“It’s just . . . ,” Bee started. “Maybe it’s not really him, just the Paladin girl. She could’ve gone rogue or something. Getting rid of the competition.”

Ryan was nodding enthusiastically. “Yeah, exactly. All, you know, there can be only one.”

I stared at the two of them, sitting there on the plaid couch Ryan’s mom had deemed too ugly for upstairs, and took a deep breath through my nose. “Okay, I have no idea what dorky movie you’re quoting, but that is not happening, so. Let’s move on.”

They stole another peek at each other, and I found myself wondering if Ryan and I had ever done that when Bee was talking. Probably. There had been several times she’d complained about Brandon when I’d thought, “Just break up with him already!” Surely Ryan and I had shot each other looks over that kind of thing. Or maybe we never had, and that’s why he and Bee worked better as a couple than Ryan and I had. In any case, neither of them argued with me.

“Moving on,” Bee said, flicking her braid behind her shoulder.

“Moving on,” Ryan echoed, and then frowned a little bit. “To . . . what exactly?”

It had already been one heck of a day, and I probably could have used a long bath and an early bedtime. But I was still too keyed up from the fight, still too excited that, finally, something was happening.

“First things first,” I told them, rising to my feet, “we have to find him.”

• • •

“So breaking and entering is a thing we do now?” Ryan asked, as we stood in the shadows outside David’s house.

“I’m going to use a key,” I reminded him. “As soon as I find it.” I didn’t mention that until a few weeks ago, I’d had my own key to David’s house. I’d gotten rid of it in a fit of delayed break-up melodrama, but could kick myself for that now.

Saylor had always left a key under one of the big baskets of ferns that sat outside the front door—ferns that I’d taken it upon myself to water this summer.

But when I lifted that surprisingly heavy wicker basket, there was nothing underneath it.

Undeterred, I tried the next one. When that came up empty, I flipped the welcome mat.

Still nothing.

“Harper, it’s late,” Bee said in a low voice. “We can come back in the morning, look then, and—”

“It’s got to be around here somewhere,” I insisted, and walked back down the porch steps to inspect the yard. We were out of flowerpots and little ceramic animals to check, and there was a part of me that just wanted to go home and follow Bee’s advice.

But then there was the part of me I actually listened to.

Marching back up the porch steps, I faced Bee and Ryan, hands on my hips. “Look, if there’s any kind of spell to track David, it’s going to be in that house. And until we find him, we can’t stop him or find out why rogue Paladin girls are suddenly after me and Bee.”

Neither of them replied to that, so I decided to take their silence as agreement.

“Okay,” I said, dusting my hands on the backs of my thighs, “we’re going to have to improvise.”

Bee sighed, but Ryan folded his arms, staring at me. “If by that, you mean actually break and enter, no way.”

I didn’t want to have to pull this card—okay, no, that’s a lie. I’d been wanting to pull this card for a while, so I pulled it.

Hard.

“Y’all do realize this is your fault, right? That if you hadn’t helped David get out of town, we wouldn’t be dealing with this?”

The words were harsh, I knew, but they needed to be said, and guilt is a powerful weapon to have in your arsenal.

Ryan lowered his brows, and Bee stepped forward. “Harper, we were only trying to help you, and it’s not like you were exactly forthcoming about what could happen—”

I lifted one hand. “I know. I do. But it doesn’t change the fact that you lied to me, and now things are potentially more screwed up than ever. So. That said, are y’all gonna break this window with me, or not?”

They didn’t answer, but then I didn’t really give them a chance.

Turning back to the front door, I examined the panes of glass that bracketed it, hoping my Paladin strength wouldn’t fail me now. The glass wasn’t particularly thick, but I didn’t have anything to wrap around my hand, so I’d have to hit hard and fast.

I did, and while I definitely felt the shock of the hit, the glass broke and my skin didn’t.

Reaching into the hole I’d made, I groped for the dead bolt, so pleased with myself that I didn’t hear the car pulling up to the curb. I did, however, hear Bee’s and Ryan’s frantic whispers behind me, and I turned to them, about to tell them both to hush already, when the blue and red lights flashed on.

Eff. Me.

Chapter 5

THIRTY MINUTES LATER, I was standing on David’s front lawn, staring at my aunt Jewel, who had still not finished lecturing me.

“Nineteen forty-three,” she said, arms folded across her chest. When I’d called, she’d been asleep, so she was wearing a pale green housecoat over peach silk pajamas. “That is the last time the police had to be called on a member of this family.”

“Aunt Jewel—” I started, but she just lifted a hand to cut me off.

“Now, Harper Jane, I am not upset that the police had to be called on you. The women in this family have always followed the rules too well for my taste.”

From behind me, I could hear Ryan sigh. He had wanted to call his dad, or maybe mine, what with him being a lawyer and all, but I had reminded him that A) my dad did tax law, and B) no one was as good at getting out of sticky situations as Aunt Jewel.

Also, I knew she wouldn’t call my mom.

“But,” Aunt Jewel continued, “what I can in no way support is your nearly getting arrested for trying to break into your ex-boyfriend’s house.” She gave a little sniff, pushing her glasses back up her nose. “Show some pride, Harper, honestly.”

That stung, and I made an outraged noise, hands on my hips. “Okay, first of all, my trying to break into David’s house has nothing to do with him being my ex-boyfriend.”

Aunt Jewel raised her silver eyebrows, taking in Bee and Ryan standing behind me. “Is it Oracle stuff, then?”

Now it was Bee’s and Ryan’s turn to make outraged noises, and I turned to them, pushing my hair away from my face. “Okay, so maybe I had some conversations with Aunt Jewel last year, but”—I pointed a finger at them—“it was after I caught the two of you making out, so really, when you think about it, that’s your fault, too. I was . . . emotionally compromised.”

“Great,” Ryan muttered, and Aunt Jewel reached out to smack his upper arm.

“Do not take that tone! Yes, Harper told me y’all’s little secret, but I’ve kept it, haven’t I?”

Neither of them could argue with that, and Aunt Jewel turned back to me, those eyebrows still up. “What were you looking for, then?”

I’d been really honest with Aunt Jewel, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to be that honest right now. After all, she’d worry if she knew about the attack tonight, and there was no need for that.