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Indigo had a feeling of unease she hadn’t been able to shake ever since Niko’s phone call that morning. And when he didn’t answer her texts or show up at her apartment after work, she really started to worry.

She knew he’d been planning on going home to do research before he went out to investigate more, but she didn’t know where he was headed after that. If she wanted to find him, should she start at his house? See if he’d left clues as to where he’d have gone?

Or maybe she should just go back to the bar by herself to see if she could talk to Kinsley.

Indecision was making her crazy. The one thing she knew she couldn’t do was stay in her apartment and wait for news. After grabbing her keys, she hurried out of her apartment and jumped into her red Ford Escape.

She’d just turned onto the two-lane highway that would lead her toward The Purple Cauldron when she heard a familiar voice right behind her in the back seat.

“Your boyfriend isn’t going to get you out of this one, Indigo.”

Indigo immediately slammed on the breaks as she steered to the side of the road. “Paul! What the hell are you doing in my car?” she cried before putting the vehicle in Park and turning around to see not just Paul, but the woman she’d helped in front of her shop earlier in the week. “You. What are you doing here?” She glanced from the woman to Paul and back to the woman.

“Indigo, meet Jesse, my fiancée,” Paul said, his eyes black with dark magic.

Jesse chuckled. “You look like someone just peed in your latte. You like yours with real caramel, don’t you? And a pumpkin loaf on the side. So predictable.”

Indigo blinked at her, wondering why this woman knew her coffee order. Not that it mattered. There were more pressing questions. “What is going on? Why are you both in my vehicle?”

“Just drive, Indigo,” Paul ordered. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Yeah, when she’s being arrested for the murder of her boyfriend,” Jesse said with a snicker. “That should be fun. I’ve been waiting years for his downfall.”

“Who are you?” Indigo asked her, trying to keep up with the sinister pair in the back of her car.

“It’s Jesse,” she said, curling her lip. “Didn’t you hear Paul the first time? Of course you did. You want to know why I have it out for Agent Morales. Well, let’s just say that he and I have a score to settle. Of course I had no idea he was on this case when I agreed to help Paul, but it’s a nice bonus for me.”

“Help Paul do what?” Indigo asked, though it was a stupid question. He wanted her to pay for what happened to Tricia. It appeared he was doing whatever he could to make that happen. She just didn’t know the details.

“Enough talk. Drive, Indigo,” Paul ordered as he pressed what felt like a cold steel blade to the side of her neck.

“Where?” she asked as she pulled back onto the two-lane highway.

“The Purple Cauldron. Your boyfriend is waiting for you,” he said.

“He’s having his final drink,” Jesse added.

Indigo chose to ignore her taunts about Niko. There was no way they could compel her to hurt him. They could try, but they’d lose. Instead, she focused on Jesse, realizing that the woman was a talker. If she wanted answers, they’d come from her. “Who compelled you that day, and why were you in front of my shop?”

“You haven’t figured that out yet, huh?” Jesse asked. Then she laughed. “And everyone told me you were smart. I guess you’re not as special as they all think you are.”

Who was everyone? Her old professors? Paul? The police? She had no idea what Jesse was going on about. But it didn’t matter. She just needed details. “I guess not,” she agreed. “Were you just trying to see if I could still reverse the spell or what?”

“Actually I wanted your magical signature. Letting you cure me gave me that,” she said with a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin. “Now everyone I’ve compelled can be traced to you. Isn’t that clever? After they found Polly, we knew we needed a new plan of action, so we decided to kill two birds with one stone. We’d cover our tracks, and Paul would get the revenge he’s been waiting all these years for.”

Indigo thought she was going to vomit. It was true that when two witches shared magic, if one was gifted in harnessing other’s magic, they could hold onto that witch’s signature for a short amount of time. It was so short most didn’t worry about it. But some were able to carry it for longer. Years even. Jesse could be one of those witches.

