own. The golden bands on his arms were flashing like strobe lights and his gold wings kept popping out. He flexed his fingers and then balled his fists, then repeated several times within a few seconds. The energy rolling off of him sent my pulse into a tailspin.
I exhaled roughly. “You look like shit, my brother.”
“Fix her.” His eyebrow twitched as he glanced back and forth between Jackson and me. He threw his arm out to the side, pointing right at my best friend. “I’ve tried everything. We’ve tried everything.”
It was only then that I realized Emersyn, Hunter, Devon, and Bentley were sitting at the dining room table behind her. They waved and gave me small smiles yet they looked tense and exhausted. I looked down at my Apple watch and found it was after midnight.
“What exactly are we lookin’ at here, lads?”
I glanced to my statue of a best friend, who hadn’t reacted to our arrival despite it being via her portal, then back to my brother. “Any change from last night?”
He shook his head. “I was about to put Michael’s sword in her hand before Deacon finally got through.”
“Finally is right. I’ve been trying for hours. Took Em and Tenn’s help to break in.”
I shook my head and looked over to Hunter. “This reminds me of when we were six and she discovered people had slaves. Remember?”
Hunter grimaced. “She didn’t speak for a week.”
“What?” Haven growled through clenched teeth.
“You heard me. This is the fourth time she’s done this but at least in the past she would acknowledge the world around her and eat.”
Jackson pointed to her. “This statue rubbish is new? How’d you break it before?”
“I ended up having to call Kenneth.”
I gasped. “You used magic all those times?
“Yeah, but only for that initial shock to snap her out of it enough that Bettina here could pull her out of the hole she’d buried herself in.”
Haven’s mismatched eyes swung back to me. “Get her out of it.”
I bit my bottom lip and nodded. I’d already suspected we’d need magic to get through to her but Hunter’s admission proved it. This was entirely different than when we were kids, when her magic was blocked. So it would take a lot more magic to get to her now. I pushed my shoulders back and then crossed the room and dropped to my knees in front of her. I reached up and pressed my open palms to the sides of her head and words of a spell flashed in my mind.
I never knew where they came from, but I was done questioning how that worked. I just took a deep breath, summoned my magic to my hands, and pushed it out. Pink mist coiled around her head as I chanted softly, “Hear me now, hear me loud. Hear me deep within your cloud.”
She inhaled sharply through her nose and sat up straight.
“Harm is far but help is near. Release thy hold so you may hear.”
She blinked and shook her head — and then bright pale green eyes locked on me. She frowned. “Bettina?”
Haven sighed so hard his tense energy hit me like a tsunami, knocking me off my balance and leaning me sideways.
Tegan flinched like she felt it too. She looked over my shoulder and I knew she was seeing the disaster that was my brother. “Babe? What’s wrong?”
Haven cursed violently and tugged on his hair. “…gonna be the death of me one day, I swear.”
“What did I do?” Her gaze snapped back to me. “Wait, why are you here? You’re supposed to be in London?”
“You haven’t spoken for two days, babe.” Haven groaned. “I had to call her back.”
Tegan’s eyes widened. “Oh no…I did it again, didn’t I?”
“Yep,” Hunter and I said at the same time.
I pushed up off my knees and sat on the coffee table in front of her. “I would’ve been here hours ago but Deacon only just finally got through to make you open up the portal—”
“I portaled you here?” Tegan’s face paled. She shook her head rapidly and pushed her hair back. “No, no, no. Don’t ever do that again. That is not safe.”
“Thank you.” Jackson threw his hands up and plopped down in the chair beside me.
Tegan glanced around the room and frowned. “Where is everyone?”
“Demon hunting or sleeping.” Devon stood and strolled over to her daughter. She ran her hands through her hair, or tried to. “On that note, the rest of us need to sleep. Bettina, it’s your shift to make