“What’s going on here?” Anita stepped into the room. When she saw me, she blinked. “Savannah. Good to see you again. If you came to rescue your friend, I can assure you we were having a friendly conversation—”

Cassandra raised the knife. “I don’t consider this conducive to friendly conversation. Particularly not when it’s aimed at my neck.”

Anita’s look of shock seemed genuine. “What? No. How—?”

“Seems your new friends weren’t interested in conversation,” I said.

“She killed Brad,” Eloise said, pointing at me. “Just killed him.”

I looked at Brad. He lay on the floor, eyes open. Dead.

Had I done that? How? Even now, when I whispered an incantation, I could tell it wasn’t going to work. The power was gone, leaving me empty and numb.

Cassandra turned to Anita. “You may have had nothing to do with this, but your inability to ensure my safety does not bode well for a business relationship. Tell Gilles I said no.”

“Savannah.” Anita stepped forward. “May I at least speak to you? I know our last encounter wasn’t pleasant, but we’ve realized our mistake.”

“You want to deal with me? Release the boy and his parents.”

“Boy?”

“You know who I’m talking about. Larsen Dahl. And on the subject of children, if you go after the Danvers twins, you’ll end up like him.” I pointed at Brad’s body.

“Elena’s children? I’d never hurt—”

“I know they’re on Giles’s list of collectibles. And I know Matthew Hull wanted them, too. You’ve admitted to working with both.”

“Matthew wanted them for their value on the black market. To fund his experiment, not as material for it. The children are in no danger from me or Giles. I can assure you—”

“Don’t assure me. Just stay away from them. And return the boy and his parents.”

We walked out, leaving Anita to deal with Eloise.

“So it seems your spells have returned,” Cassandra said. “And at a very opportune moment.”

I shook my head. “They’re gone again. I can feel it. I don’t know what that was. I didn’t even cast. Just reacted.”

“If my life being in danger invoked that response then . . .” She looked over at me. “Thank you, Savannah. It was unexpected and appreciated.”

I looked away, my cheeks heating. I tried to think of a clever comeback, but couldn’t, and settled for saying, “What you said in there, about negotiating with Giles . . . I know you’re getting to the end and . . . and that can’t be easy but . . .”

“It might be advantageous to us at a later stage if we haven’t ruled out collaboration.” She walked another few steps, then lowered her voice. “For the record, while I’m not overjoyed at the prospect of my life ending—I suspect there will be some very unbecoming kicking and screaming involved—I have accepted it.”

I nodded and we continued out.

thirty-two

Lucas texted to say they’d be here in two minutes. I texted back to say we’d handled the situation. Just meet us and we’d explain all. For now, best to leave Anita alone. As Cassandra had said, there was an advantage in letting her think we might negotiate with her.

In the alley, Cassandra and I walked in silence, lost in our own thoughts. When I fell a pace or two behind, she didn’t notice.

I kept thinking about what had happened inside. When a friend was in danger, my power returned. Did that mean some otherworldly entity was actively holding it back, saying, “Okay, we’ll let you have one shot if you really need it.” That sounded more like a deity than a demon. Mom said the Fates weren’t involved but—

“Savannah.”

I turned to see a homeless man tucked deep into the shadows of a recessed doorway. He had his head down, as if dozing. When I started to move on, though, he lifted his head and his eyes glowed with a weird light, not a demonic yellow or orange or green, just a glow.

“If you want to find your spells, dig deeper,” he said. “Too much power has made you lazy. Complacent. Dig deeper. Work harder. Fight smarter.”

“What—?”

“A war is coming. Wars need champions.”

“Savannah?” Cassandra said as she turned and she walked back. When I looked at the homeless man, he was asleep again.

Cassandra let out a soft curse. “I didn’t even detect him. My apologies. I’m not quite the bodyguard I used to be, it seems.”

“Did you hear what he said?” I asked.

She looked at me blankly.

“He was talking to me. Didn’t you hear him?”

“I only heard you, Savannah. What did he say?”

I looked back at the homeless man. “I must be imagining things. Sorry.”

We met Lucas and Troy on the street out front. Bryce hadn’t been seen since leaving his bodyguard’s apartment. Using the GPS on the company vehicle, Sean had tracked it to a nearby parking lot, where it seemed to have been abandoned. There was no signal coming from Bryce’s phone.

Sean hadn’t told the Cabal. Not about Bryce’s potential involvement and not about his disappearance. We weren’t reporting this to Benicio yet either. Our best hope was that Bryce would contact Sean for help. He wouldn’t do that if he knew two Cabals were after him.

“Sean would like to talk to you,” Lucas said when we were in the car Sean lent them.

I stiffened. I wasn’t ready for that. If Bryce was on the run, it was my fault. Even if Sean didn’t blame me for that, how did he feel knowing I’d investigated Bryce’s bodyguard when he’d removed him from our hunt?

“It’s late,” I said.

“Not that late.”

“I’m going to head back to Miami with Cass. You can handle this. We need to work the immortality angle. The best files are in Miami and you know how Cass is with research—she’ll skim and declare the job done.”

“I’m sitting right here,” Cassandra said.

“And not disputing the point, I notice.” I turned to Lucas. “I’m not great with research but I’ll do my best. Tell Sean—”

I stopped. Hadn’t I vowed to be more mature? This wasn’t more mature.