Page 53

Both Jacob and I were badly injured. A trip to Shadow Falls is impossible. We have secured and buried her remains beyond the cemetery grounds until we are well enough to journey to the falls.

I stared down at the passage, my heart beating hard in my chest.

Selene and her husband had fought and killed Charity.

It said she’d returned. Charity had obviously been cast out of the coven, and this was why there was no more mention of her in our family history, not passed down verbally or in books.

The bones in our garden shed belonged to Charity. She’d been using dark magic and had returned to cause harm. Selene had killed her sister to protect their family, the coven. Rowena was the head of our coven now and the current scribe. She’d never mentioned it, but then she may not have ever seen the passage, and talking about such things wasn’t done even if she had. A dark past like that was never spoken of, covens didn’t want that kind of thing getting out.

Which meant Else and Mom wouldn’t know either.

They’d planned to move her remains to Shadow Falls, but in the end, they’d never done it. I thought about my sisters. There was nothing they could ever do to stop me from loving them. Nothing. Even the thought of taking their remains to that awful place would break my heart. Is that why Selene had never moved Charity? I guess we’d never know.

I snapped a picture of the passage, closed the book then rang the bell. Gunther walked in a short time later. He inclined his head and put away the books as Nia and I headed up the stairs.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Penny asked when I surfaced.

“I’m not sure.” I’d found something, and as horrific as it was, I still wasn’t sure how or if it was linked to my task and the missing witches. “I think so.”

Penny glanced at the door. “I saw you at The Bank the other night,” she said in a hushed tone.

“You were there?”

She nodded as she offered Jasper a treat and glanced at the door behind me again. Worried her father would hear? I wasn’t sure why, she was twenty-seven years old. “I didn’t realize you were working there now.”

“Oh, I’m not. I was just…you know, helping out a friend.” I liked Penny, and I was sure I could trust her, but she didn’t need to know what I was doing. I barely knew myself. “The place was so busy.” I had to be careful how I worded this. “You must have seen on Nightscape that Amy, Imogen, and Marina were all seen there right before they disappeared?”

She nodded, her eyes wide. “Do you think Kristi could be next? Whoever’s behind this seems to be targeting that group.”

The thought had occurred to me. It was always the four of them together. But getting to Kristi wouldn’t be easy, especially now. “Her family has her locked down from what I’ve heard. They’ll keep her safe.” She’d posted a video this morning, crying and shaking, begging whoever had her friends to let them go. They weren’t crocodile tears. She’d looked utterly distraught and scared out of her mind. She’d said her father had hired security and she was somewhere safe.

“There’s no way she could’ve…you know, had something to do with it, could she?” Penny asked, looking freaked out.

“I don’t think so.” I didn’t know her that well, but Rose had when she’d been at school. She’d always said how sweet she was, and a little naïve, kind of like Penny. From what I’d been told, the girl didn’t have a malicious bone in her body. “Maybe you should avoid that place, Pen. At least until we know what happened to them.”

She pouted a little. “I guess you’re right. Hey, we should hang out sometime? I mean, if you want to? We could go somewhere else?”

“Love to. I have some family stuff to deal with right now, but after that, absolutely.”

Penny bounced in place. “Awesome!”

I headed back the way I’d come, my mind racing with what I’d found out.

Nia bumped into my leg. Nia hungry.

I rubbed her ears. “Me too. Let’s go get some food.”

A door opened ahead of us, one of the offices the councilors used from time to time, and Isaac Eldridge, the asshole himself, walked out. I paused mid-step and he did the same, then his shoulders straightened and he turned to face me fully, standing in my path, waiting for me.

I stopped in front of him, ignoring my nerves, and smiled. “Surprised to see me?”

“It seems they let anyone in these days.” He didn’t even try to disguise his sneer.

Nia growled, and I ran my hand down her back to calm her.

“No, I mean alive. Some of your demon buddies followed me from your building the other day, after they’d messed with my car.” My heart was racing, but I used every bit of courage I had to stare him down. Well, technically up, but I refused to let his height intimidate me. “Kind of cowardly, don’t you think? I just wanted to talk, Isaac.”

His gaze was dark and filled with rage. “I have no clue what you’re talking about. Why the hell would I send demons after you? If I wanted to hurt you, Iris, I’d do it myself.”