I don't know how far I walked. The miles stretched on and on as I limped my way slowly along. Every time I saw headlights or heard the roar of an engine, I ducked behind the corner of a building or dove behind the closest telephone pole. I didn't know if the men were still out there searching for me.

Somehow, I found my bearings and eventually made it back to the magic shop. When I got there, I saw that the door had been smashed in. I made my way cautiously inside. The place was a mess. Every piece of glass in the room was broken. Items once neatly stacked on shelves now covered the floor. Ripped books lay piled all around.

It must've taken a brutal streak of violence to tear the place up like this. As I stood in the middle of the wreckage, my thoughts turned to Luke. Please, Goddess, let him be okay, let him be here, please, let him be alive. I prayed under my breath as I took the stairs two at a time.

I rushed into the main room, and there he was, sitting in a chair, with his head laid against his folded arms.

I was so happy to see him that I cried out his name. "Luke!"

He looked up and leaped out of the chair. We came together, our bodies slamming into a hard embrace that made me gasp in pain.

"You're alive," I whispered.

He tightened his grip. "So are you."

We stayed like that, entwined in each other's arms, until he slowly pulled back and asked, "Where's Darla?

"I don't know—" My voice broke. "They still have her."

He pulled me into his arms again. "How did you get away?"

"I jumped from the car."

He took a step back and looked me over. "Are you hurt?"

I held out my arms and turned them over, "I've got some cuts and bruises, and I twisted my ankle, but I'm alright. Are you okay?"

"The railing stopped me from going over into the alley. I hit my head." He reached up, touched the side of his head, and winced. "I must have been unconscious for a while. When I woke up, it was dark, and you were both gone." His voice was full of anguish now. "I didn't know where to start looking. I know people hate our kind, but I never imagined they would raid the house and try to kill us."

I had to clear my throat a few times before I could get the words out. "Those men weren't after you. They were after me."

"You recognized them?"

I had recognized two of the men. I was so full of guilt; I couldn't look at him. I was the reason he'd almost died and why Darla was now in danger. "I'm so sorry. I should never have come here," I whispered.

He came up behind me and rested a hand on my shoulder. "We need to find Darla."

I spun around. "Your family can help us find her and bring her back."

"My guild, my family, everyone, they're all on the retreat. They're up in the mountains. It's remote and cell phones don't work up there. Darla and I were the only ones who stayed back to watch the store. There's no one to help."

"But you said your uncle would be gone for weeks. Does that mean no one will be back for weeks?" Panic filled my voice.

He nodded his head. "Darla's not dead. I'd know if she—" He stopped and took a deep breath.

"How do we find her?" I whispered.

"We don't. You do," he answered.

I looked at him in shock. "I don't understand."

He had such an odd look in his eyes when he said, "Your family was murdered by these people."

I just looked at him, still not understanding.

"Maybe your family went into the light or maybe their spirits still linger," Luke said, watching me closely. "If they are still here, they might be able to tell us something about the men that killed them. Something that can help us find Darla."

"Still linger..." And then it dawned on me what he was talking about. He was saying my family might be spirits trapped on this plane. Souls trapped in between. My blood chilled as one thought rang through my head—death dealers can control spirits.

"Can you call on my family's spirits?" Even as I asked the question, I knew I didn't want to hear his answer. I knew he could conjure the dead. If my family was "between"—their spirits in an eternal state of unrest—would they be like one of Luke's banshees? I didn't know if I could stomach seeing Mama's face filled with that level of pain and anguish, I'd seen on those terrifying banshees faces that Luke had raised.

"If they were going to contact me, they would have when you first showed up. Spirits decide who they visit. They didn't come to me, but I'm betting they'll come to you."

"You want me to call on my family's spirits?" My voice trembled.

"Yes, but to do so..." He looked hesitant for a moment before straightening his shoulders and continuing, "You'd have to become one of us."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "You said you wouldn't teach me."

"There's no choice now." He turned and started pacing. "I don't want to do it. You don't understand how hard it's going to be. For you to become one of us... I don't know what'll happen if we do it this way. But these people killed your family. They have Darla."

He's going to teach me. I was going to get what I wanted. I should have felt triumph, but instead I only felt fear and a sinking feeling that, maybe even now, it was too late to save his sister.

He grabbed my arm. "We need to find somewhere safe to go. It'll be light in a couple hours. We can do it tomorrow at the witching hour—we can perform the first ritual."

"How many rituals are there?" Darla's words came back to me. Whatever these rituals were, they weren't going to be easy. They were something she was afraid of.

There was an intensity in his eyes I'd never seen before when he answered, "Three. Normally candidates perform the rituals over a full year, sometimes longer. People learn to wield their power slowly, gradually building up until they're in true possession of their gifts, but we don't have that kind of time." His grip tightened on my arm. "We can do the rituals over the next three nights. It's crazy, and as far as I know, it's never been done, but we don't have a choice."

"And if they hurt Darla before I finish the rituals?" I was suddenly afraid to hear his answer.

"I looked up your family's death on the internet."

I gave him a hard stare, confused about the change of topic, and quickly put two and two together. While we were making dinner preparations, he'd been surfing the net, looking for more info about my family. Didn't he believe me when I told him what happened?

He waited for me to say something, but when I stayed silent, he continued. "It wasn't hard to find. Mass murder makes headlines. But those men, the ones who attacked us today, when I fought them, I could tell that most of them were just minor mages. They had some power, but it wasn't strong enough to overtake me. Anyone can learn magic, but the most powerful mages are from the clans or the guilds. Most of these guys were too weak for that, but one of them, his power was like mine."

I gasped. "He was a death dealer?"

Luke turned his face away. "He was, but stronger than anyone I've ever seen. To be that strong, he has to have been doing things—certain rituals—that are hundreds of years old. Things that are no longer done. Things my people now condemn. Listen, it probably didn't mean anything to you at the time, but they killed your family on the night of a full moon. The timing of the murders, I think it was a sacrifice."

I could feel the blood draining from my face. A cold seeped into my body and chilled me to the very bone. "A sacrifice..."

"A human sacrifice. They slashed your father's throat, right? It was most likely with a knife specially prepared for the ritual. Some of the stronger dark magics need a blood sacrifice to power them. The more powerful the sacrifice, the more powerful the spell. That might explain why they're hunting strong mages, like your family. Maybe they're trying to create a powerful dark forbidden spell."

My father was a human sacrifice. I was horrified at Luke's explanation. I stood staring at him, speechless.

"If they are grabbing people to sacrifice, if that's why they took my sister..." his voice choked up. His expression was now one full of anguish. "If they plan on hurting Darla, plan on using her, it's not the right time to perform any ritual. There are six days until the next dark moon. Power can be drawn during a full moon, but even more power comes with a dark moon." He reached out and grabbed me by the shoulders. The expression in his eyes was one of desperation. "Colina, we have time to save her, but I can't do this alone. I wasn't strong enough on my own. You saw what happened. If you become one of us, you may be able to help pull some of the focus from me when we find her, so I can try and work more powerful spells. We may be able to hold our own long enough to free Darla even if you aren't at full strength. With your help, we might have a chance."

I looked around at the wreckage. Furniture had been overturned and smashed and there were burn marks on the floor and rug. "Do we perform the rituals here?"

"No. They might come back here. We need to leave and go somewhere safe. Somewhere we can rest and get ready for tomorrow night." He reached out and grabbed me, hugging me tight again. "Darla will be okay. We'll get her back. Everything will be okay."

I wanted to believe it, I really did, but in the depths of my soul, I didn't.