“We don’t need your permission,” the third sister parroted.
This was starting to feel like an ambush, and my rage was only burning hotter. Purple magic began to leak from my skin and swirl around me, like it had before in Brock’s living room.
“It’s the only way you’re getting Cass back,” Calista added, like it was a matter-of-fact truth, eyeing my purple magic curiously.
“Like hell it is,” I growled, letting all of the anger that had been boiling within me snap out in the direction of the three sisters.
My magic slammed into them, knocking them on their asses, but I wasn’t going to stop. Not until Cass was with me and the sirens had drawn their last breaths. My boss Mack would deal. No amount of bounty money was worth the danger the triplets posed to all of humanity. I pulled my gun and ran at the sisters, firing as I went.
Brock’s sure footfalls pounded out behind me. He had my back; bullets flared from his gun as well. One of them struck the second sister in the abdomen.
“Stop or I’m going to kill Cass!” Calista shrieked from her place on the ground. My purple magic covered her like a blanket, but I didn’t have time to be pleased with myself.
Even though I assumed she was bluffing, the words sent a chill rushing through my veins, cooling the sweat misting my skin in an instant. I skipped a step, stumbled on a rock, and nearly fell into a trickle of bright orange fire. Brock whipped a strong arm around my shoulders, heaving me back with a fierce pull. Then both Brock and I lowered our guns.
“You have to calm down,” Brock implored. “I can’t handle anything happening to you or our baby.”
Bringing a hand protectively around the swell of my abdomen, I leaned into him while forcing myself to breathe slowly and deeply. He was right. I had to calm down.
We were in a standoff, and I was about to advance toward the sirens—fuck their threats about Cass—when my intuition nagged at me. The sirens were still trapped under my purple magical blanket, so I slipped Cass’ booty shorts out of my back pocket, gripped them tightly again, and closed my eyes, secure in knowing that the siren sisters were still struggling to get out from under my magic.
My gut told me to head left instead of continuing on toward the sirens. Cho’s spell, it had to be.
“We go left,” I whispered to Brock, who didn’t question me.
“Halt!” the third siren called out. I glanced back to see them frantically trying to help their wounded sister and peel back the layers of my spell.
Hah. Maybe I was a decent witch after all.
But when neither Brock nor I answered, the sirens were left mumbling among themselves, obviously thrown off that we were on Cass’ trail. The next time I turned around, they were no longer at the base of the outcropping of rock.Weird. I figured they were trying to catch up to us or cut us off.Damn. Either wasn’t a great option before we secured Cass. After that, they could bring it on, because I was going to mow every one of them down.
Jumping across black rocks like we were running through a dry riverbed, we arrived at an open clearing. There was no clear path forward, and so I stopped and focused on Cass’ little shorts again. Only this time they urged me the opposite way, in the direction we’d just come from.
“What’s wrong?” Brock asked.
“Cho’s spell is now saying that way.” I signaled with my head. “Do you think they’re moving him?”
“They must be.” But when we trailed our gazes across the underground lava pit, we saw no signs of movement. We didn’t even spot the sirens, though I was pretty sure they must be moving toward us.
My gut churned with unease, and I called to Cass through our telepathic link again. Still crickets. “I don’t like this,” I told Brock, who pursed his lips and took a step closer to me.
“What’s to like?”
“I feel like they’re messing with us,” I said.
“I just shot one of them and you trapped them in a blanket of magic. They’re definitely messing with us,” he affirmed.
“I’m not sure we should follow Cho’s spell anymore.” Though how else were we going to find Cass if we didn’t follow his magical booty shorts? But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was really wrong.
“Then we don’t.” Brock didn’t even question my instincts. “In which direction do you think we should head?”
Taking a few moments, I tuned in to our surroundings. The heat had regained its oppressiveness—think the middle of the summer in humid Alabama times two, and all that beneath a heavy, dense seal skin meant to insulate from cold water temperatures. But even amid the sweltering heat, a chill tickled at the edge of my senses. Was it Cass trying to reach me through our link? Was it my intuition again?
Like a swift punch to the gut, I realized what it was.
“Someone’s trying to cast a spell over us,” I said to Brock so softly that he had to crane his head forward to make out the words. But when he did, his eyes widened, and he pulled me into his arms, holding me in a tight embrace while he whispered in my ear.
“Can you tell who or what it is?” he breathed.
