Longest. Flight. Ever. That’s all Anna could think as the plane rolled to a stop, finally. When Sly and Z had told them they were flying to Massachusetts, she hadn’t considered just how far apart the two states were. A little over eight hours later, they’d arrived in Boston, which was as close to Salem you could get by plane unless you were fortunate enough to have a private plane and landed in a field. They weren’t that lucky. But landing only fourteen miles from their destination was not a big deal. What was a big deal was her bladder, and the fact that if she didn’t get to a ladies room quickly, they were going to have to stop for new pants before they made their final destination.

“You alright?” Jewel asked, her face concerned. It was clear that Jewel had misinterpreted her pained expression, thinking the girl was under some serious mental strain. This made Anna laugh, which wasn’t what she needed under the circumstances. Anna grabbed her stomach and clenched her legs together as she tried to gain control of herself. The hysterics were unwarranted and were probably due to her sleep deprivation.

“Did she somehow get a complimentary beverage, and I don’t mean a Dr. Pepper,” Sly asked.

“I don’t smell any alcohol on her,” Jewel told them.

“I’m not drunk, warlock,” Anna said. Finally, the laughter was subsiding, but the need for a bathroom was getting dire. “I’m just tired and I really, really have to pee, and because of watching too many Dateline specials I can’t bring myself to use a bathroom on a plane.”

While they’d been dealing with Anna’s fit of hilarity, the plane had been de-boarding, so when she finally stood up, there was no one between her and the boarding ramp. Anna took off at a soft jog down the aisle. A full-on run would have jostled her body too much, and she’d have wet herself for sure. Wouldn’t that be something to share with Gustavo. She bit her tongue to keep from laughing again as she entered the terminal. Directly across from her, shining like a lighthouse in a storm, was a huge women’s bathroom sign. But between her and that bathroom was a torrential sea of people, all in a hurry to make it to their flight, and all with the look of deadly intent for anyone who got in their way. She’d just have to take her chances.

She started forward, dodging around people, offering tons of apologies when she cut someone off, and stopping herself from returning a rude gesture when a woman, who looked to be about ninety, riding a motorized wheelchair, flipped her off. She shouldn’t have expected the old woman to sympathize with her when she’d blurted out, “Sorry, bathroom,” as she jumped in front of the woman’s chair. She was probably sitting pretty with her adult diapers, peeing whenever the wind blew. Anna did not have that luxury.

“You know you’re tired and delirious when you’re wishing you were wearing an adult diaper because you have to pee so bad,” Anna muttered as she pushed open a stall door. Never had a toilet looked so beautiful.

“It must be serious if you’re nearly taking out old ladies.” Jewel chuckled.

“Oh, you saw that?”

“Anna, everyone saw it. You better be careful. I think she might be waiting for you outside.” Jewel snickered.

“If Heather was here, she’d just take the scooter from the old lady,” Anna added and then let out a huge sigh of relief.

“And if they asked her why a blind woman needed a scooter, she’d tell them, ‘That way if I bump into anything, it won’t hurt me.’” Jewel echoed Anna’s sigh. “It feels good to laugh. I know it shouldn’t, but it does.”

Anna finished up and flushed the toilet. She opened the door to find Jewel looking at her own eyes in the mirror, lamenting the dark circles she saw there. Anna stepped up, squirted some soap on her hands, and took her time washing them. She loved it when the sinks had those sensors and turned on automatically. She smiled to herself—it’s the little things. And that’s what she told Jewel.

“We have to hold onto the laughs when they come, Jewel. It’s the laughter, too, and joy that comes with, that will help us fight this darkness, this cold feeling inside that is spreading. I know you feel it. It’s as if ice water is being slowly injected into my veins. And the only time I don’t feel it is when I’m genuinely happy.”

“But…” Jewel started, but Anna stopped her.

“No buts. We both regret having taken those women’s lives. We didn’t do it out of malice. We didn’t even do it on purpose. We were simply trying to survive.” Anna had given herself this very speech on the flight, silently, multiple times. There was only one way they were going to survive the hell they were entering, and that was by choosing to move past the horror they would see and do.

“You’re right,” Jewel finally said. “It’s the circle of life, really. Eat or be eaten. The strong survive, and the weak expire.”

