Eternally Devoted (Frostbite 4)

“Well, excuse me for being scared shitless and not thinking of all the magical crap I have no idea about.” I placed my hands on my hips. “Oh, and so sorry that I didn’t stop to ask, “hey, what spells are on this house?” Because, don’t you know, that’s just normal every day conversation.”

Max, as he always did, paid no attention to my outburst. He drew in a long breath and looked at the floor beneath the beam of his flashlight. “Regardless, the less ghosts, the better. It’ll keep you focused.” His head lifted. “How do you want to do this?”

“As if I should know what we should do,” I retorted. “You’re the cop. All I care about is finding the Lux.”

“Split up, then?” Zach said, more of a statement than a question since he didn’t wait for a reply. “Dane you can search the main floor with Amelia and Gretchen. Max and I will go into the basement with Tess.”

“Oh no,” I snapped, pushing my way into the middle of the group and raised my flashlight to my chin so they could all see my scowl. “We are not splitting up. I don’t care if it takes us longer to search. We’re sticking together. Two guns are better than one.”

“Three,” Dane stated.

I hadn’t known he’d been carrying a weapon, but now I spotted it in his hand. Maybe he’d waited to pull it until I confirmed to Max and Zach he wasn’t the enemy. But he did work for the F.B.I., so it didn’t shock me he carried a firearm. Besides, it made me damn happy. “Great. Three is even better than two.” I examined the stony faces around me. “So, no splitting up, okay?”

Max sighed. “Which was why I asked you to explain your plan.” He hesitated and mumbled a curse, and then finally said, “Let’s start from the basement then and work our way up.”

Before anyone could make a move forward, Zach asked, “What does this book look like?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I stated. “You won’t be looking for it. You’ll be looking for a crazy-ass man named Wayde, but who actually isn’t Wayde. If you see him, you’ll shoot him if he gets insane. Deal?”

Zach grinned. “Deal.”

“Same as before,” Max said in his down-to-business cop voice. “Dane up front and we’ll take up the rear.”

Exactly as we entered the house, we slowly made our way down toward the basement stairs, which were located in the kitchen at the end of the hallway. Dane’s flashlight beneath his gun guided our way, and the two beams of light coming behind me were Zach and Max scoping out the scene behind us.

The beaten up hardwood floor beneath our feet creaked with each step, and I groaned. I hoped to hell after this all ended with Kipp, I never had to hear that sound again.

My arm brushed against the wall next to me, and when I angled my flashlight, I noticed I had taken a huge amount of dust with it. My nose tickled against the musky air and I rubbed it, trying to remind myself as soon as we found the Lux, we could leave.

When I followed the others into the kitchen, I discovered it was bare, except for the white kitchen cabinets and terribly ugly green fridge and stove. Now, I wasn’t sure what freaked me out more—the darkness or how deserted the house appeared. Ghost towns always wigged me out, because it felt like people had abandoned a place—had been scared away—for a good reason.

This house felt exactly like that.

There wasn’t even a ghost in sight.

I glanced to my left and discovered the basement door was slightly ajar, I assumed, from Max and Zach’s earlier search of the house. And when Dane started down the staircase, it creaked so loudly it sounded as if the stairs were about to give out.

I drew in a big deep breath, inhaling the dust flying around me, and shut my mouth not to consume any of it. Following the others down the stairs, Zach pressed tight against me, meaning Kipp had gone to the back of the group. I should have guessed Kipp would’ve known Zach’s next move and I didn’t mind.

Having Zach close meant my ass was safe.

I grasped the wooden railing that had peeling whitewash on it as the stairs shook under my feet, either from the weight of everyone on them, or because they were about to plummet to the ground.

With that unsettling thought, I hurried down them and when I hit the last step, I scanned the area with my flashlight. My worries settled slightly. The basement was just a wide-open space made from round stones and cement. More importantly, there were no places for someone to hide. Meaning, Wayde wouldn’t jump out at me with a knife or something.

Besides, Zach had taken his flashlight and the shoelace from his boot, and hooked it up to the ceiling beams, and it lit up the room like an ordinary light. I never appreciated Zach’s quick thinking more than I did right now.

With a little more confidence, I approached Dane and exhaled the breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. The air down in the basement smelled different, still musky, but had a funky smell I couldn’t identity. “No lollygagging. Look for that book.”

“I thought you said we weren’t supposed to help you,” Max gently reminded me.

Turning to him, I found him by the staircase wearing a smirk. Perhaps Max liked sticking it to me, but I stuck it to him a lot, so I could handle getting it dished out. Besides, something else held my concern. From this angle, the stairs looked even more rickety than they had coming down. Not a settling thought, since we had to go back up.

“Well, there’s no danger, is there? It’s a wide open basement.” To prove my point, I gestured toward Zach’s flashlight lighting up the room. “There’s nowhere to hide, so I think we’re good. Hurry. Let’s find it.”

Like a snap to the fingers, everyone disbursed and searched areas of the basement. Zach stayed at the foot of the stairs, his gun angled upward, and for that, I was grateful. It made me glad he knew I didn’t mean him and wanted him to keep an eye out for danger…just in case.

Max headed beneath the staircase to where a couple milk crates were and called, “Again, what does the book look like?”