Page 14

14

HAILEY

One problem down, one big one to go.

With the fake Janice unmasked, we still had to track down the real one.

Fast.

"We need to do a locator spell," Kendra announced.

"Let's go get some of Janice's hair from her hairbrush at Wade's."

We trooped out of the backyard, toward the gate that would let us walk down the sidewalk and to the street behind us where Wade's was.

As we crossed the yard, a shrill voice pierced the air. "What the world?!" Mildred, our elderly neighbor from the end of the cul-de-sac, the one who always thought we were up to no good, stood at the edge of our property, bifocals glinting in the sun as she gaped at our ragtag supernatural parade. Her bony finger jabbed at us, her thin mouth working soundlessly in shock.

My belly went cold. The ward. Kendra met my eyes, face green. She muttered a very creative curse. "I had to make it big to make sure the dagger wouldn't kill it. It must go out to the sidewalk."

For a moment Mildred just stared, eyes darting between the lot of us, hands white-knuckling a floral housecoat around her thin frame. Then she turned on her sensible heel and scurried back to her door as fast as her aging legs could manage.

I blew out a heavy breath, fingers pressing my temples where a headache was building steam. "Okay. Who can erase her memory the fastest before she speed-dials the police and we end up on the six o'clock news?"

Izora flashed an unsettlingly toothy grin. "I'll handle it." She set off down the sidewalk at a determined clip, heels clacking against the pavement.

"Don't kill her!" Luke yelled, panic edging his tone.

Izora just waved an elegant hand dismissively over her shoulder without bothering to turn around or slow her militant stride.

I sent up a quick prayer to the powers that be—maybe Luci could pull some strings—that Mildred would escape this encounter with mind and body intact. Then I jerked my chin at the others. "Come on, let's find Janice. Izora will catch up."

We barreled over to Wade's and thundered up the stairs to Janice's room, single-minded in our urgency. Kendra made a beeline for Janice's dressing table and snatched up her hairbrush.

She plucked a few dark strands from the bristles and held them aloft, chanting. The hair glowed, twisted in her fingers like it was caught in a phantom breeze. I stopped breathing, watching, willing it to work.

After several tense beats, Kendra opened her eyes. "Got her. She's about a mile from here."

Relief hit me like a truck, leaving me lightheaded. "Let's go."

We took off back to our house, all of us, except for Ransom and Paige, who were still in Milan, and Izora, who was hopefully not killing Mildred right now. And of course, no Janice, as we still needed to rescue her.

"We don't all need to go," I said. "Why don't you guys stay here and keep an eye on that portal? Jax, Kendra, and I can get Janice."

Luke looked up at the portal and curled his lip. "Um, okay, yeah. We'll stay here and if the portal changes, we'll just alert the navy? What do you expect us to do?"

I flipped him the bird and climbed into Jax's black SUV. "Sing it a lullaby. And keep an eye on Flint." He flew off of my shoulder and onto Luke's. "Back soon."

Kendra directed Jax to an empty house pretty close by. She'd been right about it being about a mile. The house was a generic suburban two-story, "For Sale" sign already bleaching in the weed-choked yard. Painted a nauseatingly inoffensive beige with bland taupe trim, it melded into the street of nearly identical properties.

I didn't bother with the doorbell. Too much adrenaline singing in my veins, too much fear-fueled fury. I slammed the heel of my boot just beside the lock, and the door cracked inward like it was made of balsa wood.

"Janice?" My voice sounded harsh with desperation even to my ears.

A weak cry answered from a back room. We surged forward and found her in a bare bedroom, wrists and ankles zip-tied to a metal bedframe. Pale and gaunt, her hair a rampant bird's nest, eyes glassy. But alive. Blessedly alive.

"Janice, thank frick." I crouched to saw at the zip ties with a pocketknife, freeing her with shaking hands. "I'm so sorry it took us this long to figure it out."

She tried for a smile but ended up with a grimace. "I knew you'd come. But can we eat like as soon as we get out of here? I'm starving."

Half-hysterical laughter bubbled out of me. "You got it."

Later, ensconced on her own couch with a fleece blanket and the remains of three Big Macs, Janice told us what happened. How Vaelog had appeared out of nowhere, his charm like cloying honey in her mind. How he had commanded her to go to the empty house and tie herself up, then left her there, helpless and alone. Confused and ashamed tears dampened her cheeks as she spoke.

Kendra put a gentle hand on her arm, sympathy in every line of her face. I perched on the armrest beside Janice, stomach churning with guilt and anger.

We filled in the gaps for her, explaining how Vaelog had been impersonating her. How we hadn't realized at first, how he'd been manipulating us all. How close we came to disaster before finally seeing through his ruse.

Janice shook her head, disbelief and horror warring across her exhausted features.

Once Janice was a little steadier on her feet and her belly was full, we converged on the backyard again to stare at the giant portal in the sky.

Kendra said it first. "We're going in there, right?"

It wasn't really a question. I met her gaze as a slow smile spread across my face. "Hell yes, we are." The words came out savage and clipped.

On the heels of my pronouncement, the air beside me shivered and Lucifer materialized as if summoned by my vehemence. He had a knack for dramatic entrances.

Speak of the devil, as they say.

Immaculately dressed as always in a dark suit that probably cost more than my car, he regarded us with hooded eyes. I waited for a trademark quip, some flippant comment about our bedraggled state.

But he didn't spare us a hello. His attention turned to the portal, hawklike intensity in every line of his too-perfect face. "Finally," he murmured with dark satisfaction.

Then he strode forward and jumped, flying high in the air and going into the portal without hesitation, the shimmering surface parting around him like a curtain of light before knitting closed once more.

"That's… not good." Lucifer's interest in the portal could be a good omen or a very, very bad one. You never knew which way the coin would land with him.

Only one way to find out.