Reaper Unhinged

He pulled himself up with a wince and shook out his arms. “Well, that was interesting.”

“What the hell just happened?” Grayson asked.

“I was expelled,” Conah said, rolling his shoulders. He ran his hand through his golden hair and fixed his serious sapphire gaze on me. “Whoever did this to you put a powerful block on those memories.”

“Cora spoke to Elijah, who believes it’s a group of outliers who want to kill witches born under a certain zodiac sign. He thinks this group is controlling the tulpas that are the hooded figures.”

“You’re not a witch,” Conah reminded me. “Cora has your power.”

“Yeah, but they didn’t get that memo.” I filled him in on the Grimswood witches and the potentials.

“But wouldn’t that make Cora a potential?” he asked.

I froze. Fuck. I hadn’t thought of that, and she hadn’t elaborated. I’d been too caught up in my curse problem. But if Cora was connected to Grimswood, what did that mean for us?

“Fee,” Conah said. “I get the wanting to kill witches, but this seems a little extreme.”

“They failed to do it any other way,” Grayson said.

“But Purgatory?” Conah shakes his head. “How did they get into Purgatory. It makes no sense. Only a celestial or a Dominus can get in or out.”

I massaged my temples, trying to soothe the low-grade headache that had taken up residence behind my eyes.

I didn’t have the answers, and that made me sick. “Maybe the Purgatory thing is a separate thing…I don’t know. We don’t have time for this right now. Cora and Uri will be back soon with intel on the ouroboros site, and we still have to find out what Kristoff knows.” I looked up at Conah. “Which is why I called you. I need you to read his memories.”

“Kristoff? I don’t understand.”

“I think it’s better if I showed you.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Cora

The signpost with the ouroboros symbol points to a trail that’s beaten down enough to tell us it gets regular use. We’re on it for about three minutes before two wider trails link to it, and the sound of an engine forces us into the bushes.

My hands get scratched to fuck by brambles, and I think I might have swallowed a bug. We crouch and wait for the motor to pass.

It’s a minivan, black, no number plates. Dodgy as fuck.

Uri’s eye whites gleam in the gloom as he looks my way. “I think we’re on the right track.”

“Agreed. Let’s scope up ahead a little.”

It’s too risky to jump. We have no idea what lies up ahead. We have no idea who has Hunter and the humans or why.

We slip back onto the trail and keep to the left, close to the bushes, as we make our way after the van. It isn’t long until the trail spills onto a field, ground all churned up by wheel tracks, and up ahead, sitting silent and alone in the middle of the flatlands, is a farmhouse, dead and empty-looking. But the two vans parked outside it and the winking lights at the gates tell me this is the place we’re looking for.

Whoever has the missing humans and Hunter has them here.

“What do you want to do?” Uri asks.

“We need to get a lay of the land.”

“I’ll go in.”

“No.” I grab his arm. “I’ll do it. I’m smaller. I can hide better.”

Uri looks torn, but I can see that the strategist in him knows that out of the two of us, I’m the better scout.

“Don’t be a hero,” he says. “Scope and get out.”

“I’ve got this. But if I’m not back in fifteen, you need to go.”

I expect him to argue, but he nods. “Fifteen.”

I give him a mock salute and then jump to the fence surrounding the building. I’m in the cover of shadows, which is perfect for sneak-peeking into the drive where the vans are parked. It’s dead. No sound, no signs of life. Eerie as fuck. I jump into the drive using the vans for cover and wait. Did anyone see? Is anyone coming?

Nothing.

Okay. I jump again, right up to the side of the house so I’m pressed to the wall, and wait for long seconds. There’s a lawnmower parked not too far from me, rusty and broken. A trough that’s filled with slushy snow water and a wellington boot.

The place feels deserted, but it can’t be.

Vans don’t drive themselves.

There’s a window to my left, and I take a breath and peer in. The glass is grimy, but I can see enough to know the place isn’t lived in. Dustsheets cover furniture and cobwebs cling to the inside of the window frame.

Okay, the moment of truth.

I jump into the house.

Uri

Five more minutes and I’m going in after her. Leaving her behind is not an option. I count down the seconds, watching the house and looking for signs of movement. There are none.

This feels wrong.

Like a dead end.

Like a lure.

Maybe a trap.

