“Grey…” she pleaded.
I closed one eye, taking aim. “Three…Two…” but before I got to one, she slammed the car door shut.
And just like that, Lyra was gone.
CHAPTER 35
LYRA
“Lyra?” Emory called out as the front door slammed shut. A moment later, she stormed into the living room. “Where have you been? And why is no one picking up their goddamn phones! I almost reported you missing, too!”
“Shit.” I frantically checked the pockets of my jeans to find them empty. “I don’t know where I left my phone.”
“I’m just glad you’re okay.” She said, walking past the couch. “Cal went home to check on his mom and sister. No sign of Kenna yet. But it’s time we got some damn answers.”
She sprinted up the stairs, returning a few heartbeats later.
“Mind giving me a hand?” she asked, setting her deck of tarot cards, two black candles, and a smudge stick on the coffee table.
I opened the windows to allow for clean air to enter the space while Emory lit the smudge stick, starting at the front door. Typically, she’d work clockwise through all the rooms, but we didn’t have time to cleanse the entire house, so she moved slowly from the door, allowing the smoke to drift into all the nooks and crannies of the living room.
“I call all my power back to me,” she chanted over and over, waving the smudge stick, letting the smoke cleanse the place andus before extinguishing it in the bowl of sand on the coffee table. I dimmed the harsh recessed lighting in the vaulted ceilings and took a seat around the coffee table.
“Did you go confront Grey?” she asked, taking a seat next to me, shuffling the deck of cards.
“How’d you know?”
“All knowing, remember?” She tapped the side of her head. “Also, you look miserable.”
I brought my knees to my chest, hugging them tightly. A wave of nausea crashed into me just thinking about our fight.
“And…?” she pressed.
“It didn’t go well. But he didn’t rip out my throat with his teeth, so I guess that’s a win.”
“It’s honestly concerning that I can’t tell if you’re being serious about that or not. But…” She hesitated, as if unsure whether to say it, then finally continued. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you, and trust me, he would never murder you.” The words hung in the air.
“What look?”
“Like a man who’s been trapped in the dark for so long that he can’t help but look at the sun every chance he gets.”
“Well, he hates me now.” The words felt like a dagger to my heart. “Grey already couldn’t stand witches and I just proved him right about every awful thought he had about us.”
Hurt flashed in Emory’s eyes as she said, “Demons lie. People lie. Everyone lies. But it’s time to get some answers.”
She shuffled the deck and asked, “Who killed Devin Whitethorn?” Like she expected the cards to answer, and I guess in a way they would. She laid the cards out face-down, carefully removing any that called to her. She plucked two from the pile and turned them over.
I leaned over her shoulder to get a better look. The first card was the ten of cups and the second was the five of swords.
“Okay…” She examined the cards closer. “There is some kind of conflict within the family.”
“Well, obviously. Mr. Whitethorn is dead.” I plopped onto the couch in defeat, giving Emory space to do her thing.
“Please tell me Kenna is here.” Cal burst through the door. “Because I’ve looked everywhere and can’t find her.”
“She’s not here,” I yelled from my spot on the couch.
“Let me get my scrying crystal. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner.” Emory ran up the stairs. But scrying crystals were extremely unreliable, if they even worked at all. Emory was the only one out of all us who had any chance at getting anything useful from one.
