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Homework.

Early Sunday morning, I found Tessa alone in the dining room with a big cup of coffee, doing her homework while everyone else was asleep or out hunting.

“At least my professors were kind enough to send me the lessons and homework by email,” she said, her eyes focused on her iPad. “Some professors would have said no and let me screw the entire semester.”

“So that’s your plan? To do homework all day today?”

“Not all day.” She looked up at me. “Just for another hour or two, if that’s okay.” A knot appeared between her brows. “Why? Have you found another clue? Another victim?”

I shook my head. “No, nothing like that. But we do have lots of clues. I would like to hit the library and see if we can find a book on demons.”

She picked up a pen and a notepad. “The library? What kind of library would have that kind of book?”

A corner of my lips curled up, and I almost grinned at her. “A magical one.”

She gasped. “Really?”

“This is Willow Harbor, after all.”

“That sounds so cool.” She tapped the tip of her pen on her chin. “Just give me an hour. I want to go with you.”

One hour. One hour where we could be exploring the shelves at the library and finding something useful. Instead, I was stuck in the manor, watching Tessa do homework.

“Okay.” She pushed her iPad and notepad away. “I can’t focus when I know there’s a magical library waiting for me.” She stood. “Wait. Isn’t it Sunday? The library is closed.”

I offered her a small grin. “Not with the connections we have.”

She returned my smile. “Then let’s go.”

Less than ten minutes later, I parked my car in front of the library. It looked like a mini Roman temple with beige stone walls, thick, round pillars, and a dome ceiling high above the solid structure.

“What is that?”

I followed Tessa’s line of sight. At the other side of the street, dozens of people milled around the square, erecting what looked like tents and building a small, wooden stage.

“The festival.”

She glanced at me. “Festival?”

“Yeah. Every Sunday around noon, the Sunday on the Square starts, and it goes until nine at night. There’s food, games, and music. It brings out most of the townspeople.”

She smiled. “It sounds fun.”

“Right, fun.” I shook my head and entered the library.

“Whoa,” Tessa whispered from behind me. “That’s a lot of wood.” I narrowed my eyes, once more putting myself in her shoes. It was true. The place was all wood. A huge wooden desk sat right in the front. Wood floors, wood panels, and wood arches. And lots of books.

Mr. G. usually manned the front desk, but as it was Sunday, the place was almost deserted.

Mattie appeared from a side shelf and smiled at us. “Good morning.”

“Hey.” I turned to Tessa. “Tessa, this is Mattie, the librarian.” Then, I gestured to Tessa. “Mattie, this is Tessa, Isaac’s daughter.”

Her smile faded. “I’m sorry about your father.”

Tessa’s brow dipped down. “Thank you.”

I looked around the shelves, looking for Pierce. I had no doubt he was here somewhere, watching over his woman.

“So, is there anything I can help you with?” Mattie asked.

I returned my attention to her. “Not really. I need to go underground.”

“Oh, okay.” She pulled out keys from the pocket of her pants and handed it to me.

I closed my hand around the cool metal. “Thanks.”

“I’ll leave you to it then.” Mattie stepped aside, allowing us to proceed to the back of the library.

As Tessa and I walked down a narrow aisle, she narrowed her eyes at me. “Two questions. One, why didn’t you use your master key to enter, and two, what do you mean by going underground?”

I glanced at her sideways. “I knew if I called Mattie would open the library for me, so no need to use my master key and break in. However, my master key doesn’t open this door.” Using the key Mattie had lent to me, I unlocked a heavy wooden door and pushed it open, revealing dark stairs leading down. “And … this is underground.”

She gulped, staring at the stairs.

I suppressed a chuckle and nudged her forward. I guided her down until we reached a long corridor with a few weak lamps on the walls, imitating sconces and lit torches. Every ten feet or so, a door appeared.

“Here.” I stepped through one of the doors, and instantly, the lights on the ceiling turned on. Tessa gasped. I held back a chuckle. “It’s a motion sensor.”

“Oh.” Her lips turned down into a pout. “Where’s the magic?”

“Because crossing into a room that isn’t supposed to exist isn’t magic?”

“No, unless I see the magic. Like pretty pink sparkles or a wave of a wand and someone saying an incantation.”

I frowned at her. “You’ve been reading too many fantasy novels.”

She shrugged. “At least I have fun with them.” She glanced around at the large room with stone walls and one large mahogany desk in the center, two high chairs, and one long shelf filled with books. Several paintings of demons adorned the otherwise plain walls. Tessa made a face at one of them and shuddered. Then, she looked back at me. “Fun, you know? Like the festival across the street.”

I shook my head once. “Okay, drop it.”

“So, this is the magical room, Mr. Grumpy Hunter?”

I did my best not to roll my eyes at her. “Did I mention it’s a magical room? For instance, this room is different for each person who enters here.” I walked to the bookshelf. “And all these books are about demons.” I picked out four heavy, leather-bound books and brought them to the table.

She put a hand on her hips. “And you want to read them all?”

