“I’d like to get Joanna’s parents out of the manor,” said Emily. “They might not be evil, you know.”
Aunt Anastacia shrugged. “If we can, why not?”
She slowed down as they approached the Russo Manor. Then she cut the lights and parked directly opposite the driveway near the main gate. The house looked deserted and lifeless.
The Alfreds didn’t seem to have arrived yet. Emily hoped their luck would hold out for a few more minutes.
34
Aunt Anastacia cast the cloaking spell on herself and Emily while they were still in the car. Then, when they got out of the car, she cast the cloaking spell on the car itself. Right before their eyes, the car vanished from plain sight.
Emily could see Aunt Anastacia. She could see herself, too. She wondered if the cloaking spell had worked.
“It works differently for humans than it does for inanimate things,” Aunt Anastacia explained. “Trust me, we’re invisible to others. Now come. And keep quiet.”
They snuck up to the gate. The house looked abandoned. The lawns were overgrown, and there was a loose carpet of leaves spread across the frontage. A Ferrari was parked right in front the main portico that led up to the main doors. It had its passenger door open, but no one was inside.
Aunt Anastacia started chanting, spreading her hands in a ballet-dancer kind of way. Emily focused her sharpened eyes, looking over every square inch of the building. She searched for any sign of life—any at all.
They stood there for a good three minutes before Emily was convinced the house was empty through and through. Aunt Anastacia took another minute before she harrumphed satisfactorily and said, “It’s empty. And the Russos are in their bedroom in the penthouse.”
“Good, let’s go,” Emily said and pushed the door open.
Aunt Anastacia held on to her. “There’s a spell on the grounds. It prevents people from entering without being invited by the owners.”
Emily frowned. “When did that happen?”
Aunt Anastacia looked curiously around the fence. “It’s fae magic. Very powerful stuff.” She shivered. “No wonder the house isn’t guarded. I can’t think of anything more powerful than fae magic.”
“So we can’t get to them?” Emily asked, deflated. The gate lay open before her. All she needed to do was walk across.
“I can’t, but you can,” her aunt whispered. “You’ve stepped into the house before, right?”
Emily nodded. “Lots of times.”
“Then you’ve been invited. Go to the penthouse. Break the nexus. Free Joanna’s parents and bring them out here.”
“How do I bring them out here?” Emily suddenly felt in way over her head.
Aunt Anastacia shrugged again. “Figure it out.”
Emily growled. How was she going to carry two people out of the building? She sighed, “Okay then,” and slipped into the gate. She felt an odd kind of magic sweep through her body. Once. Twice. Scanning. And then it ceased. She was free to proceed. She took one last glance at Aunt Anastacia, but the woman had vanished.
Emily sighed and ran up to the building as quickly as she could. She had no desire to remain in the empty, eerily silent house for longer than required.
Inside the house was lit up with sunlight streaming from vaulted windows. She hit the stairs and took the steps three at a time. Terror choked her because she could sense the presence of an evil being.
She tried to dismiss it. She didn’t think it would be wise if she dwelled too much on the fact that she could sense an evil presence in the house.
Once she got to the penthouse, she found it open. Slowly, she crept in, stirring the fire demon within her in case she needed to transform in a flash.
We’re here, Emily, Selena said. We got this.
Emily nodded. She could feel Zee’s heat building within her as well. The penthouse bedroom was larger than Emily’s entire house. Right in the center was this king-sized bed with four intricately designed pillars. The bed itself was curtained with a material that called to Emily’s desire to touch it.
On the bed, lying in state of unconsciousness, were two bodies. Something hovered above them. Something red and shiny. A form of magic. And from it she saw tendrils sporadically drifting out and vanishing into the air. She didn’t need anyone to tell her that it was the influence that held sway over every mind in the town. She just knew.
Emily approached the bed. She recognized Joanna’s parents. They were unconscious, bound by invisible chains. As Emily approached the edge of the bed, her heartbeat picked up. Her breathing became shallow.
She fought the urge to turn and run. She had to do this. She had to break the spell. But how? She reached out to touch the bedpost, stretched her fingers . . .
“Alice said you’d come,” said a grim voice in the shadows.
Emily snapped her hand back, stifling a cry of fear. She turned slowly to the right and watched as an angry Marion stepped out of the shadows. His eyes were shining with orange fire. His hands were aflame with it as well.
Emily stuttered, fear choking her voice out.
“She’s dying to have you,” Marion said, his voice so deadly, so low, that it caused a tingle of fear to run through Emily’s spine. He smelled of fire and smoke, but otherwise, he looked fine. Aside from, you know, flaming eyes and hands.
Marion’s breathing was steady. Sure that he had Emily, that he would not fail.
Emily knew she had not a prayer. She knew this was the end of the line. Marion could take her down before she turned into The Owl. And even if she turned into The Owl, he could trap her right there.
For a moment, Emily looked at Marion, and her heart melted. She didn’t want to hurt him, nor did she want to see him hurt. She was relieved to see him alive, although regretted that his sister and probably Chandler had made it out, too.
“I’m sorry,” Emily
