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“Alright, you guys go,” Gabe said. His hands came around my hips, and he pulled until I sprawled out on him. “Norah and I will cuddle until you get back.”

I chuckled out loud and gave him a playful slap. “I’m cleaning up the house.”

“Alright,” he grumbled. “Norah and I will be cleaning up the house while you’re gone.”

He let me go, and I stood. He stood up after me, his cute blond hair spiking up.

While Randy and Travis were out buying food, I filled Gabe in on Liam being sick and the call Randy got from Ren. When Randy and Travis came home with several grocery bags including a box of doughnuts, Travis launched right into a conversation about what was happening, so obviously, Randy had done the same with Travis on their excursion to find us some food for the house.

“It can’t be a coincidence,” Travis said.

“Definitely not,” Gabe agreed. “When has anything been a coincidence?”

“We just need to figure out what it means,” I said, staring at Liam’s closed door. Whatever it was, I hoped Liam got over it soon.

I shoved the custard filled doughnut into my mouth, waiting for inspiration to strike about what we should do. It was hard to fight someone you couldn’t find. That had been our problem this entire time.

“You know,” I started. “Granny told me yesterday that this isn’t just all our fight. We need to get all the other witches in Salem on our side. Or at least warn them that Jax is out there and that they may be affected.”

Gabe shrugged. “It makes sense. Since we don’t have the backing of the Order anymore, someone has to do something.”

Travis cocked his head. He grabbed his phone and pushed the screen. “Do you guys realize what the date is?”

I shook my head. I hadn’t really thought about it.

“We’re so close to the Spring Equinox.”

“Perfect,” Gabe said.

“Um, what?” I asked, feeling lost.

“The Spring Equinox,” Randy said. “A lot of witches celebrate solstices and equinoxes, and it just so happens that there are usually big parties that happen around that time. Lots of witches gathered in one place.”

I nodded. Definitely could be perfect…but it also sounded like the right time for someone to attack people too.

Everyone seemed to realize that at the same time. A sense of dread filled the room and then sounds of Liam vomiting in his bedroom wafted toward us. “We’ll act there,” I said. Then I got up and moved to Liam’s room. I couldn’t stop him from getting sick, but I could help him through it. Maybe that was something we could do for all these witches. We couldn’t stop Jax right now, but we could at least warn them about the danger. Who knew? Maybe some of them would have information on taking out a demon.

While I walked away, I thought of the Reid’s secret room again. Maybe there was something in there about demons too.

8

Ifelt like this was a recurring theme: me showing up at the Reid’s house uninvited.

Except for this time, I had Travis and Gabe with me. Randy had decided to stay back with Liam. I walked up to the iron gate and gripped it. I looked around to see that it wasn’t Owen guarding the gate. Then again, it wasn’t nighttime either. I guessed that was one thing that was different from every other time I’d been here.

When I mentioned that I thought we should go see the Reid’s, everyone was all for it. Liam still wasn’t feeling well, so he’d stay behind with someone, but they thought it couldn’t hurt. Like me, they probably all wanted to do something, even if it wouldn’t make a difference in the long run.

I grabbed the iron bar and looked inside, getting the guard’s attention. “Can you tell the Reid’s that the Or—”

Travis interrupted. “Please tell them, Travis, Gabe, and Norah are here. We’re friends.”

The guard gave us a doubtful look, but he turned away anyway, talking into his microphone that linked up to the main house. A few moments later, the main door opened, and Owen walked through it, still dressed in the same guard outfit. “Hey,” I said.

He smiled at me, and Travis and Gabe immediately tensed. If we didn’t have an audience, I would’ve laughed at them. I liked Owen, but I didn’t like him like that. “I was wondering when you guys were going to show up. I figured it wouldn’t take this long.”

He nodded at the guard to open the gate, and soon, we were following him up the walkway. Like usual, I was impressed by the Reid’s house from the exterior and the interior. It also made me yearn for our place by the ocean, and my room that overlooked the waves.

Owen dropped his voice as he led us inside. “Dean hasn’t been feeling well.”