Flamebound by Tessa Adams Page B

longer before I know if Declan is okay.
    â€œThen I got nothing.”
    â€œNeither do I.”
    Just then, my phone pings. I glance at it, and nearly melt into a puddle of relief when I realize that Declan is the one texting me.
    Sorry. Had something to take care of. On your front porch. Come let me in.
    Something to take care of? Could he get a little more vague? Suddenly, I’m beyond annoyed. I’ve been to hell and back tonight worrying that something has happened to him and all he’s got to say for himself is “Had something to take care of?”
    Before I can type out an answer, my phone pings again.
    Where are you?
    My eyes narrow. The man is in serious need of a lesson, but now is not the time or place for me to give it to him. Especially since the compulsion’s getting worse, the electricity zigging and zagging through me in an effort to hurry me up. Too bad it can’t clue me in, because I have no idea where to go from here.
    I text Declan back quickly, telling him where I am, and then I head over to the ornately carved bench Lily is standing beside.
    The closer I get, the more the pain eases off, thank the goddess. “Did you find something?” I ask.
    â€œNo,” she says with a shake of her head. “But I just remembered something I heard in a class once. I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time, figured it was just a wild-goose chase.”
    A sliver of unease works its way down my spine. “What is it?”
    â€œYou know how nobody knows where the ACW’s headquarters is?”
    The sliver becomes an avalanche. “Yeah?”
    â€œThere are a few main theories, right? Alexandria, Cairo, Paris—”
    â€œSo what? What does that have to do with this?” I know I sound impatient, but the compulsion hurts. I just want to find this body, call Nate and let him deal with it.
    â€œWell, my professor said that some people think the ACW’s headquarters is in Austin.”
    â€œYeah, and some people think it’s on the moon. But we all know it’s in the Egyptian desert somewhere, probably close to Luxor.”
    â€œWell, what if that’s just what they want us to believe? My professor said that the Council moved to Texas over a hundred years ago, when the whole witch-hunt thing started to heat up over there.”
    â€œI didn’t realize they had.” I can’t help looking at her a little askew. Lily’s read a book or taken a class on just about everything at least once, which is one of the reasons I usually pay close attention to what she’s saying. But this doesn’t make any sense. The Egyptians, while definitely monotheistic now, have a deep and abiding pride in their heritage. I can’t imagine that changing if they found a few practitioners of Heka.
    Lily shrugs. “Me neither, but supposedly there was a rash of killings a number of years ago that sent the whole Hekan community scrambling for cover. The perpetrators were eventually found, and condemned to death, but by then a lot of the witches and wizards had gone underground.”
    â€œUnderground,” I repeat. “Not moved to
Texas
.”
    She holds up her hands. “I’m just telling you what I heard—that the ACW moved their headquarters to Austin and hid it somewhere downtown.”
    â€œDowntown. As in the Capitol grounds downtown?”
    â€œYou’re the one who brought us to this little patch of grass. You tell me.”
    â€œThat’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” I throw my arms up in defeat. “But if you think you can find it, who am I to stop you?”
    â€œI didn’t say I could find it. Just that it might be here.” Still, she squats down, starts poking around. “What do you think an entrance to the ACW’s headquarters might look like?”
    I have no idea. But if Lily’s right, we need to find it soon. Before I end up electrocuted by all this damn