Page 2 of Discord and Cinder (Fire Witches of Salem #7)

So, once every six months, Mom made sure my sweet little sister had the self-esteem of a hairless mole rat.

Now it was my turn, and my stomach soured at the thought.

I could only imagine what it felt like to grow up thinking you were defective.

To watch your sisters’ powers grow while yours misfired every time you tried to use them.

“You’d think I’d know better by now. This is ruined.” She dumped the contents of the skillet into the trash. “I’ll order a pizza as soon as Ember gets home.”

I glanced toward the hallway, making sure Chrys wasn’t within earshot. “I need you to go downstairs and set up for some sigil magic. I’m following another lead tonight.”

“What lead? How did you find it?” She set the pan in the sink and rested her hands on her hips.

“It’s better if I don’t say.” I lowered my voice. “I’ll need speed and strength, as usual. And immunity to poison. Fast healing, and how’s your work on the protection sigil coming along?”

“I think I’ve mastered it.” She crossed her arms. “Tell me you’re taking Ember with you this time, or Chrys at least. Someone who can fight.”

I smiled softly and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “I plan to negotiate, not fight.”

“Cinder…”

“You know I can hold my own if it comes down to that.” I pressed my lips together, holding her gaze until she sighed heavily.

“Fine. Give me fifteen minutes to clean this mess and get set up.” She turned to the sink and scrubbed the pan.

“Thank you, Ash. You’re the best.”

She let out a dry laugh and shook her head, and I returned to my bedroom, where Chrys still sat on my bed.

“You don’t have to do this alone.” She squeezed her hands into fists. “The whole team should be helping to find your parents.”

She was right. They should be helping, and if I wasn’t certain my parents were in Hell because they’d summoned a demon, I’d have the entire coven searching every hidey hole and dark witch’s lair within three hundred miles.

But I was certain, and it was imperative that no one else found out.

“I need to do this alone. Please let me.” I looked into her eyes, asking her to let her friend leap head-first into a danger the rest of the coven could never fathom. “If it doesn’t pan out, I’ll loop you in on the next one.”

She rose, her gaze saying she wasn’t convinced. “Cinder…”

“Hingham.” I rested my hand on her back, gently pushing her toward the door. “Hingham is the general vicinity of my lead. Now, please go have fun with Patrice and your bass player. Let go of your worries for a little while.”

She pursed her lips. “Fine. But if you die, I’m hiring a necromancer to bring you back to life so I can kill you myself.”

I laughed. “I would expect nothing less.”

“Call me if you need backup.” She paced down the hall, and I waited until the door clicked shut to take the journal with my letter from my nightstand drawer.

I lifted my mattress and slipped it and Ash’s favorite sigil book beneath. Two bottled spells, which I’d mixed while Ash was at the store, sat in my drawer, and I uncorked the one filled with purple powder.

I set my intention and sprinkled it over the mattress. “Heavy weight, keep this object in place. Don’t lift or move until my spell is removed.”

Magic gathered in the core of my being, tightening my muscles until I sent it outward, onto the bed. I gave the mattress a push, but it didn’t budge. I couldn’t lift it either. Good. Now no one would accidentally come across what I’d hidden beneath.

Next up was the most powerful cloaking spell I had ever cast. Should I not return, I couldn’t chance Ember or another coven member using a spell to find clues about what happened.

I could easily see my middle sister taking matters into her own hands and going after the demons herself.

With her hot temper, she’d either vanquish them before they could lift the curse or she’d piss them off and get herself killed. I couldn’t let that happen.

If my plan didn’t work, Ember would become High Priestess and Ash would need to know what she was cursed to become. They’d need each other for balance. Ash could temper Ember’s impulsiveness long enough to complete the quest. She’d have to.

“The stronger the magic, the more likely you’ll be the only one who can break it, little sis.

This is for you.” I took a deep breath and uncorked the next potion.

“My shroud is strong and stings like bees. Cloak this room from all who seek, except for Ash and her magical sleuth. Only she can discover the truth.”

My magic built, fire coursing through my veins as the spell swirled within my psyche. I let it grow until nausea churned in my gut and the hoagie I’d had for lunch threatened to make a reappearance. My head throbbed, pressure expanding in my skull, making it feel like it was about to crack open.

“As I will it, so mote it be.” I flung the powdered potion into the air, and magical gray smoke billowed above me, stretching downward to engulf my entire bedroom. All the air in my lungs came out in a rush, and I bent, resting my hands on my knees and dragging in a breath.

“Holy mother of magic.” The spell was stronger than I’d thought it would be, but that’s what I got for dabbling in magic so gray that it bordered on dark. Hopefully Ash would look for the sigil book the human way and wouldn’t try too hard to remove the cloak. This spell would fight back.

I raked in another breath and straightened.

It would take at least an hour to recover from casting a spell that strong.

