by Amy Boyles
I nodded. “It feels like we’re touching power. Real raw power, the kind that creates and destroys.”
“You are,” Amelia said, laughing herself past me. “It’s a heck of a ride.”
It sure was. The pace was slow at first, which I was grateful for. Cordelia and Amelia had worked with me all afternoon, making sure I could take off and land. They told me over and over that once you got the right skillet, the rest was easy.
So it was. We glided on air currents of magic over houses that dotted tree lines and hills that I didn’t know existed in Magnolia Cove.
“We’re coming up on Cobweb Forest,” Amelia said. “Cordelia and I always play tag around here. We’ve done it ever since we were kids. Hold tight and go slow. We’ll be back.”
“Are you okay by yourself for a few?” Cordelia said.
I nodded. “I’m fine. This is amazing.”
They jetted off, and I paused, soaking in the glowing moonlight and glancing down into the forest. I understood why they named it how they did.
The full moon cast streaks of light that looked like webs over the trees. A silvery glow bloomed on the leaves. It was gorgeous.
Something black flashed below. We were maybe twenty feet above the tops. The rules were not to go down into the forest. I wasn’t going in there, but I wanted to take a closer look. Cordelia and Amelia were still zigzagging ahead of me.
I eased the skillet down toward the trees.
The black flashed again.
A cold chill ripped through me. Sweetie reared back. She hissed, turned and launched herself at my chest.
Claws ripped my shirt, startling me. I lost my focus, lost my balance. The skillet careened down. I tried to tug it up, pull it back toward the sky, but Sweetie was clawing her way up my shirt to my throat.
The pain ripping up my skin took all my focus as the skillet crashed through the trees. Branched snagged my hair, sliced my clothes.
We were going down, falling into Cobweb Forest. The one place I was told not to go.
And the darn cat was still clinging to me for dear life.
The skillet plowed through a line of dirt. I braced my feet, helping slow our trajectory. We came to a stop inches from a large pine.
I heaved out a breath and unhooked Sweetie from my neck. I wasn’t so sold on the name Sweetie anymore. More like Death Wish. Yeah, I might reconsider her name.
I got her off me. She pushed her fragile body into my chest. The cat shook. Clearly the black thing, whatever it had been, had scared her to death.
That still didn’t give her the right to almost get us killed.
Yes, Death Wish and I would be having a conversation if we ever got out of here.
“Okay, cat,” I said. “Calm down. It’s going to be okay.”
I pulled her off my chest and sat her on the seat. I got off the skillet, brushed my pants and rose. I needed to take a look and make sure nothing was broken on the thing before trying to take off again.
Any crack, any fracture, and I wouldn’t ride it. No one had said anything, but I didn’t know if the magic would hold.
I was running my thumb down the handle when an eerie howl broke the night air. It sounded like a wolf. It was loud, close by.
I shook my head. I knew I’d regret doing it. I just knew I would, but I needed to know what I was up against. I couldn’t simply ride off without seeing.
Of course, there was the black thing to take into consideration, too. The shape we’d seen in the forest that had scared the holy heck out of Sweetie Death Wish.
Yeah, I kinda liked the ring of that.
The howl had come from behind a towering hedge row.
A hedge row? In the middle of a forest?
That didn’t make sense.
I left the cat on the skillet and padded over as quietly as I could. The hedges were thick, full. I walked to one side and saw that another row sprouted up alongside. I followed until I came to another knuckle or corner of hedges. I followed that to another bend.
I realized I was standing in front of a hedge square. In the middle of the forest someone had taken the time and care to plant a barricade made of hedges.
Why?
My heart hammered as I parted the bushes. They were thick, so very thick. Another row of hedges butted up inside the first. I kept on and found another. There were hedges inside of hedges. I pushed on and on. Finding more and more.
Surely they would have to run out.
I caught a sliver of moonlight seeping through the greenery. There it was. An opening.
