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I dropped to my knees and checked under the bed. The closet was empty as well. No Dash or Binx in here.

I walked out and headed toward my room, but was brought up short when someone grabbed my bicep and whirled me around.

Without thought, the hand holding the dagger came up and I slashed it toward my would-be attacker’s face. Rain would have been proud because we hadn't only been working on defensive magic during our training sessions.

"Jesus, fuck," Damien hissed like an angry cat, before dropping my arm and blocking my attempts to carve him up.

Immediately, I dropped my arm to my side and stepped back. I put my free hand to my heart that was beating over time, and hissed right back. "You scared the crap out of me."

"Get downstairs, right now," he growled angrily at me. "I told you to stay there."

"You don't get to tell me what to do," I argued. I pointed toward the stairs with my dagger. "You go back downstairs and check out the basement. I’m going to check my room real quick before I go down. If the basement’s empty, then we’llbothhead outside together and head around back to search for them. There's also a hose back there we should use on the fire. And there's a fire extinguisher in the closet outside of the mud room. Get that too and I’ll meet you downstairs."

Damien eyed me in a way I wasn't quite sure I liked before jerking his chin up in agreement and heading downstairs.

"You better not let anything fucking happen to you, Ariel," he grumbled on his way down. I didn't know if he meant for me to hear him but I did. "It'll kill us all, and then they'll all killmefor being whipped and letting you boss me around."

I didn't stick around to watch him disappear down the rest of the stairs. I turned and ran for my room.

My room was how I'd left it when I'd gone to work that morning. My bed made, but somehow looking a lot messier than Dash's did. The top of my dresser had a messy array of nail polish, eyeliner, lips gloss, jewelry—given to me by the guys—and a whole plethora of other girlie things I'd never thought to have in my life.

I turned to leave when something from inside my coffin-sized closet started making an unholy noise and clawing at the door. I raced over to the closet and ripped the door open.

Binx flew out, all puffed up, tail swishing angrily, hissing like the pissed off, angry cat he was.

"Binx," I cried as I bent down to pick the hissing beast up. He didn't mind being picked up by me and I was lucky he didn't try to claw me up.

I cuddled him to my chest with one arm so I could have my dagger hand free in case I needed it.

I sprinted down the stairs two at a time and raced toward the front door. I got there just as Damien was closing the closet door and hefting out a red fire extinguisher.

Binx didn't even hiss at Damien as we ran for the front door. I guess it was okay to hurry now that we knew there was no one inside. It seemed ass backwards to me, but I'd already riled Damien up, a fight right now would take time away from what was important here and that was figuring out what happened to Dash.

The front door was as open as we'd left it. I ran straight to my Rover, which I'd also left the door wide open on. I dropped Binx down onto the driver’s seat and quickly closed the door on him. He yowled angrily as he launched his little body at the window.

Binx was having a bad night. First, he was locked in the closet, now my SUV. It was for his own good so he could just get right over it.

Damien was suddenly at my side. "Get in the Rover and go to Quinton's," he urged.

Not this shit again.

I shook my head stubbornly as I ran around him and raced toward the backyard. It was a lot easier to run barefoot than it was to run in flip-flops, I learned as I sprinted across the side yard toward the back of the house.

I skidded around the back of the house and came to an abrupt halt as I stared up at the back of the cottage in horror. Here, the fire could be seen through the sliding glass door and the window above the sink. My heart plummeted down somewhere in my stomach.

I shoved the stupid dagger into the back pocket of my skirt as I raced for the hose that was underneath the back porch. I cranked the water on as I dragged the hose out.

Something moved in the dark out of the corner of my eye and I dropped the hose. I turned and faced the dark backyard, seeking out what it was I thought I'd seen.

Toward the far corner, where the light from the kitchen didn't reach it, I caught movement.

"Damien," I shouted carelessly as I dropped the hose and ran for the dark corner.

There was a black hooded figure with a creepy black mask covering their face stooped over, with a crumpled body at their feet. They put their hands in Dash's armpits and attempted to heft him up.

The hair around my head started rising with static as I was suddenly filled with a blinding rage. My magic welled up inside of me and this time I felt zero guilt whatsoever for flinging it out at someone else defensively.

I stumbled, tripping over my own feet as the most amount of magic I've ever thrown at anything before felt like it was ripped right out of me. Heat blasted out of my body and raced toward the hooded figure who held Dash aloft.