Moonlight flowed through the narrow basement windows, creating illuminated rectangles across the floor. Prickling pins ran down my spine, giving way to a visible shudder that ransacked its way through me. I turned my head to force myself to ignore it, then stepped to the center of the basement room. There was a ceiling fan, half-pulled from its place, with a tiny sliver of rope still dangling from one of the blades.

Zoe nudged against my ankle, purring. I snickered as I knew she couldn’t help it but would give her so much grief over it later. Shifting was extremely useful, but Familiars always took on the instinctual traits of the animal they turned into, if only to a slight degree.

“Zoe, knock it off. We’ve got a job to do. Be ready.”

A deep growl crept from her throat. ‘This is why I prefer dogs.’

Thankfully, they had already ripped up the carpets, so I had concrete to work with. I studied the room's layout before I walked to the staircase, set my bag down, and pulled out a black candle and chalk.

I loosened the piece of rope and placed it on the floor. Then I drew an enormous pentagram around it with the chalk. Leaving the black candle beside it, I stepped outside the star.

“Come here, Zoe.” I clicked my tongue to grab her attention, and she scurried over.

‘Ready when you are.’

I gripped a pentacle necklace that hung close to my chest and closed my eyes, whispering beneath my breath. "Skalum neivro deabri."

A faint wind filled the room, and the walls creaked. As I repeated the chant, the boards of the steps popped and shook. Deep grumbles came up from below, and a flash of light burst from the fan.

“Atticus. I call forth to the soul of Atticus Brooks," I said as I stared at an ethereal sliver of blue light hovering under the fan.

“You are not welcome here. Get out of my sight.” A dark voice warned.

“Atticus, I’ve come to help. Your son has brought me here to assist you.” I stood my ground through the unbearable cold that wrapped around me.

“I don’t want your help. I don’t need your help. GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!”

A ghostly image of Atticus burst from the glowing slit. It lunged towards me but slammed into an invisible barrier. The pentagram on the floor glowed a bright white, filling the room with light. Atticus peered at the prison that held him in place and roared. He pounded his fists on the barricade in a rage and thrust an arm toward me once more.

Drywall nails soared through the air toward my head, but they stopped short of my body and fell to the floor. One by one, they clinked as they collided with the cold concrete.

“You’ll have to do better than that, Atticus.” I glanced down at the nails, then back at him, the corner of my lip twitching upward.

This enraged him further, and he slammed into the barrier again. “You little bitch. I’ll bring you over to this side and let the demons play with your soul. You don’t understand what you’re messing with.”

‘Uhm, demons? Aster, there shouldn’t be any demons here.’

“I’m messing with an angry brute who lost his loved ones. A beast who couldn’t cope with the emotions and saw no other way out than suicide. The demons are here for you, Atticus, not me.”

I glanced down at Zoe cowering behind my leg. “I have someone else who’s here for you as well.” A small step to the side revealed her.

The ghost’s face softened to a normal human shape, and he floated lower toward the ground. “It can’t be. It can’t be him. Tom buried him. LIES!”

He grabbed for Zoe, but his hands met the barrier, illuminating it once more. Atticus growled, and a piece of wood flew from the ground and slammed into the wall behind him.

“Your anger keeps you here. You must let it go, Atticus.” Zoe jumped into my arms and meowed. “Look closer. Mr. Mittens is here. He wants you to be happy and to move on in peace.”

“Mr. Mittens is dead, you stupid, stupid child. He was buried the same day I took my life. Your tricks mean nothing to me.”

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Frantic to escape, he raved and thrashed, testing the barrier at multiple spots in quick succession, but it held firm.

Multiple voices groaned and wailed from within the light. “Atticus, listen to me. If what you say is true, Mr. Mittens would be waiting for you to be at peace. So would your wife, and so would your son. They want you to end your suffering.”

“You will suffer as I have. Your fate has been sealed, Aster.” His visage entered and exited the blue sliver, and his eyes fixated on Zoe. “And you, witch, your Luca is doomed, and you will suffer a fate far greater than his."

Zoe leapt from my arms. ‘What the hell, Aster? What’s going on? How does he know our names and know what I am? About Luca?’

A loud bang shot through the house, and the floorboards above our heads rattled. The fan cracked and fell from the ceiling, piercing the blue light, then crashed into the middle of the pentagram. A colossal gush of wind whooshed as the barrier exploded outward.

Ominous laughter seeped from the sliver of light before it stitched itself closed and vanished. Zoe and I watched each other, waiting, both listening to the noises from upstairs.

