Page 58 of Sweet Nightmares
One of them had been found. The Ashelle’s then agreed to guard it, but they were brutally murdered. But no one knows by whom.
But Jane would find the answers if it were the last thing she’d ever do.
So that was how she ended up betraying her sister and breaking into the morgue with her sister’s archnemesis. Jane had been looking for the last two years, while Nightmare left her alone, without uncovering anything. Unfortunately, she needed help. And if help had to come in the form of her vampire boss, then so be it.
They had come to the morgue to steal the Ashelle murder case file.
The file room was filled with rows and rows of metal cabinets that held paper reports for each case. It was one room away from the lab where Quinnevere did the majority of her autopsies.
“Shouldn’t you be able to find it with your witchy powers?” Emrys asked, shutting one of the drawers a little too harshly.
Jane rolled her eyes. That was the last time she’d tell anyone her secrets. “Shouldn’t you be able to find it with your shadow powers?”
Emrys flashed her one of his signature smiles that melted most girls and some boys, too. “If only it were that easy. But you hold the powers of ancient witches. Some say they were once gods. So be a god, Janey, and find these files for us.”
Jane shook her head and glowered at him. “You’re so very annoying.”
“You are not the first to say it.”
“Right.”
But he had a point. Jane pinched her eyes closed and listened. Everything in life let out a frequency—everything had a magical sound and shape to it. She just had to tap into the plane of magic. She was fairly certain there was a realm that existed on the other side of a veil where magic roamed, and when people wanted to use it, they pulled it from there.
But it’s possible that was all in her mind. Magic was like wildflowers, growing in twisting patterns through fields, in gardens, and along the edges of roads. Untamable and showing up in places one didn’t expect and sometimes didn’t want. The objective was to find those flowers, pull them out, and use them.
Each flower was different, with its own tone and heartbeat.
She just had to find the right one.
There it was. Jane opened her eyes and saw what looked like a glowing source of light surrounding a bundle of reports.Jane pushed Emrys out of the way, and it must have been hard because he stumbled back into a shelf with a glass vase on it. It rocked from side to side before finally falling, shattering on the floor.
A little yelp sounded from the other room.
Fuck.Quinnevere had heard.
“You couldn’t have caught that?” Jane whispered through her teeth.
Emrys shrugged like he had very much meant to let the vase shatter. Oh, Jane was going to kill him.
Turning back to the cabinet, Jane pulled out the case file, trying to get it before her sister entered the room. But when she closed the drawer, the light didn’t go away. The magic wanted her to grab something else.
She opened the drawer again, and three more files lit up like a floating lantern. Once again, she grabbed them and closed the file cabinet, but as she did, three more cabinets lit up. Jane was unable to get to them because the door slowly opened as Emrys said, “Don’t worry. I’ll distract her.”
He wrapped Jane in shadows, but she waved them off and disappeared into the air instead.
“Impressive.” He smiled and faced the door.
Quinnevere gasped at the sound of his voice, opened the door all the way, and walked in, clicking it behind her, leaving them in the room alone, or at least that’s what she thought. “What’s impressive?”
“I am… obviously.” Emrys waved at his body.
Quinnevere’s face fell. “Oh, you. Have you not done enough damage here already?”
“There will never be a time when I have done enough damage.” He slowly strolled toward her as if to block her gaze from seeing Jane, but he also did it like a cat on the prowl. It was a sign for Jane to continue her goal.
Jane’s gaze moved back to the magic lights. Slowly, methodically, she moved to the first cabinet and inched it open. Of course, it made a sound, which Emrys tried to cover up with his “flirting.”
Quinnevere’s gaze shifted behind him, but he stepped in closer to her and leaned into her, placing his elbow on the door above her head. With his pointer finger, he moved her chin to look up at him. “Eyes on me, Ginger. I don’t like to be ignored.”
