Page 8 of Which Witch is Willing?
“Why did you choose to poof into the Sanctuary instead of the kitchen or somewhere else like the castle grounds so we knew you were alive?’ Tierra asked.
“I haven’t a fucking clue. The only thought I had was to find a safety.”
And what could be safer than their mother’s sanctuary? “So why wouldn’t it let you leave once the threat was gone?” Tierra asked.
“Like I said, it acted like a panic room, the kind you find in mega rich people’s homes,” Aerin explained when Tierra looked at her blankly. “You need to get out more.”
“Rich folks are about as common as hen's teeth in the bayou,” Moira said. “Only reason I knew what she was yackin’ on about was that I caught that movie with Jodie Foster a while back.”
“We’re all safe now and together, so the room should release us.” Claire moved to the door and tried to open it. Sure enough, it didn’t budge. “Any ideas on how we break out?”
* * *
“They’ve been gone too long,”Killian said, standing with his ankles crossed, leaning against the kitchen counter as his fellow brothers finished off the scotch they’d found in the pantry.
Julian was lost in his head, obviously going over what they needed to do as their second command center in Port Townsend had been destroyed in as many months. First, by flood produced by a vengeful Moira, and now fire from Claire.
Would their next place be blown away by a tornado created by Aerin, or would Tierra have the earth swallow it whole, or Goddess forbid, send it to Hell with them locked inside like she had him? He mentally shuddered at the memory.
“Dru, you want to send Claire a mental IM and tell her to hurry the fuck up? First item on my docket is to instruct Moira in the finer points of self-defense. She would have been killed without Aerin’s little trick. I won’t have her unprotected like that again.” Nick slammed his empty glass down on the table like a judge’s gavel.
“I can’t seem to reach her,” Dru admitted.
Killian stood up straight. “I’m going after them.” Tierra had promised not to leave the house, and if she lied to him, she would pay. “Julian, take the basement, Nick and Dru, the second and third floors. I’ll search the attic.” Something was going on up there in that room. He’d been puzzled over it ever since he’d heard about Tierra’s collapse up there when the babe had erected a force field around her to block out a Satan-possessed Aerin.
He made to quit the room and then paused and warned them, “Don’t disturb Justine. Trust me on this.” Then he vaulted up the stairs.
The attic was empty except for Jinx, who sat on guard along a barren wall, staring at him with its freaky, intelligent glass-green eyes. Boxes and trunks were stacked neatly along another wall, which had to be Tierra’s doing. He appreciated an organized woman. The kitchen was the same. While her bedroom was a type of logical chaos. More so to do with the abundance of color, flowing scarves, and draped clothing rather from messy clutter.
He stood and listened, scanning the room for any hidden doors. Nothing. But then why was the cat there?
Taking a step toward it, Killian stopped when it hissed, baring its sharp fangs.
“You really think you’re a match for me?” He swore the feline lifted its lip in a sneer. Could it understand him? It understood Tierra, but then her powers as an earth witch included the ability to talk to the beasts of the forest.
He faced down the cat. “What are you protecting?”I can’t believe I’m talking to a cat.
A low, hair-raising snarl emanated from the diminutive creature.
Definitely protecting or guarding something, but Killian couldn’t see anything hidden, feel any magic vibrations, or mirages in the air. He walked around the perimeter of the room, taking in the size of the lower floors and the silhouette of the manor from outside.
Something was off.
Another low growl rumbled from the cat.
Yeah, he was onto something.
A bat flew at him from the eaves, and he swatted at it, missing the quick flying rodent.
What were the witches concealing up here?
“Did you find them?” Dru asked, entering the attic followed by Nick and Julian. Julian still carried his damn trunk. The man hadn’t let it out of his sight since he’d located it in the castle rubble. Killian understood how important it was to Julian, hell to all of them, but he needed to find a way to cloak the thing. With his suit covered in concrete dust, torn and ragged, he looked like a carpetbagger.
“I found something.” Killian indicated Jinx, now standing on all fours, with her ruff up and tail twitching, giving them a low warning roar that sounded like a diesel engine on a mac truck. “There’s a hidden room here. Take in the dimension of the attic space that you see and compare them to the floors below.
Julian nodded. “The room does seem to be missing a considerable amount of square footage.”
“So, where’s the damn door?” Nick asked, his mood more sour than usual.
