Chapter 4

Bolts of darkfire hit the monster's face and body, and it scurried away from me. The thing crawled on the ceiling, perched upside down, and snarled.

A harpy. It was a freaking harpy with birdlike wings for arms, talons for feet, and feathers for hair. It snarled at us, poised to attack.

Levi stood before me, a hand stretched toward the harpy, and the other to me. I grabbed his hand and let him help me up. The world revolved for two seconds, but I was able to keep my balance.

"A harpy? Loose in the hall?" I asked, confused. What was going on?

The harpy opened her wings, let out a screech, and lunged at us.

Ripples of shadow rose from the floor and tangled around the harpy. With its wings tied, it fell to the floor with a heavy thud. Levi tightened the shadows, then he produced a small mirror from his pocket, and pointed it at the harpy.

The creature screeched as it was sucked into the mirror in a whirlwind.

I stared at Levi, eyes wide, shocked.

He pocketed the mirror and turned to me. "That's why I'm here. Myg didn't lock the door of the prison wing last night after cleaning the hallway, and the creatures woke up and got away."

"You're saying evil monsters are loose in the hall?"

He nodded. "They can't get out of here, but they are hiding and attacking us when they can. I was asked to help the witches catch them and return them to their eternal sleep."

"The mirror is a prison."

"It's more like a police car. I'll release the harpy back into its dungeon, where it can't hurt anyone."

I looked up to where the harpy had been perched on the ceiling. I could see its talons' marks on the vines around the archways and walls. I had known many of the artifacts and books this place held were dangerous and evil … but monsters? I had no idea there were monsters here.

"Did they hurt anyone yet?"

He shook his head. "Nothing critical so far."

"That's what Abbie meant when she said you were working on something important first."

"Yes. Keeping everyone safe in the hall is the priority right now."

I stared at him. I had seen him kill a demon who had been chained to a post, torture an angel, he had threatened me several times, trapped me in a witch's circle, and he had killed his own father.

What could be eviler?

And yet, here he was, helping the witches of the Grand Eternity Hall.

This man was contradiction on two legs.

"I know I'm handsome, sweetheart, but you can stop staring now." He winked at me and started down the hallway as if nothing had happened.

I huffed, annoyed, but followed him.

After a dozen turns—at least it had felt like that—we crossed another archway and walked into a large room with a long wooden table with knotted feet and twelve knotted chairs.

The four witches I had met before were here with Lacey, along with an older one, who was seated at the table's end.

"Ariella, this is Belinda, our grandmother," Abbie said as I approached them. Levi, though, rounded the table and took a seat beside his sister.

Belinda turned her milky white eyes to me. "Hm, an angel." She frowned. "But not quite. What's wrong, dear?"

Standing beside the table, I shifted my weight. "I recently recovered my wings, but I'm still deprived of my magic."

She offered me a wrinkled hand. "May I?"

I hesitated. I knew a bunch of witches, most of them were super nice, but there were plenty of wicked witches out there.

I slipped my hand in hers. She gripped it tight, closed her eyes, and hummed. I felt her power enveloping me and I gasped. She looked frail with white hair tied in a loose bun, and more wrinkles than any witch I had ever seen, but she was powerful.

"I see it was stolen," she whispered. "By a prince of the underworld. He's dead now, and your magic gone."

Why did it hurt to hear the truth out loud? Especially coming from a stranger?

She opened her eyes and dropped my hand. "Don't worry, dear, my granddaughters will do everything they can to help you."

"Thanks," I muttered.

Maggie patted the empty seat by her side and I went to her.

Belinda was on the end, with Abbie, Britt, Lacey, and Levi to her left. And on her right was one empty seat, then Gwen, Maggie, and me.

I was about to ask Maggie in a faint voice why the empty seat when two others entered the dining room—a middle-aged man and a young boy.

The man didn't say anything to anyone. He strolled to the other end of the table and took a seat. But the boy ran to Gwen and Maggie, who squeezed him tight.

"This is Trent, our brother," Maggie said with a smile. "He's ten."

"And that's our uncle," Gwen said. She had looked shy and quiet before, and now her voice was soft, as if she was afraid of speaking up.

"Uncle Magnus," Abbie started. "This is Ariella, our guest."

He nodded, his hazel eyes skimming through me as if I was a fly on the wall. "Is dinner ready?"

Myg popped beside him a second later. "Yes, sir." The goblin snapped her fingers, and suddenly, the table was set and covered plates appeared in front of us. She snapped her fingers again and the covers disappeared.

"Hm, calamari and shrimp puffs. My favorite," Trent said from his seat between Belinda and Gwen. He dug in and everyone followed suit.

Even the animals who were in a special corner of the room with rugs and pillows, had their bowls and were eating their dinner. I saw the tiger's bowl, but no tiger.

Maggie followed my gaze. "You're wondering where Rune is? He's moody and prefers eating alone. He'll probably come when we're gone." She shoved two shrimp puffs into her mouth and smiled at me.

