I lead the boys upstairs and down the same hall we tiptoed through earlier. The moon room is easily recognizable by the large crescent moon adorning the door. 

“This is the room I’ve always stayed in,” I say, pushing it open, “when I would spend the night here from time to time.”

The room is decked out in lunar decor. Paintings, sculptures, even the curtains depict the great orb in the sky. 

The four poster bed is large and I swallow. “Did you guys bring a change of clothes?”

“I have spare t-shirts in the truck,” Dev says, backing toward the door. “I’ll go get them.”

He turns and almost runs out of the room. 

“What’s his problem?” Brody mumbles, already starting to shuck his suit, piece by piece.

I shrug and turn, offering my back to Jules so he can unzip my dress. I have pajamas stored here in the big moon carved wardrobe on the wall opposite the bed. Once unzipped I collect them and head to the attached bathroom to change. 

After getting dressed in purple yoga pants and a loose v-neck I splash water on my face and try to calm my pounding heart. It’s no big deal, spending the night with three guys. It’s not like I’m going to have sex with them. I’m not ready for all that would come after, nor has the birth control spell been performed yet. Not a big deal, I tell myself. 

When I emerge Dev is back and the three of them are in boxers and t-shirts, because I was too distracted to remember to tell them we would be spending the night here. 

“Hope this is okay,” Brody says, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“It’s fine. I get it. I didn’t exactly tell you to bring jammies to the wake.” My cheeks are red as I sit on the edge of the bed. “So how do we wanna do this?”

“You get the bed, we’ll take the couch. It folds out,” Dev says authoritatively.

 Brody and Jules share a look. 

“No, man,” Brody says. “You take the bed with her. We’ve each gotten to sleep touching her in the last couple of nights. It’s your turn.”

Devereaux won’t meet my eyes. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Not with the way things have been going tonight.”

“What happened with Claire?” I can’t help but ask.

“She broke up with me,” he says, that careful mask of neutrality in place. Underneath though… is also neutral.

I blink at him in surprise. Claire broke up with him and he doesn’t care?

“I’m… sorry.” Because it is my fault, after all.

He gives a rough shake of his head. “Don’t be. It had little to do with the binding thing. We just weren’t right for one another right now.” 

“That’s something you say when one of you was fuckin’ around,” Brody says. “Now why don’t you wanna sleep next to the mistress?”

I wince at the nickname.

“We have…” Dev looks at a loss for what to say. “Our chemistry tonight… It wouldn’t be a good idea.” 

Brody seems to finally get it. “Ah. You’re afraid we’d end up with a high priestess.”

Jules blinks at him and barks out a laugh. “That’s funny, Grody. When did you get funny?”

“Shut it, Mr. Emmy.” 

I can’t help but smile at their banter.

“What if I sleep with you guys?” Jules asks. “That should be a suitable turn off for you, huh Dev?”

“An Emmy sandwich,” Brody says, eyeing the three of us. “And I get the whole couch to myself.” I can feel a little bit of disappointment in him but more than that is amusement. He did get to sleep with me last night after all.

Dev exhales slowly, like a balloon losing its helium. “Yeah, okay.” 

In truth, the bed is massive and could fit all four of us, but I’m not sure any of us is ready for that yet, even if it is just for sleep.

Brody stretches out on the dark blue couch and I climb slowly into the middle of the giant bed. The underside of the canopy is a star map and I stare at the constellation of my namesake as I wait for the LaTour brothers to climb in on either side of me.

This is a dream. This has to be a dream. I’m afraid that I’ll wake up any moment. Devereaux smells like his usual intoxicating spearmint and cedar and I turn to face him when he settles under the covers. “Do you snore?”

“You know I don’t snore. Our bedroom windows practically touch,” he says.

“Oh, right.” I look back up at the canopy. 

Jules reaches for my hand under the covers and I give it to him, relishing the warmth that spreads through me at the contact. It’s like sunshine. 

I reach out for Dev’s hand on the other side and the warmth that ignites when our fingers clasp is wholly different. Electric. I swallow, barely daring to breathe.

This is going to be a long, long night. 

“Why did your Mama leave the coven?” Brody asks from across the room.

I deflate a little, the tension broken for a moment. “She said it was just because her and Grandmother didn’t get along. But that doesn’t really explain why she’d leave the whole coven behind.”

“Maybe it has something to do with how she treats guardians,” Jules suggests. “Your aunt said something about that.”

“I wonder how normal witches treat their guardians,” Dev says.

“I don’t know. Grandmother never really acknowledged hers in front of me. Even when they died. I remember seeing one of them getting buried by the others in the back field, next to the family cemetery,” I say.