Anna threw her paper towel in the trash and then grabbed Jewel’s hand, leading her out of the bathroom. She caught herself looking around for scooter granny as soon as they stepped back into the busy terminal, but the old woman had apparently found someone else to terrorize. She was nowhere in sight. Z and Sly were standing a few paces away from the door, far enough away that they wouldn’t be trampled by full-bladdered ladies, but not so far that she and Jewel wouldn’t see them as they emerged.

“Better?” Z asked when Anna and Jewel reached them.

Anna nodded.

“Just wanted you to know that I got your daring charge to the ladies’ room on video,” Sly said, looking much to smug.

“What?” Anna laughed. “Seriously? Let me see.”

Sly held out his phone so they could all see the screen and pressed play. And there was a maniac in a long skirt, T-shirt, and Converses dashing across the terminal like a frog in a video game.

“I kind of look good from the back,” she muttered.

Jewel nudged her. “You’re beautiful from any side.”

“Shh,” Z said, motioning with his hand at them.

“Ladies and gents, we are now watching the beast known as the Wheeler,” Sly said in a voice that sounded like a tour guide, “make her way through the wilds of busy Boston travelers. She has her eyes set on her prey, if toilets can be called prey, and she will take out anyone who gets in her way. Like now,” he said excitedly, “as an older, weaker traveler attempts to weave through the chaos. The Wheeler cuts in front of her, all the while gesticulating with her hands in some elaborate attempt to frighten her slower rival. But it doesn’t appear to be effective, as the Wheeler’s opponent fires back with some hand motions of her own. This tactic seems to be effective for the other traveler, as the Wheeler turns and runs for dear life, ducking into a nearby cave.”

Anna couldn’t help but laugh. She did indeed look as ridiculous as she’d felt. Oh well, at least she hadn’t peed on herself. Mission accomplished.

“Now that we have that taken care of,” Jewel said with a smile, “are we ready to get down to business?”

“Let’s go to the rental cars. I’m sick of taxis,” Z said and pointed toward a sign that indicated the direction of the exits.

“We have to get our bags first,” Anna said.

“Right,” Z said. “Bags, then rental car. Move it people. I’m hungry, and that makes me witchy.” He grinned in satisfaction. “See what I did there?” he asked as he nudged Anna. “Makes me witchy instead of the other because, well, because you two are witches.”

“Just a bit of advice,” Anna said as they walked. “Explaining why something is funny usually takes the funny out of it.”

She’s right, Z,” Sly called back from where he was walking in front of them.

Jewel, being Jewel, saw the dejected look on Z’s face and added quickly, “But it was very clever.”

Z perked up a little, like a puppy who’d been scolded and then patted on the head. Anna shook her head. These were their bodyguards? But then she remembered when the pair had showed the girls how scary they could actually be. Maybe that’s why Z didn’t mind acting goofy, because he knew he could kick some serious supernatural or human butt if the need arose.

Jewel sighed and closed her eyes as she slid into the rental car. It was a small SUV with leather interior that was smooth like butter. She was exhausted. And she knew she wouldn’t be getting any rest until after they’d done some digging. She’d already been on her phone doing research and found the Museum of Salem Witch Trials, a municipally owned museum dedicated to telling the history of the events that took place in Salem in 1692. She was hoping they might find even a morsel of information that would cause a light bulb to come on. As it was, she was beginning to wonder if maybe her light bulb was growing dim.

“You okay back there, Red?” Z asked.

Jewel gave him a thumbs up. It was all the energy she could muster. She heard the two warlocks arguing about whether they should use the navigation system in the car or the ones on their phones.

“Does it really matter?” Anna interrupted them. “Dudes, one of you use the car navigation and the other, preferably the co-pilot, use your phone.”

Jewel grinned at Anna as she swung her head, still resting on the back of the seat, to the right to look at her friend. “Good job.”

Anna rolled her eyes. “Peri said the male werewolves could act like toddlers. She failed to mention that warlock males are just as bad.”

“We can hear you,” Sly said.

“Don’t care,” Anna called back then looked at Jewel. “Got any brilliant ideas going on in that genius head of yours?”

“Did you know that a person who continually lives with sleep deprivation is at higher risk for obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and impaired judgment? And when the brain is tired, remembering things becomes difficult, and the ability to learn new things also becomes impaired.”

