Adam's cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and flipped it open, walking away from the solemn group so he could hear better. "Yeah?"

It was Thomas. "How is everyone?" His voice sounded strained.

"Like how you'd think, boss. Not good."

Thomas went silent for a moment, the weight of his sorrow palpable through the cell phone. If Claire felt responsible for the death of the six witches, Adam could only imagine how Thomas was feeling. And, yet, Adam knew that Thomas had taken no chances. He'd done all he could to ensure that the witches had left the Coven undetected. Blame could not be placed on his shoulders.

Adam's hand tightened to pain on the cell phone. Blame lay with the demons, with Rue. His blood heated—literally—and rage clouded his vision for a moment. There was nothing in the universe he wanted more than to make them pay for it.

"Micah has had a breakthrough. You need to bring Claire in."

His blood cooled and his vision cleared. "Booya for good news. Did he figure out a way to extract the elium?"

"Maybe. We're not sure it's going to work, so don't go getting her hopes up yet. This will be an experiment, but we need her here to try it."

"We'll leave this morning."

"Not so fast. Micah also got together with the Coven earth witches and worked up a masking spell. Here's our plan. You cook up this spell over there and use it on the remaining witches. Then you take Claire and go alone, travel back to Chicago."

"What do you mean? The spell will act as a decoy, in case the Atrika throw more blood magick at us?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what it will do… we think. We're dealing with demon magick and we're never sure how it will react. If Micah is right, if the demons try another locating spell, it will lead them to the Coven witches, not to Claire. It gives you enough time to bring her in."

"Fuck, Thomas, it's like serving the witches up on a platter."

"It's not. You told me yourself that Claire has taught you and Theo to effectively wield elemental magick against demon magick. Teach the Coven witches how to do it. You're not leaving them defenseless."

"Claire isn't going to like this. She won't agree. She already feels responsible for the deaths of the six witches. Last night she was ready to leave the cabin just to draw the demons away from the rest of them. No way is she going to agree to making them into bait."

Thomas's voice grew hard. "Then you fucking kidnap her, Adam. Do whatever you have to do to make this work. We need that elium out of her. We need it destroyed. That's more important than anything else."