“What was that?” I cling to Cal as he guides us into a crouch.
The junior agent tightens his grip. “Don’t panic.”
“I’m not panicking.”
“You are, and I need you to focus.” Cal waits until I meet his eye. Another window shatters. A pile of chemistry homework scatters into the air. “They’re shooting at us, but we’re going to be okay.”
“In what world is this okay?” I reach for my magic, but I can’t find anything. Not even pain. Another window shatters as the Hunters—I assume they’re Hunters—try different angles. A tall shelf to my right breaks and falls over, spilling books across thefloor. “Are those bullets? Why aren’t they shooting the cure at us? Why are they trying to kill us?”
Cal reaches into his messenger bag and pulls out two vials, one with an off-white color and the other pitch-black. He pours the white potion over both of us, and it settles against my skin like sand.
“What is that? What did you do?”
“I told you I would protect you.” He stoppers the white potion and puts it back in his bag. “Light will refract around us. It isn’t true invisibility, but it’ll make us harder to see.”
Another bullet ricochets past us.
“And that one?” I point to the black vial, my hands shaking.
“It’ll help us disappear.” Cal puts the messenger bag back over his shoulder and reaches out a hand. “Do not let go, no matter what. Understood?”
I grasp his outstretched hand tightly with mine and nod.
“Okay. Things are about to get really dark in here. Hold on.”
“What are you—”
A series of bullets rains into the house. Cal shatters the vial. Darkness blooms, spreading like ink through the air until the entire floor is filled with impenetrable shadows and there’s nothing left to see.
With only Cal’s touch to guide me, we escape the dead Caster’s house and disappear into the winding streets.
Why do they keep killing us?
It’s the only coherent thought running through my head. The only thing that isn’t a loop of blood and death and pain. Betweenhis two potions, Cal manages to get us back to the hotel unseen, and while I shower and scrub every last bit of David’s blood from my skin, he calls Archer to explain what happened. I dress in fresh clothes in the steamy bathroom—hazy and opaque, just like the one where we found David—and Cal calls my mom to explain that I’m safe and that we’ll return soon.
What did we ever do to them?
Why do they hate us so much?
The questions swirl like twin cyclones as I climb into the too-soft bed and pull the covers all the way to my chin. I am un-tethered and barely clinging to the edge of a mental cliff, but Cal is focused. He paces the room as he waits for Archer’s instructions, and when the call finally comes, Cal leaves to handle things with Dr. O’Connell’s body.
I don’t emerge from the safety of the bed or ask to go with him. I don’t know what he’s going to do or how he’ll stay safe if the Hunters come back. It’s not that I don’t care—of course I care—but I can’t stomach the stress or the worry. Can’t let myself entertain the thought that he’ll be anything other than okay.
Maybe Veronica had the right idea. Maybe Ishouldrun away and let someone else deal with all of this. Let the fate of the Clans rest on someone else’s shoulders. Someone like Cal and Archer and Elder Keating. Someone who knows what the fuck they’re doing.
Someone who isn’t me.
When Cal comes back, there’s a hint of smoke on his clothes that neither of us acknowledges, but he’s not alone. This time, Veronica is with him. She kicks off her shoes and climbs into bed, wrapping me in her embrace. Her touch carries the support of the entire coven, and in that moment of perfect loveand perfect trust, I shatter. My defenses shred into a thousand tiny pieces, and I cry until I can’t breathe.
She holds me until every last tear is wrung from my body, leaving me aching and raw and fragile. I must fall asleep, because when I open my eyes, Veronica is kneeling beside the bed.
“We have to leave.” Her voice is soft but demanding, giving me no room to negotiate. “I’m coming with you. Let’s go.”
Veronica drags me out of bed, and I find Cal waiting by the door, all my things already packed in my suitcase. Cal hands his keys to V so we can wait in the car while he checks us out of our rooms.
And then we’re on the road, heading back to Salem.
“How did this happen?” Veronica asks when we’re stuck in traffic near Albany. She’s sitting in the back of the car with me, and though it’s not strictly safe, she’s letting me lie across the seat with my head nestled on the sweater in her lap. She plays with my hair, brushing it back out of my face. The soothing gesture reminds me so much of her mother. Mrs. Matthews does the same thing whenever a coven kid is sick, and it makes me miss my own mom so much it physically hurts.
