I tried to keep Lorcan’s advice in mind, but the urge to grind my back molars into powder was growing fast. “Cedar, this is important. I need to know where she is. She might be in danger.”

  The line was filled with the sound of crunching, as if Cedar was eating chips without moving her phone away from her mouth. “See, that sounds like something a kidnapper would say to get me to spill what I knew.”

  Screaming over the line at a child wouldn’t be helpful, but oh, Goddess, did I want to. And I was more than sure she knew exactly who I was and this whole act she was giving me was just meant to push me away from the fact that she knew exactly where Sybil was.

  “Besides,” Cedar continued breezily. “I know Sybil’s aunt is a witch, and that means she would just use her magic to find Sybil if she were missing. So, nice try—whoever you are.”

  The sound of her voice had a ‘gotcha’ tone that was so loud, it stopped being subtext and was practically just text. I could have tried to reason, explained that most tracking spells were very vague, and potentially slow to get working. That every second might matter if there was a vampire and a fae working together in town, that Sybil might already be hurt. That we didn’t have time to be playing a magical game of Hot and Cold over the entire town.

  Instead, the leash on my temper snapped. “Listen to me, you little brat, my niece might be in danger, and you’re going to tell me where she is, or I’m going to hex you into next Tuesday.”

  “Yeah, okay.” Cedar snorted. “I think I’m just going to hang up now, Miss kidnapper, so better luck–”

  I launched a hex across the phone. The distance would weaken it, but it would still get the job done.

  Cedar shrieked, and I held the phone away from my ear until the cries died down.

  “Oh, what the heck? Did you just shock me? Ouch! Stop it!”

  “The hex will continue to shock you until I make it stop,” I said as calmly as I could manage.

  “Okay, geez, you’re a witch, I get it! Drop the spell already!”

  I had to spit each word out from between my teeth, so I didn’t yell. “First, tell me where she is.”

  Cedar laughed nervously. “I, uh, don’t actually know where she is.” Zap. “Ouch!”

  “Better keep talking.”

  “I haven’t seen her since before lunch! Her dad came and got her. She said she’d call me later, but she never did.”

  I closed my eyes and counted to ten. And when that didn’t work, I counted to twenty. And then did it again, but backwards. Launching a blood bolt through the phone line probably wouldn’t work, and it wouldn’t help anything, but oh, Goddess, it might make me feel better.

  “Hey,” Cedar said, suddenly sounding young and unsure. Then there was another sound of lightning and she hissed. “Is... is Sybil okay?”

  “I don’t know.” I moved the phone away, ready to end the call and try for something a little more fruitful, but Cedar called out, “Wait,” and I lifted it back to my ear.

  “If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.” Another zap and another hiss. “Will you please take this spell off me now?!”

  Actually. “There is one thing. Do you have the numbers of your other school friends?” Maverick only seemed to have Juney and Cedar in his contacts, nothing for the third girl I remembered seeing.

  “Juney? Yeah, sure.” Cedar rattled off the number I’d just called.

  “No.” I tried to keep the impatience out of my voice and failed. “I already called her. What about your other friend? The brown-haired girl.” What had Sybil said her name was? Something odd, like Victorian street urchin. “Mags, was it?”

  “Oh, her. I don’t know her name.” Zap. “Honestly! I don’t! She doesn’t go to school with us. We met her hanging out on Main Street!” Zap. “I’m telling you the truth!”

  I frowned. “She doesn’t go to school with you?” There was only one High School in Haven Hollow. There weren’t any other options if the girl lived here, and there was no way she was any older than fifteen, even with the fae looking young for their ages. “Do you have anything I could look her up by?”

  “Sorry,” Cedar said, and she actually did sound remorseful, or maybe she was just worried about getting shocked again. “I don’t even know her last name. Or where she lives. She shows up to hang out when she feels like it. Whatever we’re doing that night, she just finds us.”

  Unease prickled up the back of my spine like someone was running an icy finger over each vertebrae. “You only see her at night?”

  “Yeah.” Cedar huffed and there was a silence on the line then, like she was expecting a shock, but one never came. “Magpie’s kind of weird, but she’s alright.”