“Are you saying we should sleep? Because I think that’s the best idea you’ve ever had.”

“There’s a hotel across the street from the museum,” Z said.

Jewel pressed the palm of her hand into her forehead. It just seemed like there wasn’t enough time. Not enough time for sleep, for problem solving, for getting back to Dalton, not enough time period. But she knew if she didn’t make time for sleep she wouldn’t be able to think clearly.

“Hotel first, then museum,” she said, feeling something loosen in her chest. Sleep. Sleep meant she could dream of Dalton. If that was the only way she got to see him, it would have to be enough. For now.

Jewel saw the Museum of Salem Witch Trials across the street as they pulled into the parking lot of their hotel. The museum looked like an old-world church, constructed of mottled red brick, complete with an arched, heavy oaken-wood door that came to its apex at a sharp point.

It was clear the owners of the charming inn were attempting to capitalize on the popularity of the adjacent museum. The entry of the hotel resembled the facade of a tavern, including a faux thatched roof, at least Jewel hoped it wasn’t real. Now she was worrying about whether a modern day hotel might have a thatched roof. Yep, she was right good and exhausted.

Z and Sly, as usual, secured them two rooms. When they parted ways, the two pairs agreed to meet in the foyer in a couple hours. The museum was only open to 7:00 p.m. and, though they could wait until tomorrow, both the witches and the warlocks were eager to see if their own witch hunt, pun intended, would give them any information.

She and Anna didn’t speak. They walked into the room, set their bags down, and each crawled onto one of the empty beds. Jewel’s head hadn’t been on the pillow longer than a minute when a dream pulled her under.

“Dalton?” His name was the first thing she thought of as looked around. She was back in Peri’s house where she’d stayed with the other healers. The door opened, and she turned to see him walk in. As always, he looked good.

His pale blue eyes stood out against his tan skin. His brown hair was a little longer than it had been since she’d last saw him. She wondered if the real Dalton’s hair had grown, or if her subconscious was simply assuming this small detail for her. As he walked further into the room and nearer to her, his presence seemed to fill the whole space. She forgot how big he was.

“Another dream?” he asked, his lips turning up ever so slightly. “You must really miss me.”

“Do you … does he … miss me?” she asked, and then felt like an idiot for asking the dream Dalton if real Dalton missed her. Gah, she was a dork.

“I do miss you, more than you can probably comprehend,” he answered, taking another step closer.

Jewel’s breath caught. She could feel the heat of his skin as he was mere inches away. How had he gotten so close? Her brain was fuzzy, and it was hard to concentrate when Dalton was rubbing his hands up and down her bare arms. Wait. Why were her arms bare?

Jewel looked down at what she was wearing and felt her cheeks flush. Apparently her dream-self was feeling flirty. She had on a hunter green, sleeveless nightgown that came to her knees. There was nothing particularly revealing about it, and she was sure the green looked great with her hair, but she’d never worn a silky nightgown before. Even her dream-self made her feel like a dork.

“What’s wrong?” Dalton asked.

She shook her head and swallowed back a laugh. “I look ridiculous.” She felt his fingers under her chin as he raised her head until she was looking up at him.

“You do not look ridiculous. You look stunning.”

“So my subconscious is telling myself, through my dream via you, that I’m stunning?” Jewel asked. “I’m pretty sure that I should be institutionalized if I need to give myself compliments through my mate in a dream.”

“I like it when you call me your mate.” Dalton purred.

Jewel was pretty sure most people probably didn’t analyze their dream while they were in the midst of it. Instead, they enjoyed it, or they were terrified, or mad, or whatever emotions the dream evoked. Most likely, they just went with it. Why couldn’t she just go with it?

“Your mind is a wondrous place, Jewel Stone, mate to Dalton Black.”

Jewel sucked in a breath as Dalton disappeared right in front of her. She turned around slowly and bowed her head at the beautiful woman standing near the window. The figure was bathed in a brilliant white light that emanated from the white gown she wore. Her very presence radiated peace, and Jewel wished she could feel that peace all the time.

“Great Luna,” Jewel said and bowed her head. The girl had so many questions, so many things she wanted to say, and yet none of them would come to mind. She was still dumbstruck that the heavenly being had removed her mate and taken his place in the dream.

