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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I sped all the way back to the office. As soon as I screeched into the parking lot, I slid into the nearest spot, turned off the car and jumped out, racing toward the building. I took the stairs two at a time, worrying about Sophia all the way.

I slammed through the doors to the office to see Sophia lying on the sofa in the waiting room. Dante was with her, along with an EMT from the Supe Community Emergency Services. Carson was at her computer, looking frantic. Orik and Penn were nowhere in sight.

“What the hell happened?” I skidded to a stop next to Dante and Sophia. “Where’s Orik?”

“He went after Penn,” Dante said.

“Sophia? What happened?” I peeked over the top of the EMT kneeling beside the sofa. He was checking her blood pressure and vitals. The other EMT was preparing some sort of shot. Sophia had a nasty gash on her forehead. The bleeding had stopped, but it looked like it was going to need stitches.

“She’ll be all right. Her vitals are good.

We’ll stitch up this wound and give her a couple of prescriptions, and with a bit of rest, she’ll be right as rain.

” Supe EMTs were different than human ones, in that they could often diagnose and take care of some injuries.

When they couldn’t, or if the injuries were too great, they transported the patient to the clinic or hospital.

“Penn hit you?” I still couldn’t believe it.

“She did,” Sophia croaked out. “And boy did she do a good job of it. I’m not sure what she hit me with?—”

“It looks like she hit you with the flat of an ax. She wasn’t aiming to kill, I think, or you’d be dead,” Dante said.

“Crap. Why the fuck would she do that?” I had no clue what the hell was happening right now. I felt so conflicted. I was worried sick about Sophia, but I was also worried about Penn.

Sophia slowly sat up, leaning against the back of the sofa so the EMT could begin stitching. “She snapped. It was Penn, but I swear it wasn’t Penn. Her eyes shifted color. They flared, turned bright red, and then, boom, I was out like a light.”

I turned to Carson. “You say she messed up our computers?”

He nodded, frantically typing away on the keyboard. “She’s wiped everything we had about Brim Fire off the computer. She also installed a virus that’s destroying our files. I’m trying to stop it. I can’t even turn it off, and if I unplug it, that may trigger something worse.”

Paling, I turned back to Sophia. “Did she say anything at all that you can remember?”

Sophia closed her eyes, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

“Please sit still so we can stitch up your wound,” the EMT said.

“Sorry,” Sophia answered. She complied, but continued to talk. “She wasn’t Penn, Kyann. Not the Penn I know. Her eyes were glazed over. She didn’t say a word, but I know that wasn’t her—I know magic when I feel it.”

“She is a witch,” I said, wondering what the fuck was going on.

“There’s a difference between sensing someone’s personal magic, and magic that’s been used against them. I’m positive she’s under a spell?—”

“Stop talking,” the EMT said. He glanced at me. “I won’t be able to sew up her forehead if you won’t quit urging her to talk.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll stop.” I backed away, heading over to Carson. “What did you think’s happening?”

“I found a jump drive on the desk. I examined it on a virtual OS on my laptop, and it’s filled with viruses.

One in particular looks like it’s meant to destroy any mention of Brim Fire that we have in the main computer system, after transmitting the information somewhere else.

I wasn’t able to track down where the hackers originate from because by the time we realized something was wrong with the computer, it was already deleting our other files. ”

“Ugh. I think we can safely bet about who’s doing this,” I said.

“There’s more,” Carson said.

I grimaced. “More? So it gets worse?”

He nodded, pursing his lips. “All our personal information was hacked. We have to assume that they know everything about us. Identification…pay rates…bank info for direct deposit…addresses…whatever we had filed away. I’ve already called to put a hold on my bank accounts.

You, Sophia, Orik, and Dante need to do the same. I can’t do that for you.”

I slowly sat down on the chair next to Sophia’s desk. “Penn would never willingly do this.”

“I didn’t say she would,” Carson said. “Sophia thinks she’s under a spell. She’s also a danger to herself because we’re not sure where she went.”

Dante pointed to my phone. “Call the bank. Then see if you can get hold of Penn. Maybe your voice will break her out of whatever’s happened.”

I silently stood, walking away from the desk.

