I went to my knees and dug my fingers into one of the smaller bricks on the right-hand side. Magic pulsed against my palms, dark and insidious. Ethan crouched beside me.
“Need help?”
I shook my head. “You shouldn’t touch any of the stones. I’m not sure what kind of spells she might have woven in.”
“Then should you be touching them?”
“I wish I was back in my kitchen making brownies. Salted caramel brownies. Or maybe taking a nap.”
Ethan laughed. “Are you willing to share those brownies?”
“Depends.” I looked up from my task. “Are we friends or are you going to get all weird and growly again?”
Ethan pretended to think about it. “I guess it depends on whether you share those brownies.”
We smiled at each other just as the brick loosened enough to fall out of its place in the wall. And then I remembered why I was there, and my smile slipped.
Right. Ethan was attached. More than attached. The woman he loved waited for him back at the Keep.
I cleared my throat and looked down, focusing my attention on the next brick. Working in silence, I opened a hole large enough to reach my hand in.
But when my fingers touched cool stone and nothing else, my heart sank.
“Shit,” I breathed.
“Nothing?” Ethan asked.
I went to my belly. “Hand me my flashlight.”
Ethan obliged, and as I swept the light through the space, only emptiness greeted me.
I should have known it wouldn’t be here. Mom had always been several steps ahead.
“What are you looking for?”
“Mom had an old Book of Shadows. I hoped she’d forgotten about it.”
“Your mother is a witch?”
Ah. Yes. He’d forgotten.
“She is.”
I went to my knees and didn’t bother to put the bricks back. She’d know I was here if she came back.
Ethan rose and held a hand out to help me up. When I was back on my feet, I gave the room a final look through, tapping the stone where I thought she may have hidden something.
But there was nothing to be found.
Disappointment welled inside me. “Ready to go?”
“You sure you’ve seen everything?”
I nodded. “The place is tiny. I’ve looked everywhere she might have put something.”
But Ethan was frowning at me. “When’s the last time you were here?”
I tried to count back in my head and couldn’t. “America didn’t exist back then.”
