Brynn closed the door behind her. The lit candles flickered wildly, casting eerie shapes across the room. At last, she thought and a wicked little smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
Cradling the delicate cylinder in her hands, she breathed a sigh of satisfaction and popped open the silver lid on one end of the tube. The contents gently slid down the interior shaft and into her open hand, waiting to be unrolled.
This has to mean something. It has to. Otherwise her stepfather wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to hide it. Finding the journal had been easy enough. After all, she made it a point to know of all the nooks and crannies in this big house. Once she opened it, however, she found herself confused and irritated. Page after page mentioned Teagan’s name, which only bewildered and frustrated her. But she was curious about one thing: reference to a sacred place secretly hidden deep within the woods. It promised strong spiritual connection, perhaps even magic, and described how people from long ago claimed to have contact with the angels.
Magic. That was one promise that instantly caught Brynn’s eye. Everything else seemed boring. She carefully returned the book to its hiding place and placed her attention on the map. Her eyes gleamed brightly with the thought of finding this sacred place.
Tingling with excitement, her finger traced the lines drawn on the map. Lines that led from what appeared to be a long winding road to a tiny church, because of the cross sketched above it. Clearly the map depicted trees. There were plenty of woods around here. She studied the paper, looking for any sort of landmark, but she was pretty sure she would be able to find it since the long road led to a river. There was a river just outside of town and a thick patch of woods about a mile or two inside the county line. That had to be it.
Gathering the rest of her “treasures” she had worked so hard to get, Brynn created her altar in a neat little pile in the center of the floor and drew a black circle around it with sand.
Black sand.
The delicious thought had come to her at the last minute, and she marveled at herself. How appropriate that her mother had vacationed on the black volcanic beaches of Hawaii with Nate. This was one of the few keepsakes she had left of her mother, of happier times.
All the more reason to use it, she thought to herself, forcing aside the tears stinging unexpectedly at the back of her throat. Besides, a Sharpie or crayon would only leave a nasty stain. Oh, but the stain I’m leaving can’t be seen with the eye, and she giggled nervously to herself.
The candle’s flame whipped violently, as if an unseen breeze had stolen itself upon it, and Brynn felt the skin on the back of her neck tighten and prickle. She turned around slowly, a trifle fearful, but the wicked smile returned to her lips.
She had never been one to favor a gamble. She was usually more ruthless than this, more direct, always in control of her calculated treachery and its ever-predictable outcome. To give up that power, even just this once was slightly nerve wracking for her, yet sweet in a sense. If this worked out the way she wanted, then she was more than willing to step aside. Especially relinquishing to one so experienced in such matters.
Brynn drew a gasping breath into her lungs and steadied herself. From the corner of her eye she could see the door slowly swing open, revealing the dimly lit hallway just beyond its frame. The door suddenly slammed shut, encasing the room in an icy stillness. There was no turning back now and there was no way in hell she was going to look scared and unsure.
Carefully, she set the map down inside the circle of sand and stepped aside, allowing the circle and offerings to take center stage, and then cocked her head to the side as if listening, knowing with a mesmerized gleam in her eye that the course of fate was about to change.
“Psst,” Ryan whispered from behind a large spruce. “I could hear your sneakers slapping the sidewalk a mile away.”
He emerged from his hiding spot and brushed the sleeves of his leather jacket.
“I got here as fast as I could.” I leaned against a tree to catch my breath in the cold night air.
“Isn’t your mom going to wonder why you didn’t take your car?” he asked as we started down the alley that would take us to the cul-de-sac of Whitman Street and the impeccable home of Dr. Nathaniel Dean. I couldn’t help sending up a silent prayer that Brynn had found her way to the party I tipped her off to instead of retreating back home.
“It’ll be a wonder if she realizes I’m even gone.”
Ryan shot me a quizzical look.
I lifted my hand and tilted an invisible bottle toward my open mouth.
All too quickly, Ryan got my point.
