Page 105 of Magic's Rise

“There’s also the fact that our primary witch suspects were all locked up when the fire started.” I lean back against Haut. “It’s impossible for any of them to have been behind this. Ugh, how am I going to tell Aris that I let her ancestral grimoire burn up? And right after I found the moon madness charm and everything.”

Aspen’s head turns. “You found it? But you don’t speak German.”

“That’s what the internet is for.” I pat my pockets for my phone and hold it out to him. “This is all that’s left.”

He opens my pictures, thumbing through them. “A lot of these titles are ones I saw in the other Rothaven grimoires. In your grimoires back home, too, Rowe, which makes sense?—”

He freezes before turning the screen toward me. “This is what you were coming to show me?”

My eyes cross to focus, and I nod. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

“This isn’t a charm…” He shakes his head. “Well, it could be used as one, if applied correctly…

He pinches his fingers on the screen and spreads them to zoom in.

All at once, he bolts to his feet, then stumbles with a pained cry when his injured leg protests.

Tris extricates himself from our pile and rises to offer him a shoulder to lean on. “You better not have popped those stitches.”

“That doesn’t matter right now.” He limps through the chaos toward the pack house. “I know why no one could figure out the barrier.”

Haut and I scramble off the dirt to follow.

“What did you discover?” I demand.

“We were thinking too small. It’s not just one spell, it’s three, one on top of the other.” Aspen waves my phone at me. “I need to reference Aris’s other grimoires.”

“Haut!” Griffen yells, trying to put out a new fire, while Levi beats out more flames with a blanket. “We need more hands!”

When Haut hesitates, I nudge him. “Go. We can’t let the whole compound burn down.”

His thumb sweeps over my cheek and comes away dark with soot. Bending, he brushes a kiss over my lips before he turns and runs over to help.

A thick haze fills the air as we continue forward through the chaos. When we near the Alpha’s cabin, my nose wrinkles and my face scrunches with disgust at the stench coming from its direction, like an unholy mix of mouthwash and burnt herbs.

I glance at Aspen and Tris from the corner of my eye. “Ugh, do you guys smell that?”

Aspen and Tris look at me with confusion.

“The smoke destroyed my sense of smell,” Aspen admits, his handsome features twisted with pain.

“No… Wait, the potion!” Eyes wide, Tris turns toward the cabin, bringing Aspen along with him. “I left it on the stovetop!”

Aspen pales. “We shouldn’t leave that unguarded. Whoever started this fire wants us to fail in fixing the barrier, and if the brew is ruined, it will be another setback.”

“Shit.” Tris drags Aspen along as he heads for the porch. “We need to?—”

“Go speak to Aris.” I step in front of them and hold up my hands. “I can go oversee the stinky brew.”

“You shouldn’t be alone.” Tris’s gaze flickers back to the destroyed meeting house. “Especially now.”

A shiver goes down my spine. None of us should be alone, but two things need to happen right now, and there are only three of us.

Before I can figure out a way to be in two places at once, a familiar werewolf jogs up to us.

“Hey, are you guys hurt?” Jacob asks, his voice laced with anxiety. “Is Kaela okay?”

“Perfect timing.” I latch on to his arm. “Come to the Alpha’s cabin with me, and I’ll tell you what’s happening.”

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