Chapters (46)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- one
- two
- three
- four
- five
- six
- seven
- eight
- nine
- ten
- eleven
- twelve
- thirteen
- fourteen
- fifteen
- sixteen
- seventeen
- eighteen
- nineteen
- twenty
- twenty-one
- twenty-two
- twenty-three
- twenty-four
- twenty-five
- twenty-six
- twenty-seven
- twenty-eight
- twenty-nine
- thirty
- thirty-one
- thirty-two
- thirty-three
- thirty-four
- thirty-five
- thirty-six
- thirty-seven
- thirty-eight
- thirty-nine
- forty
- forty-one
- forty-two
I peeked out to see Jesse at the end of the aisle. He stared at the box. It jiggled again, then shifted, better blocking the hole. Twenty seconds passed, then he broke into a run, boots slapping the concrete as loud as he could manage as he raced to where I was apparently trapped.
“Savannah!” He stopped. “Shit! Are you okay?”
He didn’t wait for an answer. He grabbed the crate, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Fuck! What is in this thing? I’m going to get something to move it, okay? Hang tight. I’ll be right back.”
He ran loudly back down the aisle. Then he stopped, sat on a crate, and leaned back against a table, getting comfortable as he waited for the poison to do its work.
thirty-seven
thirty-seven
Jesse had set us up.
I’d started suspecting him when I’d thought about that object flying at my head. Then I became more certain when he’d kept leading me with invisible “signs.” But even now, after witnessing proof, I couldn’t believe it. I just didn’t see a motivation.
Had he enticed me on this case to kill me and collect a bounty from the Nasts? I’d love to think they hated me that much—somehow it was better to be feared than to be ignored. But if they’d offered a bounty, I would have heard of it. Lucas always knows when there’s one on him.
Could Jesse be a witch-hunter? With legends, there were always nuggets of truth surrounded by layers of bullshit. Maybe the part about them always being women was part of the bullshit. Jesse entices me onto a case where he thinks witches are involved, gets me to sniff out Tiffany, kills her, then comes after me.
I knew now how Michael had fallen from that balcony. Jesse lured him up there, probably by rattling stuff around, then telekinetically shoved him over the edge. I hadn’t considered him before because he’d been on the phone with me when I got Michael’s text. More important, no Agito could send a guy flying like that.
But if Jesse killed Michael, what better way to throw off suspicion than call me while texting me from Michael’s phone? As for his powers, he had to be a Volo. I wasn’t sure how that was possible. There were only a few in the world, and at his age, he shouldn’t have full control over his powers yet.
I peered out at Jesse again. Too far to launch a deadly spell ... if I could even manage one. I needed to get closer.
I cast the blur three times and failed. On the fourth, it caught and I slid out the other side—away from Jesse. Then the spell broke.