Page 56 of Signs and Wonders

“Look.” Evan pointed to the wall at the back of the grotto. A glass case recessed into the stone held a painted, three-dimensional version of Swain’s St. Louis Marie de Montfort crest.

“Watch the door,” Evan said. “This is the best chance we’re going to get.”

“Be careful.” Brent pulled the door shut behind him.

“You too,” Evan murmured although Brent couldn’t hear him.

Under other circumstances, the spa would be serene, tempting Evan to think about a couples’ getaway. Now, Evan couldn’t ignore a tingle down his spine that warned him to hurry.

He crossed the stone deck, skirting the pool, alert for any traps or odd sigils that might suggest magical protections. He didn’t see any, and no guardians sprang from the shadows, making Evan wonder if Swain had relied on hiding in plain sight.

Evan reached the wall and stared up at the case.It really does look like a relic in a cathedral. Swain’s definitely got an ego.He took a glass-breaking tool from his pack, the kind used for car wreck escapes, and pulled over a chair to stand on so he could reach the nook.

The case shattered on the first blow, and Evan froze, expecting alarms. When none sounded, he cleared away the remaining slivers and reached in to lift the relic from its place, feeling a bit like Indiana Jones.

He had expected the relic to be made of metal or ceramic. Instead, it was an intricately carved piece of painted wood that appeared to be ancient.

Evan’s head snapped up at the sound of slow applause.

“Bravo. You’ve found it. Now whatever will you do with it?” Fletcher Swain stood in a recessed area of the wall, probably the hidden doorway to the cave beyond that Evan had intended to look for.

Swain looked unchanged from his old photographs—tall, blond, arrogantly handsome with a large, lanky frame. Evan would have guessed him to be in his late forties if he hadn’t known the man had existed for more than a century.

Evan ran toward the doors. He heard aclick-thunkas the locks turned, cutting him off from Brent.

“It was unwise of you to come here.” Swain took a step forward as Evan moved away. “I knew of you and your partner—and your troublesome friends. You’ve gotten in the way of my plans more than once. No matter. You’ve done me a favor, giving me two extra descendants in addition to the Davis boy. A feast.”

Shit. He’s got Cameron.

Evan wasn’t sure he would get out of here alive, but there was one thing he could do to help Seth destroy Swain.

He palmed another rune disk, knowing which spell it activated without needing to look by the feel of the carving on the back. Then Evan held the relic in both hands and called to his rote magic, speaking a word of power. Fire burned from his palms, engulfing the old dry wood, burning it to ash as Swain howled.

“Fuck you.” Evan lifted his head defiantly.

“You’re going to pay for that,” Swain snarled. A gesture sent Evan flying, landing hard against the rough stone wall. His head spun, and he wondered how Swain would get his blood off the rocks before the customers returned.

Before he could collect his wits to protect himself, invisible hands swept Evan from where he had fallen and threw him into the pool. He landed on the water with asmack, and a force pushed him under, holding him below the surface.

Evan held his breath as long as he could, but Swain showed no sign of releasing him. When his burning lungs couldn’t hold out any longer, Evan released his breath, watching the bubbles rise and knowing that he was going to drown.

I’m sorry, Seth.Evan stopped struggling, and he lost consciousness.

12

SETH

Meanwhile…

Tyler pacedwhile Seth and Teag coordinated the DOS attack, pulling in data Brent and Parker had found to pinpoint the servers so they knew which to include and which to leave alone.

“We don’t have time for this,” Tyler fretted.

Seth understood Tyler’s jitters. “Everything’s already set up. We just have to run the program.”

“Why is it taking so long? We don’t know what’s happening to Cam or Evan.”

Seth knew that Tyler didn’t really want a lesson on the complexity of the hacking necessary to crash the coven’s servers at the Hub. He had felt the same anger and impotence waiting to save Evan from dangerous situations. Seth knew that for someone with military training like Tyler, the urge to jump into the fray was even harder to deny.

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