Page 55 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

I smirked at the woman’s description of Cadence. The girl was cuteanda bit bloodthirsty.

“Yeah,” I agreed, “she’s a good kid. Thanks for letting her interrupt the line.”

She waved me off. “It’s no problem. I’m only using the loo because I have long travels ahead.”

“Where are you going?” I asked.

She stiffened, and her smile became forced. Her white teeth flashed. “Across the sea.”

Hot, sticky blood raining down from the sky.

A slash of white teeth between lush lips.

This was her.

This was the girl from my vision.

Wasshethe chimera?

I struggled to believe it. The girl had less magic than I possessed in the tip of my pinky, but the tracking spell had indicated that the chimera would travel by sea.

As my heart raced, my magic thrummed, and the woman’s nostrils flared. Though no magic of her own was detectable, she sensed mine.

“Excuse me,” she said.

When she turned to leave, I grabbed her arm. She twisted free from my grip with surprising deftness and escaped into the fray of the restaurant.

As the ladies behind us in line whispered and gawked, I pounded on the bathroom door without taking my eyes off the woman.

“Cady!” I yelled. “Time to move.”

The woman slipped out of the café, and I cursed.

“Stay with her,” I told Arion and pointed at the bathroom door.

As I weaved through the crowded cafe, I pulled out my phone, but the goddessdamned thing was dead. I hoped the others would find me without it.

I stepped outside and squinted against the sunshine but quickly spotted the woman. She walked briskly down the street with her head down, but she moved with supernatural grace that stood out among the humans.

On the sidewalk across the street from the woman, I trailed her but did my best to keep my pace nonchalant.I couldn’t afford to draw any attention to witch-kind after Walker’s stunt with Nathan. Exposing magic to humans once in a lifetime was deadly, but doing it twice was egregiously foolish.

Farther and farther up Decatur Street, she walked. The sun beat down on us, and sweat trickled down my spine. When she turned left, I raced across traffic to keep up with her. A car horn blared, but I ignored it.

So much for not drawing attention.

As I followed the woman, another thought occurred to me. She had mentioned traveling across the sea, yet she walked farther and farther from the port. She could’ve lied, but she hadn’t spoken the words like a lie. She had spoken them like a truth she hadn’t meant to share.

As we approached an intersection, the woman disappeared from my sight. One minute, my eyes were trained on the back of her head, and the next, she was gone.

Maybe she has some magic after all.

Humans milled around me, but the dark purr of power caught my attention. Transfixed, I stared at the open door to the towering, gray mansion.

The beaming sunlight dimmed around the old, gray building. Its awnings, balconies, iron grillwork, and stone were in good condition, but its energy was darker than the rest of the city. It reeked of decay. Death and darkness loomed in every one of its refined edges.

It reminded me of the dread I had experienced in my vision.

As I stared at the creepy building, I grew more and more convinced that the chimera waited for me inside. Maybe the woman’s true power lie in her ability to conceal her magic until she wished to use it on her enemies.

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