Page 19 of Autumn L.A.W

Rayna noticed that. Not the spark. Rayna didn’t have time for romantic nonsense. But there was a shift in logical Sahara. And Rayna did not like it. “Fine,” she said. “We’re going back to the mansion. All of us.”

Ezra opened his mouth—maybe to object, maybe to refuse—but Spirit Lion rumbled low and threatening.

Ezra closed his mouth again.

Lioness nodded approvingly. “Good call.”

Rayna looked at Sahara. “Can you stand?”

Ezra moved before Sahara could answer. Not to swoop in or pick her up—his energy was too depleted—but to offer support with the most careful non-touch possible.

His hand hovered near her elbow. Not touching her. Just there if needed.

Sahara looked at it. Then at him. Then she nodded and took the help.

Ezra inhaled quietly, as if he felt something too.

Lioness whispered loudly, “Oh, boy.”

Rayna dragged her hand over her face. “Not today, Lioness. Just… no.”

Ezra, Sahara, Lioness, Rayna, Joell, Spirit Lion, and Desert Fox all started moving as a tense, mismatched unit.

Behind them, the obelisk pulsed once as if it were angry about being thwarted.

Ezra stiffened. Sahara swayed.

Rayna swore. “I felt that one.”

Ezra’s voice was low. “It knows she’s slipping away.”

Lioness grabbed Sahara’s hand hard. “Well, it can mind its own business.”

Ezra looked at Sahara again in a way that recognized the danger she was in, as well as the danger she was to all of them. Stone cracked near Ezra’s foot. He froze until Lioness yanked him back with a muttered curse.

Sahara swallowed and whispered, “We need to hurry.”

“No shit,” Rayna said, and they did.

The mansion felt something before the witches even stepped through the door. A low hum vibrated under the steps, then the lanterns flickered awake in a chain reaction that did not say welcome home.

Rayna froze on the threshold. “Oh, that’s not good.”

The front hall lights brightened sharply the moment Sahara crossed onto the rug, then dimmed again. Then brightened. Then dimmed. Like the house was sniffing her aura and deciding whether to lock all the doors.

Lioness winced. “Okay, wow. The house hates something about you.”

Sahara tried to speak, failed, and swayed sideways until Ezra braced her shoulder with his side, supportively. He stiffened, watching the flickering lights with analytical intensity. “It’s reacting to residue.”

Rayna spun on him. “Shut up until interrogated.”

Ezra shut up.

The floor planks beneath Sahara shivered, this time in a full-body ripple that ran the length of the hallway. The mansion’s wards pressed in, gentle but firm, like hands trying to push Sahara back out the door.

Lioness yelled, “Back off, house! She lives here. Remember?”

Sahara whispered, “It feels like it’s trying to clean me.”