Free Witch's Diary: A Paranormal Urban Fantasy Tale (Lost Library Book 4) by Kate Baray

pulled a tablet out of her purse as John explained—“and a message with the details, from Margot.”
    “Margot, the psycho killer? Worth’s daughter, the one who set up her dad to be assassinated by you guys? That Margot? What the hell does she have to do with this?” Kenna’s head swam.
    Lizzie cringed. “That’s the twist. Gwen’s being charged, but Margot claims if her terms are met that she’ll intercede with the Coven of Light on Gwen’s behalf. She wants us to persuade the Inter-Pack Policing Cooperative to release all of her dad’s frozen assets to her.”
    “That’s insane. IPPC will never release the money, probably don’t even have access to it any more. They may be the magical, underground, shady version of Interpol, but they’re still cops. They won’t cooperate with a criminal, especially one who’s involved in a struggle for leadership of a criminal organization.” The words left Kenna’s lips before she realized exactly what that meant—no help for her mom. “Shit. Shit. They can’t help, can they?”
    “I’m not sure until I speak with Harrington.”
    Dammit. That was not reassuring. Harrington, Lizzie’s boss and one of the top brass at IPPC, was a self-interested dick.
    “What kind of pull does Margot have with this coven?” Kenna felt her nails biting into her palm and unclenched her fist. “Can Margot do what she says? Can she influence the coven?”
    “The Coven of Light—that’s the name of the coven.” Lizzie shared a quick look with John. “John and I hoped your mom had mentioned them. We don’t know much about the group.”
    John cleared his throat. “But we do know Margot has worked with the Idaho branch of the group. She has contacts in the organization. We just don’t know the specifics: who, how many, or how powerful.”
    “It’s been two days. We’ve barely talked about my training, let alone anything else.” Kenna’s hand hovered briefly over her midsection. “We had other priorities.” Her eyes narrowed. “But if they’re a coven, that means they’re witches, right? Why would other witches have a problem with my mom?”
    “Gwen actively crusades against the Coven of Light. She has some deep-seated political differences with the group, but I’m not sure exactly what they are or the nature of her actions.” John sat down at the kitchen table with Lizzie and Kenna. His voice grim, he said, “It’s enough.”
    Jack cleared his throat. “And if Lycan are any kind of example, being the same magic-user type doesn’t remotely guarantee cooperation.”
    Kenna rubbed her forehead. “Yeah, good point. So what do we know? Where’s the video? The message?”
    Three faces looked back, but no one responded.
    “What? I thought you said Mom was fine.” Panic crept into Kenna’s voice. Geez, all this stress could not be okay for the kid.
    “She is.” Lizzie tapped the screen of her tablet, bringing up the video. “But they tied her up—and you can see she’s been in a fight.”
    An image of Kenna’s mom in her witch clothes—skinny jeans, T-shirt, and black leather jacket—appeared on the screen. She sat in a chair, arms stretched tight behind the chair back and restrained in what had to be a painful position. The bridge of her nose and upper lip looked swollen. High on her right cheek, directly under her eye, a bluish-black color started, fading into purple. Blood had trickled and dried from a split in her lip. Each ankle was tied to a chair leg, spreading her legs apart in a humiliating position.
    Only after Kenna had taken all of that in did she realize someone spoke in the background. “St-stop it.” She cleared her throat. “Start it again.”
    “Kenna.” John pushed a crisply laundered handkerchief next to her clenched fingers. She clung to the edge of the table so hard, she could feel them cramping.
    She looked at him in confusion then blinked. She pried her fingers loose and smacked her palm hard against the table. Tears soaked her