by Sadie Sears
“Okay, we’re decent.”
I recognized Sam’s voice and whirled around, thrilled to hear it. Sure enough, Leath and Sam strode up the walkway toward me. “Oh, I’m so glad to see you three.”
“Cam figured we’d make Shae the most comfortable for going to get your stuff at his place.” Leath stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at me. “We took a night shift. After we see you safely there and back, we’re heading out and Mitias, Dom, and Ben will be here.”
Beaming, I held the door open. “Please. Come eat. And I’ll take all the help I can get, gratefully.”
Vince beat everyone inside. Not surprising, really, after what I’d seen of his appetite at Cam’s. “It’s all in the kitchen, help yourselves while I shower and get ready, okay?”
I made a mental note to tell Shae that we were going to start asking the dragons in with us. There was no reason they should be forced to be outside all the time. I knew they liked the cooler weather, but still. It was rude, at best.
When I came out of the bathroom with my blonde hair in wet ringlets—but hey, at least I’d slapped on some eyeliner—Shae was ready to go. She sat at the top of the stairs with a forlorn expression on her face. “You ready?” I asked.
“Yeah. Let’s get this over with. Are you sure I can’t stay here?”
“Sorry, babe. You’ve got to go with.” I stepped around her on the stairs. “C’mon.”
“Mom, Leath could take me home, or stay here with me.”
Sighing, I paused halfway down the steps. “Now.” My tone brooked no argument. I’d had enough of her lip.
Leaving her on the stairs brooding wasn’t easy, but I did it. When I came down, the guys had eaten, cleaned the kitchen, and left a plate for both Shae and me.
I popped them in the microwave, banking on the fact that Shae’s stomach would overrule her emotions, and I was right. She ate with me while the guys joked around about trivial things. I appreciated them keeping it light and simple.
They continued their banter all the way out of the house, crammed into the backseat of my car—which was hilarious, the three large men squeezed thigh-to-thigh in my sedan.
When we got to Cam’s, I sighed and looked up at the gorgeous house. “Shae, go pack your stuff and I’ll get mine. The guys will stay down here. Meet me in the kitchen when you’re done.”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t need a game plan for packing my stuff, Mom.”
All I did was arch one eyebrow at her. She knew, after our conversation, that her attitude was unacceptable. As she seemed to shrink a bit, she ducked her head. “Yes, ma’am.”
That was better. I watched her scurry away with the guys at my back.
“She’s a good kid,” Vince said. “She’s got a good heart; the rest will come.”
I sighed and looked at him with the same mom look.
He scrunched his shoulders in and ran after Shae. “Yes, ma’am.”
Laughing, I followed him into the house. It was odd to be here without Cam. I’d been pushing the thought of him away, but I’d dreamed about him last night. Finding out we were meant to be together had introduced a hole into my heart that I hadn’t known could possibly be there.
I missed him.
The guys waited in the kitchen, and Vince had his head in the fridge by the time I got inside. I headed straight upstairs. Somehow, I’d managed to get my stuff all over my room and somewhat all over Cam’s as well. It took me several minutes to track it all down. As I stood over my suitcase, looking around the room with the intense desire to stay, Shae screamed.
“Mom! Mom, look!” Her shrill, loud voice made me jump, and I ran across the hall as fast as I could. Even though I was so close, the three dragons made it up the stairs and down the hall in the same amount of time it took me to cross the bedroom and go straight across to Shae’s room.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, breathless, as all four of us pushed into the room, the guys were in defensive stances, ready to fight for my daughter and me no matter the threat.
“Look at this!” Shae jumped up and down as she turned toward the wall. “You’ll never believe what I found.” She leaned against the chest of drawers and slid it along the wall. “I dropped an earring. When I bent down to pick it up, I found a seam in the wallpaper.”
“This room didn’t get remodeled,” Vince said. “Just repapered if I recall correctly. We just slapped some up over the old.”
Shae did something and the wallpaper ripped. “Shae,” I exclaimed. “Stop, you’re ruining it.”
