Page 59 of Wicked Thirst
“What he fails to mention is our powers can affect the outcomes if you all know too much, so we need to be precise in the information given.” Tilly reached into the pocket of the oversized trench coat that she wore and pulled out a bar of chocolate and handed it to Maze without even looking at him. He dug into it as if he hadn’t had a meal in three days.
“Well, we need something to go on. Because, and I don’t care if I offend you, Kylian, just hunting him down without a plan of how to trap him isn’t going to work.”
“Ugh.” He placed his hand on his chest. “I’m crushed.”
“You’re an ass.” He didn’t appear crushed at all. I looked away from him and at the others. “If there was some way to get through to Gray, I know he’s in there. I’ve seen it. Even when we were there, he spoke my name. Though it didn’t really sound like his voice.”
“What’d it sound like?” Beckett leaned forward. “I wasn’t close enough to hear him.”
“It’s hard to describe.” I hesitated trying to gather my thoughts on how to describe it. “But it’s like there’s something in his head talking to him and for him. I don’t know much about curses or magic, but something or someone is pulling the strings behind it.”
“It would stand to reason.” Zinnia nodded. “We just need to find out who and how it was done before he kills anyone or summons more demons.”
I shook my head, thinking about what just happened. The sight would haunt me for years to come. “We walked right into a summoning.”
“I can’t even imagine what that was like.” Zinnia wrinkled her nose. “I kind of don’t want to.”
Astrid pointed to her ripped pant leg. “Yeah, getting thrown around by one wasn’t exactly fun.”
“Neither was hacking at all that slimy crap.” I just stopped myself from gagging from the memories of the smell and sights of that charred skin. Their screams would echo in my ears for a good long while. “I’m going to have nightmares about it.”
Tilly shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. A lot of answers can be found in dreams.”
We all turned to look at her. She winked at me. Maze wrapped his hand around her and tugged her away from the group. “Let’s go, little trickster. You know what they say, loose lips sink ships.”
“Yeah, but who needs a ship when you can drift off all alone?” She let him tug her away. “Besides, ships are crowded.”
That crazy one-eyed black cat scampered across the courtyard and leapt up on his shoulder as they walked away.
I turned back toward Zinnia. “What did any of that mean?”
Tucker chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t know. But we need to find out, and I know just where to go.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
PIPER
“Okay, but just don’t make any sudden movements or loud sounds.” Zinnia, Tuck, Astrid, and Beckett all stood with me in front of a large door. The others had returned to their meeting room to wait for whatever information we got. They’d led me through a training gym and right to this door.
“Is there some kind of skittish animal behind the door or something?” I didn’t want to take another step forward before I knew what we were dealing with. “Or like a monster?”
A light giggle escaped her lips, and she shook her head. “No, nothing like that. This is kind of the brains of our operation, and she wasn’t feeling well before, so I’m hoping she’s back in fighting shape. But in case she isn’t, we’re just going to take it easy.”
I nodded. “Right, got it. No speedy vampire stuff.”
I glanced down at the necklace Grayson had gotten me to keep me aware of my thirst. I’d nearly forgotten about it, but even now it had a light pink hue to it, and I knew I’d need to drink soon. But when Zinnia reached up and knocked on the door, I shook my head, getting my mind back on the task at hand. My thirst could wait . . . for now. When the door slowly opened, I took a step inside and was immersed in dim lighting. The room was remarkable. Magical things were everywhere, and I had no idea where to look first.
There was an entire wall full of pendulums all swinging in the same direction. The other wall held a large map similar to the one in Zinnia’s room. Books lined the walls and were strewn all over the floor. There were shelves with crystals, vials full of glowing liquids, and athames of all shapes and sizes. It was like a witch shop hidden at the back of their gym. It was also quiet here, so quiet I could feel the stillness around me. A woman with messy fire engine red hair walked out from behind a cabinet. She held a book in her hands as she read and walked at the same time. When she looked up, she startled at the sight of us standing there. She jumped and pressed the book to her chest. “What are you doing sneaking here? There is such a thing as knocking.”
I wanted to tell her that we did knock, but I kept my mouth shut and let Zinnia handle this situation.
“Niche,” Zinnia spoke softly as she motioned toward me, “this is Piper. She’s here from The House of Shade. We’ve got a problem with Grayson, as you know, and we need your help.”
Niche pushed her glasses up her nose and held her book to her chest. “Honestly, Zinnia, you don’t have to be so gentle. I’m fine now. Just lacking some sleep. And we’ve been researching for hours and still haven’t come across a single record of this curse I keep hearing about. We usually have records for that sort of thing, especially something as big as cursing an entire family line, which would take, pardon my language, a shit ton of power. It’s very frustrating.”
Her words sounded sincere, but her hands shook as she placed the book on the table in front of her. She sighed and straightened her white lab coat with quick, jerky movements. Zinnia and the others all moved to stand around the table with Niche.
I took my time moving to join them. “It’s nice to meet you, Niche. And thank you for your help, even if nothing has come of it yet.”
