak, but instead grabs me by the waist and pulls me in for a kiss.
“I don’t want her to get in your head like she did to me,” he says with his lips against mine. “Not being in control of your own thoughts…” He trails off, shaking his head. And it’s only then it hits me just how terrifying it would be to have someone else control everything you think and see. You’d never know what was real or not real.
“She won’t.” I bring my hands up and cup his face. “I won’t let her, and I know you won’t either.” I slide my hands down and rest them on the curve of his waist. “And I know this might not mean anything, but she didn’t feel threatening. She never has.” I close my eyes, remembering the way she looked at me…and at Jacques. “She really seemed worried.”
“You shouldn’t trust her.”
“I don’t.” I bite my lip. I can’t base a judgment off of her based on what I felt in my dreams. She put a love spell on Jac and seriously fucked with his mind. But I felt her come to care about him in a weird way. She wasn’t really in love with him, but once she learned he was one of the good guys, she risked herself to save him.
Still, coming here with a warning that doesn’t make any sense is too weird to me, and makes me think back to when Jac said demons can take on the form of loved ones.
“Let’s go downstairs,” I tell him, and take his hand again. “I don’t have enough sage to purify the house, but we can get at least a few rooms.”
Nodding, he follows behind me, grabbing the necklace off the dresser on the way out. Thomas and Gilbert are in the kitchen, going through the cabinets to find what I need to cast another banishing spell. I go to the window behind the table and look outside, trying to spot Hasan.
“It’s ready, Ace.” Gilbert sets a pot on the counter, sliding the glass bottles of herbs over to the edge. Tearing my eyes away from the window, I go to the counter and look down at the notebook, going over the chant in an attempt to memorize it.
The guys step aside, watching me invoke the herbs. I close my eyes, concentrating, and slit them open to look down at the spell again. I’m putting this one on the top of my to-memorize list.
