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Driving faster than I probably should, it hits me hard that Nat is going to be in big trouble if she just tries to pretend none of this is happening. She doesn’t want to know about Becca or those papers I found in Hadley’s room, she doesn’t want to see or hear anything that will interfere with her belief that she can just put all of this stuff behind her.

As far as Nat is concerned, she has Raine’s necklace and that’s all there is to it.

But I know that’s not true. I know they’re going to keep coming after Natalia, and they won’t stop until she kills them or they kill her.

My hands are sweating on the steering wheel. I need to do something, I need to find a way to help Nat—to protect her—even if she doesn’t want me to anymore.

And then it hits me. I know what I need to do.

A few minutes later, I’m parking in front of Brody’s house. It feels strange because I used to come here a lot when Brody and I were getting along. But then we got competitive about football, and then Natalia transferred to Santa Anna.

Funny how things change.

I walk to the door and knock a few times.

A moment later, Brody’s mom answers the door. At first when she sees me, it’s like she doesn’t even recognize me. I think maybe Kaci and Brody have trashed me and she’s going to tell me to get the hell off their property.

But then her expression transforms into one of pure joy. “Oh my goodness!

Campbell Elliot!”

She moves aside and lets me in, then gives me a big hug. I can hear voices in the other room. “Sorry for just showing up unannounced, Mrs. Martin,” I say guiltily.

“Not at all!” she says. “In fact, your timing couldn’t be better. We just sat down to dinner a few minutes ago and there’s plenty of food to go around.”

“Oh, no. That’s okay. I actually just wanted to have a quick word with Brody.”

The thought of sitting at the table with Brody’s family makes my stomach turn.

“Campbell,” she says, pretending to be a little angry with me. “Don’t insult my hospitality. You’re going to eat or I’m going to be very, very offended.”

I sigh. Shit, this is going to get awkward. All I can hope is that Kaci is out somewhere. I haven’t heard her voice, so maybe—

And then I hear Kaci asking someone to pass the peas.

She’s here, too.

“Sounds great,” I say, putting on my best fake smile. “What’s for dinner?”

“Steak, mashed potatoes, peas, corn, rolls, and plenty of salad.”

“My favorite foods all in one place.”

She leads me into the dining room, where Brody, Kaci, and Mr. Martin are sitting and eating. Kaci and Brody stare at us like they can’t believe what they’re seeing.

Brody’s dad, a big guy with gray hair and wire-rimmed glasses, jumps up and holds out his huge hand. “Campbell Elliot, you rascal!”

I shake his hand as he pumps my arm ferociously.

“Hey, Mr. Martin,” I say.

Brody’s dad gives me a hard pat on the back. “You look like you’ve put on some muscle.” He turns to Brody. “Doesn’t this guy look like he’s put on some muscle?”

Brody doesn’t answer, just stares down at his plate and moves his mashed potatoes around.

Mr. Martin doesn’t seem to notice. “Where’ve you been, Campbell?”

“I—uh—well you know…school’s getting busy and football…”

“Sit down, sit down,” Mr. Martin says. Brody’s mom sets a plate in front of me and Brody’s dad slaps a big piece of steak down onto it.

Now I’m sitting across from Kaci and Brody.

Kaci’s eyes narrow slightly as she watches me. “Why didn’t you text someone to let us know you were coming by?”

“Brody used to tell me I could drop in anytime,” I tell Kaci, “and I happened to be in the neighborhood.”

“Really?” Brody says. His hand is frozen in place, holding a fork that’s spearing a piece of steak. He’s hardly moved since I came in to the room.

“Yeah,” I say. “Really.” I take a bite of mashed potatoes. “Delicious, Mrs.

Martin. Your cooking is the best—just don’t tell my mom I said that.”

Mrs. Martin blushes a little and thanks me. Brody and Kaci can hardly contain their disgust, but their parents seem merrily oblivious to the tension between me and their children.