I pushed through as my foot caught the bottom of the hedge.
I pitched forward, landing splat on top of a clear patch of dirt.
A low growl filled my ears. I glanced up to see a wolf. It was three times as large as a normal dog, with a chest like a wooden drum. Saliva flung from its jaws as it snapped.
I scrambled to a seated position and backed up toward the hedge. The animal’s black silhouette popped in the moonlight. One crunch of those jaws and my bones would shatter. No doubt about that.
My heart pounded. I pressed back into the hedge as the wolf leaped straight at me.
EIGHTEEN
The creature lurched forward, but it couldn’t move. My heart jackhammered; sweat sprinkled my brow. My brain filtered every bit of information as quickly as possible.
Why hadn’t the wolf reached me?
Then I heard it.
Metal scraped against concrete. I squinted and noticed a chain extending from a concrete slab to the animal. A thick steel collar wrapped around its neck, keeping the creature from breaking free.
The wolf snarled and chomped, but the chain held it fast. It couldn’t reach me.
“What in tarnation are you doing here?”
My gaze swiveled over and landed pointedly on Betty.
I stumbled back. “What’s going on? What is that thing?”
The wolf continued to snap and lurch. Betty cocked her head for me to come over. I kept a wide berth, scraping my back along the hedge.
She aimed the shotgun at the animal and said, “That thing is a werewolf.”
My body jerked and trembled. “A werewolf? What do you mean a werewolf? We’re witches. I can accept witches. Hold on. I can mostly accept witches. It’s still a pretty hard concept to grasp, but now you’re saying that’s a werewolf?”
Betty nodded. “Full moon plus werewolf equals death to others, so I guard him every full moon.”
My eyebrow. “Him? Who is it?”
Betty’s jaw snapped shut, reminding me of the creature’s. “I’m not allowed to say. I’m assuming you were on the skillet ride.”
I rubbed my tush. We’d hit the ground hard, and I had a feeling one cheek would be black-and-blue by tomorrow. “I have the calico cat with me. We saw something dark in the forest. It spooked her, and we came crashing down.”
Betty’s gaze raked over me. “You’d better get on out of here. ‘Fore anyone notices you disappeared.”
I nodded meekly and brushed dirt and pride from my sleeves. After pushing back through the hedges, I found both cat and skillet unharmed. I climbed on, and we lifted from the forest, leaving me with more questions than answers.
The next day was business as usual at Familiar Place. I went in, fed the animals and started to get the hang of matching familiars with their witches. I hated to admit it, but it was actually fun.
Don’t tell anyone.
Part of me felt like I was living the best life, this new witch life. If only I didn’t have a murder hanging over me, then things would’ve been perfect.
Sweetie Death Wish still wasn’t talking, though she would curl up in my arms and purr. I figured one thing at a time wasn’t that bad.
I finished my work at the pet shop and did manage to sell Theodora’s granddaughter her very first familiar mouse. I never would’ve thought that’s what the kid would’ve pegged, but a nice brown house mouse ended up being her match.
I had just locked the door for the day
and had popped some of Carmen’s jelly beans in my mouth when a voice caught my attention.
“How’s your car working?”
I glanced up. A tendril of crimson hair drooped in my face. I tucked it behind an ear while catching a glimpse of Axel Reign. It had only been a day since I’d seen him, but the effect he had on me—the tingling, heart knocking in my mouth, heat rising in my cheeks—hadn’t diminished one speck.
I swallowed the knot in my throat along with the jelly beans. “To be honest I haven’t tried it. I’ve been too busy. And now I have a witch skillet and can ride that. So why would I ever need my car again?” I said, laughing.
Axel chuckled. His shoulder-length hair was pulled back into a holder. The waffle-patterned shirt he wore hugged his muscles in all the right bulging places. I licked my lips, and his gaze flickered to my mouth.
Talk about tension.
“I’m glad you’re making it okay,” he said.
