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“I’m serious,” I said. “Chloe’s passionate, driven, and manipulative—”
“Which is why we can’t tell her anything!” Grant cried. “She already knows too much.”
“Or it’s why we need her,” I countered. “But we can’t work with her unless it’s unanimous. Nad?”
Nadine hadn’t taken her eyes off Chloe. She studied her, as if searching for the lie behind her words. Isa stepped forward and sniffed Chloe’s cat. The cat sniffed her back, and the two began purring and licking each other.
Chloe gazed down at them. “Marley agrees. He likes you guys.”
Talia frowned. “We’re not taking opinions from your cat.”
Nadine turned to me. “I think Lucas is right. We need a Mentalist. The Oaken Wands will work best if we have all five Casts working together.”
“But Chloe?” Grant whined.
“Chloe’s as headstrong as I am,” Nadine said. “If we’re going to butt heads, we might as well do it on the same side. Once this is all over, the coven will have to make amends with each other. If we can’t do that with Chloe, the coven has no hope. We have to be the start of that. I vote to work with her. What’s your vote, Tal?”
Talia eyed Chloe curiously. “She does seem… different. And she did help us during the Burning. She wouldn’t have done that if she wasn’t on our side. I don’t like the idea, but Nadine’s right. We need to start forming alliances, or we don’t stand a chance.”
Grant scowled. I didn’t blame him. Chloe had been awful to all of us, but a grudge wasn’t going to win us this war.
His eyes darted toward the cats, who were purring. That must’ve persuaded him, because he said, “It’s obvious you care deeply about the coven… and we could use your help.”
Chloe opened her mouth to say something, but Grant cut her off.
“But if it even looks like you’re about to betray us, so help me, you’ll be standing at the gallows next,” he threatened.
Chloe crossed her heart. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
The strange thing was, I believed her. Chloe honestly wanted to work with us.
“So what’s this about demons?” Chloe asked.
“Oh, boy,” Nadine sighed. “There’s a lot to catch you up on.”
Chloe shrugged. “Then let’s get started.”
We sat around one of the study tables, and I told her how I’d witnessed the Imperium Council summon a demon at their headquarters. They were looking for answers about where to find the Oaken Wands, and the demon wanted to make a deal. I hadn’t learned what deal they’d made, but we came here tonight to figure it out.
Chloe blew a breath when I finished, like she couldn’t quite believe it. “I never thought my grandma would resort to demon deals, but this… ooh, this is bad.”
“In what way, exactly?” Talia asked curiously.
“Demons can make all sorts of contracts,” Chloe pointed out. “One of the things they often trade for is souls, but you can’t just give them the right to anyone’s soul. It has to be yours… or your kin.”
Nadine’s jaw dropped. “So you could be at risk? You don’t think your grandma would make that kind of trade, do you?”
Chloe looked worried. “After the Burning, I don’t think I know my grandmother at all. I honestly don’t know what lengths she’ll go to anymore. We need to figure that out.”
Chloe dropped the book she’d been holding onto the table. “Luckily, I ran across this just before you showed up.”
My eyes scanned the thick tome. Advanced Demonology.
“You were looking into demons before we arrived?” I asked.
Chloe nodded. “I’m exploring all angles. The Waning could definitely be caused by demon magic.”
“It is demon magic, actually,” Nadine said. “The Imperium made me do a spell with them to figure it out. They confirmed it’s demon magic, but there’s no way to know if it’s a deal, an artifact, or if a demon is working independently.”