We spend the next few minutes talking about school in a generic way: football, which teachers are tough, which ones are nice. It’s like a play or something, and I get so lost in my performance that for a moment I almost believe we’re all still friends and nothing weird is happening in Santa Anna.

As dinner winds down, Kaci suddenly stands up. “I’m going to Vicki’s,” she announces. “I’ll be back in like an hour.”

Brody gives her a sidelong glance but doesn’t comment.

I’m a little surprised. I figured there’d be no way Kaci would let me have any alone time with Brody.

Mrs. Martin sighs. “I really wish you’d tell me these things in advance, Kaci.

We’ve discussed this before.”

“I’m sorry,” Kaci says. “I swear, I won’t even be that long. A couple hours at the most.”

Mr. Martin shakes his head. “Just let her go already.” He slaps another helping of potatoes onto my plate. “Growing boy like you needs fuel!” he announces.

“Fine, Kaci,” her mother says wearily. “Fine. Go. Go.” She mumbles something about kids these days not realizing the importance of family time.

Kaci smiles sweetly, kisses her parents on the cheek, and then flits out of the room.

Mrs. Martin begins clearing the table.

“Let us handle this, mom,” Brody says.

“Really?” She seems surprised. Figures. Brody probably never offers to help around the house. He’s probably always making his mom do all the work while he spends his time plotting ways to steal my girlfriend.

“Yeah,” Brody says. “You and dad go watch some TV or something. We got this.”

“Definitely,” I say, standing up and taking the plates out of Mrs. Martin’s hands.

“You made dinner, the least we can do is clean up.”

Mr. Martin pats my shoulder. “You need to stop being such a stranger, Campbell.”

The parents leave and the television goes on in the other room.

Brody stands up and begins clearing plates. “Don’t just stand there. Help me out.”

I grab some more plates and we carry them into the kitchen. “You know I didn’t come here to pig out and do dishes,” I say.

He runs hot water into the sink and pours some soap in. The water begins to rise and bubble. “I’m not an idiot, Cam.”

I wait for him to ask me what I’m doing there, but he doesn’t. After a few minutes, I can’t take it anymore.

“I want you to come clean with me,” I say.

He turns from the sink and looks me in the eye. “No pun intended?” he asks, flicking suds from his hand. Then he takes a plate and dips it into the water, grabs a sponge and begins cleaning. “You dry,” he commands.

I grab a dishtowel and next thing I know, he’s handing me the wet plates and silverware and I’m drying them.

“Natalia told me that you’ve been helping her,” I say eventually.

Brody passes me a small pot. “So?”

“So, she says that you’re supposed to be neutral, but you stuck your neck out to help her. At least, you somehow convinced her that’s what you did.”

He shakes his head and throws the sponge onto the counter, folds his arms. “Why should I have this conversation with you, Cam? I don’t owe you anything.”

I stare right back at him. “I never said you did. But I’m not going to let you play Natalia.”

“I’m not playing her. What the hell do you know about it?”

“I know you’re full of shit.”

His jaw flexes. “Keep talking like that and see what happens.”

“She’s scared and she’s in trouble,” I tell him, inching closer but keeping my voice down so his parents don’t hear any of this. “And you’re taking advantage of her.”

Brody snorts. “I’m taking advantage of her? Is that what I was doing when Nat and I caught you hooking up with my sister?”

Anger flares inside of me. How dare he bring that up? It has nothing to do with him. I want to reach out and punch him in his face, but I force myself to keep it together.

“You’re not really helping Nat,” I tell him, deciding to ignore his comment. “You might be able to fool her, but you can’t fool me. You always have an angle, Brody.”

Finally a flicker of worry crosses his face and I know I’ve gotten to him. “You’re in over your head, Cam,” he says. “Way, way over. You should just lie low and hope to God things work out better for you then they did for the last…” And then he catches himself and stops talking.

“The past becomes the present, right Brody?” I say, quoting the line from the papers I found in Hadley’s room.

