Ashling requested. “Oh, and I think ye can put them down now.”
After a second’s pause, I complied, putting the borrowed power back into the lines. One of the bulbs overhead popped, flashed, and went dark again, but the others all came back on.
“Sloppy,” the old woman, Macha, said, eyeing me with disapproval as she straightened her clothes. The young witch was rubbing her butt where the shock had hit, glaring at me.
Miststück! Sorrow said in my mind. Have to look that one up, but I think I got the general idea
Aunt Ash laughed, her tone mocking. “That ye are Macha, that ye are. Declan, if yer done paying yer respects to Miss Ryanne, there’s some agents what want to talk to ye.”
“Are you sure? Leaving you here?” I asked.
“Oh aye. That was all the fireworks for the moment, lad. But should ye feel them do anything else, yer to come for me. Ye hear, Warlock?”
I nodded as the old lady’s eyes widened at the word.
“Alright then, Ry. Ladies, Mr. Flynn. I’ll just be going. Get better fast, Ry. We’re all waiting to hear the Sisters Eerie play,” I said.
“Oh, I’m feeling better already, I am,” she said, glancing with amusement at her wide-eyed family who were still too startled to do more than nod as I left.
Chapter 35
Outside, I found Gina waiting in the hallway. She looked up at the lights overhead and raised one eyebrow.
“I was under adult supervision,” I said. She frowned but didn’t say anything as she turned and led me down the hall.
“Well, first time meeting the woman who drove my aunt and mother out of Ireland. Bound to be some tension,” I said. “I don’t really like leaving my aunt in there alone.”
“She’ll be fine,” she said, pointing into her office doorway as we passed. I could see Toni playing with a tablet in a chair. She looked up and waved at me.
“I’ve got the big gun nearby in case things go downhill,” she said. The God Tear necklace wouldn’t allow any heavy shit near Toni and it might even side a bit with the woman who helped create it.
We ended up in a room next to Gina’s office, which put us two doors from the medical offices anyway. I was close by if Ashling needed me.
Inside, Agent Krupp and Agent Mazar were sitting in front of a monitor, the screen frozen on a camera scene from the parking lot fight.
They broke off their conversation and stared at me.
“As I said before, I’ll be sitting in or, if you object to that, we can wait for a Demidova attorney to arrive. Tanya has one ready to helicopter up from the City if needed,” Gina said.
Wow, word really does travel fast.
“That’s not necessary. Just a few questions,” Krupp said. “We watched it twice before the power abruptly went out and came back on.”
“Old building,” Gina said with a little smile. Krupp frowned, then focused on me.
“You’re a witch,” she stated, then stared, waiting.
“Um, I know,” I said after a quick glance at Gina.
A frown flickered across her face before it smoothed back out. “The other two are like you?” she asked, waving a hand at the monitor.
“Witches? Yes,” I said, keeping my answers short like Darci always warned me to.
“So this one attacks Miss Flynn for no reason?” Krupp asked, pointing to the figure on the monitor of the woman I killed.
“She attacked without warning,” I said.
“Why do you suppose she did that?” Mazar asked.
I got a nod from Gina so I ventured forth. “I think she was likely after our power.”
“To what, drain you?” Mazar asked.
“Yes.”
“Why do you think that?” Krupp asked.
“Because we were following the story of a circle of witches that were killed in New York. The ritual space looked like a single witch, possibly the circle leader, had drained the others.”
“How do you know all that and how do you know this woman was that witch?” Krupp asked.
“Um, we’re witches. We know rituals and shit when we see it. And she was wearing a Yankees hoodie, so I leaped to the assumption that she was from the City. Also, she was actively trying to beat the shit out of us. She almost killed Ryanne.”
“Why did she attack Ryanne first, do you think?” Mazar asked.
After another nod from Gina, I said, “Ryanne’s female. The witch saw her as the greater threat.”
“So males are weaker?” Mazar asked.
“Generally,” I said.
“But not you?” Krupp asked. I thought about how to answer, which Krupp must have taken