by Anna Abner
“Yeah.”
“What does a city manager do?” she asked.
“I work with Mayor Westfield and the city council,” David explained. “I oversee the budget. City personnel. Services.” He panted, shifted Cole’s weight, and then said, “Tell me why you want to run your own day care center.”
“I love my job right now,” Dani began. “But after everything I’ve learned about kids, I know I could do a better job than the management at Happy Trails.”
“I thought it was a good place. It’s highly recommended.”
“It is. It’s great, but I have different ideas.”
David paused to catch his breath, tugging on her hand. “Like?”
“More educational play. Individualized care. More hands-on activities. Better meals. Highly trained staff.”
“Sounds fantastic.” He continued walking, but more slowly now.
“Yeah, well, it would have been cool.” If her application hadn’t been rejected.
“It still could be.”
Maybe. When she got back to her real life, perhaps she’d find her old application to the city of Auburn and reread it. A few months ago opening her own business had been an obsession, and the unexplained denial had crushed her. But if David was right and her dream was still possible, she was willing to give it another try.
Through the distant trees, around a bend in the road, Dani spotted a faint light. “Someone’s coming.”
Her flight instinct kicked in. Ducking farther into the forest and hiding with David sounded like the greatest idea she’d ever had.
David must have shared her panic. “I’m not sure about this, Dani. What if it’s them?”
But without help, Cole was as good as trapped in a nightmare spell forever. He’d be irreparably insane within hours. And David was losing blood. They had to get to a hospital.
She reluctantly released David’s hand, stepped into the road as headlights turned in her direction, and waved her arms high. Please, God, don’t be the Carver. Worn-out brakes squealed as a yellow beater of a car pulled over on the right shoulder.
The window lowered by old-fashioned crank. “Are you crazy?” A man with a gray beard glowered at her. “I almost ran you over.”
“We need help.” Dani sagged in relief. “Can you drive us to a hospital?”
“Nearest hospital’s in Auburn. What’s wrong whichya?” He looked uninterested in going out of his way this late at night until David shuffled onto the road with Cole over his shoulder. “Ah, hell. Let me clear out the backseat.”
She helped the old-timer pack clothes, a box of ancient magazines, and a bunch of fast food trash into the trunk to make room for them in the tiny hatchback.
Dani wiped crumbs and wadded napkins off the backseat. “Here,” she said to David. “Sit him down. Gently.”
She crawled in beside Cole, and as her weight settled, he slumped. His forehead hit her shoulder. Now that she knew her magic was dormant, no doubt about it, she patted his arm once, skin to skin.
David dropped into the passenger seat.
“He’s not gonna die, is he?” the old man asked. “I don’t want cops crawling all over my car when we get there.”
“He’s not dying,” Dani assured. Just going slowly mad inside a nightmare spell.
The driver pushed in a cassette tape and “Red Dirt Road” by Brooks and Dunn blared from the speakers. The thirty minutes to downtown Auburn seemed to take ninety.
Dani spent most of the drive picturing the Carver’s face contorting in rage when he discovered his house empty. What kind of a hissy fit would he throw then? Probably a big one. It must not have been easy for him to capture all three of them—her, David, and Cole—let alone transport them and keep them contained. He would be furious. And she had a sickening feeling he would not let them live free for long.
She had to wake up Cole, fast, and get her magic back, or they’d all be in serious trouble. Cole was an experienced necromancer who could easily break Jeff’s binding spell and release Dani’s pent up power. As soon as he