Chapter One
Littlemoon Investigations
Friday Evening
Eight P.M.
The whole family was spiraling after what had just gone down at Ridge and Wynter’s home. Between the onslaught of tears and the terror, no one knew exactly how to handle the shitty card they’d just been dealt.
In a matter of minutes, their whole family had fallen apart, being destroyed with one brutal blow, and they were left in the carnage of the aftermath.
Oh, and it was beyond brutal.
It was crushing.
Unfortunately for all of them, the madness had reached them, and despite the charms, protection spells, and their skills as investigators, they were unable to protect one of their own.
They failed.
Because now they were paying the ultimate cost. They’d lost someone they all loved.
Wynter was dead.
Oh, and something told them that she wouldn’t be the first or the last. The energy tied to this was telling the tale, and they were likely all in danger now.
With that self-inflicted gunshot to her head, now, they were only left to clean up the fallout and try to figure out what the hell just went down.
And why the woman had to die.
It was befuddling to think that Wynter, a sane, stable person, was unable to fight this and succumbed to this darkness.
But it got her.
And now, it was coming for each and every one of them.
At that very moment, upstairs in Lucian and Ridge’s shared office, the man married to Wynter was in the room, blindsided and in mourning.
One might say crushed.
It was clear that he’d needed to hide and regroup, and since they were down to very few safe spaces, Hunterhurst not being one of them, they had to lock him down upstairs.
It was for his own safety.
Oh, not because they feared this entity would get to him, but that Ridge might hurt himself.
He was a man on the edge, losing his beloved wife and partner to this darkness. Losing Wynter had been beyond a blow, and he was spiraling out of control.
It had handicapped him in ways that had yet to even show up for the party, but they knew it would be coming.
Without a doubt.
Plus, he wasn’t alone in that spiral. He had a partner in that, too.
Lucian Monroe.
This hit his life hard, too.
Without Ridge, his tuner, he was effectively blocked from the static. There was no way he could go deep enough to be able to track and hunt this person.
This well-directed strike at them had landed perfectly, taking out their MVP.
Their most powerful psychic on staff was now unable to help them, so that handicapped ALL OF THEM.
Oh, and there was no doubt this was NOT a coincidence either. This monster was lurking in the shadows, proving that he’d studied them. He’d stalked them in the static, watching and learning how to disable Lucian Monroe so that he couldn’t join the hunt.
And this was definitely the way to do it.
Something told all of them that this was ONLY the beginning too. The hunters were now the hunted.
Unfortunately.
There were so many questions, and they all required answers as soon as possible—before someone else lost their life.
Both Julian and Tori were not only angry, but they were scared to death, and maybe that was the point.
Now, neither knew how to protect their family from what had arrived in Salem.
This was out of their element. Looking for a killer, and helping solve murders, yes, but looking for another psychic without the help of their dead…
Not.
So.
Much.
They were crippled the second they lost the ability to use their gifts.
Their dead were locked in Raven’s home, making sure that this thing couldn’t strip them of their spirit guides. Without them, there was no way they were doing this how they normally did.
And that was terrifying.
Lives were now on the line.
Oh, and where were they?
Well, how about they were hiding in the office, trying to regroup?
The only two people not here were Beckett and Claire. They were still at the hospital, dealing with the aftermath of Beckett nearly dying in the static as he tried to help them read the medallion.
That should have been their sign that this was going to end in one giant clusterfuck.
Unfortunately, he, too, was one of the casualties in this.
His gift was gone, and now, they were all terrified of WHAT would be next.
WHO would be next?
Would this entity, this hidden asshole, take their gifts, one by one, until it was able to get exactly what it wanted from them?
Was that something that could even happen?
There were countless questions, and what appeared to be very few answers.
Truthfully, Julian and Tori weren’t sure how to keep all of them safe, but for now, they had other issues.
A spooky one.
Before them, standing in their midst, was the woman named Oracle.
Oh, and Lucian’s and Bishop’s descriptions hadn’t prepared them for this.
Not.
Even.
Close.
Julian wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but this was not it. He was both overwhelmed and underwhelmed, at the same damn time.
For the ‘great’ psychic, force of nature, to be honest, she didn’t look like one.
