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“We will.”

She brightened again. “Do you want a cup of coffee or something while you read? I’ll be here until Dad leaves, so anything you want, just call.”

“Thanks again, Pen, and I’m fine, you don’t need to wait on me.”

“No problem, let me know if you change your mind.”

Penny and Jasper left, and I returned my focus to the book, turning the pages carefully, reading the immaculately printed accounts of what was happening in this area back then.

Then I found what I was looking for. It was on a sheet dated March 15, 1705. By then, Selene and Charity would have been in their mid to late thirties.

There were articles about witches going missing in a monthly news sheet. It spanned a twelve-month period. The Missing Maidens they’d started to call them as more and more witches vanished. The disappearances stopped, or at least no more were reported, after March 1706. There was no mention of them being found either.

I grabbed the tablet again and searched for The Missing Maidens.

A couple of articles popped up. The first was about a witch named Mary Eason, one of The Maidens, and the first to go missing. She’d been the daughter of some important witch, a Thomas Eason. The article had been marking the anniversary of Mary’s disappearance. The next article was written by someone doing a study on The Maidens. It was dated 1992 and had a run-down of all the witches who had gone missing, the dates, places they were last seen, and the author’s own theories. And that was all I could find.

But Oldwood Forest had been mentioned several times.

I did another search—this time on Thomas Eason.

His name popped up instantly. There was a lot written about him. I scrolled back to the earlier mentions. Thomas had been the very first elected member of the witch’s council that we knew today. He helped draft our covenants and our laws. It was Thomas who had proposed outlawing dark magic, and the law was successfully passed.

If that wasn’t a big old red flashing light, I didn’t know what was. He’d outlawed dark magic, then within a couple of months his daughter vanished?

But whoever was responsible for The Maidens’ disappearances would be dead and buried now—probably at Shadow Falls as well.

There was no denying the similarities, though.

Did this mean we were dealing with a copycat?

I took photos of everything I’d found. It was late, but Penny had let me stay since Gunther was stuck there working security for some unscheduled council meeting, and he was her ride home.

I quickly packed everything up and walked out into the hall. I rounded the corner, and I pulled up short.

Isaac stood in front of Penny, and he was holding her shoulders. His back was to me, and Penny gazed up at him wide-eyed. He said something and strode off. Penny turned and watched him walk away.

I rushed over. “Are you okay?”

Penny jumped and spun back to me, her face bright red. “It’s…it’s nothing.”

“You looked freaked out, Pen. What did he say?”

She blinked rapidly, then looked up at me. “Isaac and I…we, um, we’ve been seeing each other.”

I had to stop myself from recoiling. “What?” Why the hell would she want anything to do with that asshole?

She wrung her hands. “I know your families don’t get along,” she whispered, “but he’s nice to me.”

Penny was lovely, but not Isaac’s type. I’d hate to think he was using her. “Have you told your dad?”

Her eyes filled with alarm. “No, I can’t, he doesn’t like Isaac. And Sapphire can’t know, not yet. She’d never approve of me, and Isaac said she’d cause trouble for my dad or threaten his job to try to separate us. We have to keep this quiet for now. Please, promise me you won’t tell anyone.”

I didn’t trust Isaac one bit, and what she was telling me sounded a lot like manipulation—something I was more than a little familiar with. Brody had been an expert.

Penny watched me, and I could tell she was on the verge of freaking out. I took her trembling hand. “I promise. But I don’t trust that guy. He’s threatened us.” He’d sent demons after me. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but he’s capable of almost anything. He’s done bad shit, Pen. He’ll hurt you. That’s what his family does.”

She shook her head. “You don’t know him like I do.”