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The force of the explosion tore Monty’s hand from mine and sent us both flying through the air. I hit the ground with a grunt and slid forward several feet. I swore, but nevertheless twisted around to see what had happened. The front corner of the house—the section containing the smaller bedroom and the stairwell down into the cellar—no longer existed. There wasn’t even the skeletal remains of joists or wall, though, rather weirdly, the roof remained intact. The stumps supporting that section of the house were also gone, as was the stone wall link. In their place was a crater.

Fuck—Roger.

I scrambled upright just as Ashworth and Eli reached me. “I’m fine.”

“You’re bleeding,” Ashworth said, “so that’s obviously not true.”

I glanced down and saw that I’d skinned not only my palms but also my knees—the latter fairly badly. I accepted Eli’s offer of a handkerchief and wiped away the worst of the grit. It hurt, but it could have been far worse—wouldhave been far worse—had Monty not thrown that knife and saved my ass.

I motioned toward the house. “Where the hell is Roger?”

The two men studied the remains, their expressions grim. “Well,” Ashworth said, “if hewasin that cellar, we’ll probably find bits of him scattered all about the yard.”

“Why would Marie kill him like that, though, when him being alive and slowly draining Maelle of strength plays to their benefit?”

“I would think the explosion was aimed more at you than Roger, given only you and Jaz even heard the incoming spell,” Eli said. “They gave you just enough time to get out.”

“Um, no, they didn’t,” Monty said, returning my rather beaten-up pack to me. “The magic in the cellar was somehow thickening the air and slowing her movements.”

“And I’m only standing here thanks to my clever cousin’s quick thinking.”

“I can do quick when the occasion calls for it,” he said with a grin.

Belle dropped a kiss onto his cheek. “From the bottom of both my heart and hers, we thank you.”

His eyes twinkled devilishly. “You can thank me in a more appropriate manner later.”

“Now that Monty has his evening activities booked,” Jaz said, her tone dry, “is it safe to approach that house and examine what’s been done? Or is our ghost going to retaliate, given what’s happened?”

Belle’s gaze went to the house and after a moment she said, “He’s pissed about the destruction but he can still watch his show, so he’s not going to lash out at us.”

“Well, I’m glad he’s not been put out at all.” Jaz’s expression was amused. “Though how on earth did the explosion not affect the wiring?”

“Apparently his mom had things rejigged when she went into the nursing home so that the electricity is only connected to the front room,” Belle replied. “She didn’t want to risk kids or micecausing damage in the disused portions of the house and causing an electrical fire.”

“Sensible mom,” Jaz said. “What about the magic?”

I scanned the broken remnants of the house. “I’m not feeling anything. Anyone else?”

“There’s a bit of broken thread floss floating about, but nothing active,” Ashworth said. “It’d still be worth approaching cautiously.”

I refrained from saying my usual “cautious is my middle name” because it was very blatantly obvious that cautious was the one thing I hadn’t really been here.

You can’t hog all the guilt on this one, Belle said.This explosion is a result of inattention from us all.Maelle warned us there would be traps and concealments layered within the spells surrounding Roger, but none of us for a moment considered that might mean a simple shadow spell pinned onto a solitary spell stone.

I guess I can’t argue with that logic.Which didn’t, of course, in any way ease the sense of guilt.

We walked across to the ruined house and stopped just short of where the corner section had been. The crater was twice the width of the cellar, and from where we were standing there didn’t appear to be a bottom. It looked for all the world as if a monster had risen out of the earth and taken a bite of the end of house.

And maybe ithad.

It would certainly explain the high-pitched screaming and the way the house had begun to shake.

“That’s a bloody deep hole,” Jaz commented. She had her phone out again, recording the scene. “I’m not smelling much in the way of blood, but there’s definitely a faint whiff of mustiness coming from that crater.”

“What sort of mustiness?” I asked. “Animal type?”

“More snake.”