Bria drifted back in beside me. Kieran stepped in front. The guys fanned out around us.

“Don’t search for souls,” Bria murmured to me as Donovan grabbed the door handle and pulled it open.

“I just learned that lesson, yes,” I said dryly.

She didn’t seem to hear me. “Use the ol’ peepers. Unless someone corners you, in which case, search like hell for that soul. Real hard-like. Reach in and yank that motherfucker, got me?”

Kieran’s deep voice rumbled. “No one will be cornering her.”

“Clearly you’re used to things always going right.” Bria put her hand on my arm, staying close. “In my life, things going right is cause for alarm. Stay vigilant. We’re walking into enemy territory.”

14

Alexis

Right inside the door, large moveable walls draped with shadow sectioned off an entryway. The ceiling loomed high above, with industrial lights dangling down, most of them off. As Kieran had anticipated, the interior was murky and dim.

Donovan paused beside the shadowy entrance before melting into it. Thane scooted around Bria before doing the same. His upper body ducked back out into the dim light before disappearing for the second time.

Bria drifted forward, her hand still on my arm. I followed, but clearly not quickly enough. She yanked me behind her.

Hello pot, calling the micromanaging kettle black.

On the other side of the moveable wall, the space opened up with clusters of tables dotting the floor, many of the surfaces speckled with neat piles of papers or other items. None had chairs pushed up to their sides, and only one that I could see had a stool. Nothing marred the clean floor, allowing plenty of standing room around the tables, plus clear walkways for free movement.

Halfway through the warehouse, the landscape of tables shifted into rows of industrial shelving organized into cubes. The cubes were full of boxes, each box affixed with a white piece of paper. Thick shadow lined the ground and hung off of the shelves, most of the lights off in the back.

“This place is ripe for thievery,” I whispered, staying close to Bria. Kieran followed right behind me, reaching out more than once to touch the top of my shoulder. I had no idea why, because he didn’t do it to steer me. “All that shadow?”

“They have night-vision cameras,” Kieran said quietly.

Ah. That made more sense. And was one of the reasons why I was terrible at stealing—I tended to take things at face value.

Thane and Donovan peeled off to either side, glancing back at Bria. She nodded minutely before capturing my forearm.

“We’re up. I’m sensing for souls,” she said. “You just…look around.”

Miss Powerful over here, and all I could do to help was glance around a mostly empty warehouse.

“Isn’t anyone physically in here?” I asked.

“There probably was. That’s why we were waiting on Thane’s all clear.” Bria slowed before stopping, her head down. “They rely on cameras, but Kieran’s got that taken care of.”

There I went, taking things at face value again.

I didn’t want to look around. I wanted to help.

Bria had told me that my magic was nuanced, threading in between the planes. There had to be a way for me to feel it, to use it, without punching into everyone’s chests.

The buzzing from that ghost neighborhood tickled my memory. I remembered the vibration of the spells snaking along the walls. I’d automatically felt the magic when I was close enough. I hadn’t tried—it had just happened.

What if I did try? Would I be able to sense it from farther away?

Focusing on what I remembered from the ghost neighborhood, I let the world slide sideways. I felt the souls pulse from beyond the Line. I felt the Line itself, but didn’t see it. Didn’t feel its breeze. My soul was undisturbed.

My senses were not.

Almost immediately, that soft vibration I remembered lightly traced my left side. A tiny buzz drifted through my body, originating from the same direction.

I yanked my arm out of Bria’s grasp and turned toward the buzzing, eyes closed.

My feet moved of their own accord, just like they had in the ghost neighborhood. A large hand grasped my upper arm. Kieran’s. Pressure directed me left, probably around a table. There was a sea of them, after all.

When the vibration and buzzing reached a peak, I opened my eyes. And then blinked at the dark gray wall rising up in front of me. Hand held out, I felt the warning for souls to stay away. That must’ve meant there were specific souls barred in beyond it.

“Bria,” I whispered, registering the pulse of a soul beyond that wall. No, several pulses. A handful, at least, their movement jiggling my stomach uncomfortably.

Without warning, they all paused in whatever they were doing.

Became alert.

A shock of fear bled through me and I shut it all down. What if the souls I’d felt inside were living people, and I’d just grabbed someone by the middle? I might’ve alerted the masses to our presence.

