Honesty Falls

thirtyate

            "Lock the doors and keep the damn windows shut."

            "Silas, if he wants in, that won't keep him out."

            "Fine. Then use some of your..." He wiggled his fingers at her. "Stuff on the house. Don't let anyone in."

            "Silas, you heard the report. No one has seen anything, and Conway said that none of his voodoo alarms are going off. I'm safe. Sebastian has a protection around the whole town. He's worked hard on it. Nothing is coming through that."

            "Then why are they making me go sit on the road outside of town?" He shivered. "I hate being that close to the forbidden forest."

            "They feel better when you earn your paycheck. Stay out of the woods and you'll be fine."

            "It's only for two hours, then I'll be back."

            He still didn't move, and she admitted to herself that maybe she cared more about him than she usually admitted. As far as unwanted brothers went. "Nigel said his shift is over in an hour and him and his brothers are going to come visit."

            "Make sure those damn bears don't chew on my couch."

            "My couch."

            "My bed."

            "Go before I don't let you back in."

            If he wasn't being so sweet, she'd remind him that, if she got attack and he was here, then she'd be the one having to protect him and not the other way around.

            As soon as he was gone, she did a spell around the house so no one would have a cow, then she went back to the map.

            The ash still remained scattered throughout the whole town. One pile was still at the school, two were on Bloodstone land, and one was at the town meeting she knew was being held.

            Everett wasn't lying about the one at the school. It was probably the janitor. Mason. He never talked and looked no one in the eye. And he was one of the town's newest residents. She wasn't even surprised that Everett slept with him. He had a certain danger cloaking him that would appeal to her friend.

            The evil at the meeting was most likely Conway. She hated to even think that, but he'd be the first to say that evil lived within him.

            It was hard to worry about any of the evil in town because before Vallen and his group arrived, there hadn't been a murder here in nearly twenty years.

            That had to count for something.

            Which brought her back to the two piles on Bloodstone land. Her guess, Vallen and his little slut puppy.

            She leaned closer to the map and squinted, trying to see how much ash was accumulated at her house.

            If there was some, it wasn't much. She wondered if she had a magnifying glass.

            A series of loud caws made her jump.

            Her hand went to her throat. Her crow.

            His cries were a mixture of hoarse coos with some harsh rattles and clicks. It was high pitch, and he wasn't hanging upside down. He was flying around the house like a bat out of hell.

            This wasn't a warning. This was a death call.

            He was foretelling her death.

            "Conway."

            "I hear it. We are joining our forces, and Sebastian is holding the line. I'll send the bears to protect you. Stay where you are."

            The order was only in her head, but it seemed to echo around the walls of her home.

            "Ancestors, add your power to mine."

            "No way I'm missing this."

            She ignored Pike. He wasn't the only ghost here now. The girl she'd failed to save, the one she'd dreamed about, stood so close that Nevaeha would swear she could feel her breath on her face.

            The ghost was dim. Weak, and when she opened her mouth, no sound came out.

            Soon the entire room was full of ghosts, and they filed out into the kitchen and up the stairs.

            Her eyes moved past Martha to Carrigan and his sister. They were still little more than mist.

            The sadness in his eyes caused her pain.

            "Nevaeha Roe, don't go."

            She looked back at Martha. "Go where? I don't know__." Rylee. She was using her charm and calling to her.

            Even as she raised her guards, she stole one last look at the boy she could have loved.