Broken Bonds (Lizzie Grace 3)

“No sign of any of them as yet, and no one is going inside that building until we know it’s both magically and structurally safe to do so.”

“But they might be inside and in need of urgent medical attention—”

“They probably are, but I won’t risk the lives of any of my people until it’s declared safe.”

“If the heretic witch is responsible for that magic, it may well be beyond my capacity to contain it.”

“Then let’s hope for the sake of the three men that’s not the case.”

He opened the door, ushered me inside, and then ran around to the driver side. Once he’d reversed out of the driveway, he hit the lights and sirens and then accelerated along the quiet street and out onto the main road. This time, he wasn’t being thoughtful when it came to the neighbors.

The journey back to Castle Rock was a tense one. I really, really hoped Ashworth and Eli were both okay, but Aiden had been getting constant updates from his crew and there’d been no mention of either of them. Hope, it seemed, might be futile.

Aiden swung into Ashworth’s street then hit the brakes hard, forcing the truck into a sideways sliding stop. The street had been blocked off by a number of ranger SUVs as well as blue-and-white tape, and the nearby houses had obviously been evacuated, because people milled about on the pavement on either side of the road.

I climbed out of the truck and followed Aiden across to the tape. Mac gave me a nod and then said, “Nothing has changed, boss, though the stabs of lightning appeared to have stopped.”

“No sign of movement from inside?”

“Nothing we can see. They could be buried, though.”

“Anyone get close enough to scent anything?”

“Tala tried but the lightning lashed out at her.”

“That sounds like a spell more than magic gone wild,” I commented.

“We’ll need to find out one way or another before we risk going in there,” Mac said.

Aiden glanced at me. “Will you need any equipment from the café?”

“I won’t know until I see what’s actually happened and what sort of magic we’re dealing with.”

“Then let’s do that first.”

He ducked under the tape and strode down the street. I hurried after him, my gaze on the purplish glow emanating from up ahead. I couldn’t see the actual building as yet because there were vehicles, rangers, and paramedics all clustered around the house this side of it.

We wove our way through them and approached Tala, who was standing, arms crossed in front of the glowing building.

“What the fuck is that light?” she asked, without looking at us.

“Magic. Or the remains of it,” I said.

I stopped beside Aiden and studied the building. It had once been a modern replica of a Victorian-style two-story house, but most of the roof and a good portion of the first floor had collapsed into the ground floor. The purplish glow seeping from the building was the magical equivalent to a radiation cloud, and suggested there’d been an almighty battle. Even from where I was standing, that cloud felt fierce and dirty.

I rubbed my arms and wondered two things—where the fuck had our heretic witch gotten the strength to conjure up such a spell, and how the fuck was I going to deal with it? I had to—there was really no other choice but me if the men inside were to have any hope.

If they were still inside, that is.

Though there was no sense of a dark spirit being involved in this calamity, that didn’t mean anything. For all I knew, the purple glow was a barrier hiding all manner of things, including dark spirits.

Aiden’s phone rang, the sharp sound making me jump. He tugged it out of his pocket then answered it with a quick, “What’s up, Mac?”

He listened for a few seconds and then said, “Let her in.”

“Problem?” I asked.

“Indeed.” His voice was dry. “And I’d appreciate you informing Belle to stop threatening to turn my people into toads when they’re simply doing their jobs and following orders.”