I slept for a day and a half after we returned. Mom didn't take the news about Liam well. Who would? I still have trouble believing it myself. Avery, John, and I drove to the Reinhardt house once I was feeling better, but they wouldn't let me take a turn driving. I didn't argue. We arrived late in the afternoon, the sun highlighted the white columns on the front of the Plantation house. "This is it?" Avery asked as we pulled up the long drive. "It's huge!" "Nearly a hundred and fifty acres," I said. Avery parked the car and cut the engine. It didn't seem like anyone had been here since Dad and I had left, but I couldn't be sure. "Ezra?" I looked down at the fresh pine box I held in my lap, pain as fresh as the wood gripped my chest. "Follow me," I said and climbed out of the car. I led the others around the house and

EZRA  Sitting on the window seat in Poe's office, I spent most of my afternoons thinking. I didn't really know what we were supposed to do next. I'd put the call out to the lost children, but all I could do now was wait. Would they answer the blood call, not knowing what it was? Or what it meant?I closed the book I wasn't reading and set it down. Who was I kidding? Even if they came, what made me their leader? The jackpot of genetics?Rubbing at the scar on my hand, I looked out through the window to the forest. Poe would have known what I needed to do, but all I had left of him were the journals he'd kept when he was Head of the Reinhardt family.While there was wisdom there, it didn't really apply to what I was facing now. I still had a lot to learn, and I knew that Dad and even Avery, who'd been working under her father for a year before he'd passed away, were here to help me. But the more I read the journals, the more it se

JOHN  Easing myself down onto my air mattress, I stared at the ceiling. What would Frankie do? What would she say to me right now? She'd have some freakishly supportive and sweet encouragement, but for the life of me, I was having trouble remembering what her voice sounded like. I reached over and grabbed my phone from the stack of books I used as a nightstand. I powered it on and opened the photos app, flipping through until I came to the one of me and Frankie at her birthday dinner. We'd gone out with Mom and our sisters, but Dad couldn't make it, as usual. Frankie had pulled her highlighted hair back into a cute braid that was nearly impossible to do without a touch of air magic. She was always so fashionable. My fingers itched to call her, my heart aching for a chance to hear her voice. Frankie had been my rock, my anchor through all the rough patches with my parents, all the times D

I stepped out into the lobby alone, glancing around as I headed for the exit. The place was busier, the early afternoon crowd filled the atrium with noise.There were Witches everywhere now, all dressed to blend in with the crowd, but I could see them. I felt their power, just as I had Cameron's.The familiar crackle of air magic hum around me. It was my mother, she was looking for me. I knew, from all my wild childhood days, that if I tried to run now the air would solidify, holding me in place.Scanning the crowd the best I could, I caught sight of her stepping out from behind a pillar, her own eyes searching. She hadn't changed. Her hair was still dyed copper to cover the grey strands she'd fought with as long as I could remember. Her pants suit wasn't one that I recognized, but it looked crisp and new. Clothes had always been one of her obsessions.I slowed my pace but kept walking, praying with each step that the Coven would concentrate on me and not

JOHN     Two of mother's guards boarded the plane before me. I followed them up the plane's little fold-up stairs and into the main cabin of the small private jet. It was one of three owned by the Coven. I knew that only as the child of two high-ranking officials since my Mom and Dad were always traveling for Coven business. It wasn't laid out like a commercial plane with the rows and rows of seats, but more like what you'd see a billionaire traveling around on in the movies. There was a long couch, a couple of small tables that had sets of four seats with each of them. There was a man on board already, besides the pilot and single stewardess. He was standing in the back, out of the way, but I recognized him just fine. Dr. Knight was a spirit witch and my family's physician. Already, I didn't like where this was going. "Hey, John," he said, as the two guards in front of me found seats. I nodded at him and chose a seat over th