“Let’s go. Maybe after the High Witch is done interrogating Sophie, she can help with my situation.”
“Whatisyour situation anyway?” I ask.
“I’ll tell you if you tell me where Lucca is.”
Man, Sophie’s familiar is cunning. “Nice try.”
Sophie is the first to get out of the car, taking Tish with her. I think she’s as keen to get this over with as I am. I follow her, then take her hand as we walk together to the front door. Before I have the chance to ring the doorbell, Niko opens the door, but she doesn’t invite us in. Instead, she glowers at me.
“Hey, Niko. Your mother is waiting for us.”
The teen crosses her arms. “I know. I can’t believe you were spying on me.”
My brows shoot up. “I was just following orders.”
“Like the good soldier you are.”
“Niko, to your room, now.” Her mother’s voice comes from deep in the house.
She gives me another scathing glance before storming down the hallway, leaving the door ajar for us.
“That kid has spunk. I like her,” Tish says.
“Of course you do,” I mumble.
Isadora appears at the end of the hallway. “What are you waiting for? Come in.”
Sophie drops my hand and clutches Tish tighter against her chest. The tension around her mouth and furrowed brow tells me she’s nervous about this meeting. I am too.
“It’ll be okay.” I put my hand on her lower back and nudge her forward.
Isadora disappears through a door, and my guess is that she wants us to follow her. We enter her office, which is nothing like I expected. There’s a floor-to-ceiling bookcase behind her desk, brimming with books, but no table with ingredients or cauldron for spells. It looks like an ordinary home office.
She’s sitting behind her desk, and after we enter the room, she makes a rotating motion with her index finger, and the door closes.
“Neat trick,” I say as a weak attempt to break the tension in the air.
Her sharp gaze is fixed on Sophie. “So, you’re the offspring of Jacques and Tatiana.”
“Why did you want to see me?”
Isadora narrows her eyes. “You did something to the wards keeping Madeleine in her prison. They have weakened. Tell me what you did.”
Sophie raises her chin. “I don’t answer to you.”
Isadora’s nostrils flare. “Insolent. I can see the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Do you know what will happen if Madeleine and the other specters escape from their prison?”
I shiver. I only met one scary ghost, and she wasn’t friendly.
“I didn’t release her on purpose,” Sophie grits out.
“How did she escape?”
“She didn’t really escape. She was still tethered to her coffin. Chill, woman,” Tish chimes in, making Isadora flinch.
A chuckle goes up my throat, and I have to bite the inside of cheek to not let it out. I can’t help the amusement from seeing Isadora’s reaction. It’s not every day you come across a talking cat.
“What are you?”
