Harley Merlin 12 by Bella Forrest (story books to read TXT) 📗

and wrenched it open, leaping through first, with Huntress, Nash, Luke, and me darting in after. I brought up the rear and slammed the door the moment we were in the spooky embrace of the Winchester House. I guessed the house didn’t have the same security restrictions for Melody, with her being a Winchester and all. She’d brought us right into the belly of it.

Trembling, I dropped Luke like a sack of spuds and sank onto my haunches. Melody knelt beside him, pulling him into her lap as his eyes fluttered open in confusion. Across the hall, Nash collapsed on his backside, gasping as if he’d spent a few minutes in a sleeper hold. Huntress ran to him and began nudging his hand.

“That was close.” I tipped my head back, feeling my heart rate return to normal.

“A little too close.” Nash fixed his gaze on me. “Finch, I presume?”

I flashed an apologetic smile. “Yeah… sorry about that. People make kneejerk assumptions after they hear my name.”

“I’d be pissed if you hadn’t saved my ass back there.” Nash stretched his legs. “Did the rest of you start aging rapidly, or just me?”

“It was all of us,” Melody replied. “A rather unpleasant branch of Necromantic magic. Everyone assumes that Necromancy is for resurrection, but it can actually be used in reverse if the Necromancer is powerful.”

“Can you find anything about it in that mind palace of yours?” I asked.

Her expression hardened. “I’m researching as we speak. Nobody hurts my Luke and gets away with it.”

Davin had managed to ignite the rage of the sweetest person I’d ever encountered. Maybe Melody wasn’t all sugar and spice after all. Right now, it looked like she wouldn’t have batted an eye at sugar and spicing the life out of Davin Doncaster. Clearly, getting on the Librarian’s bad side was a very unhealthy idea. Knowledge was power, and Melody had it by the motherload.

“Finch?” A voice shivered out of a nearby corridor. My favorite voice.

My eyes shot up. “Ryann?”

Thirty-Five

Finch

“Don’t get mad.” Melody spoke first, taking me by surprise. “I asked Ryann to come after we followed you to Gatsby’s, in case we needed help. This is the safest place to be, after all. My family and I can chalk-door into here because of who we are, but nobody else can, and drama tends to… uh, follow you around. I figured I should have someone waiting in case anything got hairy.”

“That light must’ve blown out my brain, because that doesn’t make an ounce of sense,” I replied, looking between the women as Melody crossed the room to join her. Luke had opened his eyes, which probably meant he was out of the woods. Literally and figuratively.

Ryann frowned. “Which part?”

Man, it’s good to see you again. Had my gremlins still been rampaging, just one gaze at her would’ve soothed the beasties.

“Where do I begin?” I lifted a finger per point, though I only had one. “Let’s start with how you got in touch with Ryann. Nice and simple, while I wrap my head around her being here.”

“Cell phones, Finch.” Ryann smiled, eyes twinkling with relief. Was she happy to see me, too? I hoped so. She wasn’t giving me any signals to the contrary.

Melody nodded. “I swiped her number from your phone while you drew the map. You know, in case of emergency. In fact, she was the one who told us you’d gone somewhere—I didn’t want to tell you that in case you worried. Anyway, she was held up in a meeting, so she asked us to go and keep an eye on you. After you portaled, I texted her to let her know we were following you and told her to wait here for us in case things went south. Which they did.”

“No kidding.” I lowered my gaze, realizing I’d stared at Ryann too long. “But how did you even get here, Ryann? Last time I checked, you weren’t a magical.”

She smiled. “Fortunately for me, I know plenty of gifted individuals. Once Melody texted me to let me know what was going on, I got a message from her mom, giving me the directions to this place, plus instructions on how to get in once I got here. I asked a friend—don’t worry, you don’t know them—to open a mirror to the San Jose Coven for me, pretended I was on some business, and got a cab the rest of the way here. Simple.”

“Nah, seems like a lot of hassle,” I muttered. “And, though I realize how dumb it sounds after what just went down, Melody, I’m a little peeved you put me on some kind of security watch. What if you’d been… uh… seen?” I held back the E-word, with Nash listening in.

“He has a point,” Melody said. “If we hadn’t followed, Davin might not have found Nash… or you, for that matter.”

Ryann raised a hand. “Did I hear you right? Davin?”

“Oh yeah… the British Weeble wobbled back up again.” I clenched my jaw. If Davin kept invading my life, I’d end up cracking a tooth. “We barely escaped, as per usual.”

“Then I’m even happier that you’re okay.” She grazed her bottom lip with her teeth. “All of you.”

I’ll take it. I resisted the urge to pull her into a hug.

Melody sidled up to me and whispered, “I truly am sorry for not telling you, but I thought you could use a sight for sore eyes after your mission. I didn’t realize it would get that hairy, but on the bright side, there’s no safer place for Ryann.”

“Yeah, well back-pedaled there, Melody,” I replied, but I couldn’t stay mad. Those squishable cheeks were too damn adorable. And her earnest eyes spoke of eagerly sought forgiveness.

“Are you sure Davin can’t come here?” Ryann’s face darkened. Her history with him was almost as grim as mine. I hated to think about the awful things he’d done to her and the Smiths. It burned inside me, even now. Another reason on a