"Myg, where's the parsley?" Britt asked.

A small silver shaker with parsley popped beside her.

Levi told Abbie about the harpy and she mentioned going to the dungeon with him later to release the monster. Trent told something funny about one of his earlier lessons to Belinda, and she listened intently. Gwen told Britt to thank Myg, but the younger girl shrugged. Lacey started a conversation with Maggie about her latest vision.

I tried eating, but I couldn't help feeling overwhelmed. There was so much going on, so many people, so much liveliness … I wasn't used to this anymore.

I had had something similar when I was in the Guardian Academy and had Rachel and Jeremiah. And even though my mother didn't like that I had gone to the academy, she was always protective of me, and my little sister saw me as a role model.

Then I experienced that here and there, with Farrah and Wyatt, with Kayden, the queen fae, and with the other supernaturals I had met over the years.

But it was always fleeting, like this one would be.

I looked up and found Levi watching me. My chest hurt at the intensity of his gaze. Why didn't he ignore me? It would be so much easier. I turned to Maggie and paid attention to her conversation.

"I don't know what it means," she said. "Everything was dark, but I could see oval-shaped stones, and fragments of white light inside them. Then the lights faded from the stones and floated together, forming one bright ball that spun in the air among the darkness."

"Hm, maybe you should read one of Mom's old diaries," Gwen suggested. "Some of her visions are detailed, and anytime she found out what they meant, she wrote it down."

"Visions?" I asked, curious.

"Oh yeah," Maggie said. "Each of us has a special gift, like something that make us different." She sounded excited about the topic. "Grandma has the gift of touching something and seeing some of their history and some of their future."

"She said you guys are going to be able to help me." That was promising.

"She said we're going to do everything we can to help you," Britt said from across the table. "That doesn't mean it'll work."

She was right and that sent a wave of sadness and frustration through me.

"But we will try," Maggie said. "That's what we do. Anyway, Abbie is gifted with plants. Being the eldest and the real protector of the Grand Eternity Hall, she is connected to the house more than any of us. When the hall allows, she can control the plants. And because of that affinity, she's really good with potions."

"And cooking," Trent said, licking his fingers after having devoured the appetizer. "She makes a great chocolate cake."

Everyone smiled at that.

"My gift is something like visions, or prophecies, depending on the severity of my visions," Maggie continued. "But not everything I see comes to fruition, and honestly, most of my visions make no sense whatsoever."

"I'm an empath," Gwen said, her voice low. "If I'm attuned to people, I can feel what they are feeling. But sometimes, when there are too many people around me, with too many strong emotions, it's hard to control. I feel it all."

"You'll learn to control it, Gwen," Abbie said, sounding like a mother, even though she couldn't be five years older than Gwen. "And when you do, you'll be able to block everything."

Gwen nodded, playing with the last piece of calamari on her plate.

"You'll also be able to control others' feelings," Maggie said, nonchalantly. Gwen glared at her. "What?"

"You know she doesn't like that," Abbie muttered.

"Then she can ignore that side of her gift," Britt said, sounding snarky, like she had earlier today.

"What about you?" I asked her.

The youngest of the girls regarded me as if considering if I was worth the answer. "I can see and talk to ghosts, and when I can, I help them pass over."

I frowned. I knew all light and dark witches could do something similar, but to this coven, or whatever they wanted to call it, doing that was an affinity. It was incredible how magic worked differently for each of us.

"Are there ghosts in here now?" I asked, joking.

"Not right now, but earlier I saw two passing by the hallway," she said, dead serious.

I straightened. There were ghosts in the Grand Eternity Hall? I mean … why not, right?

"I can talk to animals," Trent said with a smile. He looked at Merlin, Bane, and Venom in the corner. "They already ate but want more food."

"They always want more food," Maggie said.

And everyone laughed.

Everyone expect Levi and Magnus.

"Speaking of food," Magnus started. "Myg, we're ready for the next course."

The goblin snapped her fingers and our plates were replaced by new ones with the same silver cover. She snapped again and the covers disappeared.

Seared steak dripping with butter, baked sweet potatoes full of brown sugar, and roasted asparagus. The smell alone made my mouth water.

For a full minute, the table was quiet as everyone started eating. I almost moaned at the melting steak and the perfectly seasoned side dishes. I hadn't eaten a meal like this in quite some time and I had to restrain myself to not attack my food and inhale it.

As I remembered our conversation, something came to me. "What about your uncle?" I asked Maggie in a hushed voice. "Does he have a gift?"

"If he touches someone, he can make them do or believe anything he says or thinks," she whispered. "If he tells you to jump off a cliff, you would, without hesitation."

I frowned. That was a dangerous gift. "That can be a useful gift during a battle."

"It didn't help us much during the last one," she said, a little louder.

"What about the last one?" Britt asked.

"The last battle," Maggie said.