“I have not forgotten you,” she said in a voice that was both matter of fact and soothing at the same time. “I have been watching you, and I know that you are weary. Do not be afraid to call out to me.”

It was several heartbeats before Jewel finally responded. “I don’t understand why,” she admitted. “Why did I meet him, only to be taken from him? Why did any of us, Anna, Heather, Stella, or Kara, just regular girls, get drawn into any of this? We are supposed to be special, yet I can’t fight off the darkness that is trying to strangle me. Why did any of this happen?” She was crying. She hadn’t meant to cry. It just happened all of a sudden. One minute, she was basking in the Great Luna’s peace, and the next, she was a mess of tears and questions.

“The ‘why’ is not always for you to know,” the goddess said gently. “There is a time for everything in its own season. You are in the season of growing, and growing can be incredibly painful. The only way to stop growing is to cease living. And it is not time for that just yet. No, a new season of life is on the horizon for you, Jewel. During this season, you will be many things, student, mother, and daughter to name a few. But perhaps most importantly, a time will come when you will need to become a warrior. You must use this current season to grow into that person. The transformation will be painful. It cannot be done any other way. There are no shortcuts for growth, and you must not stop until the task is completed. There can be no half measures. Can you imagine what the world would be like if things simply stopped growing halfway through maturity because the process became too painful or overwhelming? Imagine half a car, left to rust because a builder grew tired at his labors. Such a thing wouldn’t travel very well. It couldn’t serve its intended purpose. Imagine the student that completes half of medical school. One cannot be half a doctor.

“Imagine the heartache that comes with half a childhood, cut short by some misfortune. A void is left, a life left half unlived. Such a thing is a tragedy, no?” She paused, and then Jewel felt a hand on her bowed head. “You cannot stop halfway, Jewel. You must finish the race you’ve begun. You must grow and become who I’ve destined you to be. It will hurt, it will be lonely, and sometimes, sometimes, my child, it will be glorious. Dalton is waiting for you. He loves you. He is yours and you are his.”

“What about the bond?” She spit out before she could stop herself.

“The bond is so much more than the ability to speak to another’s minds. I have destined you for one another. Such an act binds you with many strands. If one of those strands is severed, you are still connected. Surely, you know that in your heart. Do not throw away the entire fabric of your relationship because of a small tear. You are made for Dalton, with or without the mate bond.

“Do you not think I could foresee the severing of the mate bond? Do you not think that I would know if you and Dalton were capable of handling such a challenge? You will have to choose to love, even though you won’t feel his mind or spirit within your own. This is another form of growth. Take heart, Jewel Stone. I will never give you more than you can bear. You are weary. I come to give you rest. Sleep.”

And she did.

* * *

Magic, dark and thick like oil, was heavy in the air when the four travelers stepped into the Museum of Salem Witch Trials. Jewel could feel the magic coating her skin, and by the look on Anna’s face, her partner could feel it as well.

“So perhaps the witch trials weren’t totally without merit,” Anna murmured.

“Why do you say that?” Z asked.

“You don’t feel it?”

Z looked at Sly and they both shook their heads at the same time, a look of confusion on both faces.

“You’re supernatural beings,” Jewel said. “Shouldn’t you be able to feel the presence of magic?”

“Yes,” Sly said. “We usually do. Why can you feel something we can’t? That’s slightly disturbing.”

“Hello,” a new voice said.

All their heads whipped around at the same time. A short woman wearing an old-fashioned Puritan dress was standing in the archway. Her brown hair was wrapped up in a thick bun on her head. She had a kind face, but something about her grey eyes made Jewel hesitate to speak. She looked over at Anna and saw the same hesitation.

When Sly realized they weren’t going to say anything, he stepped forward and put the charm on thick.

“Good evening, ma’am.” The warlock smiled warmly. “We were hoping to look around a bit, maybe take a tour.”

The woman didn’t answer right away. She was too busy looking between Jewel and Anna. She held her face completely neutral, and Jewel couldn’t read a thing in the woman’s expression, though she was trying desperately to determine if this woman was friend or foe.

“Ma’am,” Sly said again.

Finally, the woman turned her head away from Jewel and Anna and looked at him. “It’s only an hour until we close, and there are no more guided tours today, but you’re welcome to take the unguided or just browse around.”

