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Jane reached over fro wheel and squeezed her ar about Dylan," she said "But you were right to let hi choice of words Bliss could never truly let Dylan Ward go She thought of what he had done for her: kept her sane, given her the strength she needed to fight her father’s spirit, to stand up to the Dark Prince Her sacrifice had released her link to hione to a better place - but she missed him with an ache that was a physical pain She would never heal froreat as the one you two shared You deserve happiness, my dear, and you will find it," said Jane

Bliss sniffed, blinked back her tears "I’er than you know"

They drove the rest of the way in silence, and an hour later arrived at their destination Jane pulled the rental car up to a police barricade around the remains of the burned-out house in the middle of the street "I think this is it," Jane said It was after ht, and the streets were empty, the heavy cloak of darkness i of their tires on the gravel The night air was bracing cold

They stepped out of the car Bliss clicked on her flashlight and led the way Once they’d reached what reht across whatroom "What do you think?" she asked True to the reports Jane had pulled up for her to read on the drive, only the front door was still standing Otherwise, everything had burned to the ground, to ashes and dust, rubble and debris, covered by a light gray snow "An accident? Arson? Or?"

"Not sure yet," Jane said "Let’s take a closer look around, see if we find anything odd"

Jane had printed a story about the burned house fro that documented supernatural pheno said they had heard terrible screa froed But it was an abandoned ho there - and after the fire had consu, the police had found no human remains, no proof that anyone had even been in the house when it burned

The fire had been written off as an accident - the electric cootten to turn off the power and a utility cable had sparked during a blackout That was all

Maybe the police were right Maybe nothing had happened here Maybe there was nothing to see, nothing here that would lead the at the door that was still standing, that hadn’t burned It was i just the one door She could iine it only if there had been some sort of spell, soed to extinguish, but only in part

She shone her flashlight on the scarred face of the door, and up close she could see faint traces of writing on the burned wood Runes of some kind, perhaps Across the dark lot Jane sneezed fro her nose

An accident, the official reports had concluded Maybe the whole incident had been just a hoax That was another possibility There was no way to know for sure No way to know, unless

Bliss kept her light fixed on the door, sloeeping it down to the ground She pushed soe of her sneaker

There She saw soht directly on it, her heart beating in excitement at the heady rush of discovery

"Aunt Jane!" she called "Here!"

In the middle of the burned wood, half-buried in the ashes, was a black pebble that shone as bright as a glittering diamond Bliss knehat it was immediately The Heart of Stone - it was a remnant of the Black Fire of Hell

Bliss clicked off her flashlight with soht The hounds had been here

Chapter Eight

The former fire chief lived in a tidy house in a pleasant suburb, and as Bliss walked up the driveway she was struck by a feeling of homesickness so deep that she had to stop and catch her breath for a moment The house was just an ordinary one-story horown up in a sprawling, elegant mansion in Houston and then a three-story penthouse in New York, but after traveling and then going on the road, she found so about a home that was so orderly and neatly kept Ho anywhere She no longer had a ho her forear

Bliss sighed as she rang the doorbell, steeling herself for what lay ahead "He knoe’re co," Jane said "He didn’t seem to want to meet with us, but I can be very persuasive when I want to be"

Bliss s before As she rang the doorbell again, Bliss wondered ould happen if she did end up finding the hounds Would they even give her a chance to speak? Would she have to strike a bargain of her own? Why had her et thelove in which evil slips its hand," Jane mur I read on the Internet the other day" Her aunt laughed "A reainst our enemies"

Finally, a friendly older woman in a white apron opened the door "So sorry - ere out back and didn’t hear the bell Come on in"

The former chief of the fire department had retired only a feeeks earlier He was a tall, handsoentleman, deeply suntanned and courteous His wife, the woman who’d let them inside, offered them cookies and tea, led them to a cozy roouys are froer "Writers, they tell htly "But don’t worry; we don’t work for the insurance co a book about spontaneous coreed on: they were researchers, writing a book about fire disasters They hoped that knowing they were in the presence of academics, of writers, would put people at ease and would loosen their tongues Everyone liked feeling important

"We’re here to ask about the fire out in Hunting Valley the other week," Bliss said

He nodded "Yep, that one It was like nothing I’d ever seen We couldn’t put it out - not until every last bit of that place was burned to the ground, except the door, of course When we got there, the walls were still standing but the door was locked from the inside, which happens, but e hit it with the ra ood, but it felt like steel We couldn’t break it We couldn’t get inside at all"

"Can you tell us again how the fire was started?"

"Fro around the house, all at once" He took a bite from a cookie and looked pensive "Talk about spontaneous co them out, and the smoke had a different odor Weird"

"Like what?" Bliss asked

"Pungent and strong, as if hell itself was burning" He frowned

"There were eyewitness reports that they heard screabut you found no survivors?" Bliss asked

He shook his head "None"

"But the howling - " Bliss argued