“I feel it,” Bria said, hurrying over to me. “Oh yeah. I feel that. There is some serious power in there.” She unslung her backpack before looking from side to side. “How the hell do we get in?”

“Thane,” Kieran said, and though his voice was soft, his tone was a whipcrack of command.

Without further instruction, Thane moved along the wall, hands held out and eyes moving.

“They’re locked in,” I said, resting my palms against the wood. “I can’t tell much more from here. But I’d bet the Line is blocked off. I’d also bet…” I gritted my teeth, realizing the feeling of the magic had started seeping into me again. It had almost happened by accident, proof that I used my abilities without thinking about it. “Based on what I felt before, I’d bet these are healthy souls.”

“What does that mean?” Kieran asked.

“Valens isn’t trying to cut them down slowly, driving them to hysteria and madness.”

Bria elbowed me. It dawned on me what I was saying. Who Kieran would inevitably think about. I hadn’t intended on sharing that aspect of the haunted house with him.

“He is keeping them here, but not punishing them,” I said.

“You can punish souls?” he asked.

“It appears so.” I tried to keep my tone light as I tapped the wood with my fingers, impatient. I wanted to see what sort of setup Valens had going inside that wall.

Thane extracted a small bottle from one of his pockets before puffing powder into the air. An unseen current of air caught the white mist, diffusing it. He continued down the wall, puffing every so often.

“You can dissipate a soul, too,” Bria whispered. “Like acid. You can make sure it never comes back. I get called in to do that, occasionally. It keeps the real nasty bastards from being called back and stuffed into a body.”

Kieran shifted uncomfortably.

“He won’t do that to your mother,” I said, feeling the truth of those words as I said them. “He has her under his control. He’s using her sk…” I turned away from the wall, looking out over the tables without seeing them. “He’s using the thing connected with the sea to rule her,” I murmured. “Like how he ruled her in life. He kept her on a small island, surrounded by the sea.” I nodded, now gazing at the exit. “A cage by the sea. Or in the sea. That makes sense. That’s where he’d keep it.”

“None of the locations on my mother’s list were in the sea,” Kieran said. “One was near it, but on a cliff. High up.”

I shook my head. “No. That wouldn’t do. He’d need it in the tide. In the surging waters. Her sea-faring form would be in its natural habitat, but she wouldn’t be able use it. What a shitty bastard.”

“For the record, this is guesswork, right?” Bria asked quietly.

“It is guesswork, yes,” I answered. “Guesswork from years of sitting on a rickety chair in front of rug-covered TV trays, listening to people describe their interactions with ghosts and vice versa. Hear enough of those horror stories, and you get a sense for how people inflict hurt on one another. How they push their will on to spirits. I could be wrong, but man…I sure sound right.”

“The last time you definitely did. This time…mostly,” Bria said as Thane said, “Sir…”

He puffed the powder down the way, showing us what he’d found. The air current sucked it through the wall. The door.

“The cargo pants make sense.” I nodded, following the others. “I get it now. And someday, I’ll graduate to those instead of being offered spandex.”

“Why don’t you focus on graduating to some leggings that go all the way to your ankles?” Bria mumbled. “Baby steps.”

“Bria?” Kieran said, a command disguised as a question. I had no idea how everyone knew what the commands meant.

She put her palm to the hidden door. Even up close, I could barely see the cracks outlining it. Then again, shadow swathed the surface, hiding the details. Like how to open it.

“A handful of souls. Loose,” she said, her eyes closed. “No hosts. No people inside.”

“Are you sure?” I asked, gritting my teeth. I’d almost reached through again and checked it out for myself, but I couldn’t risk it if the souls I’d sensed were living people.

Her eyes drifted open. Her eyebrows rose and lines marred her forehead. “About which part?”

“That no one in there’s alive.”

“I see a latch,” Thane pointed. “Should I open it, sir?”

“Wait.” Kieran stared at Bria, awaiting her answer to my question.

“No people. I’m positive.”

At Kieran’s nod, Thane bent to the ground and his finger disappeared into a little hole in the wall by the floor. A click sounded, the cracks turned black, and the door popped open. Thane straightened up.

“He’s good,” I said, stepping back.

“That’s why he’s one of the Six. C’mon.” Bria pulled the door open slowly before peeking into the room beyond. Her body slowly disappeared from view. Thane followed her, ducked back out like he had upon entering the main body of the warehouse, and then disappeared a second time.