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Not that she’d admit that to August.

The ferry slid into the dock and other passengers started their engines. “Fine.” August sighed. “What can I do to convince you two to help me?”

Esther was ready for this. “What’s on the missing page? Why do they want it so much?”

“I don’t know—a spell of some sort. I don’t even know how they heard about it.” He took a steadying breath. “Honestly, it sounds like some pet project of Meg’s. But I really need to be the one that helps them get it. You heard them back there. How they feel about my family. I’m a witch with a vampire for an aunt. Ineed them to see me as an asset if I want to fit in. And I’d really like to fit in somewhere.”

“Ah, yes.” Esther rolled her eyes. “Because AugustPlatt, on our way back toPlattsburgh, doesn’t fit in anywhere.” She looked to Uther to back her up, but Uther was looking at August like he was a lost kitten. Instead of acknowledging Esther’s comment, he placed his hand on August’s.

“We’ll help you. Right, Esther?” Now Uther turned to her.

She glared back. “Fine. Whatever. I do this one thing and then I’m out. And I better get a good interview out of this.”

14

Ashley

Ashley stared at her phone’s blank text screen, Esther’s name glaring at her from the top, unsure how to proceed. That was why she’d trekked down to the front sitting room to ask advice from the absolute worst person yet the only one available.

“Did I ever tell you about my pendant?” Claribel lifted a silver chain from around her neck, revealing a spherical bauble at the end.

“No, I don’t think you have.” Ashley was pretty sure this had nothing to do with whether she should text Esther or not, but she’d humor Claribel. The longer Ashley delayed, the longer she didn’t have to come up with a response to her dumb plan of inviting Esther home to her human family for Christmas. What had she been thinking? She obviously hadn’t been. She’d spouted out the first thought that came to her, and Esther had been too polite to outright say no while Ashley was in her unmanageable drunken state. She needed to text Esther, but the question was—did she laugh it off like this whole plan was justher drunken babbling, or did she go with it and see if Esther had a real response?

Esther had told Ashley to text her. It wasn’t a no.

“It’s actually a vial,” Claribel said. “I keep the blood of a past lover in it. Washington Irving. Have you heard of him? He had such a beautiful way with words.”

Ashley was only half listening. Her mind composing and deleting messages to Esther. Maybe she needed a good pros and cons list. Her musing was interrupted when someone knocked on the door—in the middle of the day.

Claribel hissed in annoyance. “Be a dear and get that, Ash. You’re the only one with a strong enough complexion at this hour.”

It was a blessedly cloudy day, but strong complexion or not, Ashley still had to cover up. Who knocked in the middle of the day on a Sunday? She donned her cardigan, gloves, and hat, making sure her hair covered as much of her neck as possible. The porch blocked any direct sunlight, but she wouldn’t be able to stand out there for long. She cracked the door and promptly closed it again.

“Who was it, dear?” called Claribel from the safe darkness of the front sitting room.

The knocker repeated, and Ashley looked down at the phone in her hand then back at the door. Shaking her head, she opened it.

“Esther,” she breathed. That was too breathy. She should try again. “I mean, Esther. Hi.”

She looked good. Tight black jeans and a black sweater with a white embroidered Peter Pan collar. Her hair hung in loose curls over her shoulders, and her lips were painted the sort of deep orange that had Ashley thinking of sunsets and other dangerous things. Esther’s heart was beating fast, which was an intriguing touch.

Another figure stepped from behind Esther. “Are you going to let us in?”

Ashley’s fangs dropped instinctively and she barely held back a hiss. August was such a mood wrecker.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you doing here, witch?”

“Doesn’t matter.” He walked past Esther and pushed his way into the house. “Some of us don’t have to ask for permission.”

“That’s called trespassing.” Ashley scowled as he stepped onto the sitting room rug with his shoes still on.

“You knew?” Esther, still waiting to be let in.

Ashley was so fired up from August that she’d forgotten to hide that she knew what August was.

“Esther, I—” Ashley’s response was cut off by a hiss from inside.

Abandoning her post at the door, Ashley rushed back to the sitting room to find August plopped on the settee facing Claribel with his dirty boots up on the coffee table.