“You don’t have to be here,” said Sam as they stood outside the elevator at Claudia’s building.

Derek frowned as he shifted his weight, looking as though he wanted to be anywhere else. “You can’t keep me out.”

“It’s not about keeping you out. It’s about trying to keep you as sane as possible.”

He glanced over at her and raised a brow. “I passed up the option of sanity a long time ago.”

“I noticed,” she said, half sarcastically and half seriously. Because some part of her really did think that he was crazy to want to be there. Want to be with her. And it wasn’t as if she were imagining things or sabotaging a promising relationship.

Her family had almost killed his father. Tried to break them up multiple times. Used him as a weapon to kill someone. Really, anyone else would have run for the hills by now. The only explanation was that he was insane or stupid, and she knew from experience how smart Derek was.

“What was it you wanted to talk to Claudia about?” asked Sam. When he asked whether she could meet him there, she had a hundred questions, but because she was driving through rush-hour traffic in the city, she had to hold off her curiosity. Now that they were on their way up to Claudia, she wanted answers.

“Parker and I were spitballing some ideas and there are some things that don’t really add up.”

Sam scoffed. “Have you met Claudia? The only language she speaks is half-truth.”

“Yes, but I think that after everything we’ve been through, she owes me a few answers. Besides, she likes me.”

Sam’s eyes practically bulged out of her head at the crazy assertion, but the elevator doors opened on the penthouse level before she could say anything.

“What else is here?” Derek stepped off the elevator. “I did an Internet search, but nothing came up. Is it just a giant empty building that your grandmother sits on top of like a gargoyle?”

“One, please don’t compare my grandmother to a gargoyle. Two, please don’t change the subject. Why on earth would you think Claudia likes you? She literally brainwashed me to get us to break up.”

“Her own granddaughter turned against her. Now you’re one of the only things she has left and I make you happy. Therefore, she likes me.”

“Weak, Pierce. Very weak.”

“I’m trying to think positively,” he said with a scrunched face. “It doesn’t come naturally.”

“Obviously.”

“Did you get a chance to relax today?”

She thought about the very unsettling visit to her mother’s earlier that day. “Not exactly.” Before she could give more detail, they reached Claudia’s office and Derek, who normally always opened doors for her, allowed her to take the lead.

She pulled the handle, revealing Claudia’s large office. Her desk sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows as the main centerpiece of the room. Sam had a feeling that most modern offices these days had treadmills and TVs, but Claudia was still firmly rooted in the past. She might look like a well-kept fifty, but in reality, she was nearing a hundred, and the technological age was still new to her. And when you had magic at your fingertips, smartphones just weren’t that impressive.

“Samantha,” she said with a smile. “Detective,” she said with much less of a smile. “What can I help you with?”

Sam still didn’t think they could consider Claudia supportive, but that attitude was a considerable improvement over how she had been lately.

“Hello, Grandmother,” said Sam dutifully as she and Derek walked into the office. The walls on each side were covered with bookshelves with modern textbooks and a few ancient spell books. Sam knew from experience that all of her more valuable spell books were hidden in the secret room to the side, but she supposed having a few out just looked good.

Claudia motioned to the chairs in front of the desk and Sam sat down. A few seconds later, Derek followed suit. “Derek has a few questions he wanted to ask,” said Sam carefully. She didn’t want to upset Claudia. If she decided she didn’t want to answer questions, there was no way to force her into anything.

“Am I under investigation, Detective?” she asked with the barest hint of warning.

“No,” he said quickly. “I don’t think you’ve killed anyone lately.” The words were said with emphasis on the lately part. They both knew Claudia was far from innocent, but there wasn’t much the police could do about that. Once again, plenty of reason for Derek to get the hell away from her as fast as possible, and yet here he was.

“I’m a model citizen.” Claudia leaned back into her seat. “Have you changed your mind about Angela Parker yet?”

“We talked about this,” said Sam.

“We did, but that doesn’t mean I’ve changed my mind.”

“We could use someone else on the police who knows the truth.”

“It’s dangerous for her,” said Claudia in a low voice. Then she looked to Derek and met his eyes. “It’s dangerous for this one too, but he doesn’t have a choice.”

“You know how I feel about Sam.”

“Don’t say that like it’s supposed to make me feel better.” For the first time since they walked in, a bit of fire flared behind her eyes. She quickly regained herself and looked to Sam. “I’ve given you time to recover. When are you coming back to work?”

“Work?” Sam blinked in surprise. “I’m not working for you anymore.”

Claudia waved a dismissive hand. “You still need to regain your strength and I am still the most qualified person to train you. You’d be stupid to refuse me.”

Sam wished like hell that weren’t true, but she knew better. Now that she finally had a hold on her powers, she was twenty years behind every other witch she knew. She wanted to be an asset and not a hindrance, so she’d need to learn at an accelerated rate.

So she didn’t say anything. Instead, she looked to Derek and silently encouraged him to get this over with.

“What’s the darkness?” he asked.

Sam was startled by the question. He knew this. “It’s dark magic,” she said. “Pure evil.”

“Yeah, but it’s living, right? It has thoughts. Plans. A little moustache to twist as it thinks about its evil plans? So what is it really?”