  Magpie.

  I felt like I’d missed a stair in the dark. Like the ground had just opened up underneath my feet. All I could think of were birds, perched outside the house, the windows. Birds watching me from the trees outside Imani’s salon. Little black birds, who had attacked Maverick and stolen one of Isis’s feathers.

  Zap. “Ouch! Please stop electrocuting me! I’m telling you the truth and that’s all I know!”

  Magpies. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Fae were known for being able to take the shape of animals, even the least powerful of them. Had she been spying, watching as our circle nearly tore itself apart?

  And Sybil had brought the girl to the Coven house, invited her inside and given her free rein of the place, with all of us none the wiser. It would have been too easy for Magpie to come and go, hide a spell, steal a box of letters.

  “Um… Ms. Depraysie? Are you still there?”

  “I have to go.” I hung up without another word, turning to face the others. But then I remembered the hex and quickly recanted it under my breath.

  Poppy took one look at my face and blanched. “What is it?”

  “Sybil’s little friend. The Spring Fae. Magpie.” I forced the words out through lips that felt numb.

  I saw the name hit home with Maverick, his eyes narrowing. “Magpies. Like the birds that have been following us around for days now?”

  “The very same,” I said, my voice filled with fake enthusiasm. “She doesn’t go to their school. She’s just a random friend they made while they were out and about.”

  Taliyah rubbed her forehead.

  Poppy muttered something that sounded a lot like, “Someone needs to teach that kid about stranger danger.”

  “But why Spring?” Maverick demanded, shaking his head. “We don’t have any dealings with Spring, good or bad. If this isn’t about Taliyah, or Winter, or Autumn, then why would a fae being target us?”

  And that was a very good question. Not as good as ‘where the spell is my niece?’, but still a good one. “Well, and here’s an interesting tidbit that Sybil’s little friend let drop. They only meet Magpie at night.”

  That hit the group like a rock thrown in a still pool, the ripples spreading wildly.

  “You think she’s a vampire,” Lorcan said, catching on immediately. I supposed there was hope for him yet.

  “It would make sense, wouldn’t it?” I resisted the urge to pace. I wanted to save energy, and I didn’t want to risk my magic getting away from me. “Wasn’t that the entire plan at Blood Rose? To turn fae into vampires and then brainwash them to attack witches?”

  “But the people behind that are dead,” Maverick said, a wild light in his eyes.

  “Well, maybe someone forgot to tell Magpie that.” I waved my arms in the air like I could clear the argument away. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t care what she thinks she’s doing, I don’t care why she’s doing it. We need to find Sybil, and find her now before she gets hurt. Just because Magpie hasn’t attacked directly doesn’t mean she won’t.”

  “Vhere vould ve start looking?” Olga asked, ringing her hands together. “Vhere might she go?”

  There were too many answers, and that was the problem. The pond, where she liked to throw bread to the ducks, the library, Sweeter Haunts, all her favorite places weren’t really suitable in the middle of the night, or they were closed entirely. If she wasn’t with her friends, then I didn’t know where she’d be.

  Poppy bit her lower lip, her freckles sticking out like ink on her pale skin. “What about a tracking spell? Wanda, you found Hellcat that one time, when he was teleporting all over town.”

  I waved her away, trying to hold back the sick feeling curdling in my gut. “That was different. Hellcat is my familiar, we share a bond. But Sybil, for all that my wild magic helped make her, she’s not even a coven member. I don’t know a spell that would lead me to her.”

  “I might.” Imani looked around at us, suddenly the center of everyone’s attention. “It’ll involve calling in a favor,” she admitted. “And I’d need some help.”

  Maverick took a step forward. “What kind of help?”

  Imani let out a long breath. “I’d need a vessel.”

  That surprised me. She wasn’t talking about a jar or a basket. She meant a living vessel.

  “Possession?” Betanya asked, her brows going up so high, they almost touched her hairline.

  “Not how you’re thinking,” Imani hastened to assure her. “No demons or devils, nothing like that. But for them to channel their power into this world, they need an entrance into it.”