“Next to the cemetery?” Brody asks, confused.

“Mhmm. The Adelfi family is women only, I guess.” I give both brothers’ hands a squeeze. “I don’t even know if I want to be head of a coven like that.”

“Maybe you can change the rules,” Dev murmurs, scooting a little closer to me.

The entire left side of my body breaks out in goosebumps. 

“Maybe,” I murmur before yawning. “Sounds difficult to change centuries of tradition though.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“If anyone can do it, Em, it’s you.” Jules gives me a sideways smile.

We lapse into silence for a moment. I close my eyes to try and test how sleepy I am.

“So, anybody else find it stupid hot when Emmy bared her teeth at that Persephone chick for touching Julius?” Brody asks.

My eyes pop open in surprise.

Jules laughs. “Yeah, that was awesome. You looked like you were gonna rip her throat out, Em.”

“She should have known better. She obviously knows more about guardians than I did before getting you guys.” I yawn again. 

“Go to sleep,” Dev says softly beside me. 

I turn to find him on his side, watching me. I didn’t even hear him move from his back. 

“You first,” I mumble drowsily. 

He smiles wryly. “We’ll see.”

I try to stay awake, I really do, but it isn’t long before the comfort of being surrounded by the three of them overtakes me and I doze off. 

I dream of the djinn. 

I’m sitting in Moonhollow’s kitchen, at the small table that Grandmother would eat at when there weren’t enough people to warrant disturbing the dining room. It must be morning because light is streaming in through the large windows. There’s a cup of coffee in front of me.

Bustling around the kitchen in a frilly pink apron is the djinn. He looks almost translucent in the morning light. His pale skin is ghastly. His indigo hair is long and loose around his shoulders.

I’m so shocked to see him that it takes me a moment to notice that he’s making pancakes. There’s a comically high stack of them next to the stove. I watch as the djinn adds a few more to the pile and then proceeds to pour more batter.

I can almost smell the oil sizzling in the cast iron. But I can’t, of course, this is a dream. I can’t even smell the heavenly looking coffee steaming in front of me. I take a drink anyway, out of habit.

“Your subconscious is a strange place, Artemis D’Argent,” says the djinn, suddenly in front of me. He sets down a plate of at least twenty identical pancakes, perfectly balanced. “Is this what you think guardians do?”

“You’re not my guardian.” I glare at him. “You’re just a parasite that used me to hitch a ride out of Moonhollow.”

He throws his head back, laughing. The entire kitchen shakes as he does so.

“True enough,” he says. “Though, I am bound to you now. Our souls reach out to one another. It’s a shame we can’t touch in dreams.”

I shudder as he drops a hand down onto my shoulder, even though I can’t feel it.

“Took me a while to reach you, even in your dreams,” he continues conversationally. “You’re well protected. But it will not help you, in the end.”

“How long did she keep you?” I can’t help but ask. 

“Years.” He picks up a bottle of syrup and drizzles it liberally over the stack of cakes. “Long enough to more than justify what I did to her. Djinn’s often deign to help witches with trivial matters, a mistake I will never be making again. To say she overstepped her station is an understatement.”

I realize that I’m shaking. The energy he is exuding must be powerful enough to feel, even in my dream. It’s terror and wrath and just wrongness. The pink frilly apron does nothing to take away from his level of intimidation

“When I finally find you,” he says, pulling out the chair across from me and sitting down. “I’m going to kill your guardians first. One by one. Rip their skin from their muscles and bathe you in their blood. Then your beloved mother, and her guardians too. Hell, even the old hag’s last remaining guardian. Your grandfather, I believe. Then, I’m going to gorge on you. Fill up the stupid cavern that you’ve opened up inside me since we bound --”

“You bound us. It’s your fault that you’re tied to me.” It’s probably not a good idea to interrupt the djinn while he’s planning the murder of my family, but it at least catches him off guard.

He laughs once, humorlessly. “Be quiet, witch. I had no other choice. Your whore of a grandmother trapped me in that cursed living room. Your fate will be much worse than hers, and worse yet the longer you let this go on. You could give yourself up to me now. Take off your vial of petty herbs, leave Moonhollow. Your family will be spared. Your guardians, your mother. Your fathers and grandfathers and whoever else claims a piece of your wretched heart. I am too strong for them, for you. I feed from dreams. And this one will be a significant boost. Witch dreams always are, and there are many to feed from tonight.”

The djinn leans in and sniffs me, taking a big, noisy whiff. “Delicious.” He reaches out and with the long gnarled nail of his index finger peels a piece of skin from just underneath my eye down to my neck. It feels like nothing I’ve ever felt before. Until this moment I’d thought that you couldn’t feel real pain in a dream, but this is excruciating. It feels like he’s tearing off a piece of my soul. I watch in horror and panic as he slurps my strip of skin into his mouth noisily and closes his eyes, seeming to bask in the sensation.

