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CHAPTER 6

A WEIRD AND WONDROUS PLACE

Hand-in-hand with Nero, I turned the doorknob to leave the meeting room. But instead of a long, boring tunnel hallway, we found ourselves somewhere else entirely.

We were inside a car—no, a truck. It was one of the Legion’s trucks. The uneven, potholed road rumbled and shook beneath the thick, sturdy tires.

Up ahead, the forest opened up into a clearing of three buildings. Two of the buildings had long since run into the ground, but the third was still standing. And from the flickering of lights shining through the windows, someone was home.

“How did we get here?” I muttered.

Nero sat beside me in the backseat. He looked just as confused as I was.

“Fall asleep, did you, Pandora?” Basanti chuckled from the front.

She was in the passenger seat. And Mira Ravenfall was the driver.

“Stop the truck and turn off the engine,” Basanti told her.

We all got out of the truck, and suddenly there were many more of us.

“Spooky place,” Ivy commented as she and Drake walked up to me.

They didn’t even look at Nero. It was like they couldn’t see him at all.

“Let’s go, newbies,” Basanti said, keeping her voice low, like she was speaking over a grave.

We stalked toward the forest, keeping to the cover of the trees.

“I know where we are,” I whispered to Nero. “I knowwhenwe are.”

The snow was coming down harder now. It was getting difficult to see through the gusts of flurries whistling across the land.

“The Wicked Wilds.”

Nero’s voice boomed in the carefully-kept silence, like a door slamming shut in the dead of night. But again, no one noticed.

“Yes, this was my second assignment with the Legion of Angels.”

“I remember,” Nero said. “You infiltrated a rogue vampire hideout.”

“But we found more than just vampires there.”

Memories of the dreadful scenes that would soon follow flashed through my mind. My stomach twisted.

“It’s a trap!” I shouted.

But no one heard me.

I ran heavy-footed through the thick snow, trying to catch up with Basanti, to warn her of what was coming. But no matter how fast I went, I couldn’t catch her. I felt like I was running against a moving sidewalk. And then, like a rubber band, I snapped to the front, along with everyone else. We were inside a large central chamber.

“No, not again,” I growled as vampires jumped out of the floorboards, fully awake.

The doors burst open, and witches and werewolves streamed in from the connecting rooms, surrounding us.

Basanti drew her freakishly large sword. Slash. Slide. Cut. Cleave.

The witches brewed.