Page 32 of Prey

“You said there was a fire right? That’s their usual method. If you just breathe it in then you’ll never notice,” she tells him.

Kadi, Ethan, and I all look at each other. So that’s why they burned them. It wasn’t to cover up what they had done. They knew Ethan was there and did this, hoping to be able to use him in the future when his shifter abilities manifested. Those sick fucks, doing something like that to a child. A child whose parents they had just brutally murdered in front of him.

“They knew I was there the whole time. They knew, and they still did all of that anyway,” he whispers. A growl comes from his throat and his eyes go molten gold.

Kadi looks at me grimly.

I can feel Ethan’s anguish through the bond. I can’t even imagine how it must feel to know that all these years you thought you had escaped from the bad guys but they had just been using you. The amount of guilt he felt for what happened to his parentswas already heavy enough. Now, this will just add even more to it.

I reach out for him and squeeze his hand in solidarity, “We are going to find them, and then wewillavenge our families and everyone else’s.”

He nods, still looking angry. I can’t blame him. To find out his parents were just collateral damage to them trying to put their hooks into him must have been a huge blow emotionally.

Now, we also find out that my father may still be alive? It’s a lot to take in. I move to the island and sit down on one of the stools. The others follow me until we are all seated, except for Grams who moves to the stove to make some tea. We all need a minute to catch our breath.

Kadi and Ethan both watch me closely. It’s odd seeing Ethan look at me with concern when I’m so used to seeing nothing but hatred from him. I know he is hurting inside too, but the fact that he’s worrying about me is more comforting than I thought it would be.

My father might still be alive.

It’s hard to try to wrap my brain around that. All these years without him. Is he also a pawn? Is he working with them? There are so many unanswered questions right now.

Grams finishes the tea and brings it over. I get up and grab four cups, bring them over, and pass them out to everyone.

We need to come up with a plan. If he is in a magic blocking cell, a locator spell won’t work, but…I think I may have an idea.

“Grams, is there a way we can track where this package came from? I know we can’t do a locator spell on Dad, but we should be able to reverse the path of the package right? If they are plotting against us, I would imagine that they would probably make it somewhat easy for us to trace it back,” I say.

I can see her thinking.

“Essentially yes, the only thing I’m concerned with is if they have some kind of spell on it that may have negative consequences. We should take everything back to the basement to thoroughly check it over before we do any kind of spell with it,” she says.

I agree. We know that the medallion is safe, but we need to check the wand and maybe do a spell on the letter too and see if we can figure out who actually wrote it. It’s always possible that someone forged it, though I don’t really think that’s the case here. I’m not sure why, just a feeling.

We all take a last drink of our tea and stand. I grab the box and we head down to the basement. The guys grab the huge table and put it to the center of the room under the big light. Setting the box down, I float the contents out with my magic and arrange them on the table for Grams to help me look them over.

The guys both lean back against the wall so that we have room to work. They look like angry sentinels. It feels weird to have someone, two someones, wanting to protect me, even if it's from something they can’t see.

Turning back to the table, I look at each item. There are three pages of the letter, written on the front side only, and the wand. I’ve also arranged the box and the tissue paper too just in case there is something we missed in the wrapping.

I’d really like to ask the guys if they could get Joaquin over here to help, but I feel like I’ve already asked him for too much the last couple days. We can just go off the information he already gave us.

Grams runs a hand through the air above the items and I see her pull back her hand, almost as if she got burned.

“What is it?” I ask with concern.

“There’s something…” she trails off and I see her eyes go white. She’s having a premonition. Ethan rushes over with a chair and Kadi comes over to help me sit Grams down until she comes toher senses again. She has fallen in the past and some of the other witches have called me freaking out.

I chew on my finger. It’s a nervous habit I’ve had my whole life. Something tells me that when she comes to, I’m not going to like what she has to say. Ethan and Kadi stand on either side of me, pulsing comfort through the bond while we wait.

After a few minutes she opens her eyes and looks straight at me, grief and hope warring on her features. “Shasta, he is still alive.”

I sink to the floor in shock. I mean, we knew this was a possibility, but to get confirmation is staggering. Kadi reaches down and pulls me to my feet, seating me in yet another chair that Ethan brings over.

I look at Grams. She’s trying to gather her thoughts about what she saw and I know better than to press her for details until she gets it all straight in her head. She gestures for Ethan and Kadi to also sit down and Ethan brings over two more chairs.

Where are all these chairs coming from? It’s not like this is a community hang out spot. I look around in confusion to see a closet that has a stack of chairs in it. They haven’t ever been here before so I’m assuming Grams had some kind of vision that they would be needed. Her magic is weird sometimes, but I’m glad they are here because I’m sure my legs won’t hold me right now.

“He’s in bad shape Shasta. Barely recognizable. He’s definitely in a cell. The only thing I got a glimpse of is the room the cell is in. He’s been mistreated severely. Probably the whole time he’s been there. He was screaming something at someone I couldn’t see though, so I don’t think he’s cooperating with them at all. While I couldn’t tell where they were, I got the vague sense that it isn’t far from here,” she says solemnly.

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