He shrugged. “You didn’t answer, so I called Grayson. I portaled into the common area and walked in your front door. You left it wide open.”
“Well, get out. Meera’s not dressed.”
“I’m not even interested in your woman. Liam and Hazel are more than enough. Do you know they always take each other’s sides in a fight? It’s infuriating.”
“Get out!” I roared.
“Fine, fine. You don’t have to be so mean about it.” Seth rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. I slammed the door shut after him.
Meera dressed quickly, pulling on a pair of jeans and a cute top. I was pretty sure the top was part of a pajama set, but she wore it with so much confidence that I’d never have known if I hadn’t seen the shorts.
I handed her back her coffee.
“What do you think he wants?”
“No clue. Let’s go find out.”
Chapter 24
Meera
Theold,abandonedmeetingroom reminded me way too much of the one at the real estate office where I used to bring my clients to sign all their documents.
The walls were paneled in the same cheap wood veneer that tried to look more expensive than it was. There was a long conference table in the room with matching pleather chairs that had seen better days, and everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. A whiteboard hung on one wall, its surface covered in fadedmarker scribbles. The fluorescent lights were older than the ones at the office though; these flickered overhead and buzzed annoyingly.
Seth kicked one of the chairs, sending up a cloud of dust. “Charming, right?”
I coughed and glared at him.
Since it had taken the ghouls several hours to find me at the market after leaving the safety of the penthouse, and they hadn’t attacked at all last weekend during the walk to and from the bar, or at the mall, Seth deduced that it took some time for the magic to actually orient on me once I left a protected area. We’d taken the time to grab some light breakfast, though I was too nervous to eat much.
I never once thought I’d be trying actively to convince ghouls to attack me.
Now Graham and I sat on a blanket in what used to be a meeting room inside a dusty abandoned warehouse. There was a thick line of salt all around the room.
“What’s with the salt?” I asked. “I thought that was just to keep demons contained.”
“The salt is to stop whoever sent them from calling them back out when they realize they’ve lost you. As long as a ghoul is stuck in this realm and still moving, it will continue to draw energy from the original caster until they sever the connection using another spell. That takes time and more energy. That is if theyeven know the right spell. Just remember to draw the final line in front of both doors after. And make it a generous line.”
I nodded, even though his answers honestly just gave me more questions.
There were two entrances to the room, and the goal was to get the ghouls to come in one and lock it inside as I escaped through the other. The plan sounded way too simple to work, but Seth was the pro here, and if a freaking dragon thought he was good enough to be his personal wizard, then he must know what he was doing. I just hoped it was as safe as he assured me it was.
Though if safety had been my number one concern, I wouldn’t have decided to run with a dragon’s egg.
It didn’t take long for trouble to find me.
Seth and Mateo were in the other room, monkeying around with some old equipment when a sudden prickling sensation tickled the back of my neck.
“Do you feel that?” I asked.
Graham grunted affirmation. He released his hold on me to look outside the door leading out of the offices. Seeing nothing, he went to the other door leading to the big warehouse where the others were.
We’d expected the ghouls to come from one of those two obvious directions. We hadn’t expected them to come from right inside the room. The portal opened up between me and Graham, a dark swirling mass that had dread rising up inside my chest.
“Graham!”
It was the only word I got out before the first ghoul stepped from the portal. Well, maybe “step” was being generous; it was more like it was shoved out of the aperture by a giant hand, directly at me. I dodged it. But more were coming.