“That’ll be fine,” Sly answered as he pulled out his wallet. “How much?”

“Five dollars a person.”

“That doesn’t seem like much,” Z offered.

“No, we try to keep the cost as low as possible. It’s important that as many people as possible get to experience such a dark time in our country’s history. We receive local, state, and even federal funding, which helps us keep the cost down.”

Sly pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and handed it over. She plopped the money in a cash register and handed over four small brochures.

“You can start in that room.” She pointed to her left. “And follow the arrows from room to room. Mind the stairs when you climb them. They aren’t even. There are some that stick out further than others, so it’s easy to trip.”

She started to turn away but then looked back at Jewel. “I hope you find what you’re looking for, young lady.”

Jewel sat dumbfounded, unable to respond as the woman walked away. Anna stepped close to her and leaned even closer. “Was that weird, or was that weird?” she whispered.

“Twilight zone,” Jewel agreed.

Z and Sly nodded.

“Alright, Wheelers, we’ve obviously come to the right place. There’s definitely some witchy mojo in this building. Let’s get to it. We only have an hour, unless we want to come back tomorrow. And creepy lady really is putting a damper on that idea,” Z said.

Jewel and Anna led the way into the first room. Paintings covered the walls. They were a mixture of simple busts of historical figures to downright gruesome images of women being tortured. There were other things adorning the walls like a rope, tied in a noose, several voodoo dolls, and a large silver pentagram on the largest wall. A brick fireplace held a huge hanging metal caldron, which Jewel thought was a little overkill.

As they moved through the room, the magic seemed to dissipate somewhat. Jewel continued forward with Anna just behind her while the guys brought up the rear. As she moved through the next doorway and into another room, this one larger than the first, she shivered. The temperature felt as if it dropped a good ten degrees.

“Do you feel that?” She turned a little and whispered to Anna.

“It’s freezing all of a sudden,” Anna murmured.

“What are we whispering about?” Sly asked, also whispering.

“Are you cold?” Anna asked him.

Z came into the room, and the visible shiver that rippled through him answered her question. “So you do feel the colder temperature but not the icky magic. Right.” She shook her head and then moved about the room. This room was a library. Built-in shelves, laden with old books, covered each wall and extended to the ceiling, giving the room an illusion of extra height.

“If we don’t find something in here, I’ll eat my broomstick,” Anna said as she and Jewel moved to shelves on opposite sides of the room.

“Z, you take that side, and Sly you take that side over there.” Anna directed as she began skimming the spines of the books with her finger.

Jewel mirrored the girl’s actions with her own books. Starting at the bottom shelf, she began reading the titles on the spines and followed the words with her pointer finger. For some reason, she felt compelled to touch each one, as if the tome with relevant information would send her some kind of magical tactile sensation. Some of the volumes looked as if they’d crumble under the slightest bit of pressure, while others appeared to be brand new.

“Finding anything?” Anna asked from the other side of the room.

“Not yet.”

“I found some books,” Z chimed in.

“Jewel, the next time we are given warlock guards, let’s remember to request ones that don’t think they have a sense of humor.”

Jewel laughed. “I’m sure Volcan would be more than happy to accommodate us.”

“One of these days, you two are going to appreciate the uniqueness that is Z and Sly,” said Z.

“I think you mean Sly and Z,” remarked Sly.

“Well, the order isn’t important, only the awesomeness,” countered Z.

“Excellent point, Z,” said Sly.

“If you two start talking about yourselves in third person, then I might have to go back into the other room and get that noose,” Anna quipped.

“But which one would you use it on?” asked Jewel. “There’s only the one noose.”

“True, and they’re equally annoying. But I’m sure there’s another instrument of torture around here we can use on the second one.”

Jewel started to respond but stopped when her finger landed on a book and, unsurprisingly, she felt a tingle. She kept her finger on the spine, and the book began to grow warm. She tried to pull her hand away, but she couldn’t move it. Instead, she grasped the spin and easily slid the book from the shelf. A layer of dust came off with it, and she coughed as it blew in her face. She looked at the cover and read the title. The True History of Witches.

“What did you say?” Anna asked.

“I was reading the title of this book.” Jewel stood and turned to show the others. They walked over and crowded close, staring at the ancient tome. The book was still warm, and her hands shook as she clutched it tightly.

