Silence reigned as everyone in the study held their breath. Gemma kneeled before the desk, wiggling a ruler inside the drawer that wouldn’t open. “Any luck?”             “I’m trying. I think it’s shifting. But whatever it is, it’s large. Or maybe several things. Almost have it I think.” Gemma concentrated on what she did within the drawer. Becky held the flashlight on her phone close to the small opening of the drawer. “I think I can see something.” A shifting sound came from deep within the drawer as something settled down. “I don’t think so much should be in this drawer when you open the secret compartment.”             “We’ll know to pull the drawer out completely next time we come acro

             Gemma looked at Evan in surprise. He’d not shown much initiative. She assumed he wouldn’t with everything going on in his life. Sara threw him for a loop by keeping kicking him out of his home. Then she took his money. The final straw should have been her taking his job away. Gemma thought he’d become all consumed at getting it back. He’d not said a word about it.             “Are you sure? I mean, these aren’t in English. I’m afraid I’ll mispronounce them. Aren’t you?” Gemma said, frowning at her brother. “You failed most language classes. Remember Latin? Then you tried Spanish.”             “I believe I can do this. Aunt Esme used to mutter things like this after Mom and Dad dropped us off. I think

          Gemma couldn’t believe it. She realized that her belief that Larin knew all about what went on about them was a fallacy. He may know parts of it, but he didn’t know it all, and he controlled even less.          Knowing they’d be partners and then he withheld that information from her because they didn’t know each other seemed a little manipulative. But now he and Hugo held weapons to a stranger’s throat, unsure whether she was family or a threat.           Gemma wasn’t sure what to think or say. She's supposed to be a mage, but she didn’t feel very magical. Is this surprising when she’s supposed to be his significant other and was sure how she felt about that.          “Now, what do we do? Do we stay here until morning?” Gemma asked. “If she were evil, could she enter the servants’ cott

             Finally, with dinner over, the group divided into smaller groups to get things done.             Larin and Hugo went in search of a better place to hide their weapons and armour that would be easier to get to.             Angelica and Evan settled down with the grimoire instead of Gemma to educate themselves about the book’s contents and find out more information from its pages.             Becky and Gemma settled on setting up the computers in the breakfast room, where they could then both sit down and dive into the documentation from the library and the internet.             Becky made quick work of purchasing clothing, while Gemma came

             “Would you hold up a minute? What was that? You didn’t need to pull me out of there like that. We have far too much to do to sleep now.”             “There’s why everyone needs sleep. We need our heads on straight to deal with the Fear Mongers and everything else coming at us tomorrow. Any information the others found can wait until tomorrow morning. We all need sleep. Now, no more protesting. I am your protector, and I will protect you from yourself if I need to. If you won’t go to sleep now by yourself, I would more than happy to come to lay down beside you to ensure you sleep.”             “I don’t believe you just said that.”             “I t