Our plan was simple, although I loathed carrying it out. Returning Everly to her family felt wrong.
“I know how to handle them,” she insisted, trying to assure both me and her grandmother, who didn’t seem fond of the idea either. “My father will be suspicious, but he’ll keep me close to have his eye on me. That will give me the opportunity I need.”
“And if it doesn’t, I can remove you from the situation immediately,” I said. “I’ll be close by and watching carefully.”
“Don’t let her out of your sight, Callum,” Winona said. “There’s no telling what Kent or his horrible children will do. The first sacrifice has been made, the God is stirring. It will be watching.”
The reminder of the Deep One’s watchful eye had me on edge. The wretched creature was still trapped underground, too weak to survive in the outside world. It needed the darkness, cold water, and mud of the mines to keep Its massive, unnatural body from falling apart.
Creatures from other dimensions shouldn’t have been able to survive here, and yet, these gods had found a way.
Its physical form was trapped, but Its psychic influence wasn’t. It could still extend Its influence into vulnerable minds, gleaning knowledge and sapping energy. Without proper training, Everly was susceptible to Its attacks.
But she was determined, confident she could steal the grimoire from right under her father’s nose. I only hoped she could manage it before the God stole her mind instead.
Instead of flying Everly back to her family, I showed her the path through the woods. The rain had ceased that morning, and the forest was thriving after the downpour. Using her sketchbook, Everly recorded the path I showed her, drawing a map that would lead her from the coven house to the nearest road.
She seemed at ease beneath the trees. She hummed as she walked and stopped frequently, to admire a blooming flower or to watch a deer and her fawn slink away into the trees.
I didn’t share her sense of calm.
From the moment I stepped foot outside the coven house, I was being watched. The air was thick with the scent of loam and sprouting grass; but beneath the forest smells was another, faint but familiar.
Sharp and prickling at the back of my throat, like iron and smoke.
We walked on, passing through a dense section of woodland that was teeming with wildflowers. Their scent filled the air, a heady perfume that could swiftly make a human drowsy if they weren’t careful.
“The flowers are enchanted, aren’t they?” Everly said. Her nose wrinkled as she sniffed. “The smell of them is so potent.”
“Not enchanted, but certainly magic. Darragh has command over this forest. He knows every tree, every plant, every root. The forest protects the house, and in return, the coven protected the forest. At least, while there was still a coven present.”
A violent twitch ran up my back, and I paused. Somewhere behind me, deep within the trees, a twig snapped. The birds were silent. The air was strangely still.
Everly noticed my hesitation. “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing at all. We should move quickly, before the flowers get to your head. They’ll have you walking in circles if you breathe their toxins for too long.”
But something was wrong indeed.
Before we parted ways, Everly tore both her map and my sigil out of her notebook. Folding them up and storing them within a small plastic bag she dug out of her purse, she buried them in the woods close to her family’s house.
“You’ll be watching, right?”
She’d come up with a simple story to explain her disappearance, but there was no guarantee her family would believe her. But the only evidence of deceit was now buried, safely stowed away for when she needed it.
“Always.” Combing my fingers through her hair, I gripped the long locks and pulled her close, kissing her tender mouth. Her body was tight, tense and uncertain for a split second before she melted against me. “Remember this, darling. Even when you can’t see me, I’ll be there. No one can harm you. No one else can touch you.”
“No one else?” A little grin took over her mouth, and I longed to kiss her again. “Besides yourself, you mean?”
“Certainly.”
“As if you own me?”
Still gripping her hair, I pulled her head back just a little more, letting her feel the ache of my hold. “I could not own you any more than one can own the ocean, or a storm, or a forest fire. Those are not things one owns; their beauty and power cannot be claimed in such a way. But they can be chased. And they can be worshiped.”
When she exhaled, sparks flashed in her breath.
“Then I’ll see you soon?”
“I swear it.”
I loathed watching her go, and loathed it even more when I heard the raised voices of her family at her arrival. But her absence was for the best. That prickling feeling was creeping up my neck again, and I knew with certainty this time…
I was being hunted.
