Page 11 of How to Charm a Coven (How to Flirt with a Witch #2)

The song escalates. Shit, is it building up to something? What’s going to happen when the chorus hits ?

“Can you sense what it’s from?” Natalie asks urgently.

“It’s… I can’t tell,” I say through numb lips. The itching is making it hard to think.

A scurrying sound fills me with dread.

Yes, Céline, it is all coming back to me.

I leap aside, diving behind the kitchen table as four rats skitter past and out the door.

“It’s the house!” Sky cries. “The curse activated when you crossed the threshold.”

Natalie scoffs. “Come on, a whole house can’t be cursed.”

I gasp, understanding slamming into me. “No, she’s right. It’s why I can’t get a read on which direction it’s coming from.”

Sky’s eyes widen in horror. “But we can’t neutralize it until we get Dad out!”

“Then start looking!” I yell as the music crescendos.

Natalie cups my chin, her fingers hot against my skin as she forces me to meet her gaze. Her touch sends that familiar current through me, and I can feel her fear pulsing between us. “Katie, are you sure—”

Something smacks into my back, little claws digging through my jacket. I scream over Céline, trying to shake the animal off as Natalie lunges to help.

“Get—off!” She grabs it, and I spin to see a fat raccoon wriggling in her hands before she grunts in pain and lets go. It hits the ground and whirls around to hiss at us.

More raccoons drop from the ceiling, raining down. I throw my arms over my head and dodge their claws. The thumps of their chubby bodies hitting the linoleum are drowned beneath the music.

Natalie and I scream, leaping over and between the furious animals as they scurry past and out the open door.

Meanwhile, the Shadows have split up, their footsteps pounding through the house as they search every room .

“Katie—” Natalie starts.

I push her forward. “Go!”

“Here!” Hayley shouts. “Basement stairs!”

I race toward her voice, but the curse has other plans. My toe catches on a floorboard, sending me sprawling. Pain jolts up my arms.

“ God—damned—curses !” I shriek, stumbling to my feet.

The cacophony drowns out my string of swear words as I limp after Hayley.

She leads the way down the steps, all of us following. I’m the only one whose foot breaks through the third step, and I cry out in pain as my leg sinks to the thigh.

Natalie and Neil grab me under the arms and haul me out like I’m a bag of flour.

“You good?” Neil asks, dusting me off.

I grit my teeth, patting my torn jeans and coming away with a bloody palm. “Keep going. The faster we find him, the faster we can neutralize this fucking thing.”

I don’t meet Natalie’s eye, afraid she’ll read my thoughts. My breathing’s okay for now, but it probably won’t be long until my airway starts to close.

As we descend, the song becomes muffled, and an awful stench hits my nose—urine and sweat mixed with the stale, underground scent of a basement.

Hayley tugs the light string.

Oh God.

Iron bars. Cracked cement. A cot with a crumpled blanket. A toilet in the corner. It’s not unlike the cell I spent the night in, but it’s a hell of a lot dirtier.

A man who can only be Natalie’s dad stands in the center, staring at us. He’s skeletal, his cheeks gaunt, his pale skin covered in scars and scabs, his dark hair and beard long and matted. He’s wearing a dirty blue hospital gown.

The worst part is his hands—they’re fully engulfed in metal casings, presumably forcing them to stay balled into fists so he can’t do earth magic to get out.

My stomach churns, bile rising in my throat. Holy shit, has he been like this for several months? This is actual torture.

“Am I dead?” he grunts, the sound rough and broken.

“No. It’s us, Dad.” Sky’s voice cracks. Her hands fly to the bars, white-knuckled and trembling. All her usual bravado, that shield she maintains that makes her seem invincible, shatters as tears spill down her cheeks. “We’re getting you out.”

Natalie goes rigid beside me. Her breath catches, then stops altogether. Her throat works as she tries to speak, her dark eyes fixed on her father’s broken body.