Thankfully, Hingham was a ninety-minute drive from Salem.

I would be good as new by the time I reached Discord’s skull, and thank the goddess for that.

I doubted Isabel, the witch who cursed my bloodline, would make it easy to acquire.

With my plan in place, I rummaged through my sock drawer and found Mom’s sachet of powder for the magic-binding spell. I finished packing and slung my backpack over my shoulder before heading to the kitchen, where I poured tequila into two glasses and dumped the powder into one.

Swirling the glass to mix it, I headed downstairs and found Ash in her sigil studio, pouring magical ink into a well. She set her tattoo machine on the table next to her other supplies and spun around to face me.

“Let me grab—” She lowered her brow as her gaze locked on the glasses. “Tell me you’re not drinking before you head out on a magical quest.”

“We both are.” I offered her the tainted glass. “Do a shot of liquid courage with me. This one could be a doozy.”

She accepted the glass and sniffed the contents before pretending to gag. “Tequila? No, thank you.”

“It’s just one.” I held up my glass in a toast. “To the biggest flame you’ve ever conjured.”

“And the grease fire that almost burned the house down.” She clinked her glass to mine and dumped the contents into the sink.

The back of my throat heated with my slow exhale. That was the last of Mom’s potion. I’d have to mix a new batch and find some other way to get Ash to ingest it, and I didn’t have time for that.

I tossed back my shot and shuddered as the warm, sharp liquid opened my sinuses. It was fine. Mom had cast the spell on her the day before she and Dad summoned their demon. Ash would be good for another month, and I would be home well before then.

She ducked into the library and came back with a thick, red book. “Don’t look at me like that. I wasn’t about to let you do two shots and drive away to Hecate knows where. Come sit. I need to look over the protection sigil to make sure I get it right.”

I sat in a chair and laid my arm on the table.

Ash’s eyes darted back and forth as she absorbed the information on the page.

My little sister was the smartest person I knew and the most skilled spell-caster I had ever encountered.

If she had more self-confidence, she could be the most powerful witch in our coven, even with her fire magic bound.

I told her that constantly, but she refused to believe it.

“Got it.” She laid the open book next to my arm. “I’ll keep it here for reference, though, just in case.”

“Dad would be proud to see how well you’ve done without him to guide you.” I laid my hand on hers. “He will be proud when I bring him home.”

“It’s been five months. What makes you so sure they’re still alive?” She dipped the needle into the ink and turned on the machine.

I wasn’t. Not in the slightest. Even with the veil as thin as it was in Salem, we rarely dealt with demons. And light witches never summoned them…until now.

I had followed our parents into the clearing when they’d taken the grimoire to the demon they’d conjured. I’d hidden behind a tree to witness the trade that was supposed to have happened.

The grimoire and their souls in exchange for a meeting with one of the demons who had cursed us.

But demons were the vilest, most untrustworthy creatures on either side of the veil.

If I found the one who tricked our parents, I would come home with his head on a stake.

And the three who helped Isabel curse us?

As soon as they undid the horror they’d committed on my bloodline, I would send them straight back to the dark prison where they could rot for all of eternity.

“I just am,” I finally said.

“That’s about as convincing as a vampire saying he’s gone vegan.” Ash pressed the needle against my skin, the sharp pain jerking me from my thoughts.

“I was there when they were taken, remember?” I winced as she dragged the needle down my arm and looped it upward toward the bend in my elbow. “If the people who took them had wanted them dead, they’d have killed them on the spot.”

Ash finished the speed sigil and rested her hand on the table. “I’m not a little kid anymore. If you’re making all this up to spare my feelings, don’t.”

“I’m not making it up. I swear I was there. They were alive when they were taken.” Whether or not they still were was debatable. I had no idea what happened to a witch when they crossed the veil, but demons could come to our side unscathed. Logic said it worked both ways.

“Where are you going?” She drew the strength sigil on the other side of my forearm quickly. It was one she’d mastered years ago.

“The less you and Ember know, the better.”

“This is utter bullshit, you know? They’re our parents too.” She tapped my shoulder, and I turned, giving her access to my upper arm.

“I know, but as High Priestess I have to?—”

“Maintain certain secrets. I get it.” She dipped the needle into the ink and began the protection sigil. “It’s still bullshit.”

“I’ll be back before you know it.”

“You better be.” She finished the protection and resistance to venom sigils and took a lighter from her pocket.

“I’ll activate them later.” I tugged my sleeve down and rose to my feet. With my vim still recovering from the mega-cloaking spell I’d just performed, it would draw out all the protection Ash had given me before I made it to my destination.

“Don’t forget.” She returned it to her pocket. “They don’t work unless they’re lit.”

I grabbed my car keys from my bag. “I won’t. Tell Ember I love you both.”

She gave me a pointed look. “You can tell her when you get home.”