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He took a few determined steps toward her, his hands reaching for her, but Alana was quick. Not shifter quick, of course, but there was still decent shuffle in her. She moved away just before he was able to grab hold of her.

“Alana,” he said through gritted teeth. “Get back here.”

“Nope.”

She continued walking forward through the trees, and though she didn’t turn to see if he was following her, the sound of his footsteps crushing the undergrowth was enough for her.

At least she wouldn’t be alone.

“I want to show you something,” she said. “And I need you to pay attention to this stuff because you’ll have to describe it to Mrs. Francis.”

He nodded and followed her until they reached the formation of stones. Alana took Cohen’s hand in hers, and immediately, his body reacted. He shoved those pesky emotions down to the very core of him and continued to press his fingers against one of the broken stones.

“Do you feel that?” she asked, fully expecting his answer to be a resoundingno.

“I do, yeah,” he marveled. “What the hell is that?”

“That, wolf man, is the remnants of magic.”

“Magic?” he asked, confused. “What do youmeanthe remnants of magic?”

“These rocks weren’t always here. This is where my grandmother cast a protective spell on the town, but that the stones are cracked is weird. It weakened the magic. It might have completely destroyed it for all I know.”

“Shit,” he hissed out. “I don’t believe in this stuff ...”

“Only because you have no experience with it,” she reprimanded with a frown. “When you see it in action?” She snorted dryly. “You will definitely believe in it once we’re done with all of this.”

“All of what?” he asked.

“You do know I have to find a way to fix this, right? I can’t leave a protective spell just dying out here. The council won’t allow it.”

Cohen wasn’t listening. His eyes were glued to her flashlight. The light was sputtering on and off enough to make a dent in the night’s heavy darkness. “Give me that.” He didn’t wait but took it right out of her hand and laid it on the rock. The flashlight turned on and stayed on as if it was connected to its own power source. “What the hell?”

Alana’s panic surged. “Cohen, stop. Don’t,” she warned.

But it was too late. The sheriff took out his phone, rendered useless by yet another one of Half Moon Key’s strange outages, and placed it on the rock right beside the flashlight.

The black screen lit up like a fucking Christmas tree with text messages, emails, and other kinds of notifications. Cohen turned angry eyes toward her. “Okay, what the fuck is happening?”

She winced, but there was nothing for it. She had to tell him the truth before he figured it out for himself.

“That strange electrical glitch we have in town? The one that also messes with the internet? It’s because of the spell. This spell.”

He glared at her. “I figured. Why? Explain this to me.”

“Well, magic always leaves a trace, right?”

“Uh-huh, talk faster, Alana.” His nostrils flared with anger, but she pointed a finger at him.

“No! You don’t get to be livid at me for something that was done and for something that was decided before I was even born. I don’t knowwhythe council and my family chose to cast this spell, but I have been trying to keep it alive since my mother passed on.”

“But you don’t have the same kind of juice? So it’s slipping?”

Alana winced. “Maybe. I’m not sure. I think it might be because electricity and Wi-Fi didn’t exist when the spell was cast. Well, okay, obviously, there would have been electricity in town, but it’s probably changed. The energy has changed, especially with the internet. I think the spell doesn’t always recognize what is truly good or truly bad.”

He nodded. “Okay. We are going to the council. Now. I want an explanation. I want to know why they had some witches put up this spell, and I want to know why it did that.” He pointed to the break in the stones. “We need to know if that’s what made the earthquake happen.”

“I agree,” she said, resolute.