Witch’s corpse. Witch’s ticket. Witch’s party. As a counter-boy at a high-end men’s boutique, Charlie Jessup’s life consists of little more than work and sleep. That, and enough flirting to help guarantee his commission on sales will pay his rent. So when a twist of fate, and some behavior unbecoming that of a Ganymede employee, leaves him in possession of a dead man’s pass to a mysterious Club 669, Charlie has no desire to waste it. Every seventeen years, the House of Witches throws a party like no other. It’s invitation-only, and for centuries it has helped ensure peace between the covens. It’s the last place Caspian wants to be, but with the death of Queen Avel, and his own imminent rise to the throne, it’s more important than ever that he attends. The stability of the House depends on it. In four days a new king will be crowned, but when Charlie unintentionally crashes a gathering of the most secretive of all the Great Houses, he sets in motion a series of events that could disrupt the transition of power, and threaten the future of the House of Witches forever.

Club 669

When he emerged fifteen minutes later, he looked picture perfect. “I owe you one, Charlie.”


“You’ll make it up to me.” I winked, unlocking the door, and held it open for him.


Outside, he waved before darting through the traffic of pedestrians. We stayed open late on Saturdays, so it was already dark, and crowds were gathering outside the posh little nightspots that ran up and down both sides of the street.


I closed and locked the door again, happy for Adam, and tried not to dwell too much on the lonesome evening that stretched ahead of me.


I finished straightening the floor, a bigger job than on a weekday evening, and started pulling stock from the back to fill in all the empty spots.


There was a tap on the window, a passerby watching me, and I pulled the screens down, uncomfortable with an audience. When I emerged from the storage room with my next armload, the knock came again, this time from the door. It was the same young man, smiling and waving at me through the glass.


Chapter 6