“Crap. Okay. Em?”
“Yeah?” She turned from the bookcase she’d been examining.
“I’ve got this. Can you head up and vanquish the demon that’s about to crossover?”
She grinned. “With pleasure.”
Ember bounded up the stairs, and I opened the small door. A tunnel stretched out before me, the stale magic culminating at the end. I crawled inside. Crazy, I know. I was usually much more cautious, but somehow I knew whatever hex was used to seal this corridor had been broken.
I reached the end and cast my spell. Glitter clung to the walls, revealing the smoky cloaking spell that used to hide this space. No active magic remained. “There was a skull here.”
Chaos growled. “Discord. I sense his energy.”
“Look at this,” I said, as if he had a choice. He saw everything I saw, including the two-foot wooden cube sitting in the back corner. Its hinged lid stood open, revealing emptiness inside. “You’re right. It was sealed with magic.”
“My brother’s skull was in there.”
“Well, it’s gone now.”
“Obviously.”
I shined my phone’s flashlight around the space and gasped. There, pinned to the dirt wall with an array of daggers, hung the rotting corpse of a five-foot-long hairless dog. Broken capillaries created a reddish web over its ashy skin, and its yellow eyes bulged from their sockets. Curling my lip, I backed out of the tunnel and dusted off my pants.
“Cinder found this place, broke the spell, and killed the beastie guarding it.”
“She defeated a hellhound. Your sister is powerful.”
“No kidding.”
“It runs in the family.”
“Most of the time.” I swept the basement to be sure we didn’t leave any signs of magic behind before heading up the steps. The evening had bled into full dark by the time I reached the surface, and I looked across the yard in time to see my sister do her famous spin and swing, lopping off the head of the demon who’d crawled through the rift.
One of its horns stuck in the dirt, keeping it from rolling down the hill, and as she reached down to grab it, the whole thing crumbled to ash before getting sucked through the tear in reality.
“Why could that one be killed by beheading, but the others had to be stabbed through the heart?” I strode toward the rift, searching my bag for the sealing spell along the way.
“Because that kind has no heart. It was an immature incubus.”
“Yikes.” I found the right bottled spell, and Ember and I joined forces to seal the rift. It was bigger than the last one, and we all saw what happened when I got too tired and Chaos bled out. Well, Ember didn’t see, but I’d given her a pretty good description.
She wiped her sword with a handkerchief and slid it into her back scabbard. “What did you find in there?”
I jerked my head toward the van. We’d gotten lucky so far, and no one had shown up to question us. Best not to press it. “Cinder was there. It’s where she found Discord’s skull.”
She started toward the parking lot. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “Chaos sensed his brother’s energy, and I sensed…” What did I sense? I was still trying to wrap my mind around it. “I recognized her handiwork.” I climbed into the van.
Ember stowed her weapons before getting into the driver’s seat and starting the engine. “How are you feeling? Do you have it in you to hit another one tonight?”
“I don’t have a choice, do I? There are four more possible hidey-holes, and I have about thirty-six hours left to live.”
“We must find my skull before then.”
“That’s the plan.” I laid the maps on my lap. “How do we want to tackle this? Go clockwise and hit them all in order?”
“Works for me.” Ember located the general area on the GPS and pulled up the directions. “It’s an hour away too. Counter-clockwise would be faster.”
I was about to agree with her when a nagging sensation pulled in my gut. “Hold on. We know Discord’s skull was here. Would she really hide another in the next closest spot?”
“You think she did every other point on the star?”
“And set traps at the other two.” I tapped the map.
“You’re overthinking this. If she skipped the next point clockwise, the last skull would still be located at the point next to Discord’s.”
“You’re right. That doesn’t make sense.” I chewed my lower lip. Overthinking was my specialty.
Ember pulled to the side of the road. “Tell me where we’re going.”
“You felt a pull in your gut. That is your magic speaking to you. Listen.”
I laughed. “My magic doesn’t work like that.”
“Most of your magic is yet untapped. You found the hiding place in the church without a spell. Trust yourself.”
“I used spells.” I rolled my eyes. “He’s telling me to trust my gut because I kinda knew where the first skull was hidden. But I used spells to confirm it. I could have just as easily been wrong.”
