Page 51 of Wicked Warlock
“Oh, I know he’s dead. But this guy’s still warm. We’re not far behind him.” Logan looked down at his hand and wrinkled his face as he whipped it down his jeans.
Ophelia stood staring at the wall of torture. I moved to her side. “You going to take something?”
Her mouth turned down into a scowl. “No. This… this is disgusting.”
“Let’s get out of here.” I pulled the pendulum from my pocket and Ophelia held open the map. I let it swing over the map and it dropped down, landing back in the States. “New Jersey?”
“Yeah, a place called Scotch Plains? They like to drink there or something?” Ophelia bent closer to the map. “I got it. Let’s get out of here.”
She opened up her little pouch and dropped another vial on the floor then stepped on it. The portal sprang up and we all started walking toward it. She shook her head. “Wait.”
Again, she rummaged in her bag and pulled out a vial of something red and flaming. Cross grabbed her arm, stopping her. “O, don’t.”
“These people will never have peace. The least we can do is release their bodies from this place.” She looked up at him, meeting his eye. “They need this.”
He let go of her and she threw the glass at the ground. Flames exploded from the spot and spread like wildfire up over the walls and ran across the floor toward us. I ran forward right into the portal with the rest of them hot on my heels. Heat licked at my back as I ran forward. For a moment, I thought it might catch us, but it didn’t. The portal closed as quickly as it opened, and I found myself standing in an oddly purple room with lime green accents. In an instant, I knew where we were and what we would find.
The house was clean and well-kept like an eccentric grandmother lived here. When I spun around in the kitchen, all I saw were dark purple cabinets, lime green counter tops, and top of the line appliances. Ophelia and Cross came through next.
Cross glared at me. “I thought we agreed I would go first.”
“Fire.” Was all I said in response.
Off to the side of the kitchen was a small alcove filled with glowing potions. Ophelia sauntered over to it and began shopping. She picked up one that was a bubbling dark red. “I’ll take this one.” She picked another that was thick and black. “And this one.” Then one that was a putrid yellow. “And this one.”
“Ohhh.” She took a small step back. “Look what we have here.”
“What?” I hurried over with Cross and Logan only to find Cora Ferguson lying on the floor with her head propped up on the wall. Her eyes were bloodshot and her skin a dark oily green that could rival any bullfrog.
“Just like his father.” Cora sucked in one heavy breath, then a deep gurgling sound came from her chest and her breath hissed out one long last time. She slumped over and her arms twitched with death spasms.
Ophelia plucked up a piece of broken glass from the table and held it to her nose, sniffing it. “There’s no saving her or coming back from this.”
Ophelia ripped off a piece of her shirt and wrapped the broken glass in it. Then she put it back inside her pouch. Cross stared down at her hand and the pouch. “O?”
She looked up at him with fake innocent eyes. “What? It’s a brilliant cocktail.”
Cross pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “You terrify me, woman.”
“Yeah, but you love me.” She winked.
Did no one else care that we just watched Cora Ferguson die? Wait… Did I care? I looked at the woman’s chubby bullfrog face and remembered all the things she’d done to others in the name of superiority. No… I really didn’t care. Yet we all stood there in silence, staring at her.
Cross’ phone blared with a loud ring and we all jumped. He looked down at the screen. “It’s Tuck.” He slid the bar to the side and hit the speaker phone button. “Tuck?”
Tuck’s voice was strained. “You find him yet?”
Cross groaned. “No, but we found his bloody trail. Corvin, Jiovanni, and Cora… they’re all dead.”
“He’s going for Ridge next. Maybe we can stop him. I’m coming.” Tuck’s voice filled with panic. Then there was the sound of a struggle on the other end and the phone switching hands.
“It’s me.” Maze’s voice came clear over the speaker phone.
I moved in closer to Cross. “Did things clear up? Did you see anything?”
“Ridge is already dead.”
The news went off like a bomb. Cross ran his hand over his head and rubbed at the back of his neck. “How?”
