I snapped my hand out that still held my knife, upward and across Orion’s throat. His eyes widened as he tumbled to his knees.

Breathing hard, my chest heaving, I stepped away from him, feeling as though my heart would indeed burst with the effort it was taking just to draw air. “I will never go with you willingly.”

A snarl curled his lips as his stolen body fell back with a splash into the pooling water. The shakes took me as I realized how fucking close that had been. Clinging to Erik’s threads, like a child clinging to the belief that under the covers was safe from the monsters, had been a close call. I forced myself to look around.

Every single coven member was dead, both those collared and un-collared. Their bodies were blown apart. That’s what Orion had done with a single clap of his hands through a witch of power. How much stronger would he be if he took possession of Zane?

“Erik, are you okay?”

My uncle nodded and peeled himself from the wall. “We still have a demon to deal with. One left. And the two other kids.”

I Tracked them and had to fight the well of frustration in me. They were another level down and the water was spewing up.

“They are further down. I’ll get them. You get my mom out of here.”

From three flights up, I finally registered Frank yelling for me. “She’s hurt, Pamela’s hurt!”

My feet feeling as though lead had been poured into them, I stumbled as I forced them to move. Grabbing Amelia, I hauled her to her feet, her dress and hair soaked through from the salt water. “We have to go. Right now.”

She nodded, her eyes blank with fear. “Where’s Robert? He tried to stop them from hurting me.”

I pushed her ahead of me as I Tracked Robert—my dad—, felt what was left of him on the other side of the room. I sloshed over to where he lay face down in the water, my guts churning.

With one hand, I rolled him over. His neck had been slit, a gaping wound like a second smile grinning at me. I squeezed my eyes shut for split second, the pain of what could have been washing over me. He’d invited me to visit, wanted to make amends for the past and now there was no chance of that, not ever. “I’m sorry, Dad.”

But, again, there was no time, no time to grieve. I made my way back to Amelia and again grabbed her arm. I would tell her later what had happened to Robert, but not right then. “Alex, we’ve got to go.”

“Yuppy doody, I is coming.” He bounded through the water to us. Hauling my mother behind me, I circled the room. There were no doorways out. “Fucking hell!”

“Rylee, she’s not doing well.”

Fear for Pamela replaced the pain arching through my body. Whatever Orion had done, it had burned through me when I’d forced his power out, teasing my newly healed synapses. “Sister. Get those two out.” I didn’t want to use Berget’s name and have Amelia have a melt down. I took off my coat and put it around my mom’s shoulders. It wasn’t much, but it would help keep the chill somewhat at bay.

Erik took my mother and dumped her over his shoulder. “I’ll get her out, get the kids.”

He set off at a jog to the doorway he’d come through. I bent and scooped up my one sword I could find, sliding it into my back sheath, then followed him. There were steps going up and steps going down.

Down was dark and the water sloshed up from the bottom.

One of these days, it was going to be a beautiful, sun-filled, cookie factory that I had to rescue someone from. I smiled, thinking how fucking ridiculous that sounded even in my own head, and started down the stairs.

Deadly, gloomy, and dangerous, here I come.

Chapter 12

THE STAIRWELL LIGHTS flickered as I ran, one hand on the railing. Alex leapt from the top and landed in the water at the bottom with a splash. He ducked his head once and came up slopping wet.

“We have kids to find, Alex.” I Tracked all three of them, and found two together. India and Kyle were to the left. The water was up to my knees and I ran as fast as I could, the pull on my muscles dragging at me. It still didn’t seem fast enough as the water rose noticeably with each minute that passed. The threads of the two kids were close and seconds later I stopped in front of a door with a large lock. Hadn’t thought this through. Fuck.

“India!”

There was a muffled yell from inside the room. “Rylee!”

I kicked the door once, out of frustration more than anything else. How was I going to get them out?

“The answer to the question you are undoubtedly asking is, you aren’t getting them out.”

I spun to face the direction of the voice. My eyes met those of Simon, the supposed young Tracker, and my heart sank. His eyes should have been swirling with blues and greens. Instead they glowed a steady, dull red as he stared at me.

“You know, I’ve heard that kind of shit before from other bad guys, and you know what happened?” I pulled a sword from my back and pointed it at him, swirling it slowly.

“Tell me.” He smiled, like he knew a secret I didn’t.

“They always end up in pieces.” I lunged toward him and he dodged my first strike. His hands came up with a speed that screamed ‘demon’ and knocked my blade back as I went in for a second hit. He lost two fingers and a huge slash opened up on the back of his wrist. Alex tried to work his way around, to knock the demon off balance, but it was hard to be stealthy with the rising water.

“Come on, demon,” I snarled, knowing I needed to calm the rage in me, but struggling to do so. I was too worried about India and Kyle.

Simon, or what was left of him, looked at his fingers, and then looked at me. His eyes were no longer red, but a single blue tone. He was no Tracker, just a kid pulled into this to make me go where the black coven wanted me to go. Fuck. The prophecy said they needed a Tracker and I’d shown up for them.

They’d used the kid, and used my parents to get me here, only the whole thing had backfired on them. I’d laugh only if it weren’t for the kid in front of me that I was going to have to kill. He was going to pay the price for the coven getting me to show up.

Simon’s eyes were full of pain and confusion. “Why?”

Oh shit, I didn’t think he’d be able to come through with the demon in control.

“You’re possessed by a demon.” I lowered the tip of my blade. How did I explain to him there was no way for him to come back? I knew it, but shit, I didn’t—