Vita nibbled on the nail of her thumb as she waited for Merida and Amanda to return. It had been an hour since Merida disappeared with Amanda’s body, promising her they would return soon. She sighed as she looked out into the dark night, wishing that Deak was here to help keep her calm. Vita pulled out and looked at her phone; there were no missed calls or texts from Deak as she pulled up her message screen and sent another text to him regarding Amanda’s disappearance. Maybe learning that Amanda was missing would get a response out of him. After all, they were cousins on their mother’s side. She knew that Deak had a soft spot for Amanda; he even still called her by that silly nickname Small Girl. Vita huffed and rolled her eyes when the thought of the name went through her head. She wasn’t jealous of their relationship; she just wanted to make sure that he was okay and not doing something crazy while he was all alone.

“Where could they be?” Tabitha grunted as she paced the floor. She wasn’t good at being patient and waiting for things to happen. She needed to do something to try and help the situation.

Vita shrugged. “Merida said they would be back as soon as they could. We need to trust them.”

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing,” Tabitha exclaimed.

Marco got up and moved toward his mate to calm her down. The room was getting too much for them, and needed some fresh air.

“Vita, why don’t Tab and I head out and try to look for Deak for you? At least then she and I would feel like we are doing something useful,” Marco suggested.

Before Vita could say anything, they heard an alert go through all their phones. Esha pulled her phone out, and her brows furrowed as she looked at the message. “They are having a meeting at the city hall to talk about the blackout in the city. They are asking that everyone attends,” she told them.

“Why should we attend? We don’t live here in the city. This is your problem, not ours,” Zachary told Esha.

“Please, we need all the help we can get to fix our city. Will you please go and hear them out?” Esha asked.

Zachary didn’t want to go. It was one of the residents or someone on the council that poisoned his mother. They were the reason she was gone. They could all die for all he cared. He wasn’t going to lift one finger to help them.

Ruby walked up to her mate and grabbed his hand to hold in hers. She tried to push her calming energy through her mate, but he resisted. They just lost Madeline and had yet to mourn their loss fully. She understood he was angry about the loss of his mother, but if Madeline were here, she would offer her help in any way she could. “Zachary, I know you’re upset, and we haven’t had a moment to mourn your mother in the true fashion, but if she were still alive, she would be offering to help these people.” She said softly to him.

Zachary shook his head as his shoulders slumped. He knew Ruby had a point. He didn’t like that she was using it against him, but Zachary wasn’t going to get mad at the woman he loved because she was right. “Fine, we’ll go.”

Esha sighed with relief and said to them, “Thank you.” Now the next thing she had to worry about was keeping her distance from Jasper. She hoped that staying close to Tabitha and Marco would help blanket her scent from him.

Everyone got up and started to head for the door except for Vita; she was worried about Merida and Amanda. Gretchen looked over at Vita and became concerned; she could tell that something wasn’t feeling right. When Colson turned to look at her, Gretchen suggested, “Why don’t you wait for us downstairs? I need to talk with Vita for a moment.”

Colson looked between the two girls before he nodded. He didn’t want to leave Gretchen out of his sight because he had a bad feeling about this meeting.

Once everyone was out of the room, Gretchen turned to Vita and said, “Alright, what’s on your mind?”

“I think something happened to Merida and Amanda. They should have been back by now. I think I want to do a spell and try to search for them.”

“I think it’s best if we stick together. We don’t know what’s happening here in the big city, and I can’t risk losing anyone else in my life right now,” Gretchen confessed to Vita.

Vita sucked in a breath; her chest tightened when she heard the pain in Gretchen’s voice. Vita knew this loss was going to be hard on Gretchen. She had just met her Grandmother not that long ago and had already lost her. It was one was the costs they paid being in a coven. They were always defending their life against something or someone. Why, Madeline, Vita had no clue? She didn’t think they had pissed anyone off between the faction council and the other covens, but she didn’t know for sure.

“Okay, you’re right. We need to stick together. Maybe, I can astral jump here from time to time and see if they returned. I’m sure Amanda was wearing her pendant, and Merida took—”

Gretchen interrupted, “We don’t know what Merida needed that necklace for.” Gretchen then looked down at Vita’s necklace and frowned. She could have sworn it was a different color than what it was reflecting at the moment. “Vita, I think your necklace changed colors.”

Vita peered down and looked at the necklace with curiosity. This was the first time she had ever seen her necklace change to a different color. The color almost matched precisely to the pendant Merida had taken. Vita sighed as she shook her head. Great, one way or another, she was connected to Merida now, and if she needed to tap into their magic at any time. They were at her disposal. Vita leaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

This. Was. Not. Good.