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But had he? Everything I’d felt inside me when Jax was around were all fleeting thoughts I had before. Just because I didn’t act on them or let them be anything more than just a passing thought didn’t mean I really didn’t feel that way, did it?

I looked around. Liam stood and spoke with the superiors. Gabe had his hand on Dean Reid’s sister’s shoulder, calming her down since she’d practically fainted into him. I didn’t have any more thoughts about killing her, which was a good thing. Luckily. I’d never had murderous tendencies unless we were talking about people who threatened my guys.

“He took her,” Travis said. His muscles bulged as he unfolded into a standing position. His fists were clenched, and he turned, his eyes filled with anger. They were laced in panic, but the other emotion was far greater than that one. “He took Jennie.”

I walked forward and grabbed his hands. “Hey, look at me.”

I squeezed his hands again when he didn’t listen at first. Finally, his alluring green eyes met mine.

“We’re going to get her back,” I said. And I meant every word. We could save Jennie. Jax, I still didn’t know about. He’d looked promising for a split second. Maybe he had the barest of amounts of goodness left in him, but I wasn’t sure it was enough to pull him back from how far he’d slipped.

After that, witch after witch approached us, asking what they could do. I couldn’t number how many times I’d given out Granny’s all-seeing-eye bracelet spell. I told them I’d open my shop as soon as possible. I’d give them everything they needed for free as long as they’d make the bracelets and hand them out. I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t thought of it before. I had the best stockpile and the knowledge to do this. But I didn’t have the time. Now I had volunteers. Volunteers who wanted to do nothing more than to help fight against the evil they’d just witnessed. It was worse than that too. They didn’t just see it with their eyes, they felt it into their very marrow.

Pure evil at its worst.

Granny was right. It was all our problems. And to conquer this, it would take all of us.

Travis stood at the edge of everyone, lost in himself. It reminded me of when I first came here. It had been so hard to breakthrough his walls, and it looked like that was happening again. He stood their stone-faced, body stiff yet alert. He held the aura of ‘Don’t even think about fucking talking to me right now’ which was odd considering how we’d started this trip into the Equinox. He’d stood in front of everyone like the leader he was. But now, it was as if he wanted nothing to do with it.

This wasn’t Travis.

After the talk of the demon started to die down, I whispered, “Wake”. I hoped it would work on everyone, not just the non-witches. Silently, I thought to myself, “Wake up, Travis. Snap out of it.” Sometimes it was worse being caught up in your own head. It could be a dark place when you didn’t let anyone else in there with you.

16

We were back to tiptoeing around Travis again. Not only that, but we were quiet. Like me, I guessed that we were all dealing with the thoughts that had popped into our heads. I could still feel the wish in my heart of seeing the breath leave Dean’s sister. It made me sick to my stomach to think about it. I simultaneously wanted to talk to someone about it and keep it quiet. Would they still love me if they knew that about me? If they knew I had such a black place.

The superiors were quiet. Walter barely made conversation for the rest of the day and they kept to themselves. It didn’t bother me. In fact, I liked it better. I was glad to have them around for more protection, but the fact that they were staying out of our hair was a good thing.

“We can do a locator spell,” Liam said.

Travis shook his head. “I think he’s gotten too powerful for that. There’s no way we’ll find her.”

“But Norah’s strong,” Gabe said. We were all grasping at straws. Again.

“I touched her,” Travis said. “I felt how cold she was, how angry. I think she might even block her being found. I knew she shouldn’t have come. I shouldn’t have called her.”

I wasn’t going to let him fall even further down the hole. “You did what you thought was right. Jennie’s strong. Anyone can see that. There’s still hope, Travis.” I looked around at all of them, remembering the feeling of pure love bursting from me. It felt like the only way to push back against the demon. It certainly drowned out his voice, and voices were one of the powerful tools we had. “Speaking of,” I ventured. “I wasn’t the only one who felt—”

“Like you wanted to murder someone?” Randy said. He glanced at Travis and a slight shiver racked his body.

“That,” I said, “but something more too. Didn’t you feel when he started to lose power?”

Gabe looked up. His blue eyes weren’t as troubled as the others. “I felt your warmth.”

“It was more than that,” Liam said. “It was like her love personified. I think you were able to use your Spirit element to calm everyone down.”

“I felt it,” Travis said. “I think we probably felt it more than most of the people there. Or, at least we were more affected by it.”

“Due to our personal relationships with her,” Liam mused.

Travis nodded. “We just need to harness that when we go up against that demon again.”

“While still being careful,” Randy said. “Walter said we can’t use too much or…”

He stopped midsentence. We all knew the implication that was there. If we used too much magic, it would not be good for us. Implosion. Death.

But this, this was where my determination sprung to action. That wasn’t going to happen to us. We could do this. “We’ll do what needs to be done,” I said, looking around at each of them. “We’re the Order in Salem, so we’ll handle the demon problem and send him back to hell.”