His expression morphs into something resembling fear. “Where did you hear that?”

From the living room comes the sound of canned laughter from the TV, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Martin’s hearty, clueless guffaws.

I shrug. “I’m not as stupid as you think I am, Brody. And you’re not half as smart as you think you are.”

His expression darkens. “You ever heard that saying, ‘a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing?’ Well, that was meant for guys like you.” He points a finger at my chest. “You have no idea what I’m dealing with. You don’t even know who you are.”

“Leonid, of course.”

His jaw twitches and his eyes widen temporarily. But Brody is a master of controlling his expression. “Who told you that, Cam?”

I smile slowly. Obviously I don’t know what that phrase meant or who Leonid is, but I was hoping that saying these things in front of Brody might help me get some answers. And it’s working.

“Cam, you need to answer me,” he says. He crosses his arms over his chest.

“This is serious.”

I grin. “I don’t see what the big deal is. After all, I don’t know anything, right, Brody? What are you getting so worked up for?”

Suddenly he grabs me by the shirt and throws me against the wall. His face presses into mine. “I’m not going to let you destroy everything I’ve worked for, Campbell. I’ll fucking kill you first.”

I close my eyes and focus on that place I found just a little while ago, the place I discovered when Reed was about to kill me, the place that contains the source of my power. I can still feel it. Not as strongly as before, but there’s something there. I open my eyes and grab Brody’s hands, pulling them from my shirt and squeezing.

His face contorts into a grimace. “Shit,” he says. “Cam, what the fuck? Stop.

You’re—you’re going to break my fingers.”

I let go. “Don’t touch me again, Brody.”

He slowly massages his wounded fingers. “Jesus Christ,” he says, looking at me in awe. “You do know.”

“Some of it. But I want you to tell me more.”

He takes a step back, and his whole body shifts. His shoulders slump. “I don’t know where to start,” he says, running his hands through his hair. “And I can’t…there are some things I still won’t be able to tell you.”

“Is this war really going to happen?” I ask. “Is it unavoidable?”

He averts his gaze from mine, then leans back against the counter. “I don’t know the answer to that.” He shakes his head. “I can’t see the future. My job is to try to keep the peace and create balance. If I succeed, then everything continues. If I fail, the whole world could be destroyed.”

“I can help you stop the war,” I say.

“How?” He looks at me, suspicion in his eyes.

“I want to broker a peace treaty,” I say. “That’s why I came here today.”

He smiles ruefully. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” he says, “Reed and Derek have no interest in peace.”

I consider this for a moment. I’m not sure why he just mentioned Derek’s name with Reed’s. But I don’t want Brody to know that, so I just say, “What would I need to do to convince them?”

“You’d need to give them both what they want,” Brody says, “which is absolute power. And you can’t give them that.”

“I think I might be able to handle Reed,” I tell him. “But can you help me with Derek?”

He sighs. “It’s not my place.”

I still don’t even know why Derek is so important, but how hard can it be?

“You can try, can’t you?” I ask Brody. “Besides, Derek can’t be so hard to please. The guy is a complete imbecile.”

Brody snorts. “He’s the head of one of the most powerful clans in the world and you think he’s an imbecile? Typical, Cam.”

I try not to let the shock of what Brody’s just told me show on my face. Instead I just nod and smile, taking a second to gather my thoughts. This whole entire time I didn’t even see it. Derek was manipulating everything from the sidelines. He’s the head of the other group of witches—Derek is in charge of Raine, The Triad, all of them.

Although I don’t know why I’m so shocked – as crazy as the whole thing sounds, it’s no crazier than Becca having been raised from the dead or me being related to some guy named Leonid.

I take a deep breath, knowing what I need to do. I turn to Brody. “I need to meet with Derek today,” I say. “Right now. Will you help me?”

LOOK FOR THE WITCHES OF SANTA ANNA,

BOOK TWENTY, COMING SOON…

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four