Kinsley carried your magic, too , the voice in the back of her head said. Indigo remembered the brooms she’d walked by at the college. She’d felt a touch of her magical signature, and she wondered if one of them had devised a way to harness power for longer.

Whatever was happening, it was bigger than she could deal with on her own. She tried to quiet her mind as she focused on one thing—her sisters. She pictured them all together in her grandmother’s garden. When she had a pure vision of them in her mind, she mentally called out to them. I need you.

Her skin tingled with magic, indicating that she’d at least made the connection. But then it quickly disappeared when the blade Paul was holding dug deeper into her skin.

“Whatever you’re doing, stop right now or I swear I’ll slit your throat,” he threatened.

“And what exactly would you tell your superiors? That a woman driving a car backtalked you so you killed her?” she asked sarcastically.

Jesse chuckled.

“Shut up. Both of you,” Paul snapped. “I’ll tell them you were trying to compel Jesse and I stopped you. Your magic is all over her and the others at the bar. No one will question a thing.”

That sobered Indigo. “Others?”

“She’s really naive, isn’t she?” Jesse asked Paul. “I’m shocked you were ever into her.”

“She’s a really powerful witch, J. You know how that turns me on,” Paul said defensively.

Indigo’s stomach rolled again. Did she have to be present for this conversation?

“That explains why you dumped her after she quit practicing,” Jesse said.

“I dumped her because she got my sister killed,” Paul shot back. “If she hadn’t messed up the notes and forgot to add a step, I’d have been able to control Tricia after I compelled her. and she’d never have died in that convenience store.”

A bone-chilling shiver washed over Indigo as pure hatred took over every ounce of her being. “You’re the one who compelled Tricia?” she asked through clenched teeth.

“I can’t believe you never figured that out,” Paul said. “Who else had access to your spells? I always thought you were smart, but after that, I knew you were just another dumb idiot who didn’t deserve me. You knew I needed money to pay off the school debt that Tricia and I racked up. How else was I going to get it? What better way than to compel Tricia to just take it when the owners of the store she worked at weren’t watching? How was I supposed to know that she’d go after other stores, too? And when I ordered her to stop, she wouldn’t. She was so singly focused the initial command killed her. And that’s all your fault because of your sloppy notes.”

Indigo couldn’t believe her own ears. She’d been engaged to a complete stranger. Paul was evil to the core. Her notes weren’t complete because she’d stopped working on that spell. No one was supposed to cast it ever again. Not that she was going to defend herself to the monster holding a knife to her throat. Instead she said, “It sounds like you’ve perfected the spell if you two managed to compel Jesse and others at the bar.”

“No thanks to you,” Paul said.

“I’m not compelled anymore,” Jesse said. “Thank you for that, by the way. I’m not too proud to say that I was worried for a minute that I’d be controlled by Paul for the rest of my life. Not that I don’t like to be bossed around a little, but that’s only in the bedroom.”

Indigo wanted to stab herself in the ears. But more than that, she wanted to get to the bar so she could help whoever they’d terrorized and find Niko.

“What about Kinsley?” Indigo asked. “Was she part of this?”

“No. We just used her for information before we compelled her,” Jesse said, sounding proud.

“Was she compelled the entire time?” Indigo didn’t think so, but she had to ask. It was possible that Paul had refined her curse to make it less wooden after they’d cursed Polly.

“No,” Jesse said. “Paul and I nudged her to go work for you so that we could get information on you. It turns out that was a wasted effort. All she learned to do was spell a broom. Hardly impressive.”

“Pretty sad existence, Indigo,” Paul said.

Indigo didn’t answer. She liked her life, and as soon as she was done burying these two under the Magical Task Force jail, she’d happily go right back to it.

Just before they got to the bar, Indigo asked a burning question that they hadn’t already volunteered the answer for. “Why are you compelling innocent women? What is it you want from them?”

Neither of her assailants said anything at first.

Finally, as she parked her vehicle, Paul said, “Get out. You’re about to find out.”