Paige and the Librarian were sipping champagne in another part of the yard.

“We tried to come back from our end,” Mallory said. “But couldn’t break through the bubble. Then we tried to break through just long enough to send a message.” She looked at us hopefully. “Did anything get through?”

Lulu shook her head. “But the magic in the air could have garbled the transmission.”

“Did you find anything in the documents in the library?” I wondered. That had been bugging me for days.

“It was the journal of a sorceress who’d lived in Chicago—one of those who’d been exiled. It’s the story of her time in Chicago,” Mallory said. “We didn’t find anything relating to the demon, unfortunately.”

“Andaras should be stuck where she is for a good, long while,” Lulu said. “It’s possible—probably likely—that she’ll try to escape again. But not anytime soon. And this time, we’ll be ready.”

“Can the wards be rebuilt?” my mother asked.

“Theoretically,” Petra said. “As long as the Cornerstones are good, the defenses will be, too. We need to re-up the spells on the wards that were tripped. And it wouldn’t be a bad idea to reconfigure the defenses on the other Cornerstones so they aren’t worse than the demons themselves.”

Lulu looked at her parents. “I can help with that.”

“I like that,” Mallory said, and kissed Lulu’s forehead. “I like it a lot.”

“I still can’t get over that you’re doing magic now,” my mom said.

“I’m not sure yet how much I’m going to do or not,” Lulu said. “I’m going to take it one step at a time.” She looked at her mother. “But I didn’t want to hide anymore. I didn’t want to worry anymore. So I’m going to try to be out there, be who I am, and if we face enemies because of it—”

“We face them,” her dad said. “Together.”

“Together,” my dad echoed as the band played, and the House stood strong and stoic in the darkness.

TWENTY-THREE

The Pack, including Connor, were called to NAC headquarters at dusk the next night.

Connor had gone with his parents to HQ after the rescue, and he hadn’t come home since I’d awoken at dawn. He’d sent me a message asking me to join them, but that had been it. No indication of what his father intended to do . . . or what Connor intended to do about that.

I wanted to be prepared. And this seemed like the time to dress in full vampire apparel: black leather leggings, knee-high black leather boots, black crop top with corset-like ties, and the reddest lipstick I could find. I tucked a dagger in my boot, just in case. Katana belted at my side, just in case. I probably wouldn’t need them, probably wouldn’t use them. But like Miranda, I didn’t think the interlopers were trustworthy.

I took an Auto to Pack HQ and found the place buzzing with anticipatory magic. I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t sure what to expect.