Everlost (The Night Watchmen Series Book 3) by Candace Knoebel Read Free Book Online Page B

all involve my capture, or even worse… my death.
    Weldon clears his throat, points to me, and then looks at Jaxen. “The general specifically asked her to come. Therefore, she has to.”
    Jaxen’s fist clenches at his side. He knows this is a fight he’s going to lose. It was always going to be this way, even from the first moment he met me. “How many can you take with you?” he asks through his teeth, keeping his eyes trained on Weldon and his back turned slightly to me.
    “Just her. I don’t want to have to worry about moving anyone else through shadows. Not with Clara out for blood. It’ll be quick. I’ll take her straight to him, and then right back here. We won’t move through the city. We won’t get caught. I guarantee it.”
    “That’s a pretty big guarantee for someone who’s let us down before,” Jezi says from the chair in front of him.
    “What is she talking about?” I ask, searching Weldon’s eyes.
    Weldon sighs like he’s already bored with the conversation. “You know the whole deal that happened with the Witch and your parents right before we met you? The one Clara mentioned and we were all banished over?”
    “The Witch we wrongly executed,” Jaxen adds, shame dripping from his words.
    “Yeah, him,” Weldon continues. “Well, they asked me to decipher the demon spell that was supposed to break the Gramm Curse,” he says, pushing his thumb out in Jaxen and Jezi’s direction. “So I did, and,” he says with heavy emphasis, “I did explain that it wasn’t a sure deal. Demons are sneaky with their words.”
    “Exactly,” Jezi says, propping her chin on her hand with attitude.
    He rolls his eyes and looks back at Jaxen, waiting.
    A moment passes, and then Jaxen says, “You get her in and get her out, do you understand?”
    Weldon nods.
    “If you don’t, I swear to you I’ll kill you myself.”
    “I wouldn’t want to die any other way, my love,” Weldon says, leaning towards Jaxen, batting his lashes like a swooning schoolgirl.
    Jaxen ignores him and turns to me. He brushes his fingers under my chin, tilting it up in his direction. “Please, just speak to him and come back. Don’t try anything else. Or wander. Or meddle.” He huffs out a quick breath and finishes. “Just… just, please don’t try to save who you can’t. Promise me?”
    “I promise,” I say, although I’m not sure how much I actually mean it.

 
     
    AFTER GAVIN AND CASSIE CLEAR the library, Weldon grabs the decanter and a glass, plopping down in an oversized chair in front of a window. A light morning rain has started up, pelting against the glass in a melodic rhythm, spreading its soothing dreariness around the room.
    Jezi runs her hand through her glossy, chocolate-brown hair, and then pushes off her legs to stand. “As always, it was a pleasure debating with you all. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to grab a few of the ingredients to get the spell started for locating Faye’s Grimoire.” She looks over at Jaxen. “Point me in your Witch’s cupboard direction?”
    Jaxen looks over at me, and then back at her. “Sure.” He puts his arm over my shoulder, and then guides us out of the library and into the mudroom off to the right of the house. In it is a large Witch’s cupboard that holds more dried herbs, books, candles, and jarred items than I think I’ve ever seen before. Some of the jars are scattered across the tabletop, with the lids next to them rather than on top of them. A mortar is stained green on the inside with the pestle laying beside it, still coated in whatever was being crushed up.
    There isn’t a speck of dust. Not an inch of film to say this house has been sitting here dormant for years.
    Because it hasn’t been.
    Jaxen sifts through one of the open doors on the beat-up, worn-down cupboard. Jezi pillages through the open jars, sniffing and tasting what was left behind. The air has the familiar earthy scent of magic in it and, for a moment, I almost feel like I’m