She shakes her head. "Izzy texted a while ago saying she and Orion were on their way, but now… I don't know. It's not like her not to respond."
"She’s probably driving." Asher pulls out his phone. “I’ll try Orion.”
Marty comes in with another round of pie and the coffeepot. “Tanner told me the good news. Congratulations, all. How did it feel to finally break those sigils?”
Wylder leans back and grins. "Like pulling toxic roots free from the soil."
"Poetic, man." Asher grins. “You’re more than a chiseled jaw and a pretty head of hair.”
Rowan laughs. “No, he’s right. It was like a shadow peeling off glass. It was smooth and easy."
Asher arches a brow. "Mica? What was it like for you?”
"Like cutting through wire with bolt cutters."
He snorts. "Why is yours violent?"
"Because I'm a metal witch and we don't dopoetic."
I'm about to jump in when Clara checks her phone again, biting her lip. "Okay, now I'm actually getting worried.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m wondering if they got caught by Laurel."
Mica opens her mouth to reply?—
And then it hits.
A massive wave of fiery, viscous energy slams into me like a fist to the chest. It knocks me backward, and my chair tips, my head cracking against the black-and-white checkered floor.
The pulse of power rolls through the diner, thick and wrong, clinging to my skin like oil.
Asher curses as he and Wylder right my chair and help me sit up. “What the hell was that, Pops? And why does everyone look like they just got kicked in the nutsack?”
“There was a burst of power,” Wylder says, frowning.
Rowan is rigid in her chair. “It was really nasty energy.”
Clara's eyes are wide. "What do you think it means?”
Sebastian scans the room, and lets out a long breath. “It means Tharuzel just breached the first ring of wards.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Finding out that Tharuzel broke through the primary boundary of Sebastian’s wards douses the celebrating spirit as if we’d all been suddenly initiated into the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Well, that and the fact that nobody has connected with Orion or Izzy since the ritual ended.
I know they were in position during the spell because I felt their energy, but after that… what happened is anyone’s guess.
Being persona non grata at Ashcroft Manor meant that the group volunteered Mica and Clara to swing by the Emberwood Coven property to see what they can find out.
Asher drops onto the couch, immediately pulls out his phone, and starts thumb-scrolling. Wylder heads to the kitchen, fills the kettle, and starts pulling out mugs.
Funny thing, he’s a bit of a tea granny.
Rowan paces near the windows, her arms crossed, shadows flickering around her like restless smoke.
