“Maybe I don’t want to join  anymore.”

“Strange. You were so eager last week when  I promised to give you the name of the man that could help your  brother.”

“That was then.”

I move closer and peer around the edge of  the doorway to see them inside. James’s back is to the door and he stands  shirtless before Kara and five men dressed in black robes. The room is dark,  lit only by candles and torches set into the stone walls. There’s a pit  filled with smoldering ash in the center of the room. Chains and manacles  are attached to the walls.

It looks chillingly like a dungeon.

“We helped you.” Kara gives him one of her  special smiles, the one that’s made many men over the years lose their coins  into her purse. “And now you will help us.”

“Not sure about that, Mother.”

She grimaces. “I’ve asked you not to call  me that.”

“Sorry, keep forgetting. Don’t want these  nice men to know you’re ancient enough to have a son my age, do you?”

She nods at another man, her expression  impassive. “He’s going to be a problem.”

“What should I do?”

“Whatever you feel you must to gain  control over this situation.”

He draws out a long metal bar from under  his robes. James doesn’t even see it coming as he’s struck in the back of  the head. He falls to the ground unconscious and bleeding.

I don’t hesitate before racing into the  room.

“What are you doing?” I demand.

Kara looks at me with shock, which shifts  swiftly to disappointment. “Adam, you shouldn’t be here.”

“Why did you knock him out? You told me he  wasn’t even here and now you do this to him?”

“He agreed to be a part of this.”

“Sounded like he changed his mind.”

“It was stupid to render the boy  unconscious,” another man in robes says through clenched teeth. “The vessel  needs to be conscious. It has already begun. There’s no stopping it  now.”

The ashes in the pit begin to swirl as if  touched by an unseen wind and the room grows colder until I can see my  breath freeze before me with each exhale. I crouch over James, a fierce need  to protect him from these strangers—even Kara, whom I’ve never totally  trusted but never considered a true threat.

“Oh, Adam,” she says, shaking her head.  “You don’t know what you’ve interrupted here.”

“Some sick ritual to help you get revenge  over Thomas Kraven?”

“Him and many others.”

“Is that all that matters to you? Revenge,  power, money?”

She looks at me as if confused. “Yes, of  course. It’s what I want, what I’ve been working for all these years. Why I  had two children—one to sacrifice to the darkness when the time came. It was  never supposed to be you, my darling. James’s soul is already spoken  for.”

Three years ago she admitted to selling  James’s soul to give her access to black magic. I’d assumed she was drunk  and hadn’t taken a word she said seriously. But James had gone very  quiet.

He believed. He’s always been the one to  believe in Heaven and Hell. Every time we dug up a body for Kara, he’d pray  to be absolved of his sins afterward. He didn’t think I heard him, but I  did.

The idea that his mother had sold his soul  for her own gain had hit him hard even when I tried convincing him it was  all lies. He’d barely spoken to her since, even when I tried to convince him  she’d been lying.

“Do it,” Kara now says quietly.

Two of the men grab me, their grips so  tight I can’t break free. Another man cuts open my shirt with a dagger, then  dips his finger into a bowl of thick red liquid and begins to trace symbols  on my chest. It’s blood. He’s drawing on me with blood.

My stomach clenches with fear and  disgust.

“What are these symbols? What are you  doing to me?”

Kara nods. “It’s right that it’s you. This  is a true sacrifice. They will see that and they will reward me.”

“Kara!”

“You should have minded your own business.  Your brother didn’t need your help. You think you’ve saved him?” She pats my  cheek hard enough to hurt. “There’s no saving him. His soul belongs to  Hell.”

“You’re such a bitch.”

“Only because life presented me with no  other options, my darling.” She looks over her shoulder at the swirling  ashes. “It’s here.”

The two words turn my blood to ice.

The ashes begin to rise up from the pit.  The air is so cold it’s like it’s suddenly the dead of winter despite it  being midsummer.

They wanted to do this to James. Whatever  this is.

I can’t move. All I can do is stare at the  ashes as they draw closer to me, forming a line like a rope that slithers  around my wrists, my waist, my throat. It’s choking me. It’s killing  me...

But as quickly as it starts, it’s all  over.

I fall to my knees, reaching out to grab  James’s arm, hoping to shake him awake so we can get out of here. I’ve  survived whatever the hell that was and I’ll be damned if I’ll let anyone  hurt my brother. He’s always been there for me and I’d give my own life to  save his.