Witch's Wrath (Blood And Magick #3)(56)

“No,” I said, sticking out my hand, “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t open it.”

“Why?”

“Remy didn’t want me to look inside. I feel like I should respect that.

“I understand,” he said, turning the lock over in his hand, “But Remy isn’t here anymore. This is your office, now, which makes that your room. What are you going to do, leave it sealed for all time?”

I couldn’t say I wasn’t curious about what lay behind it. Remy had been protective of its contents, but he was gone, and Jared was right—this house was mine. If I let that door remain closed right now, I would always wonder about it. And what if there was something back there Remy had wanted me to see? One final lesson for me to learn? Unlikely, but possible.

“I don’t have a key,” I said.

Jared arched an eyebrow. “Stop looking for excuses,” he said, “You’re a witch—unlock it.”

I sighed, stood, and grasped the padlock in both hands, feeling with my mind for its inner workings and asking them to turn for me. Click. The padlock came loose, and I was able to remove it from the door. Jared took it and set it down on the table, then turned to the door again. I had my hand on the handle.

“Ready?” he asked.

I nodded, then pushed the handle down and opened the door. It croaked, and the wood seemed to almost snap on its hinges as the thing moved. I thought maybe it hadn’t been opened in years, which only further added to the mystery of what was inside. But it was dark, and we couldn’t see anything.

“Lumière,” I whispered, and my right hand began to glow with soft, silver light, revealing a tiled floor and little points of reflected light.

“Creepy,” Jared said, his voice echoing slightly.

I pressed into the dark room with my hand stretched in front of me and my heart firmly wedged in my throat when lights suddenly began to spring into life, white fluorescents blinking erratically, waking up from a long, deep sleep. And when the lights settled into a droning, but steady state, what had a moment ago been only pinpricks of light, revealed themselves fully.

The words fell out of my mouth.

“Oh… my God…”

***

Jared had run outside to tell the witches to hold on starting the next duel while I collected what items I could from inside the secret room and packed them into a duffle bag. Slinging it over my shoulder was heavy, but I didn’t want to carry it out using magick, so I hauled it as best I could out of Remy’s office, through the corridor, and into the ballroom where almost twenty witches stood waiting for me.

They watched me come into the room with puzzled expressions. Some of them were red in the face from running laps around the house. Others were holding books in their hands, having just come out of the library. Others still were holding little knives, amulets, and other items through which they had learned to channel their magick.

I stopped in the center of the room and stared at them without saying anything.

“What’s in the bag, Maddie?” Nina asked.

I let the bag drop the last few inches to the floor with a thud, then knelt down to unzip it. When I spread the seam wide, revealing a number of edged weapons like swords and knives, as well as sharpened wooden and silver stakes, the witches couldn’t help but crowd around for a better look.

“Holy shit,” Nina said, immediately rummaging through the bag and pulling out swords in sheaths, stakes, and knives. “Where did you find these?” she asked.

“That doesn’t matter,” I said, “What matters is, we aren’t going to wait for those vampires to come for us—we’re going to go for them.”