Thank God. I closed my eyes as I let go of the worry. Luciana had spared them.
As soon as I let out a breath, another fear grabbed hold of me. If they were alive, the wards shouldn’t be down and we’d just walked into a trap.
Shit. We needed to leave. Now.
I started to tell Dastien as much when something caught my eye.
In the little break in the cabinets that connected the kitchen to the living room, someone was lying on the floor. The shards of a broken mixing bowl scattered all around them.
The momentary relief I’d felt was gone. Replaced with terror.
If I was seeing what I thought, then Luciana had stolen everyone’s magic. Killed every single person in the coven.
And winning the fight against her was about to become infinitely more impossible.
I needed to be sure, only I didn’t want to go inside. Not one little bit.
Shit. There was no getting around it.
As soon as I opened the front door, the smell wafted out. It was exactly the same as the others, but I had to go in. I had to be sure.
Cherie. What do you see? Dastien waited at the bottom of the porch steps.
I’m not sure yet. I need to check… I entered into the house. The person on the couch was a teenage boy. I’d never spoken to him, but I remembered him from the one class I’d taken during my stay at the compound.
>
He stared at TV. His skin was gray and wrinkled, like the others. And the eyes that had died watching TV were twin black raisins.
“Shit.” I made an effort to breathe through my mouth as I moved past him to the kitchen.
His mother had died baking a cake. Two candles lay on the counter. A one and a four.
How could she do it? To kids? To families?
Dastien and Mr. Dawson came through the door as I left the kitchen. I wiped my hands down my face. “How could she do this? It was his birthday. He was only fourteen.” They started to say something, but I waved them off. There was nothing to say. Nothing for us to do. It was too late. We were too late. “We can search the compound, but I think everyone here is going to be like this.” I waved my hand around the gruesome scene. I didn’t even know them, but they didn’t deserve this. No one deserved this.
“Luciana’s car is gone,” Cosette said as she came through the door. “Her house is empty, but I’m sensing power inside. No other traps.” She crouched on the floor and gently touched the woman’s cheek. “What a waste. And what a selfish use of magic.” Only she moved in the silent room, tucking a lock of hair behind the woman’s ear and then closing her eyes. “Maureen was a kind woman. And Elijah was a sweet boy. All they did was listen to the one who was supposed to be leading them.”
I swallowed the ache building at the back of my throat. It would be the same scene in every house. Forty people dead? Fifty? And all her own coven. I didn’t have the words.
“Any idea where she might’ve gone?” Mr. Dawson said.
“None.” When Cosette finally stood, she pressed her hands against her temples, not crying but showing pain in her way. “I have to report it, but as soon as I do, I’ll get pulled home. There’s too much danger. But I can’t leave now.” She started to push past me, heading for the door. “I’ll check the other houses. I want to see their faces.”
“Hey.” I grabbed her sleeve before she got to the door. I’d forgotten that she lived with the coven for months before I got there. She knew them in a way I didn’t. If this was weighing on me, it had to be even harder for her. “Don’t blame yourself. No one could’ve guessed she’d go this far.”
“I know exactly who to blame.” Cosette patted my hand on her sleeve. Her fingers were gentle, but her eyes burned cold fire. “And take your own advice. You couldn’t have stopped it either.” She slipped away and I wanted to listen, but I couldn’t help the guilt.
Even worse, my gut told me we were one step closer to meeting Luciana in that church.
When Dr. Gonzales came in to confirm the deaths, I went to stand in the road with Meredith and Donovan.
Wondering what Luciana might do with her new power would only freak me out. First thing’s first. “What do we do now?” I asked Donovan.
“About?”
I motioned around me. “This place. All the bodies. And who do we tell? I’m sure some of these people have friends and family that should be told that their loved ones are dead.” God. Someone had to call Tia Rosa. She was going to be devastated. I had to tell Mom. And my brother.