I reach out and take her hand, trying to offer support in any way I can. I can’t imagine what she must be feeling to see him like this. This is the man who raised her after her mother was killed by Sophia Madsen, the parent she’s spent weeks searching for since we found out he’d been abducted.

“Dad,” she finally whispers, barely audible.

Slowly, recognition floods his hollow face. “Nat? Sky?” His voice cracks, and he stumbles forward. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous—”

“We’re not leaving without you,” Natalie says fiercely.

Sky opens her fists to sever the bars with magic. Sparks ricochet like angry fireflies, and she flinches. “What—no!”

“Here.” Natalie lets go of my hand to try as well. Both of them sweep their palms over the bars, but it only sends more sparks flying.

The others search for a way in, scouring for weaknesses or keys.

“She’s enchanted it,” Sky snarls .

I push between them. “Let me.”

Everyone watches as I draw back my fist, the gauntlet glinting in the dim light, and punch the lock as hard as I can.

The lock shatters like cheap plastic, my fist breaking through it.

“Dang,” Neil murmurs.

“Move fast.” I kick the door, which opens with a banshee-like creak.

Sky and Natalie surge into the cell, taking their father’s arms.

Sky reaches for his metal-encased hand. “How do we get these off?”

My skin is so itchy that I can’t stand still. I shake out my hands and shift from foot to foot, trying to ignore the sensation of being stabbed with thousands of needles. My throat feels like it’s full of cotton balls—like my airway is starting to constrict.

Breathe. Hold on another minute.

I can’t panic and be a liability. This is exactly what everyone in the coven expects—for me to be a weak link. But I didn’t come this far to let Fiona be right.

Natalie’s gaze snaps to me, catching my discomfort. Her free hand jerks toward the vials in her inner pocket. “We’ll deal with his restraints in the van. Let’s move.”

We leave the cell, their dad supported between them. The world swims around me as I follow, tripping over my own feet.

“When was the last time the Madsens were here?” Natalie asks.

“This morning.” Their dad’s words rasp out between labored breaths. “Overheard them saying they were going to check out an anomaly. Bio magic. Sophia’s cocky enough to think she can harness it.”

Natalie’s eyes meet mine, maybe thinking the same thing: we aren’t sure what Sophia is capable of. And we need that bio magic ourselves, fifty-six times over.

We reach the top of the stairs, where Céline is still passionately reminiscing .

Abruptly, my legs give out, and my knees hit the floor with a painful crack—and a splash.

Frigid water is pooling, rushing in through the back door.

The glacier-fed lake is reaching in, trying to sweep us out of the house.

“Katie!” Natalie shouts.

“I’ve got her,” Hayley says, hauling me up by the elbow. “Keep going.”

Hayley’s arm slides around me, and she hauls me to my feet.

My limbs feel like overcooked noodles as the curse spreads through my body, but I push on, refusing to slow us down.

We slosh through the rising water toward the exit, wheezing sounds escaping my lips as I suck in each breath.

My heart is hyperactive, as if aware of the danger it’s in.

Don’t panic. A few more seconds.

The van swims in and out of focus. The world is on a pendulum as I try to put one foot in front of the other.

On my next inhale, no air passes through. My chest spasms.

No, no…

My knees buckle. Hands grab me.

“Hurry!” someone shouts.

Voices swim past my ears, distorted. Above it all, the song continues to ring out, mocking me with the memories of every other time a curse nearly killed me or someone I love. If I survive this, I’m never listening to a power ballad again.

The van’s doors fly open. Natalie’s dad stumbles as the others help him climb in.

Can’t breathe.

The ground moves under me as someone pulls me in next. Natalie’s face swims into view, her eyes full of panic and her forehead clammy. “Hold onto me… Don’t let go…”

There’s a pop-pop-pop of corks ejecting from three vials.

Three amber blobs wriggle and morph like slugs, hugging the house and stretching across it, growing bigger, bigger, until …

Hisss…

“Cover!” Natalie wraps her arms around me and holds me to her chest.

There’s a scramble as everyone tries to get into the van in time.

The song hits one final “now,” and the entire house explodes.