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“I know. Trust me, I know. But I have a plan to get out of this house, and I’m going to do it tonight.”

“Tonight?”

I nodded. “I just need you to wait until I’m outside. Once I’m away from this place, I’ll reach out to you and come get you.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“Same way you’ve done this. It shouldn’t be too difficult for me if you managed to pull it off,” I added a smirk to help ease some of Max’s apprehension.

“Wow. I’m not sure I want to come and rescue you, now.”

“Good. Don’t. I can rescue myself, and once I do, I promise I’ll reach out to you. Just stay safe, okay?”

“I haven’t been found yet.”

“Keep it that way. I won’t be long.”

Max nodded. “Bee…”

“Yeah?”

“Just in case… I want you to know that I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? For what?”

“If I hadn’t let you take me out that night…”

He blames himself. Fuck.

“Shut up,” I said, taking one more step toward him, “Right now. None of this is your fault, understood?”

“But I’m the one?—”

“—no. You’re not. Okay? I lost the amulet, not you.”

Max nodded, but only after a pause. “I love you,” he said.

“I love you too, twerp.”

With a smile, and a twist of the amulet, Max’s ethereal form vanished, leaving a gust of phantom wind to swirl around the room, ruffling the curtains. Max was alive. He was alive, and he was alright.

I wasn’t sure whether to sit back down or jump for joy. All this time I had been worried about my little brother and his wellbeing. Not only was he safe and okay, he had also kind of mastered that amulet in a way I never had. His skills were growing so quickly, it filled me with a kind of older sister pride.

In my mind, Max was still the little boy I had helped growing up. The truth was, he was a man. He was resourceful, skilled, and far more ballsy now than he had been a week ago. Sneaking his ethereal form into the Diaboli household, a literal nest of demons? The old Max would never have even considered doing that.

But I was left wondering why the demons hadn’t caught up to him, why they weren’t bothering him. I didn’t have long to think on it as the door to my room opened, making me spin around on my heel and face it. For some reason, I had been expecting Mason, or Carla, but it was Lucien peeking into the room through the crack.

He scanned the room with glowing red eyes and placed his hand on the wall. Crimson sigils spread from his palm, crawled into the wallpaper and began to pulse steadily.

“What is that?” I asked, keeping my voice barely above a whisper.

“It’s time,” he said, reaching a hand toward me. “Are you coming?”

I rushed up toward him and took his hand. “Wherever you want me to go,” I said.

“I’ll settle for anywhere but here. C’mon.”

Lucien led me out of the room, leaving the door to shut by itself. It was dark in the house, but his eyes shone red, and wherever we went, he left more of these strange sigils about. I wasn’t sure what they were, but if I had to guess, they were there to keep the demons away.