“Are you okay?” Sly asked.

She nodded. “I just, I don’t know. I feel compelled to open this book, and the feeling doesn’t seem like it’s coming from within. I’ve been persuaded by outside forces before, and it usually ends up being hazardous to my health.”

“At this point, I don’t think there is much of anything that isn’t hazardous to your health,” Z offered. “You are in the business of converting normal women into witches destined to serve a dark fae. Nothing about that can possibly be healthy.”

“Thanks for the pep talk, coach,” Anna said dryly. Then to Jewel she added, “Do you want me to open it?”

Jewel nodded and handed the book to Anna. She was surprised the other healer was actually able to take it from her, considering Jewel’s hand had felt locked to the book when it was resting on the shelf.

Anna frowned. “It’s warm.”

Jewel nodded but didn’t say anything.

Letting out a resigned sigh, Anna gently but unceremoniously opened the cover. There was the title page, repeating the words, The True History of Witches. She turned the page, expecting to find some sort of table of contents, maybe, or an introduction, but was met with a page full of handwritten text.

Jewel frowned. “Where are the pages? It looks like something’s missing. Look there.” She pointed to the inner binding, where small, ripped pieces of paper in the inside crack of the book indicated that several pages had been torn away.

“And why?” asked Anna. “What was so important about those pages that someone took the time to tear them out?”

Sly reached for the book, but when his hand made contact with the cover, the text covering the open page instantly disappeared.

“Whoa!” He pulled his hand back. The text immediately returned.

Jewel’s eyes widened as she looked from the book to Anna, to Sly, and then back to the book. It wasn’t until she looked down at the pages again that she realized the text was in an unknown language, totally unreadable to her.

“Did anyone else find that a bit alarming?” Sly asked as he wiped his hand on his pants, as if the book had somehow left a physical taint on him.

Jewel thought that might be a real possibility.

“Mated to a werewolf,” Anna said, raising her hand. “And her, too.” She pointed to Jewel. “Alarming is a relative term now.” She flipped through more of the pages and started shaking her head. “I can’t read any of this, Jewel,” she said glancing up. “Can you?”

“No, I don’t even recognize the language,” the genius admitted.

They heard a throat clearing behind them. Z grabbed the book as he turned and handed it behind his back to Sly. Jewel stepped to the side so she was just behind Sly as he held the book back to her, and she slipped it into the side pocket of the backpack he was wearing. All of it was so smooth it might have been choreographed.

“The museum will be closing in ten minutes,” a woman said from the doorway. She wasn’t the one who had initially greeted them upon their arrival. “You can come back tomorrow and finish the tour if you’d like.”

Jewel knew if they were stealing the book, the last thing they needed to do was come back tomorrow. But was the book the only interesting thing they’d find here? Should they chance it and come back to look at the rest? Surely the curators wouldn’t notice the missing book this evening.

“If our time in town allows, we certainly will,” she said before anyone else could respond. Jewel didn’t want it to seem suspicious if they returned at a later date. Did her response make them look more or less guilty? Her brain was working overtime since seeing the text in the book disappear and then reappear … in a language she couldn’t recognize. Had it been written in Old English? She couldn’t say for sure.

“Thank you for coming,” the woman said as she stepped aside. Understanding this was their cue to head out, they all said thank you and goodbye as they retraced their steps and exited the museum.

When they were safely within the confines of their rental car, they each breathed a collective sigh.

“We aren’t coming back tomorrow, right?” Z asked as he looked over his shoulder to the backseat.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea, considering we just stole a piece of their property,” Anna pointed out. “And probably a very valuable piece, judging by the age of that book.”

“I thought it might make us look guiltier if we said we weren’t coming back. We only made it through two rooms in an hour,” Jewel explained.

“Guilty?” Sly coughed as Z drove back to the motel. “Did we look guilty? Not me. I was trying really hard for the not-guilty look.”

Jewel shrugged. “I’ve never stolen anything. I don’t know what the not-guilty look looks like.”

“But you’ve done bad stuff you’ve been guilty of, right?” Sly countered. “Nobody’s perfect.”

“Well, yeah, but that’s a different kind of guilty than the stealing kind of guilty,” she argued.

“Is that a fact? Like did you read that in your books somewhere and store it away for just such an occasion?”

