I centered my breathing as Pamela and Alex moved closer.

“Are we going?” Pamela asked softly, the sound of her voice breaking through my anxiety.

I cleared my throat. “Yup.”

Frank gave me one last look over his shoulder and then opened the veil with a slash of his hand. Through the cut in the air we looked into a darkened room with only a single light and a window illuminating the place. Where it was, I had no idea.

“You sure that’s Boston?”

Frank grimaced. “Yes. Hurry, I can’t hold this very long.”

Berget, Alex, Pamela, Erik, and Frank stepped through the veil, but I paused on the threshold to look back, feeling a tug on my heart. Ten feet behind me, a shadow stood, watching us go. Our eyes met and a stroke of pain sliced through me. If he’d been solid and not some figment of my imagination, I would have run to him and let him catch me. No words, nothing could truly define the emotions rushing through me. Love, fear, worry, the safety of his arms when he held me, the way he smiled from just the corner of his mouth.

I didn’t want to think about what it meant that I was seeing a specter of Liam when I knew he was across the ocean with Blaz. “Eve, please hurry. Make sure Liam is okay.”

She squawked and launched into the air, Marco right with her.

I nodded, more to myself than anyone else, and turned from where we’d all come through. Time to deal with what was at hand. “Berget, how are you feeling?”

Her eyes slid to half mast for a split second. “They are sleeping now. You do not have to check on me every few minutes. I will tell you if something changes.”

“Did you feel that change before you attacked Thomas?” I wasn’t trying to cause shit, but seriously needed to know. She flushed and the dim light of the building didn’t hide the color from me.

Bingo. That was what I was worried about. If she couldn’t feel them sliding up and taking control, we could be in serious trouble.

I ran my hands over my weapons: both swords, a whip, and a multitude of smaller blades here and there. “Pamela, you have your short sword?”

“Yes.”

I stared around the room. Where the hell were we? The night was full on in Boston, and the sound of cars zipping by and flashes of headlights were the only indications we were at least somewhere near a main road.

The short winter days were a boon to us, even if the weather was shit. The room we stood in was bitterly cold with a damp bite that made me think of England. I’d spent too many years in Boston; my body immediately recognized the cold. North Dakota was far preferable to this.

It didn’t take me long to put together the rudiments of a plan. Liam would be proud. “Frank, you got enough juice to raise the dead?”

He pushed his glasses up his nose. “For sure. How many do you want?”

I let out a slow breath. “Enough to piss off three covens, so really, as many as you can. They will be a good distraction. I’m thinking if we can keep them busy long enough, maybe we can slip in and out without them knowing we are even there.”

Pamela, though, was already shaking her head. “They could pick up on me as I get closer, though. Milly said witches with experience can sense other witches.”

“We don’t have a choice. Besides, with so many witches there, you think you are going to stand out?” Maybe I was missing something.

“Everyone has their own magical signature,” she said, her eyes narrowing like I’d pissed her off. “They won’t recognize me as one of theirs.”

I let out a sigh and Tracked witches as a whole. I got a ping off Pamela, but I worked around it, looking for the central mass of witches I’d felt earlier. Tying that to the threads of the three kids, India, Kyle, and Simon, I had a perfect bead on where they were. If I knew where we were, that would help, though.

“Berget, any idea where we are?” I took another look around the room.

“Near the Colonial Theatre,” she answered, moving silently to my side. “This is one of the few buildings that still stands from the early nineteen hundreds and has been a safe house for my kind for as long as it has stood.” Her words were soft and I heard the echo of her parents behind what she said. She knew only because her parents, her vampire parents, had been here before.

“Great, didn’t need the history lesson.” I did my best to soften the words as they shot out of me, but I was nervous as hell. Berget’s eyes met mine in a silent communication.

“I’m sorry. I take much from them.”

“Wasn’t them I’m worried about. They know I’ll kill them if they step out of line again.” I gritted my teeth and then Berget seemed to get what I was really worried about.

She moved to my side, her eyes worried. “They won’t know we’re here.”

“Still too fucking close for my taste,” I muttered, my hands going to weapons out of sheer habit, the feel of them soothing my anxiety only a little.

Pamela cleared her throat. “Well, we are trying to get there without them noticing, aren’t we?”

Of course, Pamela didn’t realize I was referring to my parents, mine and Berget’s, and not the coven.

Berget covered for me. “Yes, of course that’s what we’re trying to do.”

I looked at our group. Erik and I were pretty much bristling with weapons, Alex didn’t have his collar anymore, which meant it was fucking good it was dark out. Frank, Pamela, and Berget looked the most ‘normal’ of the six of us.

“I’ll take the lead with Berget. Erik, you and Alex bringing up the rear. Frank, you stick close to Pamela and listen to her.”

“She’s younger than me,” he muttered, but I heard him.

“She’s also a hell of a lot more experienced with this kind of shit than you are,” I snapped, my temper and nerves getting the better of me. Again.

Perfect. I grimaced. “Let’s get the fuck out of here then and get this over with.”

I started toward the side of the empty building, assuming I would find a door at some point. Alex trotted beside me, disappearing in the darkness, only a faint glimmer of his eyes giving him away. Pamela lit a small globe of fire above her hand and I cringed. Pamela and fire were a bad combination.

She saw my flinch and frowned at me, her face in shadows from the flame. “I can do this better now. Milly taught me how.”