“There,” Lucas said. “I saw a movement in the living room. They’re in there, or just inside the dining room on the other side.”

“Hey, speaking of the dining room, did you know you have a resident residual?”

He frowned down at me.

“Er, never mind. I’ll explain later.”

We used our blur spells to get to the living room window, then replaced it with a cover spell. Sorcerer blur spells, as the name suggests, only blur your form. They don’t make you invisible. Witch cover spells make you invisible, but only if you’re standing still. Put the two together, and you have a decent stealth package.

Although the weather was still nippy, most of the windows in the house were cracked open. When we stood beside the living room side window, we could hear voices, but no words. After a moment of closed-eye concentration, I picked up Savannah’s conversation.

“…but if it’s dangerous—” she said.

Jaime laughed. “And since when has that bothered you?”

“It has to bother me. With my power, I can’t just go casting spells any way I want. I need to know exactly what I’m doing and what can happen or—”

Jaime laughed again, the sound taking on a harsh tone of mocking. “God, you sound like Paige. I never thought I’d see the day. Your mother would flip.”

I gritted my teeth. No, baby, I wouldn’t flip. Paige is right. You do need to be careful. You need—

“Sure, Paige tells me to be careful,” Savannah said. “But it doesn’t mean I listen.”

“Look, Savannah, either you want to summon your mom or you don’t.”

My heart thudded.

“Of course I do,” Savannah said.

“Well, then, you have to be willing to assume the risks. Like you said, you have the power. This ritual wouldn’t work with anyone else. But you can do it. I’m sure you can.”

A hand touched my arm. I looked up to see Lucas, who’d broken his cover spell. He jerked his chin toward the sidewalk. I broke my spell and pointed at the house, gesturing that I wanted to hear more.

“Heard enough,” he mouthed.

I hesitated, then cast the blur spell and darted across the lawn and behind the neighbor’s fence.

“So that’s how she’ll do it,” I said. “She’ll make Savannah think she knows a way to contact me. And when we—you and Paige, I mean—wind up dead, she’ll say it was because of the spell, that Savannah screwed up.”

Lucas nodded and motioned for us to talk as we returned to the motorcycle.

“But how is she going to kill us while Savannah’s performing the ritual?” I said. “Necros can’t kill anyone—not with magic, at least.”