“There’s no knife,” Ethan says, and moves toward the body. Nikolai shuts the door behind us and the smell of blood overwhelms me. Crouching down, Ethan inspects Claire’s body, not bothered by the sight of death. Right. This isn’t his first time seeing something like this.
“Don’t touch anything.” Ethan turns, looking at us. “This is a crime scene.”
“Right. No fingerprints or hair.” I give Harrison’s hand a squeeze, looking at the cracked mirror on the wall opposite Claire.
“You guys can wait outside,” Ethan says, pulling his phone from his pocket. “I can call in a favor from the Order to deal with this.”
“In what sense?” Harrison asks.
“Make it look like a suicide. That way her family and friends will have some closure. I’m going to sweep the house for demonic relics. Get outside,” he says, eyeing me and I realize my brother is about to pass out or possibly throw up.
“Come on,” Nikolai urges us, and we all go back out. “We need to keep walking. Don’t want to look suspicious.”
“Right,” I say and feel a flood of emotions fight for control. We’re covering up a murder and that’s just so wrong on so many levels. Claire is dead. An innocent girl who made a mistake is dead.
And Xozon will kill again. I have to stop him.
“Are you okay?” I ask Harrison.
“I think I’m in shock,” he answers honestly. “You?”
“Same. Nik?”
“It’s not my first time seeing a something like that. It doesn’t get any easier.”
We walk a few more paces in silence. “I have to kill the demon. It will find someone else to latch onto in an attempt to get to me or go after another witch. Someone else will get hurt and I can’t have that happen.”
“How do you kill a chaos demon?” Harrison asks.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “But if burning works, I can do that. I just, uh, need to get close enough.” We keep walking, and I jump when my phone rings. It’s Ethan.
“Hello?”
“Hey. I found a box with your hair shoved inside and the sigil carved on the bottom. We’ll burn it once we’re home. Can you ask Nikolai to come lock the door from the outside? We need to leave this how we came.”
“Yeah. We’ll be right there.” I end the call and go back. Harrison and I stay by the Jeep while Nikolai locks the door. He and Ethan come back and we all pile inside, unspeaking as Ethan starts driving home.
There has to be a way to kill Xozon. He was trapped somehow and burned before, but that was just a temporary fix. Anything living can die, and I’m going to find a way to kill him.
“Be careful, sis.” Harrison hugs me tight. “I can stay, you know. Tell work I’m sick.”
“No, it’ll be fine.” I pat his back and straighten up, not expecting to feel as emotional as I do saying bye to my brother. “Aunt Estelle got this asshole once. I can get him again.”
“Keep me posted, okay?”
“We will,” Ethan tells him, draping one arm around me. “This is what I do.”
“Right.” Harrison nods, still worried. “Just…be careful.”
“Of course,” I tell him. “And let me know when your plane lands?”
“Yeah. I will.” We hug again and then he walks out to his rental car. I wave until I don’t see him anymore and close the door with a sigh. I should lay down and get some rest. I’ve hardly slept since finding Claire’s body yesterday, unable to stop thinking about how to summon and kill Xozon.
“You should go ride,” Ethan suggests. It’s his own way of saying he can tell I’m stressed and need a break. “It’s warmer today than it’s been in a while.”
“The footing isn’t good for riding.” I make a face. “It’s too slippery.”
“Oh, well, we’ll have the new arena in eventually.”
“I know. I was actually thinking about salt lines.” We go into the library together. “What if I put a mirror in a circle of salt, and then had another circle around that circle. And in between each circle of salt, I cast a protective circle. It would be enough to hold X still.”
“X?”
“That’s what I’m calling the demon. Ya know, in case he really does come when called.”
“Better safe than sorry, I suppose.”
“Exactly.”
“And I don’t know…say you summon him and hold him and then what?”
“I’d like to actually kill him, but if we can’t get close enough then I’ll burn him.”
We sit on the couch and Ethan pulls me into his lap. “If we can’t get close enough, it’ll be too late.”
“Crap. You’re right.” I rest my head against his shoulder and try to think. “I’m tired,” I confess.
“Let’s take a nap.”
“That’s not a terrible idea.” Ethan lays down on the couch, and a paper crunches beneath him.
“What’s this?”
“Oh, it’s something stupid,” I say and take the paper from him. “I found a spell to call a lover but thought if I replaced a few words I’d be able to call another witch from my coven.”