“STOP!” Anna yelled suddenly.

Jewel’s mouth snapped closed as she stared wide-eyed at her usually calm friend.

“I’m sorry,” Anna said, her voice no longer sharp and high. “But you guys were arguing about something extremely silly, and we have in our possession an object that is clearly magical and most likely very powerful, and I’m a little stressed out at the moment. So let’s just get back to our rooms and figure out some kind of plan. Okay?”

Jewel and Sly both nodded at the same time. There was an obvious Anna’s-about-to-smack-someone vibe in the air, and Jewel was glad he picked up on it.

Anna was frustrated. She didn’t exactly know why she was frustrated. She just knew that if Jewel and Sly had continued their ridiculous argument, she was going to shove the stolen book down one of their throats. Harsh much? Yes, that was harsh and way out of character. So what was her problem? Though she hadn’t noticed it at the time, looking back she remembered something strange about the magic in the museum. It was as if something in there was trying to cling to her skin, and now she recalled absentmindedly rubbing her arms, as if she were trying to remove an unwanted lotion. The thought made her shiver, but she wasn’t sure exactly how to explain it to the others, so she decided to keep quiet about it for the time being.

They arrived at the motel approximately thirty seconds later, as the building was just across the street from the museum. Why they had driven the car to begin with, Anna had no idea, but Sly and Z had insisted. When they were back in their room, the warlocks joined the girls, instead of immediately retiring to their own quarters as usual. Sly pulled the book out of his backpack, and she felt that same magic again, this time exploding from the backpack and seemingly covering everything in the small room. Jewel recoiled. She must be feeling it as well.

“I don’t want to touch it again,” Anna admitted.

Jewel shook her head. “Me either.”

“Well, when we touch it, there are no words,” Sly reminded them. “So, gonna be kinda hard to figure out what it says if neither of you two wants to open it.”

“It’s in a language we don’t understand anyway,” Anna said. “What good would it do?”

“What are we going to do with it then?” Z asked. “Tell me we didn’t steal it for no reason.”

“No, I don’t think we did. It’s important. I’m sure of it,” Jewel said. “I just don’t know exactly why or how.”

“Just put it back in your bag for now,” Anna told Sly. “I don’t know about you, Jewel, but I need a shower. I feel gross after being in that place.”

“I feel the same,” Jewel agreed.

“We’ll let you guys get cleaned up, then we get something to eat for dinner, and then call it a night,” Z told them.

They both nodded halfheartedly.

The guys left, and Anna felt as though she was going to claw her skin off.

“It’s the dark magic,” Jewel said.

“What?”

“You’re rubbing your arms, and you look as angry as a wet cat.”

Anna huffed and sat on the bed. “Are you, I mean, do you, I don’t know, do you feel funny?”

Jewel’s eyes were unfocused as she stared at the floor. “I don’t feel like myself. I feel afraid, angry, and irritated all at the same time.”

“Yes!” Anna gasped. “Thank you. I’m not losing my mind.”

“It’s Volcan’s ma—” Jewel was cut off when a large, dark figure appeared in the room.

“You were speaking of me,” Volcan said with a smile that looked half-crazed.

Both of them stood quickly from where they’d been sitting on the beds and took a step back.

Anna shivered. She did not want to be anywhere near him, and yet she felt drawn to him. Damn magic.

Volcan clucked his tongue at them. “I’m quite disappointed, my lovelies. I sent you out to fulfill a task, and I daresay you have failed quite fantastically.”

“You didn’t bother to tell us how to fulfill this task,” Anna challenged. “We didn’t know the women would die. You can’t expect us to be successful when you don’t disclose all the information we need.”

Volcan’s eyes narrowed on her. “What are you talking about?”

Jewel shot her a look and gave a very small shake of her head.

Anna tried to backtrack. “I just mean you didn’t tell us they had to be healthy. The ones we picked apparently had problems that kept them from being strong enough to withstand the force of your magic.” There, she’d stroked his ego with that force-of-your-magic bit. Maybe it would distract him from the pathetic attempt to redirect what she’d really intended to say.

“Clearly you chose your subjects poorly. Excuses mean nothing to me. It seems you obviously need some incentive to try harder.” In the blink of an eye, he crossed the room and grabbed both women by the arms. An instant later, the room was empty.