“Besides, she won’t hear a car when I finally do go home and hopefully by then, Mr. Boyfriend will have left for the night and she’ll be lost in sleepy land.”
“Sleepy land?” Again, another quizzical look was shot my way.
“Whatever. Let’s just do this.”
There was no moon as Ryan and I walked silently, concealed in the dark. This was definitely something I would never do alone, even if I had a guardian angel watching over me. At least, when I had one watching over me. Even now, despite Ryan’s company, I felt pretty alone.
I tried not to think of Hadrian’s warning about Lucifer or my vision of Garreth in pain. Yet I couldn’t help but wonder if either one was watching over me right now. Even if Garreth was still capable, would he be concerned for my safety?
I shook the unsettling thought from my head and tried to stay focused. I needed to find out if Brynn was up to something. Based on her history, my life might depend on it. And I needed to see the journal my mother told me about the other night. Ever since she let me in on Dr. Dean’s secret hobby, I hadn’t been able to get it out of my head. I needed to see what was written on those pages. Did he know about the secrets I was sworn to protect, the guardians, the markings? What if it was all there in black and white and the truth was beyond me now? Beyond the protective grasp of my tight little circle which included me, Garreth, Hadrian and Ryan.
Luckily, we lived in a small, tight-knit neighborhood, so the back door to Dr. Dean’s house had been left unlocked. Slipping through the kitchen, we were as silent as mice. I had been here a few times with my mom but the rooms and halls certainly looked different in the dark.
“It’s this way,” I motioned, and headed down a dimly lit hallway. I looked back at Ryan, who was lagging behind, looking all around.
“Come on.” I whispered loudly.
“This place is amazing. You sure this isn’t a hotel?” He had stopped to pick up a bronze sculpture. “And why are you whispering if they’re not home?”
His voice seemed to bounce off the walls, reminding me that we were up to no good.
“I don’t know if they have housekeepers! Do you really think Dr. Dean dusts? Now put that down!”
Ryan reluctantly set the statue back in its place. “Yeah, I’m sure Brynn gets on her hands and knees to scrub. I’d pay good money to see that.”
Rolling my eyes at him, I proceeded down the hallway to the door at the end of the hall, led by mere instinct that this was the way to the doctor’s private study. I pushed open the oversized walnut door to find a lush wood-paneled office on the other side. The sheer opulence of the study took my breath away.
Leather chairs, Tiffany lamps, ballister bookcases … the room was larger than my living room and looked like the inspiration for an Ethan Allen catalog.
“Geez,” breathed Ryan. He did a complete 360, taking it all in. “If I could do my homework in here, I would definitely get all A’s.”
“Right, let’s just start looking, okay?”
“Hey, Teagan. If your mom marries the doc, you’ll be sitting pretty.”
“Please don’t go there. You know as well as I do this glam is not my style, and I would have to share it with you-know-who.”
My fingers felt for the thin pewter chain beneath the shade of the desk lamp. With a tug, the light glowed steadily, revealing an intricate reversed painting on the inside of the glass shade. Beautiful winged angels floated in a gray-blue sky, hovering over a dark lake full of hands reaching for the heavens. Why would a medical doctor have a lamp like this? I shivered and began searching the desk while Ryan headed for the bookcases. I felt so nervous, my forehead was beginning to feel damp. The sooner we found the journal, the better.
“Someone’s been here …” Ryan sniffed the air like a bloodhound.
I smelled it too, a soft lavender-vanilla scent was still faint within the room.
“Brynn?” Ryan asked.
“Maybe she stopped in here before coming to my house?”
That meant she was either still looking for the journal, or worse, she could have it on her right now. I headed for the filing cabinets behind the wet bar.
Just walking past the crystal glasses made my head spin and I began to wonder if my mother was in over her head.
“No, I mean … something just doesn’t feel right,” he paused. “Don’t you feel it?”
“Let’s just look for the journal and get out. I think the whole we’re-not-supposed-to-be-here thing is creeping you out.”