The apartment felt different that night. Shadows pressed in thicker than usual, clinging to the corners of the living room as though waiting to watch. Melinda had pushed the coffee table aside and drawn a wide circle on the floor with salt and ash, intricate sigils etched carefully inside it. Candles flickered at the points of a star, their flames unnaturally tall, whispering against unseen currents of air.

Chloe and Zoe sat cross-legged just outside the circle, tense, while Melinda knelt in ...