I sat down on one of the chairs. “Not necessarily read, but we should skim through them and make a pile of books that might be useful.”

“Yay,” she said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “So much fun.”

I patted the chair beside mine. “Just come and help me. The sooner we start, the sooner we’ll find something.”

With a groan, Tessa dragged her feet and plopped down on the chair. I bit back a chuckle.

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The library had been amazing. Well, not the part where we spent hours reading hundreds of old books just to find a big nothing. At least, nothing useful for our case. Even so, I made a mental note to come back here another time, before I left town and went back to my normal life. I wanted to check out what else was hidden there. Books about witches? Vampires? Dragons? I suddenly wanted to know it all.

“Oh, the festival,” I exclaimed as we left the library. “It started.”

In the two hours we had been inside the library, the town square had come to life. There were colorful stands spread out with food, sweets, drinks, arts and crafts, and games. There were even a few stands selling clothes and shoes and purses and jewelry.

People milled about, talking and laughing and enjoying the drinks and food, and playing games. Kids ran around, going from the game stands to the art and crafts one.

And, close to the willow tree at the side of the square, a small improvised wooden stage rose, and a band played slow rock ballads.

“Yes, the festival,” Landon grumbled. “Every Sunday during summer.”

“I want to see.” I tugged at his arm. “Come on.”

Without waiting for him, I crossed the street and joined the fun.

I walked from stand to stand, tasting all the food samples and the drinks, laughing as the kids didn’t have enough strength to dunk the duck at one of the games, and moving my head and shoulders to the song coming from the huge speakers set beside the stage.

I didn’t turn to look at him, but I could feel Landon stoic presence trailing close behind me.

I stopped at a stand selling herbal medicine.

“The herbs are all from our farm,” a girl behind the stand said with a smile.

“Do you have anything to cure grumpiness?” I asked. “Because I know someone who could use it.”

She laughed. “Sorry, we don’t have anything like that.” Then, she leaned closer. “Besides, the Sanctum of the Seven doesn’t really like using our witchy potions unless they have to.” She winked.

I gaped at her. “What …? How …?” Realization hit me. “You’re a witch,” I whispered.

“Yes. All women in my family are.”

Landon appeared beside me. “You aren’t buying anything from them, right?”

I shot him a glare. “Don’t spoil my fun. If I want to buy something, I will.”

“Most of the things here are fake,” he said. “They keep the real stuff for themselves.”

The witch looked at him with a knowing smile. “I’ll remember that next time one of you shows up at our door with another request.”

Landon grumbled some more. “You know what I meant.”

She chuckled, and then turned to a new customer approaching the table.

“Wow, I just spoke to a witch,” I said as we turned and walked through the square.

Landon huffed out what sounded like an attempt of an amused laugh. “You have spoken with many supernatural beings in this town already.”

I glanced back at all the stands I stopped by. I had exchanged at least one short sentence with each person manning the tables.

My eyes bulged. “They are all supernatural.”

“Most of them.”

That was …. Even knowing about supernaturals all my life, I still couldn’t wrap my mind around how they all lived peacefully in Willow Harbor.

A stand with a cotton candy machine caught my attention. “I want a cotton candy. Want one?”

Landon frowned at me, probably wondering if I was crazy for asking such a stupid question. “Hm, no.”

I sidestepped him and bumped into a woman. “Sorry,” I said.

“Oh, it’s fine,” she said with a smile. She resumed walking, but I stared at her. It was Lola, the woman Landon and I had seen talking to a man, George, outside the coffee shop the other day.

Not five steps later, she halted in front of another man. “Duke, hi!”

Duke, a tall man with dark hair, turned to her. His face paled and the easy smile he had before slipped away. “Hey, Lola. Long time no see.”

I should have dismissed that and bought my cotton candy, but for some reason, I kept watching them.

“I know, right? I bumped into Liz a few days ago, George on Thursday, and now you.” She tilted her head. “How are you doing?”

He hesitated. “I’m fine. And how are you? Are you back in town?”

“Just visiting my parents, as usual.”

“Oh, cool.”

“Yeah.”

They stared at each other, an awkward tension building around them.

“Hm.” Duke shifted his weight. “I need to … I have to go to the store,” he said quickly. “Take care.”

“You too,” she whispered.

The man zipped away, much like George had done the other day. Clueless, Lola stared after him for a brief moment before walking from stand to stand.

I turned back to Landon. “What the hell was that?”

His gaze was following Lola. “I don’t know.”

“But it was weird, right?”

“It was.”

I shook my head. “They probably have some friends in common but don’t like each other.” I cocked an eyebrow at Landon. “Normal things like that do happen in this town, right?”

He returned his gaze to me and showed me that rebel lopsided grin. “Yes, normal things happen.” He paused. “Rarely.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Okay, then let’s put more normal things on the list.” I hooked my hand on his arms and tugged him with me. “I’m buying cotton candy, and you’re eating it with me.”

“Hell no.”

I giggled as he resisted a little, but let me pull him to the cotton candy stand with me.