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John looked relieved.

 

Liv stepped forward, her notebook in hand. She had no interest in why Ridley may or may not have done something. She wanted the facts. “You know, we’ve been looking for you,” she told John.

 

“Yeah? Bet you’re not the only ones.”

 

 

Liv and Macon convinced John to sit down at the table with the rest of us, which meant Link refused to. He leaned against the wall next to the fireplace, sulking. All the Linkubus hype aside, John had changed Link in ways I would never really understand. And I knew something else John didn’t know.

 

As much as Link loved driving all the girls crazy, it didn’t really matter. There was only one girl Link wanted, and none of us knew where to find her.

 

“Abraham has gone to great lengths to locate your whereabouts, literally tearing this town apart. What I need to know is why. Abraham doesn’t do anything without a reason.” Macon was asking the questions, while Liv wrote down John’s responses. Reece was sitting across from John, watching for any trace of a lie.

 

John shrugged. “I’m not really sure. He found me when I was a kid, but he’s not exactly a father figure, if you know what I mean.”

 

Macon nodded. “You said he found you. What happened to your parents?”

 

John shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I don’t know. They disappeared. I’m pretty sure they ditched me because I was… you know, different.”

 

Liv stopped writing. “All Casters are different.”

 

John laughed. “I’m not a regular Caster. My powers didn’t manifest when I was a teenager.” Liv stared at him. He pointed at her notebook. “You’re going to want to write this part down.”

 

She raised an eyebrow. Subject displays combative attitude. I could imagine it on the page.

 

“I was born this way, and my powers have only gotten stronger. Do you know what it’s like to be able to do things no one else your age can?”

 

“Yes.” There was a trace of something in Liv’s voice, a mix of sadness and sympathy. She had always been smarter than everyone around her, designing devices to measure the pull of the moon, or some other thing no one else cared about or understood.

 

Macon was studying John, and you could see the former Incubus in him sizing up this strange new one. “And exactly what sort of powers do you have, aside from being impervious to the effects of sunlight?”

 

“Standard Incubus stuff—amplified strength, hearing, sense of smell. I can Travel. And girls are pretty into me.” John stopped and looked at Lena as if they shared a secret. She looked away.

 

“Not as much as you think,” I said. He smiled at me, enjoying Macon’s protective custody.

 

“I can do other things, too.”

 

Liv searched his face. “Like what?”

 

Link’s arms were crossed, and he was staring at the door, pretending he wasn’t listening. But I knew he was. Like it or not, he and John would always be connected now. The more Link knew about John, the more he would be able to figure out about himself.

 

John looked at Reece, then at Lena. Whatever it was, he didn’t want to say. “Random stuff.”

 

Macon’s eyes flickered. “What random stuff? Perhaps you could elaborate.”

 

John gave up. “It sounds like a bigger deal than it is. But I can absorb other Casters’ powers.”

 

Liv stopped writing. “Like an Empath?” Lena’s grandma could borrow the powers of other Casters temporarily, but she never described it as “absorbing” anything.

 

John shook his head. “No. I keep them.”

 

Liv’s eyes widened. “Are you saying you can steal the powers of other Casters?”

 

“No. They still have their powers, but I have them, too. Sort of like a collection.”

 

“How is that even possible?” Liv asked.

 

Macon leaned back in his chair. “I would be very interested in hearing the answer to that question, Mr. Breed.”

 

John glanced at Lena again. I wanted to jump across the table. “All I have to do is touch them.”

 

“What?” Lena looked like he had slapped her in the face. Is that what he’d been doing with his hands all over her on the dance floor at Exile? Or when she had climbed onto the back of his stupid motorcycle that day at the lake? Siphoning her powers, like a parasite?

 

“It’s not like I do it on purpose. It just happens. I don’t even know how to use most of the powers I have.”

 

“But I’m sure Abraham does.” Macon poured himself a glass of dark liquor from a decanter that had appeared on the table. Never a sign things were going well.

 

Liv and Macon looked at each other, a silent exchange.

 

I could see the wheels in Liv’s mind turning. “What could Abraham be planning?”

 

“With a hybrid Incubus who can collect the powers of other Casters?” Macon answered. “I’m not entirely sure, but with those capabilities at his side, Abraham would have the ultimate weapon. And Mortals wouldn’t stand a chance against that sort of power.”

 

John whipped around to face Macon. “What did you say?”