“He’s giving us a message. About this place here. He also said . . .” I stared at the ground, willing the right words to come back to me, “. . . shadows hold secrets here. They bite and turn and linger in their bones. Ask around, Moneypenny. Sight unseen. Maybe spread the good word, after all, it’s almost hurricane season. That’s what he said.”

“Imma need a minute to unscramble that in my brain⁠—”

I snapped my fingers and we were back in my room in Headquarters. “Sweyn’s turning people into vampires here. Ask the spirits to give you more information. They’ll know. Use Deacon to evacuate the city.”

Savannah opened her mouth, then closed it. She huffed and then slapped her own thigh. “Well slap my ass and call me a paycheck because I’m never enough.”

I snorted. “What? Where do you get these sayings? Do you have a dictionary in your brain⁠—”

“It’s a mind palace, you heathen.” She stuck her tongue out at me. “Now, whose dream are we in?”

“No one’s. We’re in my room—Wait, no we’re not.” I spun in a circle. This was definitely Coven Headquarters, but I didn’t recognize the room, which was strange. “Hello? Anyone here?”

“It shouldn’t make me this happy to realize you never came in here with her.” Savannah’s cheeks flushed a deep pink. She stood by the balcony door looking out. “And yet here we are. And Frankie’s out there.”

Oh. OH. It was my turn to blush. I knew Savannah didn’t want to talk about that again since she had intentionally led me to Frankie, but it didn’t stop my brain from repeating everything I’d told her in rapid succession. I walked over and took her hand, then brought her knuckles to my lips.

“Boy, don’t make me feel my feelings right now,” she said under her breath, but she was smiling. “Miss Frankie needs help.”

I sighed and dropped her hand, then slid the sliding glass door open. Ice-cold air slammed into me, causing me to hiss and shiver. I cursed. It was the night for intense dreams, apparently. In normal dreams, the senses were dulled and I didn’t feel what they felt, but when they were really intense, the dreams felt super real.

And Frankie was not okay. I knew that instantly. She sat on her knees on her snow-covered balcony. Snowflakes dropped from the sky and landed on her pink hair and red dress. Goosebumps covered her bare arms and shoulders. The soulmate glyph on her chest, which she kept glamoured away with magic in real life, was pulsing a vibrant emerald-green. The black lines stretched down from her throat to the heart and across both shoulders. It looked more like poison spreading through her veins than the glyphs I was used to seeing.