I didn’t know, but I was going to find out.
Sliding out of bed, I padded as silently as possible across the room, but I wasn’t familiar with the layout and the moonlight streaming through the closed blinds wasn’t nearly enough to il uminate anything. I stubbed my toe against a box—Caleb used the room for storage—and cursed under box—Caleb used the room for storage—and cursed under my breath. PC’s tags clinked softly as he lifted his head, trying to decide where I was going.
“Stay,” I whispered in the general direction of the bed, but I heard his paws land on the hardwood a moment later.
I reached out, feeling along the wal until my fingers traced over the light switch. Then I blinked in the sudden glow of fluorescent lighting.
I hadn’t brought my boots downstairs, but I’d dropped my dagger in my purse and that was on the nightstand. I dug out the dagger and unsheathed it. I hoped I wouldn’t need it, but the wards going down in the middle of the night was seriously suspicious. Besides, if I didn’t take the dagger, I’d feel like that ditzy blonde in every horror movie who goes out unarmed to check on strange noises. Nothing ends wel for those girls.
I crept across the room, cringing as the floorboards creaked under my bare feet. Of course, I’d turned on the light, so it wasn’t like I was being super stealthy. The oblivious dog trailing me didn’t help either.
Opening the door a crack, I peeked into the hal beyond.
My vision being what it was, I couldn’t see anything but the pil ar of light escaping the guest room. I opened the door wider, and a shadow crossed the doorway.
I threw a hand over my mouth to strangle the sound that tried to escape my lips and jumped back, away from the door.
“Al, you okay?”
Caleb.
I pul ed the door open wider. Like me, Caleb must have woken when the wards fel , because the light pouring from my room revealed light green skin and dark, pupil-less eyes. Caleb never walked around without his glamour intact. In one hand he held a mal et, and in the other a vial containing a spel that pricked at my senses, so it probably did something real y nasty if released.
“What happened?” I asked as I joined him in the hal .
“What happened?” I asked as I joined him in the hal .
He shook his head. “Not sure yet. The wards were taken down from the inside. You want me to hazard a guess at who might have done that?” His whispered words were sharp, leaving no doubt whom he was referring to: Falin.
I couldn’t think of any reason Falin would dismantle the wards. He was unconscious when last I’d seen him, and even if he did wake, it wasn’t like the wards prevented him from leaving. I opened my mouth to say as much and then snapped it closed again. Now wasn’t the time to argue.
“Stay here,” Caleb whispered as he crept along the hal way.
That was a good suggestion. Unfortunately, I wasn’t taking it. I closed PC in the bedroom, and then, clutching the dagger tight, I fol owed Caleb.
Someone had turned the lights on in the front of the house, which was good for my eyes but probably not the best sign, since we’d turned them off after we’d finished the movie we’d watched before bed and I’d said good night to Caleb and Hol y. Caleb motioned me to wait as he opened the door to the den. He stepped inside and then gave a sharp hiss. I fol owed a moment later.
What the hell? I mouthed as I gaped at the room beyond.
The front door of the house stood wide open and dozens of ravens fil ed the room. The inky black birds had gathered on every available surface. Four perched on the flatpanel TV, their talons scratching against the plastic. At least a dozen sat on the back of the couch, and more were on the coffee table and on the end tables.
They stared at us with beady black eyes. Every last one of them.
“Uh, Caleb?”
“I have no idea,” he said, his whisper so quiet I barely heard him.
Another raven swooped through the open front door. It screeched, wings flapping as it drew near, and I jumped aside. The bird landed on the doorframe we’d passed aside. The bird landed on the doorframe we’d passed when we entered, and I backed farther away as a second raven joined the first. Crap, we would have to walk under the birds to get to the back of the house. Two more ravens flew into the room.
“This is like that Hitchcock movie,” I said, taking another slow step away from the birds. They were blocking access to the front door and the door to the hal , but there were no birds between us and the door to the garage Caleb used as a workshop or the door beside it, which led to the stairs to my loft. I backed toward those doors, trying to keep an eye on al the ravens. The birds continued to stare. “They’re giving me the creeps. Aren’t they big for birds?”
“That’s an understatement.” Caleb shifted his grip on his mal et. “I guess we cal animal control? We should probably wake Hol y and get a hotel room for the rest of the night.”