The witch rounded the desk and put her hand on Dr. Underwood’s. From the way his eyes widened until they showed the whites like a nervous horse, Underwood did not want her to touch him. But he did not pull away—and she was not using magic to make him stay where he was.

After a few seconds, the doctor’s body relaxed. His expression softened to bemusement.

“Hey, Dr. Underwood,” the witch said in a cheery voice. “I heard your daughter is missing you. I think you should call home and check up on her. Use the staff lounge for privacy because I requested the use of your office. Mom co-opted mine again. When you get off the phone, it will be time for your rounds. You won’t think much about Daniel Green’s visitors. They came and talked for a little, but it turns out he wasn’t the person they were looking for. Daniel Green is a common name.”

“Okay,” he said. He gave Charles and Anna a mildly embarrassed look. “I hope you don’t mind, but I have to go call my daughter.” He smiled pleasantly and then hurried out the door.

When the door shut behind him, Charles spoke, having changed his mind about how to deal with this witch. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Anna to handle the witch—Anna was much less likely to turn this into an unnecessary fight. But he did not know this witch, except that she was powerful. He decided to keep her attention on him and not on Anna. Against black magic, it was his job to be Anna’s shield.

“You paid for your power with corruption,” he told the witch. “Carrie paid for hers with her life—and she got very little use out of the power she gained. My father sent us to find out what happened. Daniel Green—who I know as Daniel Erasmus—”

The witch made a comical wince—yes, they had changed his name when he came here.

“—has given us the final keys to the mystery of what happened at Wild Sign. My father will see this flawed avenue of power destroyed. It need not concern you further.”

He had a reputation that he had carefully cultivated. It said that he did not lend himself to long, involved explanations to the enemy.

The witch gave him an amused look. She started to say something, but Anna spoke first.

“Is it Dr. or Ms. Hardesty?”

That made the witch pay attention to his mate. It also made Charles pay attention. Hardesty was a name they had come up against recently. How had Anna known this was one of the Hardesty witches?

“Ms.,” the witch said. She smiled prettily. “My mother is the MD and PhD. You can call me Cathy if you’d like.”