"The one a couple of hundred years ago, right?" I asked, remembering what I had read about them before. "When the Grand Eternity Hall closed for good."

"That was the second to last," Gwen said.

What? There was another one?

"About ten years ago, our parents opened the hall again," Abbie told me. "It wasn't well known. They wanted to start slow, test the waters, help a few people here and there … but six years ago, a higher demon came in. He pretended to be a half demon who had lost his family and was losing his magic." She shook her head. "The higher demon was Molraz."

I gasped and glanced at Levi and Lacey. Both of them looked down at their plates, but they weren't eating.

"He wanted a powerful artifact that was being kept safe in one of the most secure rooms in the hall," Maggie said. "The Scarlet Hex Dagger."

I almost choked on the piece of steak I was chewing. "What?"

I looked at the siblings again. Levi had brought his whiskey glass to his lips, and Lacey gave me a dreadful look.

"He brought in hundreds of demons," Gwen said, her voice low. "We weren't prepared."

"It was a horrible battle," Belinda said. "My son and his wife lost their lives, and I'm afraid that if a powerful higher demon hadn't come to help us, we all would have died." She stared straight at Levi. He emptied his whisky glass, set it down, and the amber liquid filled the glass again.

My jaw fell to the floor.

Levi had come to help the Grand Eternity Hall when his father attacked it?

"That's why Levi is an honored guest," I muttered.

Abbie nodded. "We owe him a lot."

"Molraz still escaped with the dagger," Levi said bitterly.

"But you saved my life," Abbie said.

"And mine," Trent said.

"Everyone's, really," Gwen added.

I frowned and had to hold my tongue from asking why. Why would a twenty-two-year-old higher demon help strangers and fight against his father? I knew he didn't like his father, but I doubted he had jumped in all of his father's battles.

It had to be because of the dagger.

He hadn't come for a noble cause. He had come for the dagger, and he had still lost it.

I glanced at him, seeing through his mask. Right now, he pretended to be a civilized, humane demon, but I knew the truth. Under all of that charm was cunning and malice. All he knew was how to use others for his gain.

He met my gaze for three seconds, then went for his whiskey again.

I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that the Scarlet Hex Blade had been here for a long time before surfacing with Molraz. Rhodes must have known about the dagger and sent Molraz to retrieve it.

Not a few months later, I had taken the dagger from Molraz.

Maybe, just maybe, I could return it to the hall. It was probably more secure than where I had it hidden now. But it had been taken once already.

It could be taken again.

I frowned. "Does it happen often? Having artifacts stolen? I mean, probably not now since the hall is closed again."

"The hall isn't closed," Abbie answered. "Well, we closed for about a month while we grieved and made some changes, but we didn't want one attack to stop us. We're certainly open, but it's not widely known."

I wasn't expecting that.

"You didn't answer her question," Trent whispered.

Abbie nodded. "Right. No, it's not common. In fact, in our eight-thousand-year history, we've had only eleven artifacts and books stolen."

That was a good ratio.

"The hall has incredible magical protection," Maggie said. "For an artifact to be taken … it takes a lot of planning and cunning. They would have to surprise and overwhelm us, and somehow neutralize the building's magic."

"But we have taken more precautions since the latest attack," Abbie said. "I would say it's nearly impossible to have an artifact stolen now."

"Hopefully, we won't have to test that theory," Gwen said.

Britt snorted. "Eventually, we will. We all know most supernaturals are greedy, power-hungry, and incredibly selfish."

Magnus cleared his throat. "Can we change the subject? I don't like gloomy with my dinner."

"Sorry, uncle," Maggie and Gwen said.

"You're the gloomy one, Magnus," Belinda said, her tone firmer.

He straightened in his chair. "Mind your own business, Belinda."

"Don't start, please," Abbie pleaded. She glanced at Myg and nodded.

As the dinner plates were replaced by dessert—a delicious, salted caramel cheesecake with pecans—I observed the family. I now knew the grandma was actually the mother of the girls' father, and Magnus had called Belinda by her name, not Mother. It could be that he was her son and called her that anyway, but after seeing the tension in their short exchange, I believed he was the brother of the girls' mother.

Not that it mattered. They were all family and took care of the Grand Eternity Hall.

I put the last piece of the cheesecake in my mouth, my belly already protesting. I had eaten too much, but damn, it was so good, I couldn't stop until everything was gone.

I reached for my glass of red wine—how Myg knew what I liked drinking, I had no idea—and almost spilled it when a loud roar echoed from the hallway.

Abbie, Levi, and Magnus jumped to their feet, magic at their fingertips, as they stared at the archway.

A moment later, a huge tiger ran inside. I gasped. I mean, I had known they had a tiger, but I hadn't expected to see it. Especially not like this, barreling inside the dining room as if his tail was on fire.

The tiger skidded to a stop, looked at Trent, and let out a long whine.

"He's hurt," Trent said.

The tiger collapsed on the floor.