Clare returned, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. “Aria, I was thinking...it’s already getting dark, and Miracle Falls is a ten hour drive away. If it’s not too awkward, you and your friend are welcome to stay the night, then drive back in the morning.”

  She wants me around. She wants me here… “Yes. I appreciate that.”

  Clare clasped her hands together. “Then I’ll go get the guest rooms ready. I hope you girls like big breakfasts. I love to cook.”

  “Mmmm…” Margot nodded, not daring to respond further.

  Aria gave her an icy stare, but relented when her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that it was a text from Harry.

  How’s it going? Done meeting Mom?

  Aria tapped her screen and replied. We’re staying the night. She invited us. Is that okay?

  It took a few seconds, but she got an answer from him. Yeah, sure. I’ll go find a hotel room. Maybe I can dig up some dirt on Clare Knight.

  Aria rolled her eyes. Why were the two people who should’ve been cheering for her the most suddenly her greatest skeptics?

  You’re an asshole, Harry.

  She left it at that. She was just about to slip her phone back into her pocket when she noticed that she had missed a few texts, and calls, from Jacob Wolfe. Her stomach tightened, though she couldn’t tell if it was simply because he contacted her, or because something may have gone wrong with the ritual she performed for him. But it shouldn’t have, everything went according to plan.

  “I’ve got to make a phone call, Margot.”

  “All righty…” She slipped on her headphones and drifted back into her music, all the while wearing that judgey face that she used when she didn’t like something Aria did or said.

  Aria sighed as she stood and headed toward the front door. She dialed Jacob’s phone and slipped out the front, standing on the porch and watching Harry pull off in his car.

  “Aria, are you okay?” Jacob’s voice was tense, strained.

  “Yes, what’s going on?”

  He explained to her about a woman, Jasmine, and her complaint against Harry at the police station. “I don’t know what’s going on with Harry, but you need to keep him at a distance. He’s dangerous.”

  She stuttered, unable to hide the shock in her voice. Harry was a lot of things, but a predator or random attacker wasn’t one of them. “He does seem more moody than usual, but he hasn’t been violent with me or made me feel unsafe.”

  “Please, just watch out for him.”

  “Okay, well, I’m at my mother’s...Clare’s house in Blythe Meadows, and Margot’s with me. Harry’s off to find a hotel room.”

  “Good.” His tone was unapologetic. “I’ve got Detective Rosito handling security for Mayor Farley, and they’re going to bust the Guardians soon, so we won’t have to worry about them. I’m sure the assassin is among them. I’m on my way to you. You may end up needing a ride back, if we have trouble with Harry.”

  “Wow,” she said. “You must really like me.”

  “I’d be crazy not to.”

  If only he could see the smile he had just coaxed from her with that response. “I don’t know if it’s even worth coming up here, but suit yourself. I’ll see you later.”

  “And...maybe we could do dinner sometime soon?”

  “As long as you’re paying.”

  He chuckled. But she was serious. Between being a nanny and a freelance sin eater, she wasn’t exactly raking in tons of cash. She hung up and slipped her phone into her pocket, then turned and went back inside...to Clare’s house. Her mother’s house.

  10

  Aria

  It started off as an itch, but now, her S-shaped birthmark burned .

  Aria thought about sneaking across the dark hall to Margot, to tell her that her sin eater mark never lied, and that something was off. It galled her to have to do that, but she trusted her magic like her instincts. Her magic tried to tell her something, but she had been blind to it out of desperation to bond with her mother. But who was Clare, really? What were her habits? Her dreams and fears? Aria naively thought that everything would unfold in time, and her first priority was to reconcile with her mother and show her how much of a mistake she had made in giving her up so long ago.

  She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, her feet lightly hitting the hardwood floor. She yawned as she pulled her phone toward her and texted Margot to see if she was awake. When she got no answer, she quietly exited her room and tiptoed across to Margot’s. She gave a soft knock, and after waiting a few seconds, tried the door and opened it. Margot was gone.

  Time to put on my Harry glasses…

  She supposed sneaking around Clare’s house in the middle of the night wouldn’t go over well with the woman, but if her mother had nothing to hide, there shouldn’t be a problem. At least, that’s how Aria justified it in her mind.

  “Margot…” her whisper didn’t carry far, nor did she want it to. Near the end of the hallway, two rooms had been sealed, and not just sealed in a haphazard way—they had been warded with magic. Aria reached out with her magical senses and discovered that the two far rooms weren’t the only warded places in the house.

  She felt the living room area, the back door, and several downstairs rooms all warded. As she had told Margot earlier, it wasn’t uncommon for a wizard or witch to ward his home, but what made Aria raise an eyebrow was the fact that these wards were designed to lock someone in...not out.

  Please don’t let her turn out to be some crazy old witch, Aria thought to herself.

  She carefully made her way downstairs and to the kitchen. She nearly had a heart attack when Margot popped up behind her.

  “Don’t do that, Margot!” she said through clenched teeth.

  “Sorry, but I couldn’t sleep. This house is creepy, and I’m talking horror movie, nobody makes it out alive type creepy.”

  “You’re right, there is something off here. And I was too stupid and desperate to see it.”

