“Glad you’re home,” I mumbled against him.
“Yeah, me too.”
“What did you do with the body?”
“I left it in the alleyway behind the gym.”
I pulled back, searching his face. “Do you think that was a good idea?”
Sam shrugged. He looked tired. He opened his mouth to explain and I put my fingers over it.
“Forget it. It doesn’t matter. You did what you thought was best.”
“I love you,” he said against my skin.
I smiled and pulled my fingers away. “Love you.”
Inside, cupboards banged and I heard the refrigerator door open. I sighed and went in the house, Sam following along beside me. I grabbed his plate from the oven and Riley tracked my movements, scowling when I handed it to Sam.
I smiled. “Relax there’s more.” I shooed him over to the table and began to make him a plate.
“So when did he get out?” I asked Riley.
“Who?”
“Beelzebub. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To tell us he escaped.”
Sam shook his head. “He didn’t know.”
“What have you been doing down there, Riley?”
“Causing trouble,” he said, but then he glanced away and I knew he was doing more than that.
“Did you find the souls?”
“What is this, twenty questions?”
I took that as a no and handed him a heaping plate of warmed macaroni and cheese. He attacked the plate with single-minded precision.
I put the rest of the bowl in the microwave to heat, knowing he was going to eat it all.
What’s he doing here? I asked Sam.
I’m not really sure. He glanced at Riley. Maybe he was just hungry.
“I’m going to call Cole and Gemma. They need to know about Beelzebub.”
Sam nodded while I made the phone calls. When I hung up, I said, “They’re coming over.”
Riley still hadn’t looked up from his almost empty plate. I sighed and brought the bowl with the rest of the noodles and slid it under his nose.
“I love you,” he said, not bothering to look up.
Sam bristled, but I laughed. “How long has it been since you’ve eaten?”
“I had some—” He began, then seemed to stop himself and shrugged. “A while.”
I looked at Sam. He shrugged too.
I rolled my eyes. Men.
“Have you even tried to find the souls?” I asked, sitting down next to Sam.
“They aren’t just sitting out in the open,” Riley replied. Then he set down his fork. “But I have an idea.”
I nodded.
“And let me tell you, the Devourer is a real pain in the ass. I don’t know how you get him to do anything.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What did you do to him?”
“More like what did he do to me…”
“I’ll bring extra Sinckers next time I go down there. You probably traumatized the poor thing.”
“It’s a giant dragon.” Riley pointed out. “With a brain the size of a peanut. He doesn’t get traumatized.”
The gas burner on the stove lit’ flames shot from beneath the cook top. Riley looked between me and the flames. “We’re inside the house, Heven.” Sam reminded me, placing a hand over mine.
I took a deep breath and looked away from Riley toward the flames. I tried to get them to go out, concentrating on them until fire was all I saw. Nothing.
Gemma appeared in the doorway between the kitchen and family room, walking into the room and seeing the flames. She grabbed a nearby dishtowel and slapped the fire a few times until it went out.
“Are you having trouble controlling the fire?” she asked, turning toward me.
I nodded.
Gemma saw Riley sitting at the table. “I can see why.”
“Great to see you as always, Gemma,” he muttered.
She smiled.
I looked at Riley. “Stay away from my dragon.”
“Gladly.”
“You said you had an idea?” Sam asked him, trying to get the conversation back on track.
Riley nodded as a truck pulled up next to the house.
“Might as well wait until Cole comes in, tell us all at once,” I said, and a few seconds later Cole walked through the back door, eyes going straight to Gemma.
“Hey, guys,” Cole said, still looking at only her. “Gems.”
“Hey, Cole,” she replied, returning his look.
If these two weren’t careful, they would start a fire of their own.
Kimber bounced into the kitchen, breaking the silent tension. “Cole!” She went right up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist for a hug. Cole hugged her back, but the expression on his face was pinched. Gemma turned away to search the fridge for a bottle of water.
“So what’s going on?” Cole asked, dislodging himself from Kimber and going to sit at the table next to Riley.
“My magic came back!” Kimber burst out like it was great news.
“He got out?” Cole said, going right to the heart of the matter.
“We think so. Riley hasn’t checked yet.” I explained.
“It would explain what happened earlier,” Sam told me.
“What happened earlier?” Gemma asked, walking toward the table. Her hair was down and falling around her face in large waves. Kimber watched her as she moved.
I explained about the locker room and the body. Then Sam explained what he and Riley did with it.
“It has to be him,” Cole said when we were done.
I nodded. “It’s the only explanation.”
“Maybe he’s the one who’s responsible for the other bodies too,” added Kimber, who was silent up until now.
“What other bodies?” Sam asked, fully alert.
She explained what she told me earlier. Everything about Sam changed… tightened. I didn’t think anyone else noticed, but I sure did. His anxiety practically attacked me through the Mindbond.
“It couldn’t have been Beelzebub,” Riley put in.
“Why not?” Kimber demanded, mad that he was shooting down her theory.
“Because he was trapped last time I checked, which was only two days ago. You said those bodies were found over the course of a couple weeks.”
“And you just got your magic back tonight,” I said, then looked at her. “Right?”
She nodded.
“If they got out weeks ago, you’d have had your magic back then.”
“Unless it took a while for Hecate to get it back,” Gemma suggested.