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  “Or maybe you’re just not strong enough to do it alone.” I couldn’t believe the words had come from my mouth. I’d thought them, but I didn’t intend to say them.

  Jasper released his grip on the mirror and shifted to glare at me. “Be my guest then, step up and help me out.”

  Even though the look in his eyes was scary, I stepped to his side and wedged my fingertips between the wooden frame and the wall. Tristan crouched down in front of the mirror to do the same along the bottom as Jasper moved back to his previous position, his intense gaze never once wavering from me. I’d bruised his ego and pissed him off. Normally, he would have laughed at something like that. Normally, I would have said it with the intention of coming off as snarky and like a smart ass, but that wasn’t what I was going for. Not this time. I hadn’t intended to say the words all.

  My eyes shifted to him as I heard him count down, readying us to pull and push at the same time.

  “Three. Two. One. Go!” His voice bounced off the walls, echoing through my head.

  I wedged my fingertips so deeply behind the mirror I feared they might end up stuck as I pulled and pushed. It took a few minutes, but with the strength of the three of us combined, we were able to separate the mirror from the wall. Its weight shifted forward the second it released, and I thought for a split-second that I might drop my side and it would crush Tristan. Not only was it large and bulky, but the sucker was heavy. Too heavy. It strained my already aching and tired muscles to their limit.

  “I can’t hold it anymore.” I forced the words out through clenched teeth. “Set it down, set it down!” The last thing I wanted was to drop my side and cause Jasper or Tristan to do the same, breaking the damn thing. We’d come too far and been through too much for me to ruin it all by shattering the mirror.

  “Easy, easy,” Jasper coaxed us as we shifted it to the floor and propped it against the wall.

  My fingers throbbed once I released my grip. Never in my life had I attempted to carry something so heavy.

  “Holy crap.” I bent at the waist and placed my palms on my knees. My breath came fast. “That thing is heavy!”

  “It is,” Tristan agreed before shifting his attention to my brother. “How are we going to get it to your truck?”

  “We’ll have to suck it up and carry it.”

  “There has to be a better way.” I insisted. “We can’t carry that thing. It’s too heavy, and your truck is too far away.”

  “Yeah, well, I’ll move my truck closer to the house. While I’m doing that, you think. If you can come up with something better before I get back we’ll do it instead.” Jasper started toward the front door. “If you can’t, then we carry it. Either way, it’s leaving with us and we aren’t staying longer than we have to in this screwed up house.”

  “Well,” Tristan said once Jasper had slammed the front door shut behind him. “I hope we can brainstorm something fast because I don’t think we can lug this thing to his truck. It’s a beast.”

  I exhaled a long breath. “I know. Plus, I don’t think I want to attempt it. I’m afraid it’ll get broken.”

  “I didn’t think of that, but good point.” Tristan placed his hands on his hips as he glanced at the mirror. His reflection looked like something from the cover of a sci-fi book. “Breaking it would be a bad thing for sure.”

  I moved to sit on the top step, thinking about what we could do. Jasper would be back any second, and if we didn’t have an idea to toss out, he wouldn’t wait around for one. Instead, he’d order us to help move the beast to his truck by hand.

  “What about a dolly?” Tristan offered. “Think there might be one around here somewhere? It would be nice to wheel it to the truck.”

  “We don’t have time to look for one, though,” I said knowing Jasper would be opposed to wasting time searching through the house for one.

  “You’re probably right.” Tristan paced back and forth.

  I rested my elbow on my knee and propped my head up with my hand, watching him. It was strange to see him as a human with my eyes, and then as a dragon in the mirror’s reflection each time he passed it.

  “I think I’ve got it.” He snapped his fingers before pointing to the large rug beneath his feet. “What about using that? We can lay the mirror on it, and then each take a side.”

  “How would that help? We’d still be carrying it.” I frowned.

