Page 38 of Dead End

“Ashley’s just about finished the spell,” Steven said in a low voice.

Ashley’s whole face brightened. “I see you, Nana.”

Nana Pratt instinctively touched her hair. “Do I look any older than the last time you saw me?”

“You haven’t aged a day,” Steven said, offering her a kiss on the cheek.

“I’m so happy to see you both. It’s been a harrowing couple of weeks.”

Steven glanced at me. “I’m glad you’re back safe and sound. I know Phaedra feared the worst.”

Ashley elbowed his arm. “She did not. She was worried, but she had faith everything would work out, and look at that, it did.”

“Have a caramel square and talk to me,” Nana Pratt said. “I want to know everything new under the sun.”

I left the room to give the family privacy. I checked on Kane to find him still asleep. I passed Ray on the staircase.

“Did you hear that?” he asked.

“What?”

“Listen.”

I held my breath, as if somehow that would help my hearing. Then I heard it. A distant shriek that filled my veins with ice water. I thundered down the steps to the front porch.

“More demons?” Ray asked.

“Doubtful.”

Another shriek. Nana Pratt joined us on the porch.

“What’s that hideous sound?” she asked.

The sky rippled. A long, dark shadow blotted the expanse of blue. Ray canopied his eyes.

“What is that?” Nana Pratt asked with a quiver in her voice.

My palms grew moist. “Nothing good.”

The shadow peeled away from the sky, and a grim, gray cloud descended upon us.

“It looks like some kind of giant bird,” Ray said.

It was. Easily the size of a Cessna Skyhawk, its feathers appeared worn and ragged, like they’d been dusted with charcoal. This bird was far from freshly hatched. It had seen things and endured. And now this ancient creature was about to dive-bomb my house.

“Goran! Weapons!”

Steven poked his head outside. “Nana, what’s going on?”

“Stay inside, Steven.” She shoved him backward and shut the door. “Can the ward be breached from above?”

“I’m not sure,” I said, although I was fairly certain I knew the answer. The upgraded ward was designed with two-legged visitors in mind, an oversight I was about to regret.

Darkness blanketed the yard as the bird swooped low enough to skim the highest point of the Castle. A few tiles broke loose and fell to the ground.

Ray placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Nothing that can’t be fixed. I won’t even need a ladder.”

“I will. How am I supposed to get high enough to fight this thing?”

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