“It’s gone,” said Claudia simply. “If that’s all—”

“No, it’s not all. This isn’t just about you. We’re all involved and we all deserve answers. So what the fuck is it?”

Sam held her breath as she waited to see how Claudia would react to Derek’s posturing. Claudia narrowed her eyes but didn’t say anything. For a few long seconds, they all sat there in silence. Sam didn’t know whether Claudia was debating killing Derek or telling them the truth.

Eventually she said, “If you use that language in front of me again, I’ll rip the skin from your body and make myself a new belt. Now leave.”

Derek didn’t look intimidated at all, which was about a hundred percent less intimidated than he should be. When Claudia made threats, they weren’t idle. She could back up every single syllable.

But Sam couldn’t leave quite yet. “Have you talked to Mom?”

Claudia and Derek remained staring at each other for a moment, in a silent battle of wills, but eventually Claudia moved her attention to Sam. “I haven’t. Things between us are... tense.”

“Well, you need to talk to her. She isn’t handling this well. She said she wants to throw a solstice party tonight. Some way to act cool in front of the families or something.”

“Isn’t that a good thing? We need to appear as strong as possible right now.”

“You didn’t see her,” said Sam. “She’s not right. I’m not sure if it’s just grief or something more. If anyone would know, it would be you.”

Claudia sat up and leaned on the desk. “How exactly was she not like herself?”

Sam was happy Claudia was taking her seriously now, but it would’ve also been nice if this had turned into no big deal.

“Garrett told me to come over because he was worried about her and when I got there, she was acting like it was any other day, and Garrett was basically a zombie. It was eerie.”

“I’ll look into it. Thank you for telling me. We’re done here.” Claudia stood and started for the bookshelf where the entrance to the hidden room was located.

Sam stared in shock before she jumped up. “You’re just going to shut me out? This is my mother. I’m family!”

Claudia stopped and a few beats later, she turned to look at Sam. “I’m not telling you anything because I don’t know anything. The families are here and I need to handle them, handle this, and I don’t have time to deal with your feelings, Samantha. And, in case it missed your notice, I lost someone too. Just because I was the one who got the job done doesn’t mean I’m handling it better. We will talk tomorrow.”

Sam still wasn’t happy about it, but she couldn’t find any words to defend herself or fight with Claudia. It was hard to think of anything to say that could comfort Claudia while at the same time telling her she was full of shit. And then Claudia had disappeared behind the bookshelf, leaving her and Derek alone.

Sam blinked and she looked over at Derek. “I’m sorry,” she muttered.

“Why are you sorry?”

“Because my grandmother is infuriating. Because she knows more than she’s telling. Again.”

“I wasn’t really expecting her to tell me anything.” He looked as if he wanted to say more on the subject, but didn’t. Instead, he pivoted to, “So your mom isn’t doing okay?”

“That’s an understatement. I feel like—” She took a breath as she braced herself for what she was about to say. The thought that had been tossing around in her head that she was hoping Claudia would clear up. “I was wondering if the darkness got a hold of her somehow. Like it did with Jackson and Heather.”

“It took years for that to happen, didn’t it? Was your mother in on it all along?”

Sam shook her head. “No. Heather wasn’t going to her for help. She went to us even though we were actively trying to stop her. If Abigail was infected back then, she and Heather would work together, no question.” She thought about the serene woman she’d seen earlier that day. “It’s like it’s not really her.”

“When you were infected, someone else spoke to me,” said Derek. “It was a literal possession.”

Sam nodded. “Yes. It’s like someone else is using her body.” Then she frowned and tilted her head. “What did I say to you? When I was possessed?”

Derek waved a dismissive hand. “Threats. Telling me I was too damaged for you.”

Her eyes widened. “Damaged? Obviously the darkness has never met me.”

He frowned but didn’t say anything. She had a feeling that whatever she had said got to him more than he was letting on, but he had to know it wasn’t her. She tried to keep on moving so he wouldn’t dwell on it. “But if my mom is infected with darkness, that would mean it’s not over. We didn’t actually stop it from breaking out. Heather died for nothing!” She didn’t mean to raise her voice, but the thoughts swirling around her mind were practically crushing.

“We don’t know anything yet. When you were infected, you were trying to start a fire, remember? You were single-minded and nothing could stop you. So what is Abigail trying to do?”

Sam ran a hand through her hair and tried to think. “Throw a party? Why would the darkness want a solstice party?”

“To get a lot of witches together. In one room.”

“A sacrifice,” said Sam. “The darkness runs off dark energy. If it gets that many witches together in one room and lights it on fire, who knows how much power will come from that? The prison could blow wide open after something like that.”

Derek stood. “Let’s go.”

“What? No. It’s way too dangerous. I’ll check it out and—”

He glared at her. “I want you to seriously consider what you’re about to say before the words come out of your mouth.”

“Derek, I can’t take you to a room with an infected dark witch.”

“I handled you when you were infected.”

“Yes, but—”

“And it was a lowly human like me who brought down Jackson long enough for Claire to do her thing.”

“That’s true, but—”

“And one of us solves murders for a living.”

She clenched her jaw and realized that no matter what she said, Derek would be coming with her. “Fine,” she bit out. “But if you get hurt, I’m going to kill you.”

“I love you too,” said Derek. “Let’s go.”