  “Think it through for a second, crabapple,” he teased. “We can lay it down. Jasper can pull from the bottom section of the rug. I can pull from one of the sides. And you can pull from another. I think it could work. Pulling something isn’t as hard as carrying it.”

  I nodded my head in understanding. “Oh. Got ya. Yeah, that might work.”

  “Come up with anything useful?” Jasper’s eyes bored into me as if it was a challenge, and he was waiting to see if I’d been able to pull through.

  “I think so. We lay the mirror flat on this rug and pull it to your truck.”

  Jasper remained silent as he seemed to mull the idea over. “I think it might work.”

  “It wasn’t my idea. It was Tristan’s.” I pointed to Tristan, but Jasper didn’t send him any praise before he started toward the mirror.

  “Grab a side and let’s lay this thing down,” he said. “Let Tristan and me get it into the air, then you can grab along the bottom and help us maneuver it.”

  Nervous butterflies swarmed my stomach. If one of them dropped it while I had my fingers along the bottom, I might lose a finger. “Okay.”

  Tristan stepped to the opposite side of the mirror as Jasper had. He grabbed along the bottom and the top side corner before bending his knees and lifting at the count of three with Jasper. The two of them were able to lift the mirror higher than I thought they would. I raced to get a hold of the bottom and help them flip it around with the back facing the rug. Tristan nearly dropped his side in an attempt to get his grip righted as soon as we were able to flip it around. His face went pale at the same time my heart dropped to my stomach.

  I held my breath as we slowly set the mirror in the center of the rug. My fingers were pinched beneath the thing, and my lower back screamed with pain from overexerting myself, but I managed not to drop my side and help the guys get it in place so we could pull it to Jasper’s truck.

  The guys wasted no time in gathering their sides of the rug. I rubbed my hands together before gripping mine, not because I was stalling, but because I needed to work out some of the stiffness so I could get a better hold on the rug. My fingers were so sore they didn’t want to bend, much less grab something.

  “Ready, Piper?” Concern flashed through Jasper’s brown eyes. He’d taken notice of the way I was rubbing my hands and focusing on my fingertips. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied. I wanted to cry. I was tired, hungry, and sore. I wanted to go home. “Let’s get this over with.”

  When all this was said and done, I wanted to be left in front of a buffet, awarded a full body massage, and given an entire week to sleep.

  Chapter 20

  “One. Two. Three,” my brother counted, nodding his head with each number. “Pull.”

  I pulled with all my strength. My stomach muscles tightened and my legs burned, but I wasn’t about to let the guys think I was a wimpy girl incapable of contributing to the task.

  It took a while, but the three of us were able to drag the mirror to Jasper’s truck without issue. Getting it down the stairs had been the hardest part. Afterward, I could barely feel my arms and legs. From the sweat dripping off the guys’ faces, I knew the guys were as exhausted as I was, but none of us complained. We were too close to completing what we’d set out to do to complain.

  “Easy part is over,” Jasper huffed. “Now we need to lift it into the bed of the truck.”

  I wanted to cry. Again. There was no way in hell I could muster the strength needed to help lift the thing into his truck. It was impossible.

  “I need a break, man.” Tristan sighed
. “I can’t right now. My fingers are numb and my arms are tingly.”

  “Me too,” I piped in.

  “Yeah. Okay. We can catch our breath,” my brother said, surprising me. I figured he’d want to push through.

  “Food is a necessity after we load this thing,” I insisted.

  “I know.” Jasper wiped beads of sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

  “Even before we go to Kalisa’s,” I clarified.

  Either he knew I meant business, or he was as hungry as I was, because he didn’t argue.

  “Okay.”

  After a few minutes of resting, it became apparent to us all that if we didn’t move the mirror now, we weren’t going to. Exhaustion was an easy thing to give in to.

  It took us a few tries, but we were able to load the beast in the back without breaking it. When Jasper slammed his tailgate shut, it was like music to my ears.

