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“Uh, no. I think I can come back another day and fix the rest.”

“After food and rest,” Angel prodded again, as he tugged me to my feet.

But I didn’t move. Not yet.

“Remi,” I said. “Can you do me a favor?”

He looked at me. “What kind of favor?”

I swallowed. “Jason’s remains. They were never found. If he’s anywhere, he’d be here. Do you have a rune or something to see if you can find him?” I shuddered remembering the corpses that dissolved into dust during my first time escaping this nightmare. “If there’s anything left.”

Remi’s expression softened. “Let me try something.”

He pulled a piece of chalk from his pocket and knelt on the cold floor. The rune he drew was intricate—a spiral of symbols and lines that pulsed with a soft, golden light. When he finished, he pressed his palm to the center and closed his eyes.

We waited.

The rune flickered. Dimmed. Flickered again. And then went dark.

Remi opened his eyes and shook his head. “Nothing. I’m sorry. If he was here, there’s no trace of him now.”

“Thank you,” I said. “For trying.”

Remi nodded. He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t have to.

Angel’s hand found mine, and he tugged me toward the door, back through the house, and back across the merge to the human side of the Veil. I finally let myself breathe.

We’d done what we came for. The location was pinned. The search teams would take it from here.

And I was going home. To Angel. To Ivan. To Grandpa. To the life I’d almost lost.

It wasn’t the closure I wanted. But it was enough.

For now.

INTERLUDE

XAVIER

“He’s safe at home,” Keanan murmured as he stood outside my office door.

“Hmm.” I waved my hand to dismiss him. “Neither of you are needed for the night.”

Keanan hesitated.

I raised a brow in his direction. He let out a barely audible sigh and turned from the doorway. His words to his twin, Sylas, were lost in the distance as the elevator beeped, though I caught their unrest.

Worry. The thought came, though I batted it away.

I sat in the dim quiet of the office, the noise of life fading as the twins’ presence slipped from my senses and the mortal world settled into the hollow hum of late night. An edge of unease burned beneath the growing numbness of the night’s plans. I fought not to think of him, and cursed fate for trying to tie me to its schemes once again.

Gwen stepped out of the shadows beside my desk and slid into the chair across from me, her gaze filled with concern.

“I’m fine,” I told her instantly.

She motioned toward the desk, and a tea set appeared.

I stifled a groan. Now was not the time for tea.