just sat there, minding its own business, holding within it the power to destroy a city and a friendship.
“It’s the most secure point in the facility—six concrete doors to get through, assuming you could find your way down there. This place is a maze.”
Difficult to maneuver unless you could fly straight down the silo and nab it. Thank God sorcerers didn’t actually use broomsticks, although the thought of Mallory in pointy black witch’s shoes riding a push broom did a lot to perk up my mood.
“You’ve done a masterful job making it difficult to get to,” Ethan said.
“It’s not just to keep people out,” she said. “It’s to keep the evil in. The world used to be a much harsher place. The sorcerers who created the Maleficium thought they were creatively solving a problem—lock evil away and everything’s just hunky-dory. As it turns out, a magical book is pretty porous.”
“Evil seepage?” I wondered.
“Yep,” Paige said. “The mechanism isn’t perfect. It’s just the best mechanism we have, though, so it’s worth protecting.”
“Point made,” Ethan said.
My stomach picked that moment to rumble impolitely. In the cavernous space of a missile silo, it wasn’t exactly a quiet sound.
Ethan shook his head. Paige smiled. “Let’s head back upstairs, and I’ll start getting a real meal together. You two can explore the property a bit, get the lay of the land. It’s a big acreage—a square mile in all, and it’s bounded by the roads on all four sides, so if you reach gravel, you’ve gone too far.”
Ethan nodded. “Thank you. Having a feel for the place might come in handy.”
Undoubtedly, I thought. The question was, when?
The platform carried us to the surface again. Paige made her good-byes, pulled on her cap, and relocked the door as we stepped outside. The wind had picked up and the air was brisker. I zipped up my jacket.
Paige walked back toward the house, a lonely silhouette in the dark emptiness.
“I wonder if she’s being punished—sent out here all alone by the Order,” I said. “They have a history of punishing their members.” Or in Catcher’s case, kicking them out altogether.
Ethan put his hands on his hips and scanned the empty field. “Like this is an island of misfit witches?”
“Something like that, yeah.”
“Paige seems to take her job seriously. She doesn’t seem like the punished type. Unfortunately, even if she was faking it, I’m not sure we’d know. I’m beginning to doubt there’s a single sorcerer or sorceress in existence capable of telling the entire truth about anything.”
“Bitter much?”
“With good cause,” he said. “Catcher was in denial. Simon was an idiot. Mallory is addicted to something that has the potential to destroy her, and Paige has been stationed out here alone. Neither the Order nor its representatives inspire confidence at the moment.”
He gestured toward a line of trees on the other side of the field.
“There’s not a lot of visibility over there, and I find that makes me uncomfortable. Let’s take a look.”
As we walked toward the stand of trees, the sound of moving water grew louder, and the crunch of spent cornstalks gave way to the crunch of dead leaves.
The trees, maybe fifty yards deep on each side, lined a small, rocky creek that flowed into the distance. The trees were old and gnarled, their crabby black branches reaching for the moon-bright sky.
Winter was steps away, and if the sudden biting cold was any sign, it wasn’t going to be a nice one. The air had become frosty enough to suck the air from your lungs and bring tears to your eyes.
“It’s getting colder,” I said.
Ethan nodded. He took my hand, and we followed the stream for a bit in the quiet dark, then crossed through the trees to the edge of another field. This one was bounded by a fence and held a scattering of cows.
“I think I prefer woods to empty fields,” I said. “Trees seem safer somehow.”
“I suppose,” Ethan said quietly. He dropped my hand and rubbed his temples.
“Another headache?”
He nodded, then took my hand again. We made it only a few more steps before he wrenched his hand from mine and began scrubbing his hands across his arms.
“Christ almighty,” he swore.
“Ethan?” I tentatively asked. He was obviously in pain, but I had no idea how to help. And when he looked at me, there was fear in his eyes that made my blood run cold.