Free Hexbound by Chloe Neill Page A

face. I realized he’d done it on purpose—baited her on purpose—in order to rile her up, to get her ready to face whatever we might find in the tunnels.
    No wonder he was sent in to supervise Katie and Smith. He was good . Sneaky, sure, but good.
    Daniel caught my glance and nodded at me, then pointed at the door. “Get to it, Lily.”
    I got.

6

    There might have been sun outside, but the tunnels were still cold and damp.
    “Do you ever wish you were an Adept in Miami or Tahiti?” I whispered to Scout, zipping up the hoodie I’d pulled over a St. Sophia’s oxford shirt.
    “You mean instead of this moist, cold Midwestern underbelly?”
    I hopped over the other side of the rail to avoid a puddle of rusty liquid. “Something like that, yeah.”
    Since I’d given him an opening, Michael snuck between me and Scout, then slung an arm over my shoulder. “You know, if you’d been in Miami, you wouldn’t have met us.”
    Scout rolled her eyes. “And what a crime that would have been.”
    “Whatever. You know you love me.”
    “I beg to differ, Garcia.”
    He faked a smile, but it was easy to tell he’d been hurt. Stung, he moved back to walk alongside Jason.
    “You’re being kind of growly with Michael,” I whispered to Scout when he was out of hearing range.
    “He’s being kind of annoying.”
    “He’s just being himself.”
    She rolled her shoulders. “I’m sorry. I’m just—I don’t know. Maybe Daniel was right and I’m not ready for this, you know? I mean, I did freak out last time.”
    “Maybe you should tell Michael that. Let him comfort you instead of pushing him away.”
    “No more daytime television for you, missy.”
    “Oh, my God. Did I just give you relationship advice?”
    “Yeppers.”
    “Sorry. Won’t happen again.”
    “I knew you were teachable.”
    I rolled my eyes.
    “Are you guys always this chatty?” asked Detroit. She walked with determination, her arms crossed against the chill.
    “We try to keep it light,” Scout said. “There’s more than enough darkness in the world as it is.”
    “The dark isn’t as dark as you’d think.” We all glanced over at Naya, who was walking with arm extended, the tips of her fingers trailing against the wall.
    “What do you mean?” Scout quietly asked.
    She glanced back at us, her cloud of coffee-colored hair bobbing as she moved. “We aren’t the only ones here, or there, or anywhere. They’re all around us. They live in the gray land—the not-quite world—all around us.”
    I swallowed thickly, goose bumps lifting on my arms as I fought the urge to look around me, scanning the near darkness for shadowy figures.
    “Can you see them?” Scout quietly asked, and Naya shrugged.
    “Sometimes. Mostly, I call to them. Talk to them. It takes a lot of energy to become visible. Sound is easier. Temperature is lots easier.” Suddenly, she stopped, eyes wide. “Have you ever been somewhere dark and quiet, and you felt a cold chill? Like the wind had blown right through your soul?”
    I nodded, eyes wide, like a kid around a spooky camp-fire. I also wondered about that first time—the first time she’d seen them, or heard them, or called them. Can you imagine what it would have been like to learn about the other in the world by hearing, suddenly one day, the living dead?
    I decided learning a weird tattoo and a little electricity was a pretty good way to go.
    Detroit glanced over at Scout. “So Daniel said you were a spellbinder?”
    “Yeah,” Scout said. “Why?”
    “I heard you were a spellcaster. And I thought, wow, big whoop, spellcaster, dime a dozen.”
    “Dime a dozen?” Scout asked. “I thought spellcasters were a myth?”
    “Do you know what a spellcaster is?”
    I lifted a hand. “I actually don’t.”
    Detroit held out her hand. “Okay, so there’re the three I’s, right?”
    “Intent, incantation, incarnation,” I offered up.
    “Right. So it takes intent and incantation to get to the incarnation part.