The End of Magic (The Witches of Echo Park #3)(53)

"Dev's girls are with you, okay," Daniela replied, nodding. "Even though I have no idea why Dev would let them out of her sight . . ."

Lizbeth's face fell.

"Not enough time. Just tell them that I have to stay here to learn to use my powers-but the girls can't stay. We will all be with the magicians at the Red Chapel-"

"The magicians? At the Red Chapel?" Daniela interrupted, her confusion growing.

Lizbeth nodded.

"I know it doesn't make sense right now, but just remember what I say. Go to the Red Chapel. It's a real place in our world and in the dreamlands. We will be there with the girls. But go soon. As soon as you can. It won't be safe for them here for long."

"Who are the magicians?" Daniela asked as she tried to commit Lizbeth's words to memory.

"The brothers. Tem and Thomas," she said, a secret smile pulling on the corners of her lips. "They're magicians. They're going to teach me how to use the powers I have-"

"And Eleanora and Hessika are okay with all this?" Daniela asked.

Lizbeth frowned.

"They don't like it. But they understand why it's necessary. They're taking care of the girls. When you find Marji and Ginny, you'll find Eleanora and Hessika, too. If I don't see you again, I love you and the others. Tell them I said that!"

"I will, but why wouldn't we see you again-" Daniela started to ask, but Lizbeth only shook her head.

"You're about to wake up. Remember . . . the Red Chapel-"


• • •

Daniela opened her eyes.

"Lizbeth, tell me . . ."

But Lizbeth was gone.

Daniela sat up in her hospital bed.

"What's wrong?" Niamh asked-she and Evan were still standing by the side of the bed. For them, time had barely inched forward; for Daniela . . . it was like she'd been asleep for centuries.

"We have to go," Daniela said-sending a silent thank-you to Lizbeth for somehow making the fix on her throat cross over into the real world. "The Red Chapel. Dev's girls are there waiting for us."

She didn't stop to call a nurse to remove her IV. She simply yanked the needle from her hand-blood flying-and threw the tubes onto the bedclothes. She dragged herself off the mattress, her feet hitting the cold tile floor and sending shivers up her spine.

"The Red Chapel? We know it . . . of course, we do . . . but it burned down-" Niamh began, but Daniela cut her off.

"Don't ask questions," she said, hunting for her old clothes. She found her pants and a clean T-shirt in the chest of drawers. "Just go get the others."

As Niamh shot out the door, Daniela slipped her pants over her bare legs, her body shivering with the cold.

"What did you see?" Evan asked-and Daniela could tell that he wished he could help her get ready. But she was an empath. No one could touch her.

"I saw Lizbeth. She's in the dreamlands with Dev's girls. She said we need to go to the Red Chapel. That the girls would be there waiting for us . . . and she said they wouldn't be safe there for long."



       
         
       
        

"Jesus . . ." Evan said.

"Exactly . . ." Daniela replied. "I just hope we're not too late already."





Devandra





The dreamlands. The girls were in the dreamlands.

Dev's mother had said it and so Dev believed it. The question then became: How could she and Freddy get to the Dreamlands to rescue them?

These were the thoughts flowing through her head as she stood at the kitchen sink, washing the dishes from their late-afternoon lunch of store-bought chicken soup.

"There's someone at the door."

They'd been expecting Lyse and Arrabelle, but as soon as she turned her head, her hands wet from the soapy water, she realized something was wrong. The panicked look on Freddy's face gave it all away.

Freddy had seemed to instinctively understand something was different about the woman he'd loved for so many years, and he'd been acting accordingly. Giving her the space she needed in order to figure out who this new person she'd become . . . was. But whoever was at the door had upset him so much he wasn't walking on eggshells. He was just reacting.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Police. At the door. I could see them through the peephole."

Peephole. Freddy's nervous chirp of a voice, coupled with the absurdity of the word itself, made Dev giggle.

Freddy's mouth fell open and he stared at her.

"You're laughing."

She shook her head.

"No . . . I'm not . . . laughing," she said, in between giggles.

"It's not funny," he replied, frowning at her, his caterpillar-thick eyebrows turning down in the middle so they formed a V.