Walking around downtown Abelaum felt like trying to move barefoot across a floor covered in thumbtacks, without making a sound. Every smiling face alarmed me. The laughter of passersby seemed sinister. Not even the most innocent actions were safe.
I could feel their eyes on me, prickling up my back, pressing against my skull. I was lucky the weather was rainy, because I could walk with my hood up. Hiding my face was the only way I could stay calm.
I would have preferred to have Zane with me, but he was off trying to track down the witches. I could reach him by cell — thank God demons accepted modern technology — but not having him immediately nearby felt as if I’d left my gun at home and gone out without a weapon.
I’d left this place for a reason. Abelaum wasn’t safe for me. At least, when I’d been out of Washington, I’d known the chances of me encountering a member of the Libiri were slim. Here, they were everywhere, hiding in plain sight.
And unless I could kill them, I didn’t want to encounter them.
But I still had work to do. Just as I’d suspected, Victoria was focusing most of her social time on that girl Zane had told me about, Raelynn.
There was no mistaking her; Zane’s description had been spot-on. A tiny woman, barely five foot, with big glasses and bobbed black hair. She made a strange companion for Victoria, who sat there with her Coach bag, sleek white raincoat, and perfectly manicured nails. Little miss Raelynn was wearing a denim jacket two sizes too big, the front lapels covered in band pins and the back covered in a massive Bad Religion patch.
She didn’t look familiar to me. I had to wonder how she’d ended up here, how the Hadleighs had managed to suck her in. Probably the same way they’d gotten me. Victoria would turn on her charm, make you feel special. She had a way of making you feel like the fortunate one for getting her attention. I’d considered myself lucky when I’d gained her friendship in high school. No one else had liked me but her.
The coffee I’d been drinking turned in my stomach. I was watching the two women from across the cafe, seated behind Victoria and in a corner so she couldn’t get an easy look at me. The woman who’d tried to kill me was only feet away. Her voice was all I could hear. There’d been a time when we’d been so close. Or at least…I’d felt close to her. I’d told her everything. I’d told her about my parents, about my dad leaving, and the pain of his death. I’d told her about my mother’s hatred of him, her boyfriends, her drinking — everything.
And she’d told me about her dad’s affair. How Everly had been born just a few months before she and Jeremiah were. How she’d seen her mother crying in the garden. How she felt like her dad was always pitting her and Jeremiah against each other, telling them both to “make daddy proud” as if it was all a game to earn his love.
Now I knew their competition had been very real. How fucking sick, to plan to sacrifice one of your children for some wicked God’s promises.
My hands tightened on the porcelain coffee mug. I didn’t feel sympathy for Victoria. She was carrying on the same murderous tradition as the rest of her cult. She lured people in, made them trust her, and then she manipulated that trust for her own gain. All in the hope that her own life would be spared.
Fuck her. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. From what Zane had heard, her own brother was already plotting her death.
This poor Raelynn girl looked oblivious as hell. She kept glancing out the window, a little restless in her seat, chugging down an iced black coffee at a rate that would have given me a heart attack. She smiled and nodded politely as Victoria carried on about some asinine story. Did she have family here? Other friends?
People who would realize if she went missing?
I was so focused on the two of them, it took me nearly a minute to notice the woman with long blonde hair standing outside the cafe. But eventually, she stood for so long in my peripheral that my eyes flickered over to her. The rain dripped down her hood, dampening the strands of her hair that had been plucked out of shelter by the wind. Bright blue eyes, a long black skirt…
It had been years, but I knew her face.
Everly.
She’d been watching Victoria and Raelynn, but the moment recognition clicked in my brain, her eyes darted over to me.
Her eyes widened. Her face was stricken with fear.
And she ran.
I followed her immediately. I didn’t want to make a big fuss as I left, but the moment I was outside the door, I sprinted down the sidewalk. I barely caught sight of her jacket whipping around a corner ahead. The rain was pouring now, and most people had taken shelter inside so my way was clear as I chased after her. She was always one corner ahead, dodging down narrow side streets, taking an ever-more convoluted path in an attempt to lose me. But I was faster, gaining on her with every step.
She turned again, and I was only a second behind her. But the moment I turned, I stopped. It was a dead end.
She was gone.
I frowned. The narrow path stood between three buildings, with no way out but up. The old stone and brick buildings had fire escapes, but the ladders were pulled up, and it would have been easy to see her if she’d somehow gotten up there. There were a couple small trash cans, a pile of cardboard boxes — nowhere a fully grown woman could hide.
How the hell?
I walked down the alley, looking even in the places she couldn’t possibly fit. There were no doors, no crawl spaces, no vents. I stared up at the building at the end, frowning. There was no way she’d gotten up to the roof in merely seconds. It was impossible.
There was a strong scent of berries in the air. Berries and sugar. It was overbearingly sweet, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
The bricks in front of me looked strange. They were slightly misaligned, their edges not quite lining up properly, the surface of some of them strangely smooth. I reached out toward them, eyes widening in disbelief. There was no fucking way…
As if from behind a curtain, Everly reappeared, her back pressed to the bricks. Something hit me, a pulse that compressed my chest, shoving me back and giving her the room to run past me. I grabbed for her, seizing the strap on her bag. She pulled back hard against me, her eyes wide with fear. Her bag burst open, spilling contents across the wet ground, but she was free of my grip.
This time, when I got to the mouth of the alley, I had no idea where she’d gone.
“Goddamn it!” I scanned the entire street, but there was no sign of her. She could have been right in front of me, invisible, and I’d have no fucking idea.
I wasn’t too surprised by weird, magical, paranormal shit anymore. But if these witches could turn themselves invisible, that was going to be a real problem. Everly had always been so quiet, so timid — at least in high school. But that meant nothing now. She’d been there that night in the church. She’d watched with all the rest. Just like her parents, she’d learned to turn a blind eye to pain and torture if it was for her God.
Back down the alley, I examined the items that had dropped from Everly’s bag, and pulled out my cell to call Zane. But I hadn’t even managed to unlock the screen when I was suddenly aware of someone standing behind me.
He was already here.
“What have I told you about sneaking up on me?” I said.
“Awww, the mortal can’t hear massive footsteps on a wet street.” I tried to smack him in the balls, but he turned so that my palm smacked his ass instead. “Ooh, yeah, do it harder next time.”
“You completely missed the witch,” I said with a heavy sigh. “She was right here.”
“Why do you think I’m over here?” He picked up a tube of chapstick, sniffed it, and carelessly tossed it away. “She used magic. I could smell it a mile away.” He paused as I picked up a damp, folded piece of paper from the ground. “Did she hurt you?”
“No. She looked scared.” I unfolded the paper as carefully as I could, but it was soaked from the rain and ripping at the slightest touch. I laid it down on top of a metal trash can lid, and my eyes widened as I realized what it was.
A map of Western Washington, covered in scribbles of blue ink. The ink was blooming from the rain, but I could make out little notes, X’s, and lines through vast sections of empty forest.
“Jackpot,” I said softly. “I don’t think you’re going to need to track her anymore, Zane.”
