I wrapped myself around him and buried my face in his neck. His scent and warmth soothed my senses. I listened to his heartbeat.

"Can you spend the night?" I whispered.

"Uh, sure."

I knew what the hesitation meant. "We can open the door."

He chuckled, the sound rumbling through his chest. "Opened or closed, we are in control. We agreed to take things slow. No matter how hard it is for some of us."

I nudged him with my arm. He made it difficult for a girl to stay sane.

"We have a lifetime ahead of us," he added and pressed a kiss on my forehead. "Go to sleep. I'm not going anywhere."

No wonder I was crazy about him. He could be infuriating, but he was immovable and dependable. "I had another vision."

"I figured as much."

"They killed another Seeress," I said.

"They?"

"I don't know who they are. In my vision, their leader kept asking the Seeress to find them. See where they are. I'm not sure who these killers are after, but they're willing to kill Seeresses to find them. She refused to help them and even said something about not betraying her kind. That's when he snapped her neck."

Torin was quiet, his arms tight around me.

"Like yesterday, I don't know if what I saw happened in real time like Ingrid had implied, or if it is a vision of what's going to happen. All I know is these people are killing Seeresses."

"I don't know anyone who would want to kill a Seeress, unless it's another witch. The world's changed and people can practice whatever they like, so this is not another inquisition or Witch trials."

"Did you hear anything about my first vision?"

"No. Like I said, one dead Witch might go unnoticed. Many will send a ripple through the magical world."

Part of me wanted to mention the man who'd sounded like him, but I bit my tongue. I sucked at accents and British people kind of sounded alike. I couldn't tell a British and an Aussie apart, so what did I know?

No, accusing the man I loved of killing Seeresses would be stupid.

When I woke up, Torin's side of the bed was empty. Fingers of light filtered through my window and threw shadows on my bedroom wall. Last night's vision returned to haunt me.

Seeresses were being killed and somehow I was seeing their deaths. What was I supposed to do? Stop their deaths? Identity the killers and find them justice?

I sighed, turned, and something metallic pressed against my back. Torin's family heirloom. It must have slipped off of his neck. Last time I saw it was under his tank top. Before my vision.

I lifted it up with its chain. The snap was on, which meant he'd removed it. I couldn't recall him doing that. Placing it by the table, I reached for my laptop and booted it up. Keeping an eye on the clock, I Googled murders and witches.

Ritual Child Murder... Teen Charged with Ritual Murder... Santa Muerte Ritualistic Killings... Sick bastards. There was nothing about recent deaths of witches or Seeresses.

Closing the laptop, I went to the window and waved when Torin looked up. He tapped his watch. Grabbing a robe, I went through the portal, appeared in his living room and came up behind him. He was once again parading around shirtless. His back was just as fascinating as his front.

He turned and offered me a mug. He studied my face as though a lone zit had taken residence on the tip of my nose. "You don't look too hot."

"Ouch."

A smile tugged the corner of his lips. "Maybe you should skip school today."

"Seriously? I didn't miss school because of the Norns, or when Maliina went psycho, and even when a certain neighbor etched runes on me and scared the beegeebees out of me." He grinned. "And now I should because of a few morbid visions? No way." I sipped my coffee. "Besides, I need to find the Witch at my school and warn her or something."

He stopped in the process of sipping his coffee and cocked his eyebrow. "There's a Witch at school?"

"Yep. I heard someone sing the Seidr song. Remember I asked you if you'd heard it. I talked to Ingrid and she confirmed it."

His expression turned sour like he'd used stale creamer. "Ingrid?"

"Yeah. What's with the expression?"

He shrugged and turned to walk away. I grabbed his pants and pulled. Yikes. I let go.

"You want me to take it off just say so," he threw over his shoulder, smirking.

I rolled my eyes. "If that's an attempt to get out of talking about Ingrid, it's lame." He poured more coffee in his mug. "What's your problem with Ingrid?"

"She knows a lot about witchy stuff." He leaned against the counter and sipped his drink.

"That's because Maliina was a powerful witch. Stop hating on witches." I gripped the string of his sweatpants and tugged teasingly and let go. "See you in a few. Oh, you forgot your family shield pendant thingy in my room."

"No, you claimed it and I decided to let you have it."

I frowned. "Claimed it?"

"Clasped it and wouldn't let go, so I removed it. Take good care of it for me."

It looked old, like something he'd want to lock away. "Thanks. I will. I'll hitch a ride with you today, but tomorrow, I'm taking my car."

"Why?"

"I have a job at the Mirage."

He groaned. "I thought we agreed you'd be too busy."

I laughed. "You stated your case and I disagreed."

"You're so... so..."

"Loveable. I know. Thanks for the coffee." I disappeared through the portal, turned and caught him standing in his living room scowling. He was so cute when he pouted. I wiggled my fingers as the portal closed. I was still grinning when I raced downstairs for breakfast.

Dad was asleep, but I still checked on him and made sure he was breathing. It was a stupid habit, but I did it anyway. Sometimes I could hardly see the rise and fall of his chest. One day he'd open his eyes and catch me holding a mirror to his nose.

Torin was waiting in his garage. "We have two minutes before first bell," he said, raising the garage door.

"Then get us there in one, luv," I said, imitating his British accent.

He chuckled and started the engine. Across the street, Mr. Rutledge waved to us with his newspaper. I wondered if they believed I slept at Torin's whenever we'd leave together without seeing me go to his place first.