She was a slip of a woman, thin, wearing all white, as she had sunglasses on inside the building for some reason unbeknownst to them.
Yes, it was odd, but their whole day had been a downward spiral into madness.
What was one more damn thing?
At this point, the world could be burning, and they all knew where that gasoline originated.
Here.
In Salem.
This city was a nightmare on a good day, and for the last few, now that they knew something was out there hunting them…
It only got worse.
It was like living on pins and needles nonstop, to the point you were constantly in fight-or-flight mode.
Someone was going to need meds when this was over—if it ever ended.
That was still up in the air.
For Julian, honestly, this made the whole demon-y Nyx nightmare seem like a walk in the park.
Yeah, Julian was having PTSD flashbacks of that as he watched his family shattering apart. It made him want to pack up their shit and call it a day in Salem.
To him, the cost of losing family was just too high. As a business owner and someone who had to protect his family, his gut said to do one thing.
RUN.
If it were him, and this had caused him to lose Tori, there would be nothing to put him back together again.
NOTHING.
That Ridge was still functioning, that was a testament to the man’s ability to survive.
Since they were all gathered here, Julian had one question, and one question alone.
“What the actual fuck?” Julian asked, staring down the woman standing in front of them.
Since hearing her name, it had been a non-stop free-for-all, and someone had to explain.
And fast.
Beside her, there was a dark-haired man, and he was protectively flanking this Oracle woman as if she was also in danger.
Yeah, in danger from Julian, because this was his thirteenth reason, and just about ready to lose it.
“We deserve to know what the hell is going on! We lost someone in our family, and this whole thing has been a clusterfuck from the start. It all started happening once the name Oracle came up!”
Yes, it had been a mess, and unfortunately, Avalon knew that this was just the beginning. Behind the scenes, where she did her best work, there was so much left to unravel, so that lives could be saved.
Losing anyone was not a good thing, but now, she was focused on mitigating losing anyone else.
Fate hung in the balance.
This was a long time coming, and there was no doubt that the anger was understandable.
They’d lost a loved one, and she, of all people, understood that.
Only, as Oracle, she’d had very little choice in how to let this unfold. Her main priority was keeping the static intact, so that all the psychics all over the world would be safe.
And the dead would be too.
Why that became her job in life, she had no freaking clue, but here she was, trying to hold it down.
Even now, outside her safe place in California, she was at risk, but it didn’t matter. This person perpetrating all of this needed to be stopped.
On top of that, the universe was a strange, vast place where people didn’t always understand that this plane was not the ONLY plane.
Reality was more than perception.
There were levels, and this one…it was in danger.
“I understand your anger,” she said, her voice calm, gentle, and filled with sympathy. “I am very sorry you lost someone you love,” she admitted.
She was no stranger to losing family.
When Roxy was killed, and Bishop had nearly died, Avalon had mourned alongside them. When Luke lost his life protecting their ‘family’, it had been soul-crushing, and one of the reasons she went into hiding.
To retire, of sorts.
Only, Oracle could never retire. Her job, until she was replaced, was to make sure that the plane stayed ‘safe’ for the dead.
Add to that, when her family broke up, scattering into the wind for her ‘retirement’, it had been painful.
Every part of her had wanted to keep them close, so she could have her family. Instead, she was forced to watch them walk away for their best interests.
Losing Jagger, Maura, Laird, Brianna, and the Monroes had been shitty. They’d taken a piece of her heart with them when they left.
Now, she had to come here to save four of them from what was headed their way.
“Sorry isn’t going to cut it,” Julian admitted.
Oh, boy.
Someone was tense.
It was time for Lucian to step in.
This was his sign.
Taking control, it was to help facilitate this introduction. It was clear that everyone was stressed out about this, and with damn good reason.
If Oracle was here, the shit was about to hit the fan—as in there would be more death.
He would have to be the link between both families.
Yes, Lucian was devastated, but he knew that this was going to go only one of two ways. There would be so much anger at Oracle, or the family would want to get to the bottom of this, finding the person who hurt Wynter.
And Ridge.
He could only hope for the latter.
“Avi, let me introduce you to everyone,” he said. “Then, maybe we can work through this. Tonight is a bad night, and we all need to come to grips with what just happened.”
A shitshow.
That was what just happened, and they all knew it too.