I remembered the conversation I’d had with Dean and stepped forward. “I spoke to Dean, Ebenezer’s son, yesterday. He said they still can’t find the will. Do you think it’s in the pawnshop?”
Axel scrubbed knuckles over his cheek. “It might be. Worth checking out.”
I smiled brightly. “Do you still have a key?”
He groaned. “I suppose this is the part where you tell me that since it was your idea, you have to come check out the store with me.”
I nodded enthusiastically. “That’s exactly right. You managed to take the words out of my mouth.”
“I must be psychic.”
“More like in touch with the universe in sort of a new-age-crystals-and-lavender kind of way.”
He laughed again. It was throaty and made my chest constrict. “I’d say I’m just really good at reading people.”
I couldn’t hide the bright smile pushing onto my face. “So that means yes?”
He nodded. “Come on. Before it gets dark and people notice the lights on in the shop. Let’s get it done.”
We walked down the street. He placed a hand to the flat of my back. Intense heat spread over my skin.
My gaze slid to the side. “Are you feverish? You’re really hot.”
He laughed. “No. My temperature’s higher than most folks. Come on, let’s go around back.”
We entered the shop. I unzipped the cat from her carrier and let her sniff around, see if maybe being back in the pawnbroker’s store would get her talking.
“I guess the first place to start is the office?” I said.
“I’ll follow you,” Axel said, nodding.
Axel opened the filing tower and started rummaging through the papers while I took the desk.
We shuffled through paperwork. Mostly that turned out to be receipts, invoices—nothing important. The basic stuff you’d expect to find at any business.
“I went on a moonlight skillet ride last night,” I said. Filling silence with idle chatter tended to be one of my strong suits, and I was proud of it. Man, I could talk to you about the weather all day.
I heard Axel’s fingers drum through the sheets. “Oh? How was that?”
Besides my cousins and maybe Idie Claire, though her friendship was questionable, Axel was the only other person I’d really connected with since I’d been in Magnolia Cove.
I hesitated in telling him—felt my knees quiver. But I still needed to purge to someone besides Betty and her shotgun.
“I fell into Cobweb Forest.”
His fingers stopped dancing over paper. My gaze shot up. Axel leveled his stare on me. His blue eyes darkened, becoming an ocean of anger. “Cobweb Forest is a dangerous place.”
“I know,” I said, turning my attention back to the papers at hand. “It was an accident. Something spooked the cat, and we crashed in the forest.”
He returned to riffling. The sound of sheets shuffling filled my ears. “Are you okay?” he said.
“I am. I was. I saw something; I don’t know what it was. Some black shape. It was almost like the wraith that we saw the night before. Then it got even stranger. When I got inside the forest, I found—this is going to sound crazy—a werewolf. Betty was guarding it.”
Axel’s jaw twitched. I wasn’t sure what that meant. I didn’t know if he knew about the creature. But I reckoned if anyone in town would know, it was him.
“I’ve heard rumors of such a thing,” he murmured. “Should stay out of that place. It’s dark, dangerous.”
“I know. It was an accident. I didn’t mean for it to happen. Magnolia Cove is so strange and wonderful. On one hand I feel like I belong; on the other I feel like something here might kill me.”
I laughed nervously. An instant later Axel’s hands were on my shoulders. “I know how this place may seem. I didn’t grow up here either. I came later. My powers are limited. I’m a wizard, among other things, but I understand what you mean about Magnolia Cove.” He smiled at me, a glimmer of amusement flashing in his eyes. “I know it doesn’t help that Rufus is out there waiting for you. Oh, and you were found at the scene of a murder.”
“Your powers might be limited, but not according to Theodora at the skillet place. She said you rode a skillet without falling off your first try.”
“I guess my wizard blood runs deep, though that’s not my main ability.”
“What’s your main ability?”
Axel’s hands squeezed my shoulders. Darkness loomed in his eyes. My lower lip trembled. I didn’t know why. Fear? Anxiety? Trepidation?