After a few seconds, still trying to absorb everything, I called my bank and put a hold on anything going in or out.

I had one emergency credit card that I never used, and nothing about it was stored in the computer at work, so I told them to keep that active, but to call me if there was any unusual activity on it, beyond groceries or the like.

After that, I turned around, feeling numb. “Where do you think she’s at now?”

“We don’t know. Orik’s tracking her.”

“If there’s a spell on her, then they might have ordered her to kill herself or something—” I paused as a call came in from Orik.

“Kyann, I spotted Penn. I’m after her now, but can you and Dante get the hell down here to help me?”

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Down at the waterfront, in Golden Gardens Park. Hurry.”

“On our way.” As I hung up and turned to the others, the EMT was finishing with Sophia’s forehead. “Dante, come with me. Orik spotted her in Golden Gardens Park. Carson, stay here and work on the computer and watch over Sophia.”

“Will do,” he said, as Dante and I grabbed our coats and headed for the parking lot.

* * *

Golden Gardens Park was on the waterfront. With a dense woodland, filled with hiking trails, and a beach that led right to the water, it offered something for everyone. I pushed down my fears, focusing on the road.

“I’ll bet you anything they were holding her till we could rescue her. This was their plan all along—and probably why were able to track her down. They used her as a weapon against us.”

“You’re unusually calm,” Dante said. “Are you all right? I mean…”

I knew what he was asking. “I’m seething, Dante.

But I’m not going off half-cocked and endanger her life.

No, we’ll find her and get this fucking spell off her, and then, we plan our revenge.

Nobody hurts my friends and lives to talk about it.

” I felt numb inside, but I also knew that a fire was there, waiting to be ignited.

And when I lit the fuse, it would explode, and Brim Fire would rue the day they ever decided to lay a finger on Penn.

“You’re letting her come out, aren’t you?” he asked.

I knew what he was asking. “Yes. It’s time I married all parts of myself into one. Seton thinks so. And right now, I need her?—”

“Just watch your step,” Dante warned. “You know?—”

“I know what I am,” I said, glancing at him.

“You don’t need to remind me. I live with a shadow over my shoulder every day.

I live with a seething temper hiding just below the surface, and I live with the fear about what I might do if everything breaks out into the open.

But right now, no matter what I do to them, it won’t be enough.

I won’t rest until they’re dead to the world. ”

Dante let out a long breath and sat back in his seat. “Just don’t become the thing you hate, Kyann. Even a category one hurricane can kill.”

“Funny you should mention storms,” I said. “Seton did too. Hurricanes, gales, windstorms…”

I wound around a curve on Golden Garden Drive NW, heading for the parking lot deep in the park. Orik had texted me where to meet him.

“She’d better be alive, or I’ll hunt Jiles down and feed him to a cougar, piece by piece.” I gripped the steering wheel, shaking.

“So, you think this was their plan all along?” Dante asked.

“I do. They know we’ve been on their tail. They want us to back off, so they found a way to send us a message. I’m afraid that they’re going to hurt Penn as the final blow.” I paused. “Duran. Do you think he threw Penn under the bus? Could he be working with Brim Fire, too?”

“Where is he right now?” Dante asked.

“I don’t know. We told him to stay home because we didn’t want to put him in danger going after her this morning. I watched him getting reamed by the queen?—”

“We’ll have to figure that out after we find Penn,” Dante said. “There’s the entrance of the parking lot.”

We pulled in and I eased into the spot next to Orik’s van. As we hopped out of the car, Orik was waiting by the back of the van.

“She stole Sophia’s car—it’s right over there,” he said, pointing.

There were several parking lots, but this one was in a clearing, in the center of the forested park. The park contained beach front, wetlands, playgrounds, hiking trails and other activities, and—as most areas around Western Washington—a tangle of undergrowth and trees.

“Where is she?” I asked as we hurried over to him.

Orik pulled out his phone and brought up the map of the park. “I saw her run up these stairs.” He tapped a place on the map. It was just up the road. “The stairs are a steep climb. She’s probably in the forest. I can’t imagine her running out into the neighborhoods above.”

“Did she say anything to you?”

He shook his head. “I think she’s still under the spell. Let’s get moving.”

“Where’s her car?” I glanced around the lot.