Bo hung his head. “It’s almost as if they’re under some kind of spell.”
We stared at him.
Bo straightened and cocked his ears. “What?”
Didi had gone pale. “I think he might be on to something.” She met our puzzled gazes, her expression deeply troubled. “I think these people have forgotten what’s happened at the clinic. Or rather, made to forget.”
I shifted uneasily. “Wait. There’s actually a spell like that?!”
“Yes. A Forgetting spell.” She glanced uneasily up and down the street. “I bet this whole block has been hit with it.” She stared at the darkened clinic. “A strong one. The kind that takes serious power to cast and maintain.”
Gavin’s horns popped out. Bo tried to hidebetween my legs.
“That doesn’t explain what happened to the Lincoln sisters,” I said carefully.
“No,” Didi concurred. “But it’s a starting point.”
I chewed my lip. We appeared to be dealing with a case of hocus-pocus and probably a whole load of bogus.
“Can you break the spell?”
Didi shook her head. “Not without knowing who cast it and what anchors they used.” Her jaw tightened. “This isn’t some amateur hour memory charm. It’s professional-grade magic.”
I turned back to the clinic. The building sat there, revealing nothing.
“I want to get closer.”
“Abby—” Didi started, conflicted.
But I was already moving, drawn forward by something I couldn’t quite explain. My wolf was alert now, ears pricked and attention fixed on the darkened windows. Her power hummed through my veins, ready to be deployed at the first sign of danger.
Bo followed in my steps, Didi and Gavin trailing reluctantly behind the Husky.
The feeling hit me three steps from the door.
Coldness. Not winter-cold, but something deeper. Something that crawled into my bones and wrapped icy fingers around my spine.
I stumbled to a halt, my breath catching.
My wolf growled and pressed herself into the back of my mind like she wanted to step out from under my skin.
Bo whimpered. His entire body had gone rigid, furstanding on end and tail clamped firmly between his legs.
Didi froze when she reached us.
“Do you feel that?” I asked in a strained voice.
“Yeah.” Didi’s voice came out hoarse. “I feel it.”
I had never heard the witch sound frightened before. I swallowed and focused on the building.
It was like standing at the edge of a gaping wound. The air around the clinic felt wrong. Corrupted, somehow. Like something terrible had happened here and the place itself was still bleeding from it.
Gavin had gone a concerning shade of green. His horns and tail were out and smoke was pouring from his nostrils in thick streams. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Didi grabbed our arms and pulled us back from the clinic’s entrance.
“We need to leave. Now!”
