Page 72 of House of Ruin
“You have to take me shopping with you one day, Black,” Val said and then turned to the rest of them. “Something weird is going on. All your parents just went upstairs to the private study.”
“A quick orgy?” Jolene suggested, giggling. “I don’t see anything weird about it.”
“Disgusting.” Alecto gagged.
“We better get moving and see what they’re up to. This is our chance to try and find out what our alumni are hiding from us,” Val said. “Andro, lead the way to a quiet place so we can cast a spell.”
“Follow me.”
Andro led them to the second floor of his house and into one of the spare bedrooms they kept for guests.
They all took their places in a circle, linking their hands.
“Once we cast the spell, we’re going to have exactly three minutes before it expires,” Val explained. “Jolene, you have your pocket watch?”
Jolene nodded, fumbling with something in the pocket of her suit pants. She lifted the gold half-moon in her hand. “Got it!”
“Good, then you’re on for tracking the time.” Val nodded. “When the time is up, you leave first, and we’ll know that it’s time to leave. Got it?”
“Yeah.” Jolene linked her hand with Alecto’s, the watch still in her palm.
“Puriior Avies.” Val started the chant, and all of them joined in.
Immediately, a sharp pain sliced Blaze’s palm, and he didn’t need to look to know there was a fresh wound because he could feel the warm blood tickling down his palm.
Andro’s fingers twitched, but he didn’t stop the spell.
Outside Venefica, they didn’t have anyone monitoring their spells.
They could use blood magic all day long until they bleed dry, and nobody would say shit.
Val was the first one who flickered in and out before she disappeared completely.
Then it was Jolene.
Andro.
And Alecto.
Blaze blinked, and they were back with him in the room.
But they looked different, as if they had a filter put over them that made them fuzzy and washed out.
Val nodded and stepped forward. She disappeared into the wall, and they followed her.
It didn’t take them long to enter the private study where all their parents had gathered.
Galliermo stood by the window, a glass of whiskey in his palm. Auburn stood next to him but at a distance. She seemed lost in her thoughts and a little pale as she leaned against the windowsill for support.
Octavia’s hands were folded over her chest, and she stood in front of a sleek white marble desk, Rufus settled on the beige leather chair on the opposite side of it.
Blaze almost missed Alatar, who stood farther away from the rest, next to a built-in book shelf lined with books turned the other way around to hide their spines.
The Gods forbid anything messed up the perfectly crafted look of the beige museum Octavia was going for.
“He’s got to go,” Octavia said. “I’m not going to repeat it again.”
“Octavia, we don’t need to be so harsh,” Alatar commented, not even looking at the group. “He’s not an enemy.”
