Page 4 of The Sinner and the Priest: Part Two

I glance through their room’s open door at the occult paraphernalia. Chalk lines, salt lines, blood, candles, bones.

“I’m worried about Raven,” I mumble.

Tawny exhales in a rush. “So it’s not just me?”

“I didn’t see her this morning.”

Tawny shakes her head. “She’s out. Like, off the estate.”

“Really?” I frown.

“She’s been . . . different lately.” She quickly adds, “I don’t mean demonic different like Jaz . . . or maybe Hannah.”

I nod at the door. “Are the occult rituals still happening?”

Tawny chews her lip and walks into the room, picks up a dried chicken bone, and twirls it. “She said it’s all for my protection.”

I follow her inside. It’s like a witch’s cauldron in here. Talismans hang from the ceiling. They’re everything from herbs, people made of sticks, and symbols.

“Do you think she’s the one who left all that shit in the crypt?” Tawny asks.

“I had the same thought. It looks like things we’ve seen in Wesley’s ancient arcane books.”

Then there’s the fact that the demon Asmodeus called Raven a bruja when we summoned him. It means “witch.”

“Whatever is going on with her,” I say, noticing nuns leaving Jasmine’s room with cleaning supplies. “It will have to wait until I get back. Keep an eye on her. Let me know if⁠—”

“She’s possessed?”

A short laugh huffs from me. “She’s not possessed. We’d see it as we did with Prue.”

“But we didn’t with Jaz or Hannah.”

“That’s different.”

“Why?” She fidgets. “Because the same thing afflicts Father?”

“I don’t know.” I pat the hidden sword at my back. “But this means I’m the next fated Sinner, and I trust him, so that has to count for something.”

“So you admit it.” She gives me a coy look. “You want to⁠—”

I slap my hand over her mouth. “Shut your pie hole.”

She laughs. I glower. Then I spin and head to our room to finish packing. Shit. I just called it our room.

“Mercy and Father sitting in a tree,” Tawny sings behind me.

“Stop calling him Father.”

“But he’s still a priest.”

For the love of God. I shake my head, enter the room, and collect the travel bag I packed this morning. When I return to the hallway, Tawny is disappearing into the orphan’s bedroom.

“We’ll all be okay,” I whisper, and then head down the stairs.

Cisco is waiting for the taxi outside the abbey. He’s not alone. Zeke, Dominic, Thea, Leila, and the Rev are there too. All in a heated discussion.

“What’s up?” I dump my bag on the porch with a thud.