I wake up screaming.

Dev has my head clasped to his chest. My face is pressed against the fabric of his t-shirt and the firm muscles underneath.

“Emmy, you’re safe. It was just a dream,” Jules says as he strokes my back, sitting beside Dev and I.

The bed dips as Brody joins us.

Belatedly I realize that I’m practically in Dev’s lap. But it feels too good, too comforting, for me to move. I clutch him tighter until my screams have faded, until I can breathe on my own again. Then I move off of him.

The four of us sit in a circle on the bed as I tell them about the dream. I don’t leave out any details.

“I’m less convinced now that the bait thing is a good idea,” Dev says. 

He’s unsettled. All of them are. To be honest, I am as well. The trembling in my fingertips is only beginning to fade.

“I don’t see any other options.” I blow out a breath. “He’s so strong. I wouldn’t be surprised if he can hide from us forever. Drawing him out seems to be … it.”

“What about your, uh, coven?” Brody asks. “Surely all those sexy witches working together could kick the djinn’s butt six ways to Sunday.”

“Mama didn’t seem too keen on even telling Aunt Clio about the djinn. I doubt she’d want to ask her for help.”

“So?” Jules scoffs. “If it’ll protect you, she should swallow her pride.” 

“I’ll talk to her about it.” I sigh, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. Terror still clings to me and it’s joined by worry. “I wish there was a way to block him from our minds. He said that witch’s dreams power him up more than normal dreams and there are a lot here tonight. He was referring to my family, I guess. Moonhollow is bursting at the seams with witches right now.”

“So he’s just turning into a powered up mega asshole?” Brody grimaces. “And he’s bound to you. Your protection must be strong if he can’t reach you. He’s got to know you’re at Moonhollow right now.”

I nod. “I don’t think he can get back on the property. He mentioned something about me taking off my herbs,” I finger the vial at my throat, “and leaving Moonhollow so I could give myself up to him. I think we’re extra protected here.”

“But wasn’t he bound to this place too? Why would he be banned now?” Jules asks.

“Well, he left. And Moonhollow protects itself. Grandmother probably overruled that with her will when she trapped him here, but Moonhollow has probably had enough of his crap.” I look around the room with a vague smile. “Powerful ancestral haunted home and all that.”

“Maybe you should live here,” Dev says with a frown.

“Mama actually suggested that.” I push hair back from my face. “But being that far away from you guys on a nightly basis sounds terrible.” 

They all nod in agreement, even Brody. 

“I’ll live here eventually. I guess. Since the place is in my name. Though if Persephone beats me in our challenge or whatever I think I’d have to forfeit it to her.” Thinking about my future is strange, especially because it is now so closely tied with theirs.

Jules’ eyes light up. “A new adversary. Your visions were warning you about your cousin, Em!”

Realization sinks in. “You’re right. That’s…. A relief. I thought it was going to be a new villain like the djinn. Maybe a demon or ghost with a grudge against me or something.”

“Demons are real?” Brody stares at me with wide eyes.

“Probably. I dunno. I never finished my witch training. Grandmother was more focused on my powers than teaching me history and lore.”

“Power hungry old bat,” Jules grumbles. 

I nod solemnly in agreement.

Jules and Brody both yawn in unison then glare at each other.

“I think we should try and get some more sleep,” Dev says authoritatively. 

A shiver traverses my spine. Sleep leads to dreaming. The feeling of having my skin stripped away makes me itch and bile to fill the back of my mouth.

“Y’all should definitely sleep,” I say. “I think I’m done for the night.” I move toward the edge of the bed.

“You need to rest, Emmy,” Dev says, stopping me with a hand on my arm. 

I swallow back the small moan that wants to escape at his touch.

“I’m fine. It’s almost dawn. I should go make coffee anyway for any early risers.” I pull away and stand, searching the floor for my flats. “Go back to bed. Brody you can take my spot if you want.”

Brody snorts and gets up too, heading back toward the couch. “Yeah, right.”

From inside the wardrobe I pull on a thin blue robe and tie it loosely over my pj’s. The guys settle down into the bed, all of them watching me as I run fingers through my hair. I walk to the door and pause, offering them a reassuring smile.

“Sleep well.” Then I’m out the door and into the shadowy hallway, barely illuminated by the first fingers of dawn slipping through distant windows.

I miss their warmth and presence instantly, but the urge to be alone is strong. I start a large pot of coffee in the kitchen and brew some chamomile for myself. Maybe it will calm my nerves.