Page 44 of Wind with a Chance of Wolfsbane

“Mina?” I asked, confused as to why she wasn’t happier.

Lester was a jerk, but he was also a highly skilled hunter. Way better than us.

Mina glanced back at the Weird Sisters and Naked-Guy. “W-why are you here? And what was that laugh we heard? It wasn’t you. You’re creepy, but notthatcreepy, and why were you hiding in the back of a cave?”

Lester jutted out his chin and cracked his knuckles, his expression hard.

“Lester?” I asked, trying to walk toward him.

“No,” said Mina. “Something isn’t right.”

“He is no friend to either of you,” said Naked-Guy from behind us. “Come. Quickly.”

“No,” said another familiar voice. “Stay.”

Mina and I gasped and bumped into one another, trying to get closer.

Helen emerged from the darkness, holding a dagger in one hand. It was silver, and it wasn’t one I remembered seeing in her stash of weapons.

Lightning flashed behind us, illuminating Helen and the dagger. It was then that I saw the Murray family crest carved into the blade.

Helen held it up, studying it with nothing short of awe and wonder on her face. “Beautiful, right? Made it myself from melted family coins. Fitting. Don’t you think?”

Suddenly, the coin I’d found in the van in Detroit made sense.

“Aunt Helen?” asked Mina, her voice tight. “W-what’s going on? What is this?”

Helen tipped her head somewhat and brought the dagger to her lips. “Hmm, guess you could call it an intervention.”

My mind raced with everything that had happened over the course of the last two weeks. Of the failed kidnapping attempt in Detroit, of the number of times Mina and I had just so happened to overhear Helen or one of the other slayers talking about the big baddie they were hunting in the area, and how the map Mina had found was randomly left out. I tensed. “You planned all this.”

Helen locked gazes with me. “Always the smart one, aren’t you?”

“Why?” asked Mina.

Helen laughed, sounding maniacal. “Because it turns out you two will prove useful after all.”

“Girls,” said Raven-Hair. “Come to us. Time grows short. Trust her not.”

Mina and I took a step backward.

The wolf guy and the Weird Sisters weren’t exactly great to be aligned with, but they certainly felt like better choices than Helen, Lester, and whoever the owner of the disembodied laugh was.

“I’ve waited years for this,” said Helen, narrowing her gaze on us, her lip curling. “You’ve been dead weight since Alvin and Kate died. The two of you were supposed to die that night too. That was the plan. Kill them and you. Clear a path to power. Ash and Simon interrupted everything.”

My stomach tightened. Was she saying she’d had a hand in the deaths of our parents?

Mina snarled. “Bitch.”

I caught her arm this time, holding her in place to keep her from charging Helen. “No. I think she wants you to come at her.”

“She does,” said Raven-Hair. “What calls this prison home is far older than you can imagine. It was locked away here for a good reason. She seeks to grant it freedom in exchange for power. Her lover is part of the plan. His mind is easy for my sisters and I to read—he is simple.”

I glanced back at her and nodded. “Yes. Simple does sum him up nicely.”

“Let me kill that one,” Lester said as he glanced toward Helen. “Promise I’ll make it slow and painful.”

“Try it, I dare you,” warned Mina.

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