But no witches.
I spotted Cosette sitting alone and flipping through a magazine as she picked at a bowl of strawberries. She stood as soon as she saw me, pushing her magazine aside. “What’s wrong?”
“Where are the witches?”
“I left them in the library a few hours ago. What’s…” Her eyes slipped out of focus and she paled. “What am I sensing?”
The library. Shit. Why hadn’t I checked the library first? “Something really bad.”
She moved past me. “Let’s go.”
Dastien and the rest followed behind us. I moved faster, jumping the three steps to enter the admin building. I burst through the doors and ran down the hallway to the right.
When I reached the library, I finally stopped. If they were in there, I didn’t want to scare them.
But one breath was all it took. I knew what I feared was true. I could smell death. And I didn’t want to open those doors. Because then it’d be real.
I backed away slowly.
Dastien squeeze my shoulder. “Why don’t you wait here, Tess?”
“Yeah. Please. Just tell me I’m wrong.”
“I wish you were.”
“We didn’t protect them.” Tears welled, and blinked them away. “I said they’d be safe here. I promised.”
“We don’t know what Luciana’s done. Just…” He leaned down until he was eye-level with me. “Don’t go in yet.” He turned to Dr. Gonzales, and waved her forward, but Cosette moved in front of her.
I should’ve moved down the hallway, but my body didn’t want to move at all. As soon as Dastien opened the door, I saw two of them. Yvonne lay collapsed on the table. She faced away from me, but there was only one reason she’d stay that still.
Elsa’s tiny body lay on the ground, her arms at an odd angle. Her skin was gray and wrinkled…
I’d seen enough. I couldn’t… I didn’t…
I turned to press my forehead against the cool wall.
They were dead. All of them.
All of them.
Fear rolled through me so fiercely that I could hardly breathe.
Oh shit. Claudia. Oh shit.
I needed my cell phone. She had to be okay.
Please, God. Let her be okay.
Chapter Nine
I raced back to my room and snatched my cell off the nightstand. My hands shook as I searched my contacts for Adrian’s number. I hit it and started pacing the room.
The phone rang. And rang. With each ring, my lungs grew tighter.
Until, it stopped ringing. “Tessa?”
“The witches—”