Page 90 of Shadow's End

Eli shook his head. “Not according to the Vic Emergency app.”

“Is Castle Rock in any danger?”

“If the wind changes, it might be, but right now it seems centralized in the forest above Eureka Reef.”

“That fire happened at a very convenient moment, if you ask me,” Monty said. “It’s certainly kept the rangers busy.”

“There’s no indication it was deliberately lit, is there?” I asked sharply.

“No, but there’s no indication it wasn’t either.” He tapped his phone screen. “Dusk is around nine tonight. Our main problem is the fact that these vamps will be expecting a man to bring Belle in, and they’re familiar with all of us,”

“I’d normally suggest we grab a ranger,” Ashworth said. “But aside from the fact they’re all occupied, there’s a good chance they know them by sight, too.”

“What about Levi?”

I glanced at Monty. “What about him?”

“He has a van, and he’ll be able to scent anyone approaching long before we could magically. And, as a bonus, by werewolf standards he’s built like a brick shithouse. That could come in handy if things kick off into a fight.”

While that was true, the last thing I wanted to do was put someone else in the path of danger, especially when that someone was Jaz’s husband. “He’s not protected against magic?—”

“We can make another band easily enough,” Monty cut in. “Hell, I’ll even give him that telepathic protection band I have sitting around. Between both of those, he’ll be better protected than any of us.”

“We could ask,” Belle said, glancing at me. “The worst he can do is say no.”

I hesitated, then dragged out my phone and made the call. Levi didn’t say no. In fact, he was surprisingly enthusiastic. But then, werewolves were never shy about stepping into a fight, and Jaz had no doubt kept him updated on everything that had been going on over the last few days. I just hoped that the shit didn’t hit the fan, because if he got hurt, Jaz might never forgive us.

“He said he’ll meet us at the Muckleford Community Center at eight fifteen.”

“Should give us plenty of time to set everything up,” Monty said. “In the meantime, we should get down to the business of constructing the protective charm for him.”

We finished our teas and coffees first, then Ashworth pulled out everything we needed to construct the charm for Levi. By thetime we’d finished layering in the multiple protective spells, it was close to five.

After arranging for Ashworth and Eli to pick us up at eight—Ashworth’s truck was probably the lesser known of all of ours—we headed back to the café. As we climbed out of the SUV, a luminous thread of power drifted toward me—it was from Katie’s wellspring rather than the main one.

“I’ll be in in a minute,” I told Belle, and held out a hand to the thread.

As it wrapped around my wrist, Katie said,You need to step into our wellspring. Now. Today. The Fenna are saying it is urgent, that the danger is reaching its culmination and you are not ready.

I frowned.Did they say why they believed the danger is peaking? Because, aside from the fireballs Marie has thrown our way, there’s been no overt sign of the fight ramping up.

Even if my dreams did seem to be suggesting otherwise.

They say the darkness is growing, that it is staining an ever-wider area.

If that’s the case, why haven’t they contacted me and given me the location? We can’t deal with what we don’t know about.

They say they have not mentioned it because you are not ready. That what you have seen in your dreams is only just the beginning.

They were in my dreams? Well, fuck.I don’t know, Katie?—

We have to take the chance. Whatever these vampires are raising is foul?—

Wait—what?

Something is being called. There is blood staining the ground, and it feels foul. I do not know what it is beyond evil, and Gabe is by no means a master when it comes to such things.

Is it just the one evil? Or are there two?Meaning, was it just Marie raising evil, or had Maelle well and truly leapt off thesanity bridge and was now calling something even worse than her punch monster?

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