The next morning, I staggered downstairs, groggy and with an aching head. Without a word, I went into the kitchen and over to the cupboard where the painkillers were kept.

I heard Igor’s voice behind me: “Again?”

The flagrant disbelief in his tone seemed excessive. It was only the fourth morning…in a row…

Okay, maybe he had a point.

“Yeah,” I said.

“The way you keep pounding through that bottle, we’re going to need to buy another.”

I shook the bottle and immediately regretted it. The rattle was loud.

“Is there a list I need to add it to somewhere?” I asked.

I turned and stopped short. Olivia was there—not too surprising—but Conrad was there as well. They were both sitting at the table. The wolfman was nursing a coffee.

I pulled my eyes away from the odd sight and went over to the coffee pot while Igor answered me.

“There’s a common list we share across an app, but I’m busy. Have one of them help you.” He jerked his thumb toward Olivia and Conrad.

I poured my coffee and took my two pill appetizer with me as I meandered toward the table.

I had to meander to buy myself enough time to make the choice between the six-foot-plus wolf-monster with his back to me or the red-headed witch that had her nose fixed in a book and an icy look on her face.

I pulled out the chair next to Conrad, my hand trembling only a little.

“Good morning,” I muttered as I sat down.

“Morning,” he growled. It wasn’t an angry growl. It was more like he wasn’t bothering to articulate. If he’d been human, it might have been a grumble.

Olivia still hadn’t looked up.

I mentally sighed. Yeah. It would be easier to make friends with the wolfman.

I said to Conrad, “Do you have the app that Igor was talking about?”

Conrad put down his mug and pulled his phone from his pocket. After flicking through a few screens, he tilted his head to glance at me.

“Where’s your phone?” he asked.

I fumbled to get it out. “Why?”

“You want help getting the app, right?”

“Uhhh, I was just going to have you add Advil to the list.”

“Might as well add you to the house now.”

I hesitated, and it was a mighty hesitation. When I raised my eyes, I saw Olivia watching me, probably to see what I would do. My stomach lurched.

“Is everything okay?” Conrad asked.

“Yeah. Sure.” I looked away from the witch. “What’s the name of it?”

It took Iset a minute to see her notification and add me to the group, but then I was able to add Advil to the list, all by myself. I tried not to feel idiotically pleased about it, and failed.

“Ha! Look at that.” I put my phone down on the table next to my coffee. “That’s a really cool system. And Mrs. Park has that list too?”

“She does the general shopping on Wednesdays. If there’s something you need before then, you have to text her.”

“Thanks.”

The wolfman shrugged and sipped his coffee.

My coffee was cool enough, I could finally use it to take my medicine. I had barely swallowed before Darius came into the room.

He greeted us all with a good morning, then said, “Emerra, Olivia, can you be ready to go in a few minutes?”

Olivia picked up the bag that had been sitting on the chair next to her and got to her feet. “I’m ready to go now.”

The rise to my feet was slower. “Olivia’s coming with us?”

The vampire paused. “Yes. I’m sorry, I forgot to mention it to you last night.”

“That’s not a problem, is it?” Olivia asked.

Her tone was off, but I couldn’t tell if there was a bite to the question or only bared teeth.

“Of course not,” I lied. “I was just surprised.”

It was another morning of coffee to go. The drive to Wayde’s house was long and silent.

When we got there, Miranda was already waiting on the porch. I smiled and waved. She waved back. Darius, Olivia, and I reached the top of the stairs and exchanged greetings with Miranda while she unlocked the door and opened it.

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“Thank you, Miss St. John,” Darius said. “Do you have classes now, or can I ask you a few questions?”

Miranda glanced at her phone. “I have some time before my first class.”

“Let me take you out to get some coffee. We can let Miss Oliversen and Miss Cole get to work—as long as you don’t mind?”

When Darius tagged on that last line, I felt a gentle pressure sink around all of us. No matter how relaxed he sounded, he really didn’t want Miranda to mind.

“That’s fine,” she said.

Miranda gave me the key, and Darius told me to text him when we were done. The two of them left. I was alone with the sixteen year-old, red-headed witch.

Olivia turned and went into the house.

“Lock the door behind us,” she commanded.

I entered, closed the door, and threw the latch. “Why?”

“For the same reason that Darius had to get that girl out of the way. You’re not supposed to let a mundane see you doing magic.”

“Why all the secrecy?”

“It’s only policy. It varies from area to area. People say that historically there’s less trouble when fewer people know about the supernatural, but I think they’re making too big a deal out of it. The real trouble is getting people to believe.”

“Do you know what you’re looking for?”

“Any magical relics or devices, and any trace of magic that may have been used in the house. Darius wants to make sure we’re not missing anything obvious while we’re hunting for the scroll.”

“Where do we start?”

“I don’t know what you’re doing, but I’m going to start searching in the study.”

“Darius said that I should help you.”

“Fine. Show me where the study is, then try to stay out of my way.”

