Page 124 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

Freya’s gaze met mine, and my realization was mirrored in her eyes.

“Anchor,” we said at the same time.

“That’s what Marie called you!” Cady said. “She said you were Freya’s Anchor.”

“But from what we learned in the Warlock Cave,” Freya countered, “Anchors are magically bound witches and warlocks. How was Walker my Anchor before he ever became a warlock?”

“This is all wildly interesting,” Ryder interrupted, “but can we get to the task at hand? Sorry about your dad, rugrat, but we’re no closer to finding the ripple.”

I guess his patience had a two-minute time limit.

“You’re right,” Cady agreed and raised her chin. “We can figure that out and help Dad later. Right now, Elle needs us.”

I admired her strength and forced myself to mirror it, not matter how badly I wanted to sink into my despair over the monster we had transformed Dad into.

I’ll find a way to fix it,I vowed.

Cadence had been right. At the end of the day, Dad was family, and family showed up for each other.

I just needed to find Elle before I showed up for him again.

“Okay,” Freya conceded. “Any thoughts on where a magical ripple in the universe might be hiding on your property?”

“Is there a border somewhere?” Ryder asked. “The lake between the wolves and the vamps is ripe with power.”

“Our only bordering supernatural neighbor is the wolves,” Cady said.

Ryder scratched his chin. “Yeah, there’s nothing there.”

I cleared my throat. “Was there a reason why Josephine chose that spot to, um, to—”

“To kill my mother?” Freya said and shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think it’s just where Mom intercepted her before Josephine could get to Cadence.”

“There must be something we’re missing,” Cady said. “I mean, there was a whole basement hiding under the house that we didn’t know about.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “not to mention the creepy, locked closet.”

As my words settled, we shared disbelieving looks.

“You don’t think,” I said.

“It’s possible,” Freya interrupted and rose to her feet. “There was a lot of magic emanating from that thing.”

Ryder nodded. “Mara agreed when I suggested it was on the property, but she never said it couldn’t have been located in the house itself.”

“Or directly beneath it,” Cady agreed.

Disbelief and hope warred inside me.

“I guess we’re going home, Cady,” I said.

Though I missed the farmhouse and the memories of Mom it held, guilt ate at me for returning without Dad.

“I know it won’t be easy going back there,” Freya said. “If you’d rather Ryder and I check it out by ourselves—”

“No,” Cadence and I said at the same time.

“We’ll go,” I said. “Who knows? It might be another Warlock Cave situation, and you can’t get in without some Reid magic.”

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