  Maverick opened his mouth, but Imani was already shaking her head.

  “Sorry, Mav. But your magic is too unstable. And through the coven bonds, everyone’s got a bit of Blood Witch and Warlock in them. I’m not there yet, but I need to perform the calling, so it can’t be me.”

  If unstable magic ruled people out, then there went Taliyah, too. She was making good headway, but her power was elemental and fierce, and it still came in odd surges.

  Frustration burned in my belly. If none of the coven could do it, who was even left? We didn’t have time to go knocking on doors looking for a volunteer. Lorcan had left Yule at home, so we didn’t have the spirit dog to assist, and I didn’t want to wait for Lorcan to go and collect him.

  “I’ll do it.”

  I glanced down to where the voice had come from. Way down. Yew the rat took another step closer, running a nervous paw over his ear.

  My brows shot up. “You will?”

  He shrugged, which was a decidedly odd gesture to see on a rat. “Sure. I mean, she might still turn out to be my witch one day, right? Maybe not. But for sure not, if some lousy vampire eats her.”

  Imani didn’t waste any time after that. She told us what to bring as she cleared the coffee table in the center of the room, and we all set off to find our offerings. Lorcan, Maverick, and Taliyah raided the kitchen in search of some cakes and fruit. Betanya brought a full bottle of rum, shrugging off my questioning look, and Olga brought a somewhat dusty leather pouch of tobacco.

  “Ze smell reminds me of mein Fredrik,” she said with a sigh.

  I shook my head, not wanting to get into it.

  The offerings, candles, and one of Sybil’s favorite hair ties were arranged on the table, and Imani took her place kneeling before it, with Yew at her side. The rat’s whiskers twitched restlessly, but he stayed where he was.

  We all took our places around the makeshift altar, while Imani began singing, quietly at first, in French. The song grew louder, her body swaying with the tempo, as she lit the candles and dropped a bit of the tobacco onto the smoldering incense burner. She lifted her hand, and ran two fingers over her cheeks. For a second, I could have sworn I saw twin scars there like a streak of shadow, but then it passed and her skin was smooth and unblemished again.

  Imani called out, her hands raised in entreaty, and power sparked to life like a spark turning into a bonfire. It built in the circle, echoing between each of us. My hands were clenched so tightly, my nails bit little crescents into my own skin. Lorcan touched my hand, and I grabbed hold of him without ever turning my attention away from Imani before her altar.

  Would it even work? Were we wasting time? The words were burning on the tip of my tongue that we should just go, just look. I wouldn’t fail another girl.

  And then, I felt it. Somewhere, a door opened, and my ears popped with the pressure.

  Beautiful golden light flared up over the altar, so bright it almost hurt to look at it. The light bobbed over the offerings, touching the cakes lightly, glancing over the rum and tobacco, and then pausing to linger over Sybil’s hair tie.

  Imani spoke softly, reverently, and gestured to Yew. The rat sat up, his head held at a proud angle, and the golden light descended. Power drenched the familiar, stardust lingering like pollen on his whiskers as he turned to face us all with shining gold eyes.

  His head turned, slowly, deliberately, towards the door. With a bound and a flash of his long pink tail, he was off.

  “Alright everyone,” Imani said with a fierce grin. “Follow that rat.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  We piled into multiple cars, with Yew leading the way from my dashboard. I slid into the driver’s seat and then kept sliding as Lorcan pushed me into the passenger’s side and took his place behind the wheel.

  I glared and opened my mouth to snap at him, but he quieted me with a look.

  “Let me, Sweetling. My reflexes are faster. And you’re a bit distracted.”

  My jaw snapped shut. He was right, of course, but I wasn’t about to admit it. The last thing we needed was me wrecking the Escalade because I wasn’t paying attention to what the yahoos on the road were doing.

  Imani and Poppy slid into the back seat, while Olga and Betanya jumped into Taliyah’s car with her and Maverick. Yew turned his little head to the side, gazing silently down the road, and Lorcan turned the SUV on and we were moving less than a second later.

