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“They’re on the bike,” Liam called out over his shoulder. “They won’t be able to answer. They’ll probably get there before us.”

I glared at the back of his head. I expected attitude like that from Travis, maybe even Randy if he was in a mood, but the fact that Liam was pulling that shit pissed me off even more. I clenched my mouth shut and followed them both to the Jeep. Instead of letting Liam get the front seat, I took it myself, closing the door in his face. It was petty, and I knew I was being irrational because Liam’s mood was darkening only due to the demonic familiar attached to his body and not anything to do with me or our relationship, but I couldn’t help myself.

This time, Travis didn’t need me to give him directions to where we were headed. He navigated us smoothly toward our destination. With the ferocity of this pull, I was glad Travis and I had taken the time to practice some defensive blocks today. Who knew what we were heading into?

When we were close, my phone rang. Randy’s name popped up on my screen, so I swiped at it to answer his call. “Hey, we’re here. How far out are you guys?”

“A few minutes,” I told him, hoping I wasn’t wrong. I was new to this pull business, but I just went with my gut feeling.

“We’ll wait outside.”

“O—” The phone clicked in my ear and I pulled it away and frowned at it. He’d hung up on me. I slipped the phone back in my pocket and turned toward Travis. “They’re there. They’re waiting on us, then we can all go in together.”

“Good,” Travis said, turning back to the road and taking the next left up ahead. It took us down a mostly deserted road with a few houses dotting the countryside. They were modest homes, older without being the historical type from right in downtown Salem. “The good thing to come from this is that our pull does seem to be returning. I can tell Walter now without feeling like I’m lying to him. This time, I really did get the pull.”

“Has he asked you about the fifth in a while?” I hedged, sliding a glance his way.

“No, but I imagine he won’t let that sit for much longer. Orders are always made up of a group of five. Not four or three. It has to be five. We need to think about telling them the truth about you soon before they figure it out on their own.”

I didn’t say much to that. Mostly because I didn’t know what to say. There was so much going on at the moment that the fifth and the Order not knowing about me seemed to be put on hold, but it certainly wasn’t for their superiors. They would want answers soon.

Up ahead, the Jeep headlights splashed against a motorcycle. The cramp in my stomach intensified, and Travis was already pulling over to the side of the road right behind Randy’s bike. Two figures walked toward us, and we got out. Randy came forward, cupping my head in his hand. “You okay?”

I nodded, and we walked forward, meeting the rest of them in between the bike and the Jeep. Liam stepped forward and stared intently at the house. The exterior flickered and kept on flickering. Liam’s gaze intensified as he worked his magic, trying to power it up. I looked at him and then back at the house. The scene before us looked like a staticky TV station when the weather was bad outside. Brief glimpses of the interior of the house showed up, but immediately faded back to siding and shutters.

“The fuck?” Liam said, stepping back when he just couldn’t do it. I tried to reach out to him, but he pulled his hand away. “Someone else is going to have to do it.”

We all stared at him. Nerves rattled around in my stomach. Liam was the best at visibility spells and now suddenly he couldn’t do it? Something was wrong.

“Can I try?” Liam had been helping me with a few of the Order spells and now seemed like the perfect time to try one since Liam wasn’t able to.

“Sure,” Randy said, pushing me forward.

I closed my eyes and let my magic encompass me like I’d felt Liam do with his when he showed me how to do the visibility spell before. My fingertips tingled as I thought about the siding, the shutters, the wood, everything, disappearing and revealing to us what was inside. To me, this was one of the best spells we could have. We never wanted to just run into a situation where we felt negative magic without knowing what we were running into first. That would be a nightmare.

I didn’t open my eyes until Gabe said, “Good job, Love.”

Slowly, I blinked, and the interior of the house appeared in front of me. We couldn’t see much. The house was dark as if everyone in there had gone off to bed already. No one in rooms like the living room or kitchen, which left the bedrooms. Bedrooms were always difficult to see into though, especially if people were lying in beds. They were usually hidden by mountains of sheets and pillows.

“All seems clear,” Travis said. “Let’s head in.”

We strode forward through the dewy grass until we hit the sidewalk that led to a few short steps. Randy unlocked the door with his magic and then twisted the doorknob to let us in in front of him. We squeezed past, separating as we’d done now on numerous occasions. It wasn’t hard to figure out where to go to in this house. The rotten meat smell was a dead giveaway and eventually, those that went to check on the downstairs gravitated toward the upstairs where it wafted from. I stuck close to Randy and Gabe as we ascended the steps.

Travis was the first to call out. “Found…something.”

We turned the corner and found a body lying on the floor. Half of the torso laying in the hallway, and the other half lying just inside what looked to be a bathroom by the presence of the ceramic tile at the feet. “Are they—?” Randy started.

Travis knelt and touched the shoulder of the person. “Alive,” he said, relief flooding his voice.

Thank God for that. I couldn’t have Randy going off the deep end again. Not when Travis and Liam seemed to have switched personalities.

Travis turned the body and moved hair away from the face. As soon as he did so, rotten garbage funk spewed into the air. I almost took a step back. The woman’s mouth was agape, and her eyes were wide and stricken. Her skin was an ashen color. Not even pale, but almost gray as if it were decaying right out from under her. Pronounced shadows dominated under her eyes and she was rail thin.

“I know this person,” Travis said. He held his hands up to her neck as if he were checking for a pulse. Satisfied that he felt it there, he sat back, staring at the body with a perplexed look.

“Not to be crude,” I said, “But she stinks. Awful.” I pulled my shirt up over my nose to try to filter out some of the scent. “What the hell did she do?”

Liam leaned down over her and felt her forehead. “She’s burning hot. Did she just pass out?”