Chapter 31
When Miles got back to the waiting room, Aunt Robin had already left with his sisters, Nadia sitting in their place. They jumped to their feet when they saw him coming, hair twisted up into a messy bun, several safety pins hanging limply from their sweater.
“Miles! What happened? I went to see Edmund and when I got back to your house, it looked like a bomb went off. Gabriel texted that you were all at the hospital…” They noticed his sling. “Shit, are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. Did Edmund wake up?”
They shook their head. “I found a few things worth a shot, but they didn’t work. I have no idea what’s wrong with him—when Gabriel let me in, he said his brother had been getting worse through the day.”
That only strengthened Miles’s resolve to finish this.
Nadia peered around the near-empty waiting room— the guy collecting coffee cups had fallen asleep on his own shoulder—and asked, “Where’s Charlee?”
Leading them back to the patient rooms, Miles explained what’d happened. When he got to Charlee’s attack, they staggered, nearly tripping over their clunky boots.
“I should’ve been there,” they muttered, face going chalky. “Or I should’ve taken her with me, we—”
“Don’t do that to yourself.” The warning was as much for himself as for Nadia. Once you let those thoughts in, all they’d do was drag you under.
Outside Charlee’s door, the chair Gabriel had been sitting in was empty.
Miles stopped dead. “Where’s Gabriel?”
Nadia’s forehead creased. “He left with a woman and those twin blondies. He was getting a ride home with them.”
That didn’t make any sense. He’d said he wouldn’t leave yet. He’d looked Miles in the face and promised.
Had he somehow guessed that Miles was going after Felicity and decided to beat him to it? Could he have heard his thoughts all the way from the waiting room?
Fuck.
He was gone, and so was the grimoire. Something terrible was about to happen, Miles could feel it.
Gabriel couldn’t have taken it, unless he’d seen Miles’s bag in the back of Charlee’s car, then slipped past him when he was talking to Robin to steal it. He tried to remember when he’d last seen it, if it had really been days ago after they’d found the curse.
“He’s going to do something stupid,” Miles told Nadia. He could only be a few minutes behind at most. “I’m sorry, I have to go stop him.”
“Go.” Nadia peered through the door window where Miles’s parents were seated around Charlee’s bed. “I’ll watch her.”
“Can you help her?”
“I don’t know. The grimoire’s magic is probably too powerful. But I’ve been known to get creative when times call for it.” They mustered up a grim smile, their focus fixed on Charlee through the glass. “I’ll text you if anything changes.”
“Thank you.”
Emily was waiting down at the curb in a black Audi Miles didn’t recognize. He tossed his backpack in first before climbing in awkwardly with his sling. It smelled sweet inside, like expensive perfume and air freshener.
“Please tell me you didn’t steal this.”
“It’s my mom’s. She’s going to kill me when she realizes I’ve taken it.” Emily didn’t sound too bothered. “Where to?”
“Gabriel’s house.” There was no way to sugarcoat the next part. “I’m pretty sure tonight’s the night he’s supposed to die, so we need to hurry.”
She hit the gas and peeled out of the hospital.
He gave her directions to the Hawthorne estate, watching the speedometer creep up once they hit the main road. From her white-knuckled grip, her gaze flitting constantly to the rearview mirror, Emily wasn’t comfortable, but she still got them there nearly as fast as Charlee.
The gate was open and waiting for them. The sight made Miles’s nerves spike.
“Stay here,” he told Emily as they pulled up the drive, parking at the base of the stone steps.
Nothing looked unusual, twin lights on either side of the front door illuminating the porch.
All the windows were dark, but that was to be expected at this time of night.
“If anything happens, go back to the hospital. My parents are there.”
She clicked her seatbelt. “Not gonna happen. Let’s just say we argued, I won, and go get him.”
Miles didn’t have time to waste protesting. He swung his bag onto his uninjured shoulder and followed her out of the car.
The front door was unlocked, opening easily with the slightest turn of the knob. Darkness shrouded the foyer, the only light coming from the porch, and that vanished too when Emily closed the door behind them.
“Woah,” she breathed, scanning the room. “Poshy.”
“You should see it when the lights are on.”
Miles glanced at the stairs, then down the hall—he had a split-second decision to make. Bedroom or tunnels?
“Let’s check upstairs,” he decided. He couldn’t imagine Gabriel going to the tomb without seeing his brothers one final time. And if he’d gone to find Felicity, there was a good chance she’d be up in her room or office.
It was deathly quiet as they crept up the stairs. “Is it always so creepy in here?” Emily whispered.
“Yeah.”