We pulled up outside the school at the same time as Blaine's sports car, except he wasn't behind the wheel. Ingrid was. She was laughing at something Blaine said when they stepped out of the car. Andris watched them from the SUV a few feet away. This was an interesting development. The mansion must be full of drama.

"I need to check on something first," Torin said.

"You're not going in?"

"No, but I'll be there before lunch." A quick kiss and he was back on the Harley.

The first bell rang as I entered the building. I took off toward the lockers. I was so going to get a tardy slip. A few slackers were also just arriving and didn't seem worried about making it to class.

I raced upstairs. The hallway was nearly empty, except for two girls giggling over a text message. The second bell rang. Just before I entered the class, I heard the Seidr song again.

The hairs on my arms prickled. The giggling girls entered a classroom at the end of the hallway, leaving me alone in the hallway. I angled my head trying to find the source of the song.

It was beautiful. Haunting. Hypnotic.

I thought someone called out my name, but I was drawn to the song. I followed it to several doors away. The boys' bathroom? The voice didn't sound like a guy's, but then again I could name a few teen heartthrob singers who sounded like girls. I checked left then right, so undecided about my next move. This was an opportunity I didn't want to miss.

Making sure I was alone again, I pushed the door and yelled, "Hey, you in there. Come outside so we can talk." The singing stopped, but the echo hummed and magic charged the air. "Can you hear me?"

No response. Maybe he was shy.

"Listen, I just wanted to warn you that your kind is being killed." Frowning, I let the door swing close, but the singing started again. Getting pissed, I pushed the door and called out, "This is not funny, okay? Just remember what I said. Warn your people."

I waited for a response, but there was none. I hurried to class. Mrs. Bates, my ber strict calculus teacher, stared at me with narrow eyes.

"You know how I feel about tardiness, Miss Cooper," she said. "See me after class."

I should rune her to make her forget. On the other hand, this was my first tardy, so I was safe from detention. Throughout the class, I kept waiting to hear the song again or see a Witch boy walk past my class, but no such luck.

Mrs. Bates' brown eyes were cold as she watched me walk to the front of the class. "You've always been a hard-working, responsible student, Lorraine. I don't want to see that change because you're associating with the wrong crowd."

Seriously? One tardy and I was associating with the wrong crowd? "I have an A in your class, Mrs. Bates."

"This is not about your grades. This is about breaking school rules. You were outside the door when the bell rang, then you left." She studied me from the rim of her rhinestone glasses. "What were you doing outside the boys' bathroom?"

Crap! "I, uh, heard someone crying and I went to make sure he was okay." I gave her a bright Girl Scout smile.

Mrs. Bates' eyes narrowed. "Was he?"

"No. I tried talking to him through the door, but he didn't respond. I even opened the door, but there was no response. I know it's against school policy for girls to enter boys' bathrooms, so I came to class."

"Hmm." That meant she didn't believe me. "One tardy check."

My day basically went downhill from there. It got worse when Torin was a no show during lunch. He wasn't waiting outside my classroom and his Harley was missing in the parking lot. I headed to the cafeteria. Cora was already seated with Kicker and Sonya.

"So you got ditched too," Cora said.

"Yeah," was all I said.

Cora scooped the soup and tipped the spoon. Mystery meat and overcooked veggies dropped in the bowl. "Echo didn't even stop by to tell me he'd be gone."

"Torin always makes us lunch." I pushed the lettuce around my plate.

"Echo usually has the food delivered before I get home."

A giggle came from Kicker, but Sonya elbowed her. They looked at me expectantly. "What?"

"We are living vicariously through you guys," Kicker said. "It's your turn. What does Torin do?"

Oh crap, I couldn't be that girl. The annoying, whiny, clingy girlfriend. I pinched myself. Ouch. I wasn't dreaming. I was actually indulging in self-pity. Total loser-dom.

"Are you guys going for early decision?" I asked, determined not to think about Torin or dying Seeresses.

Kicker and Sonya groaned.

"We don't want to discuss college," Sonya said. "We want to hear about your love lives. Do you two double date often?"

Funny, I hadn't thought of that. Cora wore a look that said the idea never occurred to her either. "We're planning on one this weekend," I fibbed.

She caught on. "Is it Friday night or Saturday?"

"Saturday. I'm working on Friday."

"Working? Where?" Cora asked.

"At our shop. Three days a week. I'm going to learn how they run things." I put a bit of lettuce in my mouth and munched on it. It tasted like crap. I pushed my tray aside.

"So back to your question about college," Cora said, pushing her salad aside. "Have you guys decided on one yet?"

Kicker was planning on attending University of Portland. Sonya's mother was a former Husky, so she was planning to apply to University of Washington. With everything happening in my life, college was the last thing on my mind.

"I haven't decided. You?" I asked Cora.

"I thought about going to Florida, but I might just stay closer to home. Eugene or Portland. As long as I study psychology I'm good."

Kicker wanted to know why Florida. Echo had a house in Florida he used when he wasn't escorting souls to Hel, but that wasn't something Cora would share with these girls.

"Is Echo going with you?" Sonya asked, eying Cora's Druidic ring. Echo had given it to her last month after meeting her parents.

"He'd better. Will Torin go with you to wherever?"

"Yeah." I hoped so. We hadn't discussed college. There were lots of things we hadn't discussed. Part of me was envious of Cora. She had her life together. With Dad's illness and Mom's uncertain future, I was waiting for something else to go wrong.