I stared at Olivia for a flat second as I considered having it out with her. I wanted to know why she disliked me so much, but the only time she’d ever lost her temper with me, I had earned it. I wasn’t supposed to have heard her complaints to Iset, and if I brought up all her snippiness, she could tell me I was imagining things.

She returned my stare with her own.

“It’s this way.” I motioned to the door off the living room.

When Olivia entered the study, she looked around and muttered, “Pack-rat.”

She put down her bag, pulled out a stack of small papers and some chalk, and started working.

I liked watching her work. Most of the time it was boring, since all there was to see was a girl wandering around the room, waving her finger and muttering under her breath, but every once in a while, she’d do something unconsciously magical, like hang a piece of paper in the air. She would trace her finger over the designs to create glowing white runes that floated there even after she removed the paper. They looked like Viking alphabet fireflies.

I tried to stay away from her work, but I always seemed to be in her way. After the fourth time she told me to move, I put myself in the open door and tried to think skinny.

As Olivia lost herself in her work, her face grew more calm and serious. She finished checking the study, but I didn’t want to disrupt her concentration by asking if she’d found anything. I turned sideways so she wouldn’t run into me as she left the room. When she moved into the hall, a faint indigo mist trailed from her skirt. I dodged back into the study long enough to grab her bag.

I followed her from room to room as her silent attendant. For all the good I was doing, I might as well have been one of Wayde’s weird statues. Olivia probably would have preferred that. She never had to snap at them to get out of her way. After a while, I got better at anticipating where she needed to be, and we could cover a whole room in near silence.

We made it all the way to one of the upstairs spare bedrooms before I blew it.

I was standing in a corner of the room, forgotten. Olivia had already covered that area, so several lines of blazing white script were hanging in the air in front of me. I slowly reached out to touch one of the rune fireflies.

“What are you doing?” Olivia said.

“Sorry.” I tucked my hand behind my back.

“Were you trying to put your hand through my spell?” She wasn’t quite shouting, but it was a near thing.

“It looks so pretty. I wanted to know what it felt like.”

Her expression hardened. “Leave.”

“What?”

“Put my bag down and leave.”

“But Darius said—”

“Thank you, but I don’t need your help, and what you’re doing isn’t helping.” She turned away. “I’ll find you when I’m done.”

I had been about to say that Darius had told me to keep my eyes open, but I couldn’t really argue with Olivia. I didn’t want to. I wasn’t helping, she said she didn’t need me, and I could use some space.

I put her bag on the floor and left.

I went downstairs into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water. Chugging it helped me feel more awake. I needed to be awake. Dealing with Olivia’s attitude was hard enough without being on the edge of tears because of exhaustion.

When I was done, I washed out the glass, dried it, and put it away.

I wandered out of the kitchen. Without really thinking about it, my feet took me toward the study.

The door was still open. The room was silent and motionless, trapped in the final mess of its owner—a cheerful testament to the kind of man he was.

I wandered over to the remaining armchair. As I sat down, I caught a glimpse of a red-stained body across from me. My eyes flew back up, but there was nothing but an empty spot where the chair should have been.

I took a deep breath and felt my heart rate slow.

“Keep your eyes open,” I muttered.

That was hard to do. Each eyelid weighed a hundred pounds. It wasn’t long before the darkness of my blinks went from a fraction of a second to several seconds. After that, only an act of will could get me to open my eyes again.

Then I ran out of will.

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The next I knew, a hand grabbed my shoulder, hard, and I was dragged from my dream into reality.

Olivia was standing over me.

The red hair gave it away. I might not have recognized her otherwise. I’d never seen that look of concern on her face before.

“Olivia.” I took a breath. “Are you all done?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Why?” I rubbed my eyes.

“You were dreaming.”

“I’ve been having trouble sleeping. I’m fine. Did you find anything?”

For a second, she didn’t answer. The worry gradually cleared from her face, and she said, “No. There’s nothing magical in the house or yard, and if there were any traces of a spell, they’re long gone.”

“Is that normal?”

Olivia slipped into the know-it-all voice she usually used when answering questions.

“Each type of magic and each application of magic leaves different traces if the magician isn’t careful. We can figure out the spells that would have already faded, but we’ll always have to consider the possibility that the magician was hiding his tracks.”

“Dang. That three hundred year-old school had some useful stuff to teach.”

“Actually, it was Iset that taught me that.”

“Even better. A three thousand year-old tutor.”

“I’ve already texted Darius. I’m taking a taxi home. You’ll meet him at the fountain in the center of campus.”

I pulled out my phone. The clock read four forty-two. “Geez! Is that the time?”

Olivia’s voice rose. “I had to do the whole house!”

I rushed to assure her, “No, it’s not that. I’m surprised I slept for so long.”

She watched me but didn’t answer.

“Thank you for waking me,” I said.

She turned away. “You have the key to lock up. Are you ready to go?”

I tucked my phone back in my pocket. “Sure. Let’s go.”

As I went to stand up, I grabbed for the object in my lap, but there was nothing there. I blinked and stared at my empty hand.

“What are you doing?” Olivia asked. Her tone suggested she was mystified and slightly disgusted by my bizarre behavior.

“I’m not sure,” I said.