  “Okay. Let’s get something to eat.” Jasper started around to the driver’s side.

  I climbed in the passenger seat, hoping Tristan would understand it wasn’t because I didn’t want to be near him, but because I didn’t want there to be an empty space beside my brother where Anna should be. Even though he didn’t seem to mind, I made a note to explain it to him once I got the chance.

  Jasper cranked the engine, and we pulled away from the Vodun house. I glanced at the place in my side mirror, watching as it grew smaller with each passing second. My eyes focused on the statues of the witches, and I decided they looked like lawn decorations. For a split-second, I found myself wondering what would happen to them. Would they always be there, frozen in time? Or would someone move them into the house and out of the elements?

  Maybe Liam would.

  I imagined he would become their caretaker. An image of him cleaning them every day and talking to them as though they were still alive flashed through my mind.

  Were they still alive beneath all the cement?

  The thought freaked me out. I opened my mouth to ask Jasper, but decided now wasn’t the right time based off the way he looked.

  His fingers gripped the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were solid white. A pained expression had etched its way into his face that had me wondering what he was thinking of. Anna?

  I swallowed hard and shifted my gaze back to the side mirror. In it, I could see Tristan in the backseat. His fingertips brushed along his forehead back and forth. Was he feeling for the scales and tiny spikes he’d seen in the mirror? My gaze drifted until I was looking into my own eyes. There was something different about them, something changed. They were harder because I had seen more and experienced more in the last few days.

  I was changed forever.

  We all were.

  The three of us had been through so much. Reese popped into my mind. She’d lost someone too—her grandmother. Guilt swept through me for not being able to be the best friend I should have been to her during this time. I pulled out my cell to see if there were any missed calls or text messages from her or Paxton, but I noticed it was dead. I guessed being inside the crazy house hadn’t been good for cell service and had drained it. Maybe it was for the best. I couldn’t handle anything else right now. I needed to eat, and then do whatever Kalisa said we needed to in order to get Tristan and his tribe their magic. Reese would understand. I knew she would.

  After all, I’d helped take down the witches who’d murdered her grandmother. In the grand scheme of things, that was the best thing a friend could do.

  “How about this place?” Jasper pointed to a restaurant on the right. It wasn’t much to look at, just a brick building with white doors and a gator on the sign. As long as it had food though, I was good.

  “That’s fine. I’m hungry, so I don’t really care.”

  “Me too,” Tristan agreed. “I’ll eat anything right now.”

  “Okay, let me pop in and see if I can get us a menu to glance over.” Jasper turned into a parking spot not far from the entrance. “We all look like crap, so if I go in alone, they might think I’m some grubby partier looking for a meal after an all-nighter. If we go in together, they might think there’s a zombie apocalypse and freak the hell out.” His tone didn’t hold its usual luster, but I could tell he was attempting to joke. My brother was still inside there somewhere. The bad joke proved it. He just needed some time to heal.

  “Funny.” I rolled my eyes. “Just go get a menu.”

  He rolled all the windows down on the truck and cut the engine. “I’m going.”

  Once he was gone, I shifted around in my seat so I could face Tristan. “I wanted to make sure he didn’t have an empty space up here where Anna should be,” I admitted as soon as my eyes locked with his.

  “What?”

  “Why I sat here instead of back there with you,” I clarified, realizing my brain was way too far ahead in the conversation. “I wanted to make sure there wasn’t an empty space here for him to notice.”

  “Oh.” He licked his lips and gave me a bemused look. “You didn’t have to explain your seat choice to me, Piper.”

  My stomach knotted. Why had I? Oh yeah. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”

  Caring for him as much as I did was turning me into a mess. I’d already been obsessed with him to the point of needing professional help before all of this, but now I was pathetic. I was suddenly disgusted with myself.

  “I’d be stupid to be offended because you didn’t want to sit with me in the back.” He scoffed. “Don’t worry about it. I didn’t think anything of it.”