He led her to Gabriel’s bedroom, listening carefully outside the door before knocking, and when he didn’t get an answer, cracking it open. It was empty.
“Where is everyone?”
Miles had a sinking feeling he knew.
Edmund was still in his bed. It hadn’t been full a day, but he looked as if he’d been in a coma for years, his face sunken and skeletal, cheekbones jutting out sharp enough to cut. The blue of his veins glowed through his pale, paper-thin skin.
There was a sound from the bed. Emily jumped, startled.
If Edmund suddenly sat up, Miles was going to scream. “Hello?”
“Miles?” Bram’s voice was tentative. His head popped out from under the bed, followed by Balthazar’s.
“Hey.” Miles helped pull him out, straightening his wrinkled shirt and checking him over for injuries. “Are you okay? What’re you doing under there?”
“Hiding.” Bram peered around, finding Emily by the door. “Who’s that?”
“This is my friend, Emily. What do you mean, you were hiding? Hiding from what?”
“A monster,” he said solemnly. His cat curled around his leg possessively, staring up at Miles with golden eyes.
Miles’s heart leaped. “This monster, was it… made of shadows? Big and dark?”
“Did you see it too?” He backed up a step. “Is it still here?”
“No, no, it’s not here anymore, it’s okay. It didn’t hurt you?”
“Balthazar and I hid really fast. I don’t think it even saw us.
” Bram hefted Balthazar into his arms, cradling him close.
He was like the cat version of that stuffed animal all kids had that they believed kept the boogeyman away.
“Is Gabriel with you? He said he’d be home before I went to bed, but he never came. ”
“You haven’t seen him?”
He realized how stupid the question was as it left his mouth. Gabriel would’ve never left Bram hiding like this, scared and alone.
He must’ve not been able to bring himself to see his brothers, listening to the same thing that made him leave the hospital without saying goodbye to Miles. Maybe he thought it would be easier this way.
“We need to hurry,” he told Emily. “He’s already gone down.”
“Down where?” Bram questioned. “To that tunnel? But your cousin told me you two got stuck last time.”
“We did, but it’s okay, I’ll go get Gabriel. Are you good staying here with Edmund?”
“I’m coming with you.”
“You can’t, sorry. It’s too dangerous down there.”
His jaw took on a stubborn set that Miles had seen a thousand times on Gabriel’s face. “If it’s dangerous, you’ll need me and Balthazar to protect you. We’re coming.”
“Bram… I need you to stay here where it’s safe.”
“But what if the monster comes back?”
Damn it. He was being manipulated, but Bram had a point. Nowhere was safe for sure, but if he came with, at least Miles could keep an eye on him.
“Fine. But you and Balthazar have to stay behind us the whole way, and if I tell you to run, you listen. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Watch him,” Miles murmured to Emily as they filed into the hall. “If things go badly…” At least two possible futures ended in blood. Bram couldn’t see that. “Take him to that hatch I told you about. The stool’s still there, you can get out that way.”
She nodded and slipped off her protective charm bracelet, taking Miles’s hand. Her fierce determination to protect this kid she’d just met washed over him—she’d do whatever it took to keep him safe.
They headed down to the wine cellar. In his rush, Miles had forgotten all about needing the key to the hidden door, but the tunnel was already open and waiting for them. A low wheeze came from the darkness, stirring the air.
“No turning back once we go in,” Miles warned them. He swung his backpack off, digging out one flashlight for Emily and keeping one for himself. He didn’t have a third for Bram, but his hands were full of Balthazar anyway.
Miles considered the death-knife for a moment before unwrapping it and shoving it awkwardly through his belt loop.
No part of him wanted to use it, and he prayed he wouldn’t have to, but if the moment came, he couldn’t afford to fumble around in his bag.
Nadia had said it could kill anything—hopefully that was true if they ran into the shadow monster again.
His sling came off last, tossed to the floor—it’d only get in his way.
Emily crossed through the doorway first, the wards flaring around her to drench the tunnel in red. Miles went next, Bram following close behind with Balthazar clinging to his sweater, fur standing on end. Even the cat knew this was a bad place.
As they walked, Miles pointed his flashlight to the ground, hoping to find an indication that Gabriel had been here, but it was impossible to tell if the scrapes and footprints were recent.
All he could do was take strange comfort in the fact that he knew he’d be there if Gabriel died. He still had time.
He was calmer than he’d expected with his goals so clear: stop Felicity, save Gabriel, free Jocelyn. Those were the only things that mattered. No more waiting, no more clues to decipher, no more mysteries to untangle.