Page 4 of Premonition of Peace

I mouthed “thank you” to her and Sienna pulled Hallie into a hug, saying goodbye.

“Can I sleep over with you guys?” Mist asked, not hiding her wariness of Lucifer. I couldn’t blame her given he compelled her to not compel him.

“My Angel sleepover too?” Hallie beamed, staring up at her with absolute adoration on her face.

“Of course, Mist. You’re always welcome,” Piper answered easily.

“Great, all settled. Ready to go, Sienna?” Sasha pushed, heading toward the door.

“I’m coming. Bye, baby.” Sienna blew Hallie one more kiss and gave us all a wave. A second later, the door slammed shut behind them.

“Mist, why don’t you take the kiddos into your room to hang out?” I suggested as soon as they were out of the apartment. Mist looked at me curiously but followed directions.

Everyone but me had super hearing, so sending the kids to the other room didn’t do much. Hopefully Mist would be enough of a distraction. They were all at an age where secrets were hard to keep.

As the door closed to Mist’s bedroom, silence fell over the group. I took a deep breath before finally speaking the dreaded words that had been swirling in my head.

“That wasn’t Sasha.”

two

NATHALIE

The silence hungover us like a guillotine. Everyone stared at me for one beat…two…and then the blade fell.

“What do you mean it’s not Sasha?” Piper demanded, sounding upset. Knowing her, it was probably at least partially due to irritation that she hadn’t noticed as well.

“I’m telling you something else slipped through and has taken up residence in her body,” I stressed, making the situation bare. “The real Sasha—our Sasha—is still in the veil.”

“I noticed something was weird,” Anders admitted slowly. “I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but the energy around her was not what it used to be.”

“She did seem kind of off, sure,” Piper agreed, crossing her arms, “but I guess I just chalked it up to the effects of the veil. Who wouldn’t feel off after something like that?”

“The magic surrounding her wasn’t death magic,” Ronan confirmed as his brow furrowed in deep thought. “It was chaos.”

“Who the hell would come back with chaos magic?” Piper asked, brushing her thumb over her bottom lip in contemplation.

“Well, to answer that, we should ask ourselveswhoin the veil has chaos magic. Then go from there,” Lucifer interjected as he crossed the room. I avoided his unsettling, gold gaze as he seated himself in the center of my sofa and spread both arms across the back—like the king of the apartment.As if.

“That’s a rare magic, and there aren’t many supernaturals that have it,” Anders said, rubbing at his jaw thoughtfully. “Even in the veil.”

“It has to be someone that also knows us,” I added.

“Why would you say that?” he asked.

I looked between each of them as if it were obvious.

“That entity knew about us, well enough to blend in. While she seemed off, no one would have thought that wasn’t Sasha, if not for the change in magic. We would have assumed she was just different after coming out of the veil. That goes beyond watching us for a short time and implies they’ve been at it a while.” I glanced over at Lucifer before moving my eyes back to the group. “She was also very excited to seehim.”

“Little witch, are you jealous?” Lucifer asked, his tone dripping with satisfaction. I didn’t answer. I didn’t even look at him, choosing instead to roll my eyes to the ceiling and then train them back on the group as a whole.

“So, we’re sifting through people who know us, know Lucifer, and have chaos magic.” I ached to disappear in my memory loci and pull some files. There must be something in there that could narrow it down.

“That does give us a better starting point to work from.” Piper sighed as she shifted her stance, crossing one ankle over the other.

“It does,” I paused, thinking carefully how to phrase my next thought. “But I also feel like that makes things worse. Any of the people we know that would have had chaos magic . . . it could be a disaster if they were back.”

Lucifer’s eyes narrowed, his eyes scanning my face. “Do you have a suspect in mind?”

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