She shrugged. “He can finger me another time. If my bestie is chasing feral fowl, I want to be there. You need to stop isolating yourself, Cin. It’s not healthy.”
I paced to the closet and opened the door. “I have to do this alone.”
She returned the phone to her pocket. “No, you don’t.”
“Believe me, I do.” I grabbed a backpack and laid it on my dresser. “It’s a dangerous place, and I won’t risk another coven member’s life on my ‘wild goose chases.’”
“I didn’t mean…” She sighed and rose to her feet. “I’m not afraid of a little danger. Besides, what could be more perilous than downtown Salem on Halloween night? All those tourists who suddenly think they’re witches, packing into every restaurant and bar in town.” She exaggerated a shudder. “It’s a nightmare.”
“I’m serious.” I shoved some pants and two shirts into my bag before throwing in a pair of undies. I bit my lip and grabbed two more pairs…just in case.
“I am too.” She rested her hand on my shoulder. “If this place is as dangerous as you say, then you’ll need backup. Let me help you.”
“I’ll be fine.” I shrugged off her touch and grabbed a set of knives from my drawer. “It’ll probably turn out to be nothing, just like my other leads.”
Yes, that was a lie, but best friend or not, I couldn’t tell her I had used dark magic to bind myself to a demon, much less that I planned to summon him, follow him to Hell, and fight my way back out again. She’d call on the roots from the nearest tree and tie me to the ground before she’d let me do something that stupid.
She narrowed her eyes, staring at me intently. “You’re doing it, aren’t you? That fake confidence thing? I swear you could convince Hecate that you’re the mother of magic if you wanted to.”
“Shh.” I glanced into the hall and lowered my voice, speaking through clenched teeth. “It’s not fake. It’s magic, and I told you that in confidence.”
“And you promised never to use it on me.” She crossed her arms.
“I’m not. I swear.” I drew an X over my heart. “If you’re convinced to let me do this alone, it’s because you know me well enough to understand I won’t do it any other way.”
Persuasive magic was a powerful ability that blurred the line between light and dark. I only ever used it passively, making myself appear confident, in control, like I knew exactly what I was doing, even when I didn’t. I never dared affect another’s free will, nor would I ever.
Chrys was the only person who even knew I had this power, and I never should have confided in her. People got weird when they knew someone could manipulate their decisions with magic. Go figure.
She dropped her arms to her sides, her features softening. “I know you’ve always been independent, but since your parents disappeared, you’ve given hard-headed a whole new meaning. Will you at least tell me the general vicinity of where you’re going in case you end up missing too?”
I opened my mouth to give her a vague response, but every smoke alarm in the house screeched in unison, saving me from adding another layer of lies.
“Sorry,” Ash called from the kitchen.
I closed my eyes for a long blink. “Let me check on her.”
My boots thudded on the hardwood as I strode down the hall and crossed the living room, passing a bookcase filled with candles and totems. My youngest sister stood in the kitchen, her blue hair tied in a knot on top of her head as she dumped an entire bag of flour into a fiery skillet on the stove.
“They weren’t kidding when they labeled this ‘all-purpose.’” She fanned the smoke away from her face and turned toward me. “You should’ve seen the flame I shot from my fingertip. It was the biggest one yet.”
“Ash.” I tilted my head and padded toward her, taking her shoulders in my hands. “You know you’re not supposed to use your fire magic unsupervised.”
“You were right down the hall.” She moved the skillet to a cool burner and dragged the trash can toward the stove. “Besides, the grease was the problem. If I’d tried to light the stove before I set the skillet down, it would have been fine.”
“You still have to be careful. We might be fireproof, but our house isn’t.” And it was time to refresh the binding spell Mom had cast on her. The last thing I needed was for her to burn the entire city to the ground before I could get back with our parents.
A pang of guilt stabbed my chest. Our mom had been binding Ash’s fire magic since she was little, trying to stop the curse from coming to fruition. It would be easy for a deranged witch to go on a killing spree if fire were hers to command, so we tempered it. Well, Mom did until she disappeared. She’d shown me the spell when she told me about the curse, making me promise to keep Ash’s magic at bay if anything were to happen to her.
So, once every six months, Mom made sure my sweet little sister had the self-esteem of a hairless mole rat. Now it was my turn, and my stomach soured at the thought. I could only imagine what it felt like to grow up thinking you were defective. To watch your sisters’ powers grow while yours misfired every time you tried to use them.
“You’d think I’d know better by now. This is ruined.” She dumped the contents of the skillet into the trash. “I’ll order a pizza as soon as Ember gets home.”
I glanced toward the hallway, making sure Chrys wasn’t within earshot. “I need you to go downstairs and set up for some sigil magic. I’m following another lead tonight.”
“What lead? How did you find it?” She set the pan in the sink and rested her hands on her hips.
“It’s better if I don’t say.” I lowered my voice. “I’ll need speed and strength, as usual. And immunity to poison. Fast healing, and how’s your work on the protection sigil coming along?”
