Kara extricates herself from the folds of the couch and resettles her laptop on her knees. “You said the symbol was on a cloak, right?”

The question is more formality, since her fingers are already flying across the keyboard, and I have a feeling she snuck the answer from my head. I go to stand behind her as she opens search boxes and types in words mixed with code. Finally, the screen produces a list of titles. Apparently, someone catalogued the entire library. Probably Elaine. “These are all the books we have on family crests.”

The four of us split the list, crowding around my table and flipping through dusty pages with only the occasional sneeze. The house brings us butternut squash soup and chamomile tea, keeping the fire running long into the night, but as the evening drags on, we come up empty.

The twins abandon us after dinner, and Anna gives up not much later, sprawling across her book like it’s a pillow. “I’m going to bed,” she announces with a face full of paper.

I nod absently.

“I’m telling the house to kick you out if you try to stay in here all night,” she warns as she moves toward the door. “Go to bed!”

“Okay,” I say, reaching for another book. There has to be an answer here somewhere, and I’m going to find it, even if I have to stay here all night.

Chapter 14: Anna

I’m halfway to the stairs when Nora’s hushed voice leaks from the kitchen. The door is closed, the soft glow of firelight trickling out underneath it. That alone is enough to make me stop.

We never close the kitchen door. The house doesn’t like it.

“Help me out?” I quietly ask the house. The hall floorboards always creak, but the house keeps them quiet for me until I reach the kitchen door.

Leaning close, I put my ear to the brass keyhole, which is just a little bigger than normal. I mouth a silent “thank you” to the house as Nora’s voice reaches me.

“You aren’t listening to me.” She sounds frustrated. “If my vision is accurate—”

“Your vision is impossible,” Aunt Elaine cuts across her. “You said that battle took place thousands of years ago. How could he have been involved?”

“I don’t know! But I saw his face.” There’s something in Nora’s voice that makes me tense.

One of them sets a glass on the table. Then Aunt Elaine says, “I haven’t detected anything in his aura, but they’ve always been hard for me to read. Too much magic. I think you’re just worrying too much, Nor.”