I look up, eyes darting around the dark room, which is quickly filling with smoke now that the broken doors have been shut. Ryan is flickering again, fighting against Asaroth.
“I can’t hold her much longer!” he says through gritted teeth. Coughing, I walk through the smoke and raise the dagger in the air, fire springing from my hand, igniting the blade.
“Go to fucking hell!” I wrap both hands around the dagger and shove it into Asaroth’s back, right between her shoulder blades. She screams, echoing a hundred gruff voices at once as fire swirls around her, engulfing her in billowing flames. I turn my head, knowing if I let go too soon it won’t be enough to kill her.
I twist the dagger, sending a final blast through her, and step back, eyes burning from smoke. The fire swirls faster around Asaroth, burning her until there’s nothing left. I jerk back, dagger falling to the ground.
The cellar is quiet again, and my lungs burn from inhaling smoke. Hunter shadows through the doors, swinging them open. I tip my head up, desperate for fresh air.
“Thank you, Anora.” I snap my head back down and see Ryan standing just a few feet in front of me. “You set us free.” Slowly, his body becomes more and more transparent until I’m looking at the blank wall behind him. I whirl around. The other ghosts are gone too, finally able to move on.
Coughing, I bend over to pick up the dagger. I wipe the sticky blood on my pants and stick it in the sheath. Hunter pads over and nuzzles my hand.
“It was a team effort,” I tell him, and turn my head and cough. “We need to get everyone and get the fuck out of here.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Hey,” I say with a forced smile and sit at the little round table with Harrison and Laney. It’s nine-thirty at night and they met me at a coffee shop near the hospital, where Ethan still is. “I’d ask how you’re doing but I think I know the answer to that.” Laney pushes a white-chocolate mocha latte in front of me, having ordered my favorite drink on my behalf. “Thanks,” I say and take a drink.
“I’m alive,” Laney answers, nervously picking at the label on her cup. “And not injured. How’s Ethan?”
“He’ll be fine,” I say honestly, because he will be. “He has three broken ribs but told me he’s had more at once before, along with a broken collarbone. Whatever sickness Asaroth cursed him with is gone but left him pretty dehydrated, and the doctors are confused since none of his symptoms really make sense together. They want him to stay overnight for observation. It took a lot of convincing for him to agree to that.”
“That’s good.” Harrison eyes me for a second and then takes a drink of his coffee. He has red marks and bruises on his wrists from having his hands tightly tied behind his back.
“I’m really sorry,” I rush out, apologizing again.
“It’s over, though, right?”
“Yes. Asaroth is dead.”
“I can’t believe I dated a demon.” Harrison slowly shakes his head. “Why did I like her so much only to basically forget about her?”
“She had to have cast some sort of hex to make you get all infatuated, so you’d take her home. She knew we’re related to Aunt Estelle and wanted to see if we had powers for her to take. And then when she didn’t need you, she just…I don’t know. Cast a different hex, I guess.”
“I heard her say your aunt took her powers,” Laney starts, looking around the café. If anyone overheard us, they’d think we were batshit crazy, that’s for sure.
“Right.”
“Aunt Estelle had secrets,” Harrison muses.
“She did, and she still does…which is why I think I should go to Indiana. There has to be more clues there, and I need to find out why she bound my powers in the first place.”
“When are you going?” Laney asks.
“In a few days,” I answer. “Or whenever I get all my stuff ready to go.”
“You don’t mean go to Indiana for a weekend trip again, do you?” Harrison asks, and I look up, meeting my twin’s eyes.
“No,” I say, heart hurting at the thought of leaving my friends. But it will hurt even more if something else happens to them. “It makes sense, really.” I blink a few times, telling myself I’m not going to cry. “I inherited a house that’s paid off and my lease is up in December. My rent is ridiculous, and there’s a barn and plenty of land in Thorne Hill. I won’t have to pay board for Mystery, which will save me a fortune. And it will put a safe distance between us in case another demon attacks.”
“Do you think it will?” Laney’s face pulls back with fear.
“I have no idea,” I tell her. “There’s just so much I don’t know. I didn’t send the demons after you or Leslie, but it all happened because they were trying to get to me. I couldn’t live with myself if I stayed and someone else got hurt.”