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When we got to the end of the line, the pull of bad magic twisted my stomach into knots and made me cringe. Cramps.

“Son of a bitch,” Gabe said.

Travis pulled the Jeep over sharply. “Another negative magic pull on Liam’s trail.”

“It doesn’t mean he’s guilty,” Randy said, his sudden outburst in Liam’s defense wasn’t a surprise. In fact, all of us, I was sure, wanted to scream the same exact thing. Just because we were aware what connections we would draw if this weren’t Liam, didn’t automatically make him guilty.

Travis pushed his door open. “Be prepared for anything. If Liam’s there, subdue him until we can figure shit out.”

“If he’s not?” I asked, scrambling out of the car after Gabe.

“Randy and I will take off and see if we can’t find where his trail leads.”

We approached the house. “How much do you want to bet there’s a drained witch in here?” Gabe asked.

That was a stupid bet. It was pretty much guaranteed at this point.

Gabe unlocked the human lock, and we all walked in. The house was wide open and sprawling. We followed our noses right to the passed-out witch. It didn’t take long to find him because he was just inside the main area of the house. Gabe and I knelt next to the witch, a man this time, as Randy and Travis took off. They stormed through the entire house, making sure there was no sign of Liam anywhere until they barreled right back down and out the back door.

I helped Gabe pick up the witch and move him into the living room. We waited a couple minutes until his eyes fluttered open. He backed away from us, his eyes wide until they got even wider with recognition as he stared at Gabe. “What the hell happened to me?”

Just as the others, his face was sunken in and pale. His magic wasn’t even buzzing at the surface. From what I could discern, it was under layers and layers, stripped right back to its center. “You’ve been drained,” Gabe said. “We’re trying to find out who did it to you. Do you remember who was here?”

The guy blinked. “I was just about to head out for work.” He shook his head as his vision turned inward, sifting through his memories. “No. It’s weird, though. I don’t remember. It’s not hazy, it’s almost as if the memory just stops.”

Gabe’s eyebrows furrowed. “Have you ever felt that before?” he asked, peeking at me.

“Yeah,” he said. “When someone took my memories away.”

Gabe put a hand on the man’s shoulders and pushed him to relax against the couch. “We’re going to get you water. Be right back.”

He took me by the hand and led me away from the man. “That explains why no one remembers who is doing this.”

“Yeah, someone is intentionally trying to keep quiet about it.”

“It’s got to be someone who knows about us,” Gabe said. He looked through the cupboards until he found a cup and then filled it with tap water.

“Dupre.”

“Or Liam.”

“Or someone we haven’t even come across yet,” I said.

“I don’t want it to be Liam either,” Gabe said, frowning at me. “I’m just being realistic.”

I wrapped my arms around myself and rubbed my forehead. “I know.” If it were anyone else, I’d be blaming them, too.

We walked back into the kitchen. The man’s hands shook as Gabe handed him the glass. “If you can tell us everything you do remember, including which witches you’ve dealt with recently, that would be very helpful to us,” he told him.

The man agreed, immediately talking. It turned out he didn’t deal with many witches. He was an adjunct professor at Salem State who’d just moved here at the suggestion of his cousin who was also a witch.

“And you’d heard about us?” Gabe asked.

From what I’d gathered, that was rare. If you didn’t live in a city near an Order, you might not ever know witches like that existed.

The guy took a sip and nodded. “Of course. Rumors spread, you know. Especially right now. I’m not the only witch who’s been drained lately. People are starting to talk.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. If the word was getting around that witches were showing up drained, we were going to have some hysterical witches on our hands. Like Granny said, for most, it was all about their power.