Page 29 of The Secret Life of a Witch

My hand instinctively travels to my pocket. “The Illuminating Horror House of Truth?” I ask, and he nods. “How did you know about the card?”

He taps his ear. “Curse of the demon hearing. I can hear everything that’s going on amongst my kind.”

Hope glimmers in my chest. “So, you’ve heard things about my sister?”

“Hearing things right now,” he clarifies with a smirk. “But to hear what she’s saying will cost you a lot more than what you have in your hand.”

“You can hear her?” I whisper, my voice shaking.

“Don’t trust everything he says,” Hunter warns, holding on to me securely. “Remember what he is.”

The demon glowers at him. Then a devious grin illuminates his face as he focuses on me. “Or maybe you shouldn’t trust anyone. I mean, for all you know, any one of your little friends could have been the one to tell the hybrids where your sister was hidden.”

I freeze. “What do you mean,tell?”

His laughter is all mocking. “What? Did you think they just accidentally stumbled across her body?”

“I don’t know …” Confusion clouds my mind, making me dizzy. “I hadn’t really thought about it. A ton of other bodies have been stolen.”

“From the morgue, where bodies are supposed to be. Very rarely do people keep bodies in their basement.” The demon looks at me like I’m an idiot, and he might be right. “How doyou think the newspaper found out about the theft only minutes afterward, other than maybe the little rat running around in your house momentarily getting a guilty conscience.” He hums a foreign tune under his breath. “Sucks to be Mr. Trickleten. He got into a lot of trouble for printing that piece.”

I think about everything he said, and a cold chill slithers up my back.

I don’t want to believe a demon, but at the same time, with all the charms me and Hunter put all over the basement, there’s no way anything or anyone should’ve been able to find my sister. Yet someone definitely went through a buttload of trouble to get past those charms to get to her. Why? Why go through all the trouble?

“Why would they even want my sister’s body?” I ask quietly. “I mean, why go through all that trouble when the morgues and graveyards are filled with bodies?”

He casually shrugs. “Maybe they weren’t really trying to get her body so much as get ahold of the person who cared about her body. I think it was only an added bonus that they got to add her to the collection of bodies they’re going to sell. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the whole point. Then again, it never is. Demons always have multiple purposes in everything they do.”

I think about the demon in the park and how he warned me not to go near The Illuminating Horror House of Truth. But that wouldn’t make any sense. If hybrid demons were trying to get ahold of me, then why would he warn me to stay away from the entrance to the underground tunnel? Why not just take me then?

“What you’re saying doesn’t make any sense,” I say. “If hybrids wanted me, then they could just take me.”

“Could they?” His tone and look insinuates something, but I have no idea what.

Before I can delve into the subject, he darts his hand out toward me. His knuckles crash into the invisible wall, sending a powerful wave of ripples throughout the room.

The ground quivers as the walls and floor bow back and forth, causing me to lose my balance and stumble forward. Hunter starts to haul me back, but my shoulder connects with the cage wall.

Cold fingers grab me, and I’m yanked forward. I try to throw my weight back, but the demon holds on tightly, dragging me all the way into the cage.

Oh, witches. Oh, witches. Oh, witches!

Panicking, I stab my fingers into his hand while kicking him in the shin. When he stumbles back, I move for my wand. But he lunges forward and snatches it out of my hand. Then he snaps my wand in half, laughing at me.

“Not so cocky now, huh?”

“Shit.” I spin around and run toward Hunter, but my body slams into the invisible wall and I bounce back, landing on my ass.

Hunter’s face pales as he starts to run for me. But Evan grabs him by the arm and yanks him back.

“You won’t be any help getting yourself stuck in there, too,” he tells Hunter firmly. “We need to coax him into letting her go.”

Hunter shoves him off with a furious growl. “This is all your fault.”

Evan gapes at him. “How do you figure?”

“Because …” Hunter reaches up to rake his fingers through his hair, but the strands are too short now and he ends up clawing at his head. “You should’ve put up a better cage!”

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