But they’re linked in every way that matters.
“Dad was there,” Millie says.
“I didn’t see that.” Daphne shakes her head.
“Me either,” Brielle adds. “I saw a dead woman, covered in blood and trying to speak to me. Exactly the way they did before.”
“What did you see?” I ask Daphne.
She swallows hard. “Jackson’s father.”
“Oh, honey.” Millie wraps her arm around Daphne’s shoulders. I don’t know the whole story of what happened between Daphne and Jackson, but it must have had something to do with his dad if Horace used him to fuck with Daphne.
“He’s doing this on purpose,” I say, getting their attention. “Horace is trying to scare you, distract you. He’s taunting you.”
“Distract us,” Millie murmurs. “From what he’s doing? That doesn’t make sense. The sick asshole has been proud of what he’s doing.”
“No,” Cash says, speaking up for the first time. “He’s distracting you from each other and from your inherent Power. If you’re not concentrating on the task at hand, catching and destroying him, you can’t do that. He wants your attention diverted, distracted, and he’s using scare tactics to do it while simultaneously getting a thrill out of taunting you or punishing you. It’s all a mind game for him.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Daphne mutters and paces away in frustration. “How does he know what messes with us psychologically? How could he possibly know that seeing Jack’s dad would make my blood run cold? It’s not like I took an ad out in the paper and made it public knowledge.”
“He knows pretty much everything about you three,” I reply, thinking it over. “For most of your lives, he watched you from just outside the windows of your house. Then, he made it his business to follow you, to keep an eye on you every day. He’s been stalking you for years.”
“And why didn’t we feel it?” Brielle asks. “Yes, we have shields, but we’re psychic for the love of Moses. Why didn’t we feel that he was near?”
“Smoke and mirrors,” I reply. “Horace is excellent at smoke and mirrors.”
“Stop saying his name,” Millie murmurs, just as darkness descends on us. I can’t see the others. I can’t hear them.
I only hear maniacal laughter, as if he’s having the time of his life.
Or his death.
I begin to chant the spell I taught Millie a lifetime ago. She’s doing the same because I can suddenly hear her in my mind, feel her as if she’s standing next to me.
Halfway into the spell, Horace snarls, the darkness disappears, and we’re left standing in the parking lot as if nothing happened at all.
“I think we should all learn that spell,” Daphne says.
“I’m happy to teach you,” I reply with a smile.
* * *
Millie collapses on the couch in our living room with a huff and pets Sanguine, who walks circles on her witch’s lap.
“Okay, I think we need to talk,” Millie says.
“You’re exhausted,” I reply.
“Yeah. The psychic stuff drains me.” She shrugs a shoulder. “I’m fine. I’d like to know how he defeated us in previous lives. In other words, what have we already tried that failed? I don’t want to use that again.”
“That’s a good point,” I say and sit across from her. “He wasn’t always the cause of our deaths.”
“Oh,” she says in surprise. “I guess I just assumed he was. But now that I think about it, you were killed by witch hunters in Salem, not him.”
“Exactly,” I reply with a nod. “In some lifetimes, it was an illness or an accident. But I can write down the spells and weapons that didn’t work before.”
“That would help,” she replies. “I’m going to keep reading my grandmother’s grimoire. And Miss Sophia sent home a few other books for me to look at. I feel like that’s all I do. Read. And use Google translate because I don’t understand half of the languages, so that takes forever.”
“You sound defeated.”
“I’m not. I’m worried that I won’t learn enough in time because he’s escalating so quickly. I’m worried that I was too stubborn for too long and won’t have much time with you.”
“Stop that right now.” I sit next to her on the couch and pull her close. “We’re going to defeat him this time. I don’t know how I know, but I do. We still have resources to tap, and we’re moving forward. This is nowhere close to being done, Millicent. Don’t be discouraged. We’ll get there.”
She buries her face in my shoulder and takes a long, deep breath.
“Thanks. I needed that pep talk.”
“Anytime.”
“I could use a distraction from all of this,” she says and looks up at me. “I haven’t taken the time to really explore this big old house since I moved in. How about a tour?”
“Absolutely.” I take her hand and pull her off the couch. “Obviously, the kitchen and living areas are down here, along with the laundry, what used to be a music room, a library—”
“A library?” she asks. “I didn’t know about the library. Show me everything. Even the things I’ve already seen.”
I kiss her forehead and then lead her from the living room to the music room.
“It’s empty,” she says.
“A lot of the house is,” I reply. “But it can be filled however you like. This was a music room back in the day.”
“This is the perfect spot for a baby grand piano.” She goes to stand in the corner by the windows.
“Absolutely.” Yes, that’s where it was. And she played it beautifully. “Do you play?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “No lessons are available to a kid when her single mother is possessed by an evil spirit.”
“Good point.” I lead her to the library. “The last owner left all of the books in here, and they said the owner before them did the same. I think some of
