tongue. The room is dark, lit only by the weak rays of moonlight that make it through the grime-encrusted windows. Sheets that were probably once white, but are now brown and ragged at the edges, cover the furniture.
Unlived in.
This can’t be right.
Cora? I resist the urge to call out her name and fall into stealth mode, studying the room around me. Footprints in the thick layer of dust on the ground lead out the door.
I follow her trail and peek out into the bare hallway. There is a staircase facing the door leading up to the first floor. The trail leads to them. I follow, wincing at the creak of the floorboards, way too loud in the silence. My boot kicks something. A wooden peg.
I could jump to the top of the staircase, but something holds me back, warning me to be wary, and then I feel a buzz against my skin that teases the hairs to attention.
Stop, it says. Stop now. This is my celestial power. My instinct for danger, for power unseen.
There is something up ahead.
Something hidden.
I look down at the steps, at Cora’s footsteps pressed into the dust that’s collected on the bare wood. They stop here. Right here, as if…As if she jumped.
I keep my eyes on the top of the staircase and reach down to pick up the wooden peg. I clutch it tight, and then I throw it as hard as I can to the top of the stairs. It whizzes through the air, and then a blinding white light steals my vision.
My eyes recover quick enough to see the aurelia of power shrink back to nothing and vanish.
There is a doorway up ahead. A portal, and Cora’s jumped right into it.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Fee
Conah stared at Kristoff, disbelief etched onto his face. “How…” He approached and crouched by the vamp. “Kristoff, old friend. Can you hear me?”
Kristoff’s face remained as smooth and unmoving as glass.
Conah pinched the vamp’s chin and turned his head from side to side. “Kristoff?”
“He won’t respond,” Bastian said gruffly. “Hasn’t moved or spoken since we took down his team.”
“Can you get in his head?” Grayson asked. “We need to know who sent him. Anything about the organization running the super vamp show would help.”
“Are the Magiguard involved?” Conah asked.
“They’ve been informed, but their main duty is to the humans. Vamps being taken isn’t a priority to them. That one falls to the outlier chain of command, and in Necro, that’s the packs and the covens.”
“Of course. Well, I can try to read him. See what’s locked in his mind.”
He pressed his fingers to Kristoff’s temples and closed his eyes.
Long seconds passed as he worked. Grayson put his arm around me and hugged me to his side while we waited.
My throat itched under the bandage as it healed, and the patter of rain hitting the windows filled the silence.
Finally, Conah sat back on his haunches. “Paper and pen. Please.”
Bobby rushed to find the items and was back in less than a minute.
Conah scrawled something on the notepad. “It’s a mess in there. A jumble. But there was one image I saw over and over. I believe Kristoff was trying to communicate with me. I believe he’s still in there.” He finished scrawling and handed the notepad to Grayson. “I saw this. I’m sorry it isn’t more.”
Grayson cursed softly and then tipped the pad toward me. I stared at the circular image of a snake eating its tail.
“Mother fu—”
The air crackled, and Uri appeared by the lounge. His mouth was tight, eyes too dark in his face.
“We have a problem,” he said.
I waited for the second pop. For Cora to appear, but it didn’t come.
“Where’s Cora?”
“That’s the problem,” Uri said. “She’s gone.”
“A portal.” I paced. “Like when we went to the club.” I turned to Grayson. “Like when the vamps took you.”
“They took me through a portal, yes,” Grayson confirmed. “Bright white light, and then we were in the museum.”
“So, we need to go after her.”
“It’s not that simple,” Uri said. “The fact she didn’t come back out means wherever she is, she’s stuck. No jumping out once in, which suggests powerful wards.”
“Jasper…She has Jasper. He’ll get her out. He got her out of a vault that was magicked to keep intruders in.”
“Then why isn’t she here?” Conah said. “We have to consider the possibility that something’s gone wrong, interfered with their connection, maybe even trapped Jasper in there with her.”