  We followed Yew’s silent commands, whichever way his head turned, or in one instance, where he lifted a paw and pointed. It was a long, tense drive, and I had to stick my hands under my thighs to keep from grabbing the rat familiar and shaking him, yelling for him to just tell us where we were going.

  But that was a bad idea for a lot of reasons, the least of all being that the entity within him was doing us a favor, but even so, it was still tempting. Even if Imani would never forgive me.

  We were getting further and further from the center of town. And while Haven Hollow was a decent size, it didn’t take long for us to be in the middle of nowhere.

  “I think we’re on the right track.”

  I unbent enough to glance back at Poppy, who was looking out the car window, her face almost as pale as the moon overhead. “Why do you say that?”

  “There are birds in the trees. Watching us.”

  I looked up and realized she was right. The trees were full of the shadows of little birds, and when the headlights passed over them, I saw black and white and the flash of metallic blue as they watched us with beady little eyes. Magpies.

  “Great,” I muttered. Who cared if one fae turned vampire knew we were coming? I’d faced down would-be Faerie queens, demons, and my own mother. A fae with fangs wasn’t going to undo me, that was for sure. Furthermore, I wasn’t about to let anyone lay a finger on my coven, ever again. Even if Magpie was a force to reckon with, I had a full coven of witches, a Blood Warlock, a Faerie princess, a potion making Gypsy, and a vampire of my own.

  Wherever the spell we were going turned out to be a closed gas station just on the edge of town. The pumps had been stripped down, the signage removed, and the windows boarded up. It probably didn’t get much traffic this far out, since the new highway had been built on the north side of town a few years back. The pavement of the parking lot was cracking, with stubborn tufts of grass poking up through the black top.

  Our headlights raked over the old building, and revealed Magpie where she was standing and waiting for us, perched on top of the roof, her heels drumming lightly against the wall.

  Gone was the shy little faerie I’d seen, half-hiding behind Sybil’s shoulder. I realized then that she hadn’t been shy at all. She’d been worried that Maverick or I would realize who and what she was. If I’d really been a vampire, I might have even sensed her.

  She wasn’t hiding any longer, though. She stood as we all piled out of the cars, flashing us a smile that revealed her fangs. The birds in the trees shifted, dark wings rustling ominously.

  Maverick strode forward, Taliyah at his side, and I had to hurry to catch up. Overhead, storm clouds boiled up, hiding the stars. This wasn’t going to be fun.

  “Where is Sybil?” he snarled, dark magic snaking around his clenched fists.

  Magpie eyed the clouds overhead with interest. “That’s smart. You going to call down some lightning? This place might have been cleared out, but there’s probably still some fumes lingering in the tanks. Blowing us all up seems a bit over the top, but I’m game if you are.”

  Maverick stopped, staring up at Magpie. His jaw worked, the tendons standing out like cables. “Where. Is. She?”

  “Are you missing something?” She grinned again, fangs on full display as a red sheen rolled over her eyes. “Sorry, Warlock. Finders keepers.”

  I could see Maverick’s power sparking around him, wild and dangerous. Taliyah put a hand on his arm, and he reined it back in.

  Thank Goddess for Taliyah, because I honestly wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop Maverick if he lashed out. And while Magpie might not be explosion proof, neither were the rest of us.

  Taliyah stepped slightly ahead of Maverick. “What do you want, Magpie?”

  The faerie eyed her. “What do you care? You can’t even be bothered with your own people, so why the hell should you care what happens to one lesser fae from another court?”

  Taliyah flinched back like she’d been slapped, but she didn’t falter for long. I knew the casualties suffered by the people loyal to her in Janara’s attempts to seize the winter throne still haunted Taliyah, but she’d stuffed it all down under the mask of the Chief of Police.

  “You took Sybil for a reason,” Taliyah pressed. “So, what is that reason? What do you want?”

  Magpie tapped her lower lip in an exaggerated manner, like she was giving the question some serious thought. “Maybe I just wanted a little company. I’ve been on my own since I left Blood Rose Academy. Of course, I was on my own there, too.”