Damn it. If anything happens to Cora, Fee will never forgive me. I’ll never forgive me. I should have gone in first.

I catch a flash of movement. A figure pressed to the side of the house, but it’s hard to tell for sure from here.

Then the figure vanishes.

It has to be Cora.

Three minutes left, but I’m not waiting any longer.

Two minutes.

One.

There’s a flash of light in an upstairs window, but it’s gone so quick that for a moment, I think I’ve imagined it. But the thud of my pulse and the thunder of my heart tell me different.

My instincts kick in.

Something’s wrong.

I jump into the house, into the musty interior that screams neglect. The world feels smothered, like pillows are being pressed to my ears. The air is thick with dust motes and leaves a funny taste on my tongue. The room is dark, lit only by the weak rays of moonlight that make it through the grime-encrusted windows. Sheets that were probably once white, but are now brown and ragged at the edges, cover the furniture.

Unlived in.

This can’t be right.

Cora? I resist the urge to call out her name and fall into stealth mode, studying the room around me. Footprints in the thick layer of dust on the ground lead out the door.

I follow her trail and peek out into the bare hallway. There is a staircase facing the door leading up to the first floor. The trail leads to them. I follow, wincing at the creak of the floorboards, way too loud in the silence. My boot kicks something. A wooden peg.

I could jump to the top of the staircase, but something holds me back, warning me to be wary, and then I feel a buzz against my skin that teases the hairs to attention.

Stop, it says. Stop now. This is my celestial power. My instinct for danger, for power unseen.

There is something up ahead.

Something hidden.

I look down at the steps, at Cora’s footsteps pressed into the dust that’s collected on the bare wood. They stop here. Right here, as if…As if she jumped.

I keep my eyes on the top of the staircase and reach down to pick up the wooden peg. I clutch it tight, and then I throw it as hard as I can to the top of the stairs. It whizzes through the air, and then a blinding white light steals my vision.

My eyes recover quick enough to see the aurelia of power shrink back to nothing and vanish.

There is a doorway up ahead. A portal, and Cora’s jumped right into it.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Fee

Conah stared at Kristoff, disbelief etched onto his face. “How…” He approached and crouched by the vamp. “Kristoff, old friend. Can you hear me?”

Kristoff’s face remained as smooth and unmoving as glass.

Conah pinched the vamp’s chin and turned his head from side to side. “Kristoff?”

“He won’t respond,” Bastian said gruffly. “Hasn’t moved or spoken since we took down his team.”

“Can you get in his head?” Grayson asked. “We need to know who sent him. Anything about the organization running the super vamp show would help.”

“Are the Magiguard involved?” Conah asked.

“They’ve been informed, but their main duty is to the humans. Vamps being taken isn’t a priority to them. That one falls to the outlier chain of command, and in Necro, that’s the packs and the covens.”

“Of course. Well, I can try to read him. See what’s locked in his mind.”

He pressed his fingers to Kristoff’s temples and closed his eyes.

Long seconds passed as he worked. Grayson put his arm around me and hugged me to his side while we waited.

My throat itched under the bandage as it healed, and the patter of rain hitting the windows filled the silence.

Finally, Conah sat back on his haunches. “Paper and pen. Please.”

Bobby rushed to find the items and was back in less than a minute.

Conah scrawled something on the notepad. “It’s a mess in there. A jumble. But there was one image I saw over and over. I believe Kristoff was trying to communicate with me. I believe he’s still in there.” He finished scrawling and handed the notepad to Grayson. “I saw this. I’m sorry it isn’t more.”

Grayson cursed softly and then tipped the pad toward me. I stared at the circular image of a snake eating its tail.

“Mother fu—”

The air crackled, and Uri appeared by the lounge. His mouth was tight, eyes too dark in his face.

“We have a problem,” he said.

I waited for the second pop. For Cora to appear, but it didn’t come.

“Where’s Cora?”

“That’s the problem,” Uri said. “She’s gone.”

“A portal.” I paced. “Like when we went to the club.” I turned to Grayson. “Like when the vamps took you.”

“They took me through a portal, yes,” Grayson confirmed. “Bright white light, and then we were in the museum.”

“So, we need to go after her.”

“It’s not that simple,” Uri said. “The fact she didn’t come back out means wherever she is, she’s stuck. No jumping out once in, which suggests powerful wards.”