The wind had picked up again—low, hot, and unnatural. It carried with it a scent none of them could name, but all of them feared. Burned wood. Old blood. Sulfur. It rode across the broken landscape like a warning.
Jake drove silently, hands clenching the wheel until his knuckles whitened. Beside him, Hailey rested her hand over his in quiet reassurance. Amelia, bundled in the backseat, hadn’t spoken since the ritual. Her face was pale, her breath shallow.
“She’s burning up,” Diane said, pressing a damp cloth against Amelia’s head. “Whatever she did in that chapel… it’s still with her.”
“Her aura’s flaring,” Marcus added from the front passenger seat, flipping through the journal. “Too much exposure to the book. That ritual might’ve saved us—but it carved pieces out of her.”
Jake glanced at Amelia through the rearview mirror. “Can we reverse it?”