  “I’m not.” I shifted back toward the front of the truck, angry with myself for sounding so weak and stupid. “At least not anymore.”

  Silence ticked away as we waited for Jasper to return with a menu. I grew more upset with myself by the second.

  “I’m not that type of girl, you know?” I snapped without looking back at him again.

  “I know.” The smugness embedded in Tristan’s words flamed my irritation.

  “I’m not,” I repeated with more confidence. “I’m just hungry and tired. I wouldn’t have worried about something so stupid otherwise.”

  Tristan leaned forward and hugged the back of my seat. His face was beside mine when he spoke. “I get it. I don’t think any less of you. You’re still a badass in my eyes.” He winked.

  A smile twisted my face, and I released the breath I’d been holding. My elbow leaned against the armrest so I could prop my head up and glare at him. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” He leaned back in his seat and sighed. “I hope your brother hurries with a menu. I don’t think I can wait much longer for food.”

  Thankfully, Jasper appeared then. He slipped behind the wheel with a white paper menu in his hand. “Here, tell me what you want.” He handed the thing to me. “Glad I went in alone. It’s a twenty-one and over only place.”

  “Good thing, then.” I read the choices off the menu out loud to make things faster between the three of us. I decided on red beans and rice with Cajun fried chicken. The thought of all the spices mixed with the beans and rice with blackened chicken on top had my mouth watering. Once Tristan decided on something he wanted, Jasper hustled back inside to place our order.

  A couple holding hands walked past our truck, eyeing the mirror in the back too much for my liking. “Think anyone recognizes the mirror?”

  “Like undercover Vodun who know it holds dragon magic?”

  “Yeah.” I watched the couple until they were out of my view. “They did have an army of crazy women at their disposal. We don’t know how large that army really was.”

  “What do you think we should do?” He hugged the back of my seat again, placing his face close to mine.

  “Cover it up with the rug as best we can until we get to Kalisa,” I suggested.

  Tristan climbed out and moved to the back of the truck. I followed. Once the mirror was out of view, I stood beside the truck and cast a quick glance around. Eyes were on us. I could feel them, and when I turned to
meet them, they didn’t look away.

  “Tristan.” My voice was low, but I refused to let it quiver. “Are you seeing all these people watching us?”

  He scanned the area. “Yeah. I see a few. Think we’re being tracked? They could just be staring because we look like hell.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe we’re being paranoid.”

  “It’s possible.” He scoffed. “We haven’t slept well in days. On the other hand, the Vodun did have an army. You were right about that.”

  “These aren’t all women staring though.” I took a closer notice to the male-to-female ratio.

  “Do they have to be women in order to be a Vodun follower?”

  I wasn’t sure. The only members of their army we’d come across had been women. Was the Vodun a feminist group?

  “I mean Liam was on their side, and he isn’t a woman,” Tristan reminded me.

  “Good point.”

  “Let’s get back into the truck.”

  “And do what? Wait for them to attack?” My fight or flight senses were kicking in hardcore. The only problem was, I knew I was too exhausted to fight. Flight was my only option, but I refused to leave Jasper behind. If anyone did attack, I’d have to hold him or her off until my brother came back, which might be harder than moving that damn mirror had been, considering how exhausted I was.

  Chapter 21

  “What should we do?” My gaze remained glued to the woman staring at me from across the street.

  “The only thing we can.” Tristan’s voice was low. “We wait.”

  My feet rooted into place, and I let out a long breath. It seemed as though I was always waiting for something. In this instance, it was more than one thing. We were waiting for them to make a move, for Jasper to come back, and for this chunk of time to be behind us.

  I wasn’t sure how long I stood beside Tristan, staring into the dark eyes of the woman across the street, but I knew it felt like forever. Others had joined her. I could make out their forms from in my peripheral vision, but I didn’t risk shifting my eyes away from the woman’s to count how many. Fear she would charge me kept my gaze locked on hers.