We appeared at the edge of the salt marsh and I took a moment to assess our location. A mile-wide swath of mud and weeds and standing water separated us from the house that was our objective.

I said, “Hermes, we will never be able to get through this stuff. What about the beach?” He nodded and we stood on the white sand in a few moments. The air was warm and the Gulf of Mexico gently kissed the shore with its brilliant turquoise water. No clouds marred the sky. A perfect day for a rescue.

I reached out a finger and touched the ward that Circe placed around the house. Ares touched it, too, and then said, “Just like Eastover.”

“Whatever works,” I said and I pushed my hand through an invisible wall of power like I was pushing through the water. “Not like Eastover. That was way too easy.” I spent a moment and completely disintegrated Circe’s ward. We took a few steps and encountered a second, then a third.

“Circe’s not in there,” I announced. “She is doing nothing to reinforce the barriers like she did in Eastover.”

Ares asked me, “Is Eli in there?”

I nodded, but I wasn’t completely convinced. Something felt off.

Cedar shakes covered the house that looked like it had stood in the same place for a hundred years. The boards had the paint scoured off by wind and blowing sand. A covered porch stretched across the entire front that had a door in the center and a window on either side of the door. The windows were too dirty and etched by years of sand blowing against them to allow me to see inside. I walked up to the front door and pushed it open.

Eli lay on the floor in the middle of the single room, eyes closed, unmoving, and covered with blood that I knew at a glance belonged to him. Hermes went to him. I had to make certain that Circe had abandoned the house before turning my attention to my husband. Ares, Bill, and I looked over every inch of the house for any trace of her. Nothing remained of the witch except her handiwork with Eli.

Why take him if she made it simple to rescue him?

The room looked as if a fight took place. Chairs were up-ended, dishes broken on the floor, and the old threadbare sofa listed violently to one side. Maybe the house was in that condition before they arrived.

The only thought that nagged at me was that Helios sent me an image of a different room and a different chair he was tied to. Of course, Circe could have moved him any time she desired.

I walked to him and knelt on the floor beside his recumbent form. “Hermes, what did she do to him?”

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“She removed huge swaths of skin. Enough to hurt, but not enough to kill even a human. I can’t detect anything else. He could tell us more when he awakens.” He paused and then said, “Athena, she cut his hair off.” He lifted the heavy braid of dark red hair that had been removed at the back of his scalp. Hermes dropped the still-braided hair to the floor beside Helios. Eli’s hair was military short in the back and would require a good barber to straighten out the mess left behind.

I took a deep breath to steel my nerves before asking the next question. “Did she...” I paused before framing the question. “Complete what she started in Eastover?”

Hermes shook his head no and then said, “She left that part of him alone. But, Athena, there may be other damage. I mean mental.”

“I know. Can he move?”

“We should get him away from this source of Circe’s magic. It will be easier to undo what she has done.”

I stood and faced my followers. “The battle happened before we arrived. Hermes, transport everyone back to the highrise except Ares, Bill, and me. Then get you back here, yourself.”

He nodded and then all my followers vanished from my sight.

“So, now what?” Bill asked me.

“Circe is telling me something with this, but I don't know what. Ares, do you have any ideas?”

“No, not really. Other than just a warning or reminder that she can still get to us.” Ares rubbed a hand over his face. Ares was as puzzled as me.

“That would be pretty stupid, wouldn’t it? She would know we can now protect ourselves against her. She has to know we won’t let her steal anyone, again,” I said. “She has to know we will reinforce our own defenses.”

I walked around the room, looking, but not knowing what to look for. “Bill, you have seen hundreds of crime scenes. What do you make of this one?” I asked.

He walked around the room several times and then said, “The crime was committed elsewhere. Look at the pattern of blood on the floor. There is only what leaked out of the body after it was deposited here. There should be droplets of blood all over the place if she damaged him here. And look at this...” Bill turned a chair upright and I could clearly see where dust had settled around the chair, but there was none underneath it. He continued, “The house has no running water, the bathroom hasn’t been used at all, no appliances in the kitchen, and one of the bedrooms has a broken window. There aren’t any kind of clues here.”

“All that means is she moved him here after she wounded him,” I said.

“It also means she has another lair, somewhere,” Bill added.

Hermes popped back into the room and stood close to Bill.

“What about you, Hermes? Any ideas as to why Circe would do this?” I waved my hand expansively over the room where Eli so recently lay. The outline of Eli’s blood on the floor made it look just like a TV crime scene.

“No. I don’t.”

I paced back and forth for several minutes and then told them, “I have nothing else to add. I am going to level this place, so I suggest you three join me outside.”

We walked out of the door, across the porch, and about a hundred feet down the beach. I raised an arm to direct my focus and I utterly destroyed the house on the beach, and all the magical wards Circe set around it. Nothing but gray dust remained to be carried away by the wind. No trace of the house remained.

Hermes transported us back to the high rise.