it. I poured myself some of the steaming liquid, dumping a good amount of cream and sugar into it.
“I’m coming with you,” she said as I lifted the teacup to my mouth.
I set the cup down before I took a sip. “You’re coming with me?”
“To the abandoned amusement park,” she said. “That is where the Coven of Darkness is, and it’s where we will find the girl.”
I blinked at her.
“How did you know?” I’d not had the chance to tell anyone about what Marge and Homer had given me.
Penny sighed. “Because the coven phoned me after you left, and they propositioned me.”
21
I circled my hands around the teacup and suddenly wished I had whiskey in it instead of just tea. I looked at Penny across from me. “You were propositioned by the Coven of Darkness?”
“Only Missy and I are left in the south from the original Coven of Silver. The younger members have scattered farther even than I had thought, and the two locals are not willing to help. And so the young ones from the Coven of Darkness came to me for help, which I find interesting.” She tapped what I had a feeling was a spell book in front of her. “Apparently they tried a spell that binds demons to the caller. They wanted to make themselves stronger, but something went wrong. Not that I’m surprised. If they had not killed off all their mentors, they would not be in this pickle. It may be too late for me to help them.”
I was already racing ahead with ideas. “Do they have Gran and Charlotte?”
“They have Charlotte,” Penny nodded. “They admitted as much.”
Hope surged within me. Maybe this would be easier than I’d hoped. “What if we make a deal? You help them with their spell, and we get Charlotte? Would they go for that?”
Footsteps rumbled down the steps and Crash ducked his head into the kitchen, interrupting us. “I have to go. Bree. Scarlet says the fae hunting the wings are close to finding them. I have to get there before her, and before the rest of the fae. They think they are in the St. Louis Number 1 Cemetery.”
My jaw dropped open. “So I was right! That’s why the ghosts are so mean.”
He blinked. “What?”
“The ghosts there, they freaked out when I tried to go onto the cemetery grounds, and they repelled the necromancer too.” I stood and went to him. “Be careful, the ghosts were super strong. They dropped me to my knees.”
He nodded and then, as if he couldn’t resist, he strode to my side and bent to kiss me. Quick, but far from impersonal. My mouth softened under his, the heat rolling between us like a sudden flame that warmed me through and through. “You be careful too.” He pulled away, his hand lingering on my face for a moment before he turned and jogged out of the house.
Feish was right behind him, and she glowered at me, lips held tightly together in what was an impressive feat for her. “I have to go with him.”
I smiled. “You two be careful. Try to keep him out of trouble.”
She snorted, a burbling noise that sounded far wetter than it should have.
Penny waited for the door to shut behind them. “Why is he looking for the angel wings?”
“Semper mea spell mean anything to you?” I asked her, and she groaned, her eyelids fluttering closed.
“Damn that Karissa! She just can’t let him be!” She thumped her cane to the floor. “At least if he gets to them first, it’s one off your list.” She was silent for a moment, studying me, then added, “You be careful with that one. Hotter than sin, that fae king, and twice as dangerous to the heart and body.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” I said. “Actually, tell me how are we going to get Charlotte back.” Her mother had to be losing her mind with fear, not knowing where her little girl was, and my stomach twisted into knots of empathy for her. We needed to hurry. I should not have slept so long.
Penny nodded. “The situation is not good. We have until sunrise to get Charlotte away from the Coven of Darkness, or they will mark her as one of theirs, and she will be lost to us forever.”
I spluttered on my tea and shot to my feet. “Then what are we waiting for? Sunrise isn’t that far off!” Four hours, maybe a little less.