I finally recognized what it was I had been feeling since I’d stepped out of the car.
“Samuel, I think there’s a ley line beneath this building,” I said quietly.
The others exchanged a tense look. Samuel headed down the ladder first.
Bo whined and paced the edge of the opening as we descended after him.
“Be careful. It smells nasty down there.”
We found ourselves inside an empty brick cellar.
My white wolf powers roared in my blood, eliminating the suffocating effect of the magic the space contained. Crimson flared in Barney’s pupils and amber brightened Samuel’s eyes. Tiny pilot flames burst into life on the tips of Gavin’s horns.
“This place is old,” Didi muttered, placing a hand crackling with magic on the nearest wall. “Not many people would know this even existed.”
“Not unless they’ve been down here before at some point in the past,” Samuel said darkly.
My scalp prickled. Barney stiffened beside me.
It wasn’t just the corrupt magic bathing the cellar and the ley line deep underground that was making the hairs rise on my nape. The coppery scent I’d caught outside was stronger here.
My wolf growled. It was blood.
Barney and I followed it to one of the steel pillars.
“Didi,” I said, my mouth dry.
The witch came over.
She paled when Barney’s flashlight washed over a blood stain on the floor. She swallowed and crouched, magic flaring on her fingertips.
I blinked when an echo of her powers lingered in my vision.
“There was a containment ward here,” she said after a moment. “Somebody was being kept inside it.”
Barney traced the metal column with his fingers. “There are specks of blood on the pillar. They were tied up.”
“Over here,” Samuel called out in the gloom.
Barney and I followed Didi to where Samuel and Gavin squatted beside another pillar. There was even more blood on the floor here.
Magic flared in Didi’s eyes as she examined the area. “Another containment ward.”
We found the third containment point at the back of the cellar.
“Three sisters,” Barney muttered.
“Three barriers,” Samuel said in a voice edged with steel.
My chest constricted.
I heard Didi grind her teeth.
The witch took a shaky breath, placed both palms flat on the ground, and closed her eyes. Magic danced under her eyelids and across her hands. Several seconds passed.
When she opened her eyes, her expression had changed into a hard mask I didn’t recognize.
“I can feel the Lincoln sisters’ residualsignature,” she said flatly. “Their healing magic leaves a particular imprint. It’s faint, but it’s unmistakable.” She faltered. “They were here.”
