Page 63 of Spring L.A.W.
Victoria nodded grimly from the corner. “We need to move. If it already found Rayna’s brownstone, it won’t stop there. We have to go back to Long Island. We need the vaults, the records, the big guns.”
Joell grabbed her notebook. “Agreed. Vacation is over. We can perform a tactical relocation, so we get this bastard. But we’re not going in half-cocked. I want every symbol from that ritual documented and cross-referenced. Sahara, you’re on translation. Katie, stick with Eli. Rayna?—”
“I’ll brief Payne,” Rayna said, already tapping her phone. “Tell him to prep for a counteroffensive.”
Bubbles burped more sparkles. “And snacks!” he said. “Counteroffensives require snacks.”
The mansion didn't waitfor instructions. Shutters snapped shut on their own. Chandeliers blinked out. Somewhere, a broom clattered to the ground like a mic drop.
As soon as Rayna hitsendon her text to Payne, the floors gave a seismic groan. Books put themselves away, and a golden light held them in place.
“I guess our mansion got the memo,” Brianna muttered, steadying herself as the entire house began to rumble beneath their feet.
The trees swayed away, unnaturally. Leaves floated upward instead of falling. Magic crackled through the air like static before a storm.
“Everybody brace,” Joell called. “She’s not used to being disturbed mid-vacation.”
The L.A.W. mansion, cloaked and sentient, began to dislodge from the Tennessee hillside with a guttural creak that defied physics and civil zoning laws. Earth fell away. Roots released with reluctant snaps. In the distance, a rooster screamed bloody murder. Of course, it would sound like that anyway.
As the foundation groaned, Sahara swept her notes off the table and crammed them into her satchel. “I still need to run a comparative glyph study against the Abu Simbel fragments.”
“You’ll do it on the ride,” Joell said, already snapping out orders. “Crystal, double-check our cloaking. Victoria, check the altar room for anything unstable. Lioness?—”
“On my way to the kitchen,” she said, holding up a roll of bubble wrap and a bottle of something red.
Rayna stayed rooted by the window, phone still in hand. She watched the sky, waiting for the reply she already knew was coming.
Payne didn’t text often. When he did, the words came short and sharp. She reviewed his last one.
It wore your face. Not you. Didn’t flinch. We’re fine. Come home. Bring the fire.
Rayna exhaled slowly. The mimic had tried to use her image to throw him off balance, and it hadn’t worked. She wasn’t sure if that made her feel proud or weirdly hurt.
The mansion tore free of its anchor point with a jolt and shimmered out of the visible spectrum, becoming nothing but a gust of wind over the mountains. Below them, the earth sealed up like a zipper.
Inside, the witches stumbled into motion.
Katie hung back with Eli in the central hallway, bracing and holding hands. Rayna joined them.
“So, this is what a tactical relocation looks like?” Eli asked Rayna.
Rayna nodded. “Yeah. Only slightly less chaotic than my family’s holiday dinners.”
His gaze landed on the new symbol on his arm. “Do you think it’s awake now?”
Bubbles floated between them, humming something off-key and off-tempo. “I think it’s awake now…” the goldfish sang to the tune of a 70’s song.
Eli’s throat bobbed. “Please don’t let it find me.”
Moments later, the mansion reappeared, settled into its original foundations on Long Island like it had never left. The wards flared green, then settled into their usual shimmer of latent protection runes and death threats.
Joell wasted no time. “We regroup in the war room in twenty,” she announced. “I want all references to planar crossings, mimic behaviors, and predatory lunar phenomena. If it tried to measure us, we’ll measure it back, harder.”
Lioness stopped in her tracks. “Predatorylunarphenomena?”
Rayna turned, eyes narrowing. “You think this thing’s tied to the moon?”
Sahara reappeared, now dragging a canvas case of scrolls and digital tablets. “It’s possible. Katie’s dreams spike during full moons. The graffiti appears overnight. And one of the scrolls from the Ostara sequence mentioned an entity that could only pass through when the moon was ‘most reflective.’”
