Scott shrugged. “Not really. It’s pretty boring here. There’s a few places people say are haunted, and there’s this compound up off of County Road Thirty-Three—”

“Compound?” He got Will’s attention.

“People say it’s a government facility or something,” Leah said almost dismissively. “Like they’re building robots up there. It’s stupid.”

“You only think that because you’ve never seen it,” Scott sneered at her.

She rolled her eyes. “It’s not real! You guys are so dumb.”

Scott turned his head to us. “I’ve seen it. Trust me. It’s got a huge wall all around the property and always has guys out at the gate packing guns. There’s a house on a hill that the driveway leads to and it’s huge. We’re pretty sure they do mutant experiments or something.”

“I heard the house was owned by some crazy billionaire,” I offered, hoping I’d get more information out of him.

He shrugged. “Yeah, some people say that he’s some master thief who steals valuable stuff from all over the world. I’ve never seen him, though. Just seen the guards out front and lights on in the house.”

“Cool,” I said, and looked right at Will. “We should check this place out.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he agreed.

I turned back to Scott and Leah and leaned over the table. “Where did you say this house was again?”

13

MARCUS AND AVA ARRIVED AT THE BED-AND-breakfast at last and after they checked into their room, we regrouped in mine. They sat in the couple of chairs at the small table by the big window overlooking the garden outside, and Will and I sat on the edge of the bed, briefing them on what we found out in town earlier. Meanwhile, the angelic reapers had ordered a ton of delivery, which overran the room. I had some fried rice and a couple pieces of pizza, but that was only a fraction of what had been ordered—and quickly devoured. Will took the guards Scott had mentioned very seriously. When Cadan arrived, I filled him in and we suited up. We didn’t have a whole lot to expect from this mysterious Ethan Stone. I mentally prepared myself to be ready for anything.

Getting past the front gate of the mansion was extremely easy. There were two guards visible, but we flew over them, hidden in the Grim, and landed safely deep in the wooded area that stretched across the property. The house was well lit even so late at night, and we could spot no reapers in the Grim aside from our own forces. Cadan split from us to find a way inside that wasn’t the front door.

“The demonic could be protecting the interior,” Ava suggested.

“We don’t know for sure that this is Stone’s house,” Will said. “We have to proceed with extreme caution. I don’t sense any demonic power, but they must be suppressing their energy.”

I nodded in agreement. “If Stone or the grimoire copy aren’t in there, then we need to get out quick and clean. I’m not losing anyone else.”

I was suddenly deafened by the wail of a siren coming from the house. My hands clamped over my ears and I peered through the trees in confusion.

“They know we’re here!” Marcus shouted.

“Cadan!” I cried out in horror. He was probably what had set the alarms off and he was out there by himself in whatever mess he’d walked into. I couldn’t let him fight alone. I raced through the trees and burst into the open lawn, which was now lit up with roaming floodlights. I did my best to dodge the lights and to stay hidden. I could hear the footsteps of the angelic reapers keeping pace behind me and the crackling of gunfire everywhere.

There was no more time to find a way inside that could provide cover. I soared over a balustrade and nearly slipped on the terrace leading up to the mansion. I bounded up the stone steps and ducked between towering columns to burst through the front doors.

“Cadan!” I screamed, skidding across the glossy marble foyer floor in near complete darkness. The searchlights roving the grounds cast stark beams that lit up the interior of the house for only a moment before disappearing again. “Cadan!”

The response was gunfire. I ducked and rolled across the floor to dive into a parlor leading from the foyer as bullets pounded into the walls and glass all around me. Will, Marcus, and Ava went to work, colliding with our attackers. Black shadowy bursts of reaper power and the short, disorienting flashes of light from firing guns made it hard to see anything at all. Bullets tore off chunks of marble columns, ripped through wood and plaster, and above the roar of destruction I heard men shouting orders.

But where was Cadan? A frightful knot tightened in my gut.

I darted from my hiding spot to another room as bullets made the archway frame explode into splinters. I caught sight of one of the reapers who had his back to me and was stepping farther away from the others. I crept behind him quickly and shot my hand forward and knocked the gun from his grip. I grabbed his throat, digging my hand hard under his jaw, and I yanked him toward me and slammed his back against the wall. His petrified appearance didn’t faze me.

“Where is Cadan?” I shrieked, knowing—and not caring—that I probably looked as wild-eyed as he did.

He shook his head and mumbled at me. I jerked him forward and smashed him into the wall again, crushing plaster, and he screamed in pain.

“Where is he?”

“Ellie!”

I looked over my shoulder and saw Ava racing toward me. A reaper between us swung the butt of his rifle up and into the side of her face with a crack. She growled at him, grabbed him by the neck, and threw him across the room. His body crashed into a chandelier in a shower of glass and crystal, and then a fireplace, destroying the mantle and everything on it before hitting the ground and not rising.