Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
“You two take the attic. Hunter and I will start in the basement and we’ll drive whatever is in the house to the main floor and out the window,” Nik offers and I’m again touched by his bravery. Fighting demons and facing murderous ghosts aren’t his thing.
“Good plan.” Ethan’s fingers gently sweep down my collarbone and he takes my hand. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m ready to get this asshole out of our house.”
I go to use the bathroom and Ethan heads to the library to get my stock of sage smudge sticks and salt. I have red marks on my neck that will probably bruise. Every swallow hurts and I’m getting angrier and angrier by the second.
I use magic to light the smudge sticks and Ethan and I go upstairs into the attic. It’s cold and cluttered even though we’ve made progress in cleaning out a lot of the junk that was shoved up here. It’s been a slow process since I don’t want to just throw things away. I have no idea what Aunt Estelle could have stashed in the house, hiding magical objects in plain sight—like demonic ashes stashed inside a wooden box. So far, we’ve donated a bunch of old furniture, boxes of twenty-plus year old fiction novels, and a ton of old clothes. Still, it’s hard to navigate and it takes twice as long to smudge the space since we have to climb over things.
The basement, on the other hand, is pretty much empty. We have some workout equipment and a deep freezer, along with some storage shelves for my holiday decorations, but that’s pretty much it. It’s chilly and doesn’t smell the best and would take a lot of work to finish. We have plans to turn the attic into a “hangout space”, which is what I call it because I refuse to use the term “man cave”. I’m not a man but you can bet your ass I’ll be hanging out up there right along with Ethan.
Nik and Hunter get through their section faster than Ethan and I get through ours. Hunter shadows around the house, making sure there aren’t any lurking spirits. Stuart wasn’t expecting to be confronted by another spirit at all, let alone one of a different kind. Unlike ghosts, familiars were never human. They’ve always existed as they are, and the origins vary depending on who you listen to. Like other magic, I’ve learned to just accept it and more than anything, be grateful.
Nik has already gotten the kitchen smudged by time Ethan and I get downstairs. I’m coughing from the smoke when the house is finally done. We forced all negative energy out through the front door, and then sealed it with salt. Hunter shadows out of the house to check the barns, and I’ll smudge them too once I can turn the horses and donkeys out and move the chicks into their outdoor run.
While he’s out checking on the animals, Hunter picks up a scent. It’s human.
“We need to go outside,” I tell everyone, tipping my head slightly as I listen to Hunter. “Someone was here, in our yard, and they buried something.”
Anger crosses Ethan’s handsome face and he reaches behind him, subconsciously feeling for his gun. I know my demon hunter won’t hesitate to shoot anyone he thinks is a threat.
“They’re gone,” I tell him. “There’s no one out there now.”
The sun is starting to rise and I grab my jacket off a hook by the back door. Stepping into my barn boots, I disarm the alarm system and step onto the porch. Ethan is right behind me, and Nik follows not far behind.
“What is it?” I ask Hunter, conjuring a ball of fire to use as a flashlight. He’s standing about a foot from where the line of my warding should be on the side of the house. The ground is freshly disturbed and I hold my breath as Hunter noses at it, revealing a small, flat stone with a hole in the middle.
“Hagstone,” we all say at the same time. Enchanted hagstone can be used to block witchcraft. Clenching my jaw, I hold the stone out in front of me and telekinetically break it in half.
“Is this the only one?” Ethan asks Hunter.
“Yeah,” I say on his behalf.
“Someone put this here just to break the warding.”
We all fall silent again and Ethan takes the broken pieces of the hagstone from me, throwing each in a different direction in the street. He nods with his head toward the house and we go back onto the porch.
“I’m going to recast the warding,” I tell everyone and grab my book and a candle, going onto the front porch. If I wasn’t so rattled, I’d be proud that I hardly had to look down at my book, reciting the spell from memory. Lines of magic circle my house, and I feel instantly better when the warding is up. It’s like I’m tucked under a weighted blanket and everything is safe again. Well, safer.