Chapter 10

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I spun in my seat prepared to strike out only to breathe a sigh of relief when I realized it was Elijah that had opened the door. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and tried to calm my racing heart. "That was not funny."

"I wasn't attempting to be," he assured me, though his lips twitched in amusement. "Niklaus wishes for you to join us."

I climbed out of the car and let Elijah take my hand to lead me into the house. The closer we came to the massive building, the more power swamped me. If I could access my own magic, there would be a lot of temptation here to draw more power than I was capable of using safely. I wondered briefly if this was where Bonnie got the excess power she'd been hoarding before I took it from her. Not that it really mattered.

As we stepped inside, I stopped in the entry way and sucked in a breath. Whispers buzzed around me and I closed my eyes in an attempt to filter through them. Why are they here? Make them leave. Take the still ones with them.

I frowned. There were a lot of voices here and they were unhappy. "We mean you no harm. We have not come to disturb you, only to reclaim that which was taken from us."

Take it then and leave. No. No. No. She can stay but they must leave.

"Cassie?"

I opened my eyes to find Elijah studying me.

"Are you all right?" he asked with a frown.

I nodded once. "Yeah, there are a lot of unhappy witches here. Wasn't Maddox affected?"

"Not that he mentioned. Come." He grasped my hand more tightly in his and led me through the house, carefully avoiding areas that might trip me up. I was so busy watching my feet that I didn't realize we'd found the others until Nik called my name.

I glanced up quickly to find him smiling at me as he stood beside a pair of coffins. Elijah released my hand and I went to stand beside the hybrid immediately wrapping my arm around his waist and pressing myself against his side. The whispers started again in earnest and I cringed. My eyes found Maddox. "Can't you hear them?"

His eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "Hear who? I can feel the power and the agitation, but I don't hear anyone."

My gaze shifted to Nik. "We need to get out of here. They aren't happy that you're here."

He didn't ask any questions. Instead he simply nodded and pulled out his phone to issue instructions. When he'd finished, he turned his full attention on me. "One of the coffins is missing. Do you think you could help Maddox locate it?"

"I can certainly help him find a spell, but I can tell you right now that it depends a great deal on the witches that died here and whether they wish you to find it or not. Right now, I'm leaning toward not."

Nik growled in irritation and my eyes darted between the two coffins. "Who's in the third coffin?"

"What, love?"

"The third coffin. Rebekah is undaggered and at the boarding house with Stefan. Elijah is here. That leaves Finn and Kol. So, who's in the third coffin?"

"I'm ashamed to say that didn't even occur to me," Elijah said. And now there were two of us scowling at the hybrid waiting for answers.

Nik shook his head once. "Not here. Too many ears, even if they are dead. Come."

***

It didn't take us long to find our way back to the car. Nik refused to speak while we were still on the property and he wouldn't leave until his hybrids arrived with the truck. We sat in silence and watched as they loaded the other two brothers onto the truck. Once Maddox joined them in the cab, they pulled away. Elijah started the car and followed them off the property before pulling over on the side of the road before we'd even gone half a mile.

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