I held the picture of that place in my mind and let the magic do the work.
“What the hell, Moira?”
“Be on your guard,” I whispered.
Ethan went still. “Where did you take me?”
“To my past.” I tugged him by the hand. “Let’s go.”
We crept to the edge of the decrepit house inside the woods. This was one of many hovels my mother kept. Or it used to be. I had no idea who owned the place now, or if she still frequented here.
I cleared my senses and let my magic quest toward the inside, searching for any heartbeats that didn’t belong. When nothing came back, I crept forward, pulling Ethan with me.
The old wood cabin was still standing, but the place had seen better days. All the windows had been broken out, and the front door hung from rusted iron hinges. The smell of damp and rot wafted up, and its scent dashed my hopes for finding anything useful inside.
We were still holding hands. He hadn’t pulled away from me yet and made no move to do so as we moved. When I stopped at the threshold, Ethan came up beside me. “No one is inside,” he said.
“I know. There might be a ward or alarm set up.”
Ethan frowned. “In this place? What could anyone have in here they’d want to save?”
I glanced at him. “Elitist much? Some of us don’t have fancy mansions or private chefs.”
His jaw clenched. “You’re right. My apologies.”
I held my hand up and closed my eyes. Evie had all the skills with wards. Maybe I should have brought her with me.
“I don’t sense anything off,” Ethan said. “No wards that I can tell.”
I glanced up at him. “How would you know?”
“You’re not the only one sensitive to magic.”
“Look at you, Mr. Mysterious,” I murmured. “How come I didn’t know this about you before?”
“Didn’t you say we were friends?”
“Yes, but you didn’t believe me.”
Ethan chuckled. “And yet, you still fed me cookies.”
“Feeding you made you believe me?”
“No one feeds their enemies delicious cookies.”
“And yet, you ran away without the rest of them.”
He laid a hand over his heart. “One of the great regrets of my life.”
I snorted. “Drama queen.”
Ethan laughed.
I pushed my hand deeper into the room and still couldn’t feel a thing. “I think it’s safe but stay on your guard.”
We stepped inside at the same time.
Ethan froze. His nostrils flared. “Where are we?”