“There are things about me that are too hard to talk about.”
I nodded. “Okay. Listen, you don’t have to tell me anything. It’s not my business. I’m just here to find some papers, look for a will, escape from Rufus and go back to Nashville.” I clenched my hands in frustration. “I don’t even know what Rufus wants, so I figure it’s going to be a battle of the fittest, or of the strongest, or whatever.”
Axel chuckled. “You might be right about that, but I hope not.”
My head jerked up at the sound of a key turning a lock. Axel snapped his fingers, and the lights in the office popped off. He grabbed my hand and pulled me underneath the desk.
Though it wasn’t black in the office, it was still somewhat dark. Dark enough that if someone glanced inside, they wouldn’t be able to see us hiding beneath the desk. But if they wanted to use said desk, the gig was going to be up so high you might as well rocket off into outer space.
Axel’s shoulder pressed mine. Both of our rear ends were totally sticking out, but there was no time to position another way.
The back door opened, and someone shuffled inside. The desk faced the hallway. The big old grand mahogany was solid top to bottom. There wasn’t even a sliver to peek through and see the shoes of whoever had entered.
But I could still hear.
Footsteps padded toward the front room.
I could feel Axel’s warm breath on my cheek. The scruff of his chin grazed my temple. My heart pounded as someone shuffled things in the front room. Axel turned his face toward me. His lips brushed through my hair.
Fire ignited my skin, thrumming in my core.
Every inch of me cracked and fizzled as if my nerve endings extended from my skin, bleeding out.
The shuffling continued as if someone was searching. Perhaps they were searching for the exact same thing we were—the will.
The sounds from the front room grew louder, and Axel turned his face more in my direction. I wondered if he could feel my heart drumming my chest.
A minute later the footsteps padded down the hallway and out the back. The lock clicked, and I released a heavy sigh.
“One more moment,” Axel whispered.
“We don’t need to be found here,” I murmured.
“Just wait. In case they come back.”
“We need to stop whispering.”
“I’m not the one who keeps talking.”
I quirked a brow. “You just did.”
“They might hear us,” he whispered.
Axel grabbed my wrist. “Okay, stop.”
I stopped. I think it was the combination of his skin on mine and the hushed tone, but I zipped my lips and waited what felt like forever, but was probably about thirty seconds.
“I think it’s safe to get out,” I said.
“Wait one more minute.”
“They’re not coming back.”
I felt him adjust, turning toward me. “Trust me, I don’t want to be here any more than you. I really don’t want to be here.”
“I don’t want to be here either. It’s cramped—”
“Not to mention hot.”
Boy, he wasn’t kidding. The temperature from his body practically made the cubbyhole hum. But it wasn’t just the heat; there was something more. Tension building up, blowing out and coming to a head. I could hear it in my own breathless voice, sense it in the gruff tone of his.
“I’m sweating,” I said. Yeah, I know it wasn’t sexy, but it was true. Give me two more minutes tucked under the desk and I’d have an armpit of BO that could knock down a bulldozer.
Literally, if the bulldozer could smell and stuff.
I felt his finger brush against my leg. A bolt snaked up my thigh and straight to my girl parts. “I’m hot, too. I just want to make sure…”
“I think we’ve made sure. We don’t need to be found under the desk,” I whispered.
“We don’t need to be found anywhere. I have a key, but only a few know about it. Todd doesn’t. If he knew I had access and was walking all over his crime scene, he’d be mad.”
I turned toward him and felt my lips brush his chin. My skin sizzled at the contact. “I don’t like this any more than you.”
“I’m cramped.”
“Not to mention stifling.”
“I keep bumping into you.”
“I have no air.”
“It’s the worst position to be in.”
Heat crackled in the tight space. I felt Axel’s fingers graze my arm. “We should get out. I think it’s safe now.”
I couldn’t move. The closeness of him, the fire churning in my belly—both things paralyzed me.