Page 73 of Darkside

“Someone wiped her memory of it,” Ethan says and we exchange another look. “Just like someone wiped the memories of that couple in the apartment.”

“I can’t stand the woman but if anyone was going to mess with her memory I wanted it to be me,” I say as a chill makes its way down my back. “Why would someone—” I stop when Harrison comes back into the room.

“She’s gone?”

“Yeah. Thank you, Ethan, for getting rid of her so fast.”

“My pleasure.” He takes a seat next to me again. “You should get some rest before your parents get here.”

“I’m kinda nervous,” Saanvi admits and looks down at herself. “I need to change. My suitcase is in the car.”

“I can get it,” Harrison offers.

“It’s fine. Some fresh air will help calm my nerves.” Saanvi smiles and goes outside. I rest my head on Ethan’s shoulder and bury my fingers in Hunter’s thick fur. I could easily doze off right now, but only a minute later, Saanvi comes back in, holding a large box.

“This is for you. Some guy stopped halfway down your driveway and said he couldn’t go any farther.” She shrugs, because it sounds weird…unless you knew the line of my warding goes right through the middle of my driveway. “Looks like flowers. Want me to open it?”

“Yeah, please.”

She puts the box on the coffee table and pulls off the lid. “Huh. That’s…interesting. I’ve never seen flowers like this before. There isn’t a card, either...” She steps aside and picks up a bouquet of odd-looking purple flowers.

“It’s wolfsbane,” Nik says and I tip my head to the side. Magical uses aside, wolfsbane is highly toxic, like toxic enough for it to be banned at Grim Gate Academy. In controlled doses, it weakens werewolves and prevents them from shifting. Why would someone send–holy shit. My blood runs cold. I wasn’t given this as a way to stop werewolves or so I can add a hard-to-get herb to my witch’s pantry. I was given this because of the symbolism.Wolfsbane. The warlock who encouraged Estelle’s dark side has a wolf for a familiar…and he knows I’ve seen it. And if he can’t cross my warding it only means one thing: he’s not a warlock at all.

He’s a demon.

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