Page 36 of Death Card

“Ri.”

“Everybody’s dead or dying, Mikaela.” His voice cracks on my name. “And I can’t take it.”

He slumps down into a chair and buries his face in his hands. For the first time in nearly a year, he cries in front of me.

I don’t know what to do other than kneel in front of him andtouch his elbow. “Maybe Gran was wrong. She was only human, after all.”

The thought has slowly taken shape in my mind for the past couple of days. If I stick to what I’ve always been taught, then there’s nothing for me to do but wait to die. The only way I can try to take my own destiny into my hands is to take Gran off her pedestal. A little, anyway.

It hurts to think of her as less than perfect, but I can’t sit here and allow Death to take me without a fight.

I won’t do that to Orion or to myself.

“What’s going on?”

We both look up to find Gramps standing in the doorway. Orion jolts up and crosses the room to start up the coffee maker. He keeps his face angled away to hide the tear tracks along his cheeks.

“I found evidence against the Hightowers.” My statement draws Gramps’s gaze away from Orion and squarely onto me.

“I’m going to need an explanation, and not on an empty stomach.”

After Gramps fixes himself a plate and Orion brews a pot of coffee, the three of us sit down at the table as I play the recording of Gloria and Aria.

Gramps’s expression is stoic up until Gloria says, “Their suffering has only begun.” He sets down his fork and pushes his nearly untouched plate away.

“Well,” Orion says as he claps his hands together, “mystery solved. What do we do now? Hex their entire bloodline? Kill ’em?”

“Hush,” Gramps scolds. He glowers at me. “What you did was incredibly dangerous. Were you by yourself?”

“No. Lizzie and Malik were with me.” I exchange a glance with Orion.

“We’d better hope that boy kept his mouth shut. The last thing I need is Lorraine telling the other Council members about this before we do.”

I lean forward. “Is this enough proof?”

“Of course not! It certainly proves that they’re aware of what’s happening within our coven, but it isn’t the smoking gun we’re looking for.” He stands and paces the length of the kitchen. Deep frown lines are etched into his face.

“There’s something the two of you should know. The Council and I initially made the decision not to share this information with anyone, but I recognize that keeping it from you could harm the investigation.”

Realizing that the rest of the Elders don’t consider me a full member of the Council stings. I haven’t ascended officially yet, but as the future Queen, I shouldn’t be kept in the dark.

Gramps grips the counter and stares us both down. “What do either of you know about demons?”

A chill runs down my spine.

“Nothing,” Orion says.

“They aren’t real,” I assert. “They’re something from the plot of a horror movie. Nothing more.”

Gramps points at me. “That’s where you’re wrong.” He walks back over to the table to sit. “Your lack of knowledge is by design. Years ago, we made a conscious decision to erase all mention of demons within our coven. No good comes of messing with evil like that. What you don’t know can’t hurt you.”

That’s an excuse that people throughout time have used tojustify widespread censorship. It’s something I would expect from a politician like Mike Dupree, not Gran and Gramps. We deserve a full and complete picture of the world we live in.

“You’re saying that demons are behind this?” It’s impossible to mask the anger in my tone. My voice wavers as I speak. “Who else knows?”

“Just the Elders.” Gramps’s jaw tightens. “I didn’t realize until James Peterson died with a demon’s mark branded on his forehead.”

I think back to the mysterious symbol I saw in Aunt Roberta’s memory. Orion opens his mouth to speak, but I reach into his mind and share the memory with him, too.