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Once her head came back up, her eyes meeting mine again, I said, “Do you really want to play this game with me, Kylan?” My voice cracked, but I remained in control, my hand out with my power crackling at the ready. “Perhaps you forgot what happened the last time we came face to face. I melted yours right off. Shall I do that again?”

“Oh, goody!” That same creepy voice, which didn’t sound anything like my friend, sent a chill up my spine. Cami clapped her hands and still wore that stretched out grin. More blood dripped down her chin, soaking her clothes.

She looked up at the doctor, and her face changed again, but that time, her lips formed a flat line, and her eyes narrowed, her light brows tilting inward.

Was this Cami or Kylan looking at him now? The face she wore was one I didn’t recognize.

The doctor approached her, but he didn’t get far. Her hand reached out, and without touching him, she flicked her wrist, and his neck snapped. I gasped as his body collapsed to the floor.

“Fuck!” I cursed, my hand still held out in front of me. “Cami, don’t!”

Her hand came up again, and she grabbed my throat and squeezed so tight I thought she’d crush my bones. I slammed my hand into Cami’s chest and blasted her with my magic across the room, but she hopped up the moment she hit the floor. She turned to face the wall, digging her fingers into the drywall … then climbed.

Oh, hell no.

Cami’s small limbs climbed like a bony spider straight out of a horror film, scaling the walls and gripping it with the tips of her fingers as her body contorted in an unnatural position that made my skin crawl.

Soon, she was above me, and her neck twisted until she met my gaze, and she giggled again like a little child, but the tone of her voice was low and utterly demonic. I raised my right hand, trembling slightly from the nightmare unfolding before me, aiming an energy pulse for Cami.

She quickly darted toward the skyline and slammed her fist against it, shattering the glass, and jumped out through the small hole.

What. The. Fucking. Hell. Was. That?

CHAPTER 21

Caleb

I SAT ON the edge of Mercy’s mattress, gripping the note that had her name scrawled on it. It had been waiting for her, tucked right under the doormat.

“I spoke with Leah,” Ezra said when he entered the room. “Mercy was supposed to visit Cami at the hospital today. We’re going to call in to check on her.”

I looked down at the note’s message when Simon came into the room to join us. “Let’s open it,” Simon said. “It’s not like it’s a love note from a secret admirer. We know who it’s from.”

Mercy wasn’t here, and this involved all of us. Addressed to her or not, I opened it.

I have the dagger

The letter wasn’t signed. They left no instructions as to what they wanted. Nothing.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with this information?” I asked them.

“Whoever wrote that only wants to fuck with us, Caleb,” Ezra said. “Seriously, if the creep has the dagger, why don’t they just come after us?”

Was this an empty threat? Or was this person stupid enough to come after the coven?

Maurice was the obvious choice, though I found it strange he wouldn’t admit he was the killer when we cornered him. It wasn’t as if he was afraid of us.

Leah rushed into the room, panic reflecting in her eyes. “Raven’s just called. Cami escaped the hospital when Mercy showed up.”

“What?” I asked.

I looked at Simon and Ezra right as my phone beeped at my hip.

It was Mercy.

Mercy:Cami’s possessed by Kylan’s spirit. Her mind is gone, and we can’t bring her back. She escaped Raven’s twenty minutes ago. We have to kill her, Caleb. Keep watch. I’m going to stay with Riley for a few days. Call or text if you need me, but I won’t be coming home tonight.

I didn’t tell her about the note. As much as she needed to come home right now, she also needed to work out whatever was going through her head before she could face whoever was targeting us, and we knew something, or someone, was coming.

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