“Move! Move! Move!” Shouts, screams, and loud footsteps pounded on the floor above.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my house?” Mr. Brooks asked the intruders.

“Get down! On your knees! Hands on your head! I said get down! NOW!”

More footsteps trotted through, filling the upstairs room. A quick, odd shuffling across the floorboards told me Mr. Brooks was moving. A loud thud racked the center of the floor above us.

“SHOW ME YOUR HANDS! WHAT MAGIC WERE YOU WORKING?” a man shouted.

“I—I—don’t know what you’re talking about. Please. I don’t understand.” Mr Brooks cried.

“Someone here was using magic. It led us to this location. Now, tell us, was it you?”

‘Fucking Templar! Aster, what the fuck does he mean our magic led them here? How is that possible?’

I held a finger to my lips to silence Zoe in my head and strained my ears to hear every sound coming from above.

“I didn’t know; I didn’t think it was real. You have to believe me. I’m a simple man who needs help. I stumbled upon a forum online and told them about my problem. A few days later, a random woman called, telling me to expect someone to come do the job. I swear that’s all I know.”

Another loud thud was followed by a scream from Mr. Brooks. Then another.

“I WILL ONLY ASK ONE MORE TIME, WHAT WERE YOU DOING HERE?”

A whimpering Mr. Brooks replied, “The girl. A girl showed up. Basement.”

“Secure the building. Search the basement.”

The sound of shuffling footsteps and the wailing cries of Mr. Brooks echoed through the house. The basement door flung open, and I scurried to a nearby closet in the darkest corner across the room.

"Run, Zoe!” I whispered to her as I shot inside, but she was already gone. I slammed the slatted door shut and placed a hand against it. “Lokia.”

A shimmer slid over the door, and I peered through the small opening between two slats. The basement steps creaked as someone descended the stairs.

A man dressed in head-to-toe tactical gear stepped into the room. He held his gun high against his shoulder, pointing it in every direction as he searched. The soldier stopped at the markings on the floor. He set his gun down and moved the remnants of the ceiling fan out of the way. The rope caught his attention, and he picked it up, rotating it in his hand to inspect it.

A tiny scraping sound startled him. He grabbed his gun and locked onto the closet before I could even blink. Placing the rope in a flap on his vest, he gripped his gun with both hands and approached the door. I backed further into the shadows behind me.

It shook for a second, then stopped. Sweat ran down my brow and I willed my breathing to calm as much as it could. I could have sworn he had locked eyes with mine as he peeked through the slats. His blue eyes seemed to pierce through my soul.

“All clear down here, soldier?” another man called down to the one in the basement.

The soldier exhaled and turned his head to the side. The metal Templar logo on his helmet glistened in the moonlight. “Yeah, all clear.”

“Good. We've gotta wrap this up and head back. The boss wants to interrogate the man at headquarters.”

The sound of his footsteps walking away eased my nerves, if only a little. If one soldier were able to break through my magic, I would at least stand a chance at an escape. But if two Templars found me… I shook the thought from my mind and wondered if Zoe had made it out safely.

The Templar glanced at the closet for a moment before turning toward the steps. As he approached them, he halted, and I saw it the exact moment he did. My bag.

'Crap. No. No. NO. No. Keep going.'

He kicked the bag with one foot, and as he leaned forward, a booming voice shot through the floor. “EVERYBODY OUT! NOW! LET’S MOVE!”

He stood and eyed the room one last time before making his way back up. I followed his footsteps across the floor to the door. Then it slammed shut.

A giant gasp left my body, and I touched my hand to the door. Another shimmer fluttered across its surface, and I knocked it open. A panic attack tried to take hold in my chest but the sound of car doors slamming kept me grounded in the reality of what had just happened.

On my tiptoes, I was barely tall enough to see what was happening outside. My eyes caught a glimpse of the bloodied Mr. Brooks being loaded into the back of a giant black SUV by two larger men.

They slammed the door behind him, banged on the window, and the vehicle screeched out of sight. Four other SUVs followed, and all was still as if nothing had happened.

My phone's chime blared through the basement, and I jumped from the window.

'Hopefully, it’s Zoe telling me she’s okay. Thank the stars this didn’t go off while they were here.'

I swiped the lock screen and opened my messages. It was a text from Cooper, letting me know he was on the way to my place and would hang out in the hall waiting for me.

'Crap. This is a mess. Oh Zoe, I hope you’re okay. I don’t know what to do, but I have to get out of here fast.'