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“When you were looking into my mate bond, you were searching for inconsistencies in our line, right? Like signs of a curse, or affairs with demons. Did you notice anything about Grandpa’s family line?”

Celeste’s eyebrows pinch together. “No, we couldn’t find anything before your great-grandfather.”

“And what was his name?” I ask, fully confident in the pieces I’ve finally put together.

“Sal Hewitt,” says Celeste.

“That’s who Grandpa was named after, right?” I look between them both.

“Yeah.” Sloane nods, setting the napkin back down on the table.

“And they only had boys for two generations?”

Sloane frowns. “Yes. Where are you going with this?”

“What’s Grandpa’s name?” I already know the answer. I just want them to see it for themselves.

“Sal,” Sloane says.

“That’s a nickname.” Celeste shakes her head. “His birth name was… Solomon.”

I grin. “And Mom was the first daughter of Solomon since 1968, the year of Theodora’s death.”

“That’s either a huge coincidence, or—”

“We are also daughters of Solomon,” Sloane finishes Celeste’s thought. “They switched the names.” Nix was right; they were hiding. “The talisman is mom’s ring.”

Celeste’s eyes widen. “It’s at the apothecary with her journals.”

“That’s another thing we need to double-check. I noticed missing pages from Grandpa’s journal. I thought he was trying to tell me—” my eyes flicked to Sloane “—something else, but I think it might have something to do with Theodora’s spell.”

“We gotta get out of here.” Sloane stands from her chair, downs the last of her coffee, then slips into her flannel shirt that was resting over the chair back.

I look up at her with a frown. “Right now?”

“That hunter was looking for the dagger. Who knows why, or how she found out about it.”

Hunters are in the same game as us: protecting the good guys. There’s no way she’d be working with Catori, especially when he has his own army. “What?” I scoff. “Do you trust no one anymore?”

She looks me straight in the eye when she speaks. “Seems to be the safest thing.”

“Please, girls.” Celeste sighs. “You need to be working together right now.” She lays a hand over mine, softening her voice. “Besides, I’m not sure there’s anything more we can do here, Sera. It’s probably best we go home and make a plan from there. We haven’t looked into a summoning spell for Catori because he’s been locked in Hell. Everything we need to vanquish him is probably in your mother’s belongings. Now that we know what the talisman is, we need to figure out how to vanquish him once and for all.”

I ignore my aunt, looking at my sister instead. “What about Rowan?”

“I’ll worry about my mate, and you worry about yours. Isn’t that how you wanted it?” Sloane walks off without another word.

“Sera.” Celeste rests a hand over my shoulder. “I know things are… tense with your sister right now, but this might be one of the biggest demons you’ve ever faced. You two need to get on the same page. I think going home would be good for that.”

She’s right. The visions of the dagger brought us here to uncover the truth about Theodora Solomon. There’s no reason my visions won’t continue once we return home, now that we know what we have to do. But Mom’s ring—the talisman—was in Salem this whole time, so why did we need to come to Hemlock? The only thing I’ve found here is Nix.

“We all came in our own vehicles.” I take a breath, turning to face my aunt. “I can check us out and meet you back home later. I—I—”

“It’s okay.” She squeezes my shoulder. “I trust you to do what you need to.”

Relief washes over me. “Thank you.”

“Don’t be too late, okay?”