  Margot didn’t even bother to conceal her triumphant grin. “I forgive you. So, what are you doing down here?”

  “Same as you.” Aria hissed when her birthmark on her right palm burned again. It felt like someone was stabbing her in her hand. The pain increased when she walked closer toward what looked like a cellar entrance.

  “Whoa,” Margot said, her hand hovering just inches from the cellar door. “Even I can feel that.”

  “That’s a hell of a ward.” To normal eyes, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. However, when Aria extended her senses, she could see a dark green magical aura, pulsating around the perimeter of the door.

  Margot faced her. “What’s down there?”

  “I don’t know.” She felt horrible snooping around, but at the same time, she knew deep down that Clare hid something from her, and whatever it was, was down in that cellar.

  She snapped her finger, evoking a rush of magical energy which she directed toward the warded cellar door. Her power bounced off it like a ball off pavement. The fact that her own spell didn’t rebound and whack her told her that the ward was formidable, but it was also very old. She then tried sending tendrils of energy toward the doorknob, as soft as silk. Sometimes wards, especially old ones, had tiny fissures that could be exposed. That attempt ended in failure as well.

  Margot gestured toward Aria’s right hand, toward the burning mark. “Hey... you said that your mark not only identifies you, it also has power, right?”

  Aria flexed her hand. “But Clare’s not a sin eater.”

  “Might as well try.”

  Still doubtful, Aria opened her hand and gathered her power, calling forth the flame that she had used so many times to burn sins away from souls or to force back the hounds of Hell. As soon as the dancing flame hit the cellar door, the green aura erupted and shattered into a thousand pieces before fading.

  “It’s gone.” Aria tried the doorknob, slowly turning it, and praying she didn’t trigger a booby trap.

  But no...this one was made to keep something inside...what’s going on here?

  She blocked Margot when she tried to follow her down the dark stairway leading to the cellar.

  “I’m going with you!” Margot insisted.

  “Wait here.”

  “No, no splitting up. Remember? Horror movie?”

  Aria shook her head. “Fine. Just stay behind me.”

  When they arrived at the bottom of the stairs and scanned the cellar, nothing on the surface seemed out of the ordinary. The area had been neatly organized and clean, with over forty bottles of wine being stored. However, at the opposite end of the cellar, stood a metal door, and this one didn’t bear a simple ward.

  As Aria approached, with Margot in tow, she noticed that the particular spell that warded the metal door had Latin inscriptions going across. The words shimmered.

  “What is it?” Margot asked, squinting her eyes, trying to see what Aria stared at.

  “You wouldn’t happen to know Latin, would you, Margot?”

  “Flunked it when my mom tried to run me through private school. Sorry.”

  Anyone trained at the Albertus Magnus Academy knew Latin. She had never attended, but Jacob Wolfe had. She took out her phone and dialed him, but he didn’t answer. She tried again and got his voicemail.

  She was just about to try using the flame from her birthmark again when her phone vibrated. She quickly answered. “Jacob?”

  “No, it’s me...Zarek.”

  “Zarek? What are you doing calling me in the middle of the night? Is that music in the background?” He had better not be at some wild party. She’d call his parents if she had to.

  “Aria, I’m sorry, but I need your help.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m calling you from a bathroom stall in Ars Magicka.”

  Definitely not a place for a thirteen year old kid. “Hey, mister, if you don’t get your ass out of there right now and go home, I swear—”

  “I want to, Aria, but...it’s complicated.”

  “Complicated? How? Get out of there! That place is dangerous.”

  “It’s just that my mom came home and cooked dinner for Ellie and me. It sent up a red flag.”

  Well, that was definitely odd for Kyra Volgens. Domestic was not something Aria would describe the business mogul as, though she believed the woman loved her children fiercely.

  “And where was your father?” She doubted Dr. Benjamin Volgens would approve of what his son was doing.

  “I noticed he was staying out late more than usual. So, I snuck out and followed him to the nightclub.”

  Aria snorted. “I’m surprised they didn’t stop you at the front door. And what was your dad doing there?”

  “I’m not sure yet. I know ever since the apothecary burned down he still needed certain herbs and potions for his clinic, so that may be it. The only reason they allowed me in was because the Guardians are recruiting students from the academy to fight against the Watchers. Some of my classmates already joined, so I pretended that I wanted to join too. But now, I’m not sure if I can leave.”

  Aria shook her head. “They’ll see that you’re not really interested and just posing. They may hurt you because of it. Is there a way you can slip out? That place should be pretty busy with people going in and out. Zarek, are you still there?”

  A loud toilet flush answered, then silence. “Yeah,” he replied in a low voice. “Tommy’s here with me, and he drives. He doesn’t like the Guardians either, and he says he’ll drop me off at home.”

  “Okay, then do that. Go with Tommy, and get as far away from Ars Magicka as you can.”

  “I will.”

  The gleam of the Latin inscription caught her eye and recaptured her attention. “Hey, Zarek, you’ve taken Latin already at the academy, right?”

  There was another long pause and a toilet flush. “Mmm-hmm.”

  “I’m going to read something out to you, and I need you to tell me what it says. Then, I want you to leave that stall.”

  She read the inscription to him and waited. After a few moments, his voice responded clearly, “My blood for your blood.”

  “That’s what it means?”

  “Uh...yeah…future Loremaster here. I got an A+ in first and second year Latin.”

  “Okay, genius, thanks. Now, do what I said, and stay safe. Let me know when you make it home.”

  “Okay, goodbye.”

  Margot sidled up next to her, crossing her arms and shivering. “So, what does it say?”

  “My blood for your blood.”

  Margot’s face went pale. “Your mom’s a vampire?”

  “No, believe me, if she was, we’d know it already.”

  “My blood for your blood,” Margot repeated, taking a step back from the metal door.

  “Wait, I think this one requires blood magic.”

  Margot raised an eyebrow. “And how is that not vampiric to you?”

  “It’s a very old, rare form of magic. Not a lot of witches practice it anymore.”

  “So if she uses blood magic to open this door, do we have to get her blood?” Margot’s face scrunched up.

  “That, or someone who shares her bloodline...me.”

  Aria went over to a table in the right corner and grabbed a box cutter. She pierced the tip of her index finger just enough to draw blood. She approached the metal door and pressed her bleeding finger against the iron lock on the door. It felt warm to the touch, and the burning sensation in her birthmark diminished.

  The door unlocked of its own accord and allowed Aria to open it. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest as she mentally ran through all the possibilities of what she could find. Forbidden magic? Some truth about her father or her ancestry? A sordid detail about Clare? Perhaps as a witch, she kept her family Grimoire down here?

  “Oh my God, Aria…” Margot rushed past her, halting just a few feet away from a woman with long dark hair, chained to a chair and blindfolded.

  Aria gasped. She thought she wouldn’t find anything worse than vampirism, but there it was. “Hello? Are you awake?”

  The chained woman’s head slumped forward, and her shoulders drooped. She could’ve either been asleep or unconscious. Margot looked like she wanted to run away and never look back.

  The woman suddenly began shrieking. Her guttural screams reverberated off the walls and filled the cellar. She jerked in the chair, striving against the chains. Aria rushed forward and enveloped the woman in her arms; she finally stopped screaming and struggling.

  “It’s okay, I’m not here to hurt you. I’m going to take the blindfold off, okay?”

  The chained woman sobbed. “Okay…”

  Aria pulled off the blindfold, while Margot began unchaining her.

  “Who are you?” Aria asked.

  The woman broke down crying. “My name is Clare. Please, help me before she gets back.”

  Aria’s heart froze in her chest, and her arms went limp. “You’re Clare Knight?”

  She nodded. “Aria? You must be, or you couldn’t have opened that door.”

  “Yes, but who is that woman pretending to be you?”

  “Your sister, Mira. If she’s kept you in the house for this long, it’s for one purpose, and it’s worse than what she’s done to me. Please…please, get me out of here. She’s out hunting. She’ll be back soon.”

  Tears flowed from Clare’s eyes as Margot helped Aria loosen the chain wrapped around her arms and legs. Suddenly, the air surrounding them grew thick, and Aria felt the electric shock of powerful magic. Mira, who had been impersonating their mother this entire time, stood huffing at the door, taking deep, desperate breaths as she watched the other women.

  “Don’t believe anything that woman tells you,” Mira hissed.

  “Mira!” Clare cried. “Please, let us go!”

  Margot helped her stand, all the while eyeing Mira with apprehension.

  “Mira…why are you doing this?” Aria let the flame erupt in her hand, just in case she needed it.

  Her sister brought forth her own flame—she was a sin eater, just like Aria. “Tell her, Mother. Tell her how you locked me away when I was five. How you were ashamed of my existence.”

  Aria threw Clare a dubious glance. Was this why she had given her up to Edwin and never looked back? Was she disappointed she had given birth to two sin eaters?

  “Is that true?” Aria peered into her mother’s eyes.

  “I did,” the woman cried, “but it was because she was dangerous.”

  Mira pointed an accusatory finger at Clare. “Do you see? She thinks us monsters.”

  Margot stood protectively in front of Clare, knowing full well she didn’t possess a lick of magical power. “But you have her locked up now. What makes you any different?”

  Clare stepped forward. “She finally found a way around my wards and imprisoned me here. I’ve been here for six months.”

  “And, if you dare try to control me, I will bury you in this house. Mother.” Mira swung her hand in a downward motion, sending all three women flying backward and crashing against the wall. Clare was knocked out cold.

  Aria jumped to her feet and called forth her flame, but decided to erect a protective magical shield when she saw another attack launched by Mira. She barely managed to get a protective dome around her, Margot, and Clare, but it held up. After a few seconds though, her shield began to break down. She wasn’t strong enough against her sister’s magic.

  Suddenly, a blast of light crashed into Mira from behind. She shrieked and fell unconscious. Jacob Wolfe stepped over the woman’s unconscious body, a look of anger on his face.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Aria nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Jacob scooped up Clare and followed Aria and Margot upstairs and out the front door. They rushed to Jacob’s black sedan, piling into the car and speeding off. Though Jacob had bags under his eyes, he looked more alert and focused than ever.