Though it doesn’t have to be. I hold my hand out in front of me, imagining the fire surrounding my palm. Nothing happens. I close my eyes this time, remember the way the heat of the flames felt against my fingers. Again, nothing.
“Dammit,” I grumble and let out a sigh. I bump into the dresser and feel around for my phone. I grab Ethan’s instead, but turn the flashlight on and get dressed.
“Anora?” Ethan breathes, slowly sitting up. “Are you leaving?”
“Your dad’s home and, uh, I think he has some books about the bird-demons.”
“Oh, okay.” He starts to sit up.
“You should rest,” I tell him, and he shoots me a look.
“I’m fine.”
My brows go up. “I watched Julia sew your skin together. With green thread.”
“She used green this time? It’s better than pink, I guess.” He’s trying to make a joke, but I just stare at him incredulously. Yawning, he slowly uncovers himself, and I can’t help but admire his naked body. Goddamn, he’s a good-looking man.
“Rest, Ethan,” I tell him.
“I’m hungry,” he persists and gets out of bed, turning on the lamp on the nightstand. We both get dressed, I find my phone, and we go downstairs. David is in the living room, and my dagger is unsheathed on the coffee table in front of him.
“Ethan,” he says when we come downstairs, and goes over, looking at his son with concern. He pushes up the sleeve of Ethan’s t-shirt, looking at the bandages and annoying Ethan, who pushes his dad away.
“I’m fine,” Ethan huffs, rolling his eyes. “And starving.”
“I already ordered takeout,” David says and motions to the couch. “Sit.” He eyes me almost suspiciously, and for some reason, it reminds me that Ethan didn’t want Julia to know I was able to summon fire and hold it in my hand—which sounds so fucking wild, I know.
“Julia briefed me on what little she knew,” David starts and motions to the dagger. “You stabbed the demon with this and nothing happened?”
“Right,” Ethan says, putting his arm around me when we sit on the couch. “I stabbed the fucker right in the chest and nothing.”
David picks up the dagger, eyes narrowing as he looks at the blade. “It was forged in magic, yet we were wrong about it the whole time. How disappointing. The dagger isn’t magic but appears to be a medium for magic.”
“Well, that fucking sucks,” Sam huffs, coming into the room.
“Yeah, it does,” I say slowly, and she looks at me with surprise. “If anyone could use the dagger to cause demons to go up in smoke, it would be very handy.”
“And you had no idea it didn’t work for anyone else?” Sam asks me, raising her eyebrows. “You just let Ethan take it and think he’d incinerate a demon only to have nothing happen?”
I shrug. “I was too busy casting love spells to mention it.”
Ethan cocks an eyebrow and looks from me to Sam and back again. “I was the one who told her the dagger was enchanted. Wishful thinking on my part.”
Sam purses her lips and looks away. David looks at Ethan in question, and Ethan shakes his head.
“Did you find anything about the bird-demons?” I ask David.
“We still don’t have much to go on. Do you think you could draw what you saw?”
“Oh,” I wince and look at Ethan. “I’m a terrible artist.”
“Me too,” he says. “I’ll try.”
“Right,” I say eagerly with a nod. “I’ll try too.” I let out a breath. “One got away. It’ll come back, right? If it does, maybe I could get a picture. Or try to kill it without it burning to ashes.”
“Wait.” Sam’s eyes narrow. “You said the dagger didn’t make the thing go up in flames. So how did you make one burn to ash?”
“After I stabbed it, Anora grabbed the hilt and was able to use magic to burn it,” Ethan says, which isn’t an exact lie. He tips his head my way and smiles. “Lucky for me. If Anora wasn’t there, who the fuck knows what would have happened?”
“If Anora wasn’t there, demons wouldn’t have attacked.”
“We don’t know if the bird-demons are after Anora the same way the Pricolici are, and if so, it’s not her fault,” Ethan shoots back, arm tightening around me.
“Nothing good comes from getting involved with witches,” Sam mutters under her breath, earning a glare from David.
“When is the food coming?” Ethan asks.
“Soon,” Julia calls from the kitchen. “I got an alert that it’s on the