Wrath of the Gods [Legacy, BK 3 - Hiatus]

7.1 - John

A/N: Fair warning, there’s probably a bunch of typos or missed mistakes. I’ll try and get back soon to fix them. - J.D.
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We emerged from Hunter's portal on the edge of a lake. The address the Hedgewitches had given us placed us somewhere in Virginia, which made sense with Frankie involved. It was the dead of night and the lake was calm and still. The only sounds were the gentle lapping of water against the shore, the calls of insects, and the occasional rustle of leaves as a breeze swept through the towering trees. The lake itself reflected the light of the waxing moon above and lit the shore line just enough not to trip over anything.

Hunter closed the portal behind us. Looking around, I found the houses were few and far between and noticed a few small boats tied to little private docks on the water. What was Franki going to say when she saw me? If her last message had been any clue, she probably wasn’t going to be overjoyed to see her little brother.

And who could blame her? I wasn’t really thrilled with myself at the moment either. A familiar thickness in my throat forced me to swallow my guilt. This night wouldn’t get any better, so why drag it out any longer?

"Let's go." We stuck along the shore, sticking to the shadows and trying to make as little sound as possible. It took the better part of an hour to walk around to the house we were looking for. The whole time, I watched it as often as I watched my footing, looking for any sign that someone was there. A few lights upstairs flickered on and off, like someone was moving through the rooms. Until finally, as Hunter and I came to the edge of the yard, the light in the kitchen came on and stayed that way.

We crouched behind a large azalea bush, surveilling the area for any other movement or people. The yard was just as quiet as the rest of the walk had been. The air seemed to grate on my exposed skin. The night was almost perfect, and yet, it was still wrong.

"How many do you think are in there?" Hunter whispered close enough to my ear that I felt the warmth of his breath on my ear. It sent a shiver down my spine, but in a completely different way than what I had been feeling.

"I don't know. I'm not sure there's an easy way to tell."

The yard sloped upwards from the lake and blocked our view of the driveway. Not that the number of cars up there would accurately tell us the information that Hunter wanted to know.
We'd been tracking Frankie and the plants for weeks and this was a solid lead. Or a well laid trap. Maybe we could try and find the plants and destroy them without running into any of the witches?

That was a long shot at best. And now, thinking about the email, the clue about Frankie. Who else would even know that little tidbit about our past? This all felt too simple, too easy. They’d figured out that we’d found a way to get information from inside the Coven.

"We need a plan," I said the words mostly for myself, but my mind was already spinning in circles. I was still caught up in this loop of was this a trap or not. Did it really matter at this point? We were already here, and what if the plants really were inside that house?

Hunter shifted his weight next to me glancing around. "Hang on a moment."

Before I could even utter a protest, he backed away from my side disappearing into the shadows the way we'd come without a sound.
Where was he going? Was he scouting around? Looking for a better advantage point? I wasn't sure that would help. Everything that had been left behind at the previous locations made it seem like they'd kept the plants indoors with grow lights. It wouldn't be like that night that haunted my dreams were the plants were kept outdoors in make-shift greenhouses.

I watched the dark trees where he’d disappeared and kept an eye on the house as well. But he didn't keep me waiting long. After only a minute or two of waiting in the darkness, Hunter reappeared with a darker shadow moving by his side.

Mai's glowing eyes were the only thing that gave her away. And they were focused solely on the house and question.

"Since the lights are on in the kitchen, we should sneak around and start by looking in through the windows. That would give us an idea of what we might be up against. "Hunter's gaze was focused on the same target as his demon.

I waited until he turned towards me before shaking my head. "We’d need to deal with the wards first." I thought back to the night weeks ago when I dealt with the wards on my parents house. That night was different. That had been my house. My power had been keyed into it. All that mattered was mimicking my old powers to get by them. These wards wouldn't recognize me even if I managed to camouflage myself in power again to make it seem like I was still a witch.

"And how do we manage that?" Hunter asked.

"I'm still figuring that part out." Glancing around, I waited for inspiration to hit me but there was nothing to ignite the spark. My only other idea was not a great one.

I laid out my plan for Hunter, and the hard look I got in return was enough for me to explain my reasoning again.

"I know it's not ideal," I said to him, "but at least this way we have a chance of getting what we need and getting out of here alive."

"Or we could turn around and come back again with the others." Hunter countered.

Shaking my head, I glanced back up to the house. The kitchen light was still on. "They'll have moved again before we can manage to get everyone together and we will lose our chance. We have to do this tonight."

“I still don’t like it,” he grumbled. Hunter had a hand buried in the fur behind Mai’s ear. After a moment, though, he sighed. “Okay. But we do this in a smart way and if anything goes wrong, you get out of there as fast as you can. She might be your sister, but the witches are not going to let you escape again.”

Hunter had a point. I doubt that I’d be treated like a long lost relative if they were able to get me, but honestly, that wasn’t what I was most afraid of.

We spent the next several minutes going over the plan and the details. The eastern sky had begun to lighten with the pre-dawn glow as we said a quick goodbye and went our different ways with a promise to see each other back at the bunker. 

I followed the property line up the slope until I was parallel with the house, being careful not to cross over the invisible line that I could feel the wards drew. Hunter and Mai went down to the edge of the lake, and turned to look back at me. I waved to signal that I was in place and ready when he was.

Hunter took a deliberate step past where I had shown him the wards were, and took a few steps in toward the house. Mai followed at his heels; her tail flicking back and forth was the only indication of their anxiety.

There was no loud alarm or even a rush of people out of the house as Hunter trespassed into the witches territory. But I could feel the magic as the wards functioned as they were intended, whatever they had been set to do.

I watched only a moment longer as Hunter squared his shoulders towards the house and took a defensive stance. The sound of many footsteps hitting the back porch and down into the grass filled the quiet air as people rushed out of the house.

There must have been more witches in the house than we had expected. Moving in closer to the side of the house, I eased my way around the front of the house, using Hunter's breach of the wards to hide my own.

This wasn't the best idea, none of it was. But I couldn't let this opportunity pass. Not if I had a chance to destroy the last of the plants before they could do more harm.

I tried my best to ignore the sounds of fighting coming from the backyard and quickly made my way to the front door. If this was a trap Frankie had laid out for me, She would have made it easy for me to get into the house and I was counting on that now.

Sure enough, there was a collection of rocks piled together next to the welcome mat. I squatted down running my fingers over the stones until I found the one that didn't feel like the others. I picked it up. The plastic rock had been painted so realistically to hide in with the others, but it was super light and had a slight rattle to it as I turned over.

Prying the plastic open, I pulled the key out and tried it on the front door. It unlocked easily and I let myself in. Shutting the door behind me, I made sure that the deadbolt was locked back.

Whatever happened now, I was on my own.