“Mom, no, you don’t understand. There’s a room back here!”
Oh, wow. She was right. I grabbed the paper and pulled it back, and sure enough, there was a door there. I pulled harder, grabbing the seam of the door, and it popped open. A musty, dusty smell filled the air around us. “Anybody got a light?”
Vince handed a phone forward seconds later with the flashlight on. I looked back at him. “You live here, do you want to go first?”
He arched one eyebrow. “I’m not sure I’ll even go last. This is way too creepy for me.”
I burst out laughing. “It’s a secret room, not a ghost.” I had plenty of experiences with those.
Shae solved the problem by grabbing Vince’s phone out of my hand and darting through the opening. “Whoa,” she said seconds later. “Mom, get in here.”
I followed her through, and she shined the light around toward me just in time for me to see there was a very old-fashioned, round light switch. When I flipped it, it made a satisfying clack, and dim light filled the room.
Whoa was right.
“This is a witch’s sanctum,” I whispered. I could barely process what I was seeing. “I can’t believe this.”
The walls were built out with crude wooden shelving. And they were full. Ingredients, herbs, books… sticks? I walked closer and peered at the thin piece of wood. “This is a wand,” I whispered.
I turned with my jaw slack to see all three guys crowded in the small doorway. The shelves on the walls extended over the tiny door and around, every square inch of the room covered in them. In the middle of the very small room, walk-in closet size, was a pedestal.
“Mom,” Shae whispered. She held the phone flashlight closer to the book.
“Is it a grimoire?” I scooted closer to see what she was entranced about.
“No, it’s not. I think it’s a family history.” She looked up and met my gaze. “It has your last name.”
“Naismith?” What in the world was she talking about? I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at the page.
“Yeah, look!” She laughed and pointed to a spot on the page.
“Don't touch it,” I said hurriedly. “It could be spelled.”
“I didn’t, but look.”
My gaze finally rested on what she was going on about and my breath caught in my throat. “That’s my mother’s name.”
“Mimi?” Shae scanned the page. “Oh,” she breathed. “I didn’t see that.”
The entire page was filled with people with the last name Naismith, drawn in an intricate family tree. The last name on the list was my mother’s. “Susannah Naismith.”
“Mom.” Shae grabbed my hand excitedly. “This might’ve been your mom’s room.”
I stepped back and looked around. “It could’ve been her mother’s, too, I suppose. Sarah.”
“I can’t wait to tell Cam this shit,” Leath chuckled behind us. “He’s gonna freak.”
“This was their house.” Shae tugged on my arm. “Mom! This is our house!”
Laughing, I let my fingers trail softly on the edge of the pages. Nothing happened, so I got bolder and turned the page back. There were more names, tracing back and back.
And back. Geez.
“I’m not sure, but we’ll check with Cam and see if we can trace the sales history of this house,” I told Shae. “But for now, we’ll take this book with us.”
There were too many books in the room to try to decide on another one. F
or now, this would do, at least until I figured out what this all meant.
We finished packing; my mood even more subdued. All I could think about was my family history. It seemed that within a generation, there were true witches in my past, as evidenced by that sanctum. I needed to do more research, to be sure this was all true, but everything connected inside me. I knew this was my history.
My heritage.
Spending time in that room would be the highlight of my career thus far. A veritable treasure trove of information and family heritage.
Shae, on the other hand, couldn’t stop talking about it. “And it was the bedroom I picked!” she said for the thousandth time as the guys took our bags and walked down the stairs.
By the time we were back in the car, I was starting to wish we’d never found the room. “Yes, Shae. It’s possible we can unlock powers in you.”
And by the time we got home, I was tugging at my hair and shooting the guys crazy looks. “Shae, my love. I’m exhausted. Go to your room, call Zoe, and tell her all about this, okay?”
“Okay!” she said in a chirpy voice. Finding the hidden room had the surprise benefit of making her forget about how upset she was with the dragons.
After thanking Vince, Sam, and Leath profusely, I spent the rest of the day on the internet, searching for census, birth, death, and marriage records.
There were incredibly helpful websites online and before I knew it, it was way past dinnertime. Shae walked in with a peanut butter sandwich, which prompted a moment between us that went a long way toward making me feel better.
Maybe, after the discovery at the house, we’d be able to sit down with Cam and come to some sort of agreement after Mary was captured and dealt with.
I stayed hopeful all through Monday until Zoe showed up on our doorstep. Leath sent me a salute through the open front door. “I’ll be out here with the guys until she’s ready to go.” Lila was at the studio with classes all day. I’d already talked to her.
“Go on upstairs,” I told my daughter’s best friend. She’d been such a big part of my life for so long, I’d started to claim her as my own, too.
The girls were always hungry after school. Shae had gotten to stay home, but Zoe would be starving. I slapped together a plate of cookies and milk and carried them up the stairs.
I didn’t mean to be a prying mother and wanted to give Shae total privacy, but I found myself just outside Shae’s bedroom door eavesdropping on her and Zoe. Zoe wanted to know why Shae wasn’t at school today.
My girl sounded just miserable as she answered. “I was just sick.”
“You’re lying,” Zoe said. She didn’t sound harsh or anything, just stating a fact. “I don’t have the ability to tell when someone is a big fat liar, but I know you well enough. You’re not sick at all.”
“How was your camping trip?” Shae asked, totally ignoring Zoe’s accusation.
Zoe sighed. “Mom and Leath talked to me a lot about becoming a dragon, and I’m seriously thinking about it.”
“Please, please don’t do it. My dad came to me in the forest and warned me about them being dangerous.”
Zoe didn’t say anything for a few moments. Damn it. I’d explained to Shae that the shadow worker had made the illusion of her father talking to her in the woods. But Shae was still convinced it was really Riley.
“Why would you think dragons are dangerous when my mom is one?” Zoe asked, a slight edge to her voice. “And there are three buff dragons flying around your house right this minute. Plus Leath, who isn’t really buff or hot, but the others kinda are.”
I had to think about who was out there. The last I’d taken them drinks, it was Taurus, Ben, and Sam. I nearly laughed out loud at her saying Leath wasn’t buff or hot. He was both, but clearly, she’d already shifted into thinking of him as a father figure. I set the cookies down with the intention of tiptoeing away.
Shae’s voice was very defensive when she spoke again. “Dragons are weird, and it’s weird that you want to be one! If you become a dragon, then we won’t be friends anymore.”
The room went silent for a beat, and I could only imagine the look of hurt on Zoe’s face. “What? Why?”
“Because it’s a stupid decision. You can be my friend, or you can go be a stupid, weird dragon, but you can’t do both!”
“How could you throw my friendship away so easily?” Zoe asked, her voice shrill.
“You aren’t a very good friend if you won’t listen to me,” Shae said angrily.
“You can’t just boss me around and expect me to follow orders, Shae. You’re supposed to be my friend, not my mom.”
Footsteps were my only warning. I whirled around and went down the stairs as fast as I could on my tiptoes, thankful I’d taken my shoes off when I came inside last. If I’d been wearing my flip-flops, my escape would’ve been a dead giveaway.
Guilt settled in my gut, making me feel awful like I made the tension between Shae and Zoe worse by bringing Cam into my daughter’s life so quickly. Or at all. Shae clearly needed time to adjust.
Zoe came down seconds behind me, crying. “I gotta go home.”
“Leath is outside.” I walked over to Zoe and pulled her into my arms. “Honey. You can be whoever you want to be. If you want to be a dragon shifter like your mom, then Shae will come around. I’ll talk to her about it more.”
“Did you hear our conversation?” She didn’t look mad.
I nodded. “I didn’t mean to, but yes, I did.”
“It’s okay. But Shae is in a really bad place. Please help her.”
I hugged her tight. “I will. I’ll find a way.”
The only way for me to help her was to stop seeing Cameron, for good.
14
Cameron
There’d been a complete lack of clues regarding Mary’s identity online. I’d even gone so far as to look up the addresses of every Mary within fifty miles of Spruce, and there were a lot. Whoever she was, she was hiding well in every sense, magical and regular. I’d told myself I would take initiative on this, and so far, I’d failed. I would have nothing to show Sophie when she came by later tonight. She’d called me and asked to see me.
That sent a whole new wave of excitement and fear through me. I looked forward to seeing her again, but the tone of her voice when we talked was worrying. She’d already come by to get their things while I was out checking into addresses of Marys. I needed something solid to show her, some proof that I was taking this situation seriously, and that she should keep the dragons on the job.
“You’re going to wear a hole in the floor if you keep pacing like that,” Vince said. He was lounging across the couch comfortably, a fire blazing beside him and a worn paperback in his hands. “I know you can afford to just replace it, but it seems like an awful lot of trouble.”
“I’m trying to think.” I ran my hands through my hair, but my feet kept moving back and forth across the hardwood. “I’ve exhausted the web looking for clues and leads and I’ve come up with nothing.”
Vince laughed and snapped his book shut. He sat up and peeked at me over the back of the couch, his mercurial gaze mocking. “I thought you ether dragons were supposed to be brilliant geniuses.”
I stopped and glared at him. “Something you care to add, oh, wise and noble one?” Apparently, I was in a bad mood. There was just something so frustrating about being in a hopeless situation. Plus, I missed Sophie something fierce. When my dragon wasn’t mourning her loss, he was agitated, and that usually came out through my mood.
Vince didn’t seem to mind my grumpiness. “If you can’t find her online, find a paper trail.”
He said it like it was the obvious answer, but how was I supposed to find a paper trail if I didn’t know where she frequented? “She isn’t a bank member. She doesn’t own real estate under the name I know her by, and there are no registered vehicles that match.” My mind was on a hamster wheel, spinning in endless circles, unable to break free. It was starting to ramp up my anxiety
again.
“Cam.” Vince’s voice brought me back and made me realize I’d begun pacing again. I looked up to find him smirking at me. “Doesn’t Sophie keep a client book?”
I stopped and gaped at him. He was a genius, even though he wasn’t an ether dragon. It felt like the sun had just come out after three days of brain fog. Grinning, I ran to the front door, intending to head down to Sacred Spaces to check into the potential lead.
“Hey, wait!” I turned back to see Vince halfway off the couch. “Are you going down there in your pajamas?” He pointed at my feet. “And barefoot?”
Heat rushed to my cheeks when I realized I had not, in fact, gotten dressed that morning. I was losing my mind without Sophie. After throwing on some jogging pants, a t-shirt, and my sneakers, I left. Vince’s expression got even more smug as I crossed the living room again.
The cool air was refreshing, and it dawned on me that it’d been a while since my last jog. My blood started pumping properly, and the anxiety eased back to a manageable level as I increased my pace. I clamped down hard on my empathy when the sidewalks started getting busier along Main. There was no room in my head for extra emotion.
I took a shortcut through the park instead of going around it, admiring the enormous red oak as I passed. Waiting for a break in the morning traffic, I cut across to where Sacred Spaces sat on the corner. There didn’t seem to be anyone at the front desk, and I couldn’t feel Sophie’s pull nearby. It seemed strange that she wouldn’t be there during regular work hours. I’d asked her to keep Shae out of school until this was resolved, but I’d assumed she would just take her to work with her.
When I entered, I could see an ongoing yoga class in one of the back rooms. Lila was leading them, and I was amused to see that Leath was in the small crowd. I poked my head into Sophie’s tarot room just to make sure, but it was dark and empty, so I stood in the doorway of the yoga room. Leath looked up from his downward dog position and smiled, and Lila held a finger up when she noticed me.
Normally, I wasn’t the type to snoop, but I was sorely tempted to as the class dragged on. The front desk was wide open; no one was there to stop me, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Finally, it ended, and Leath approached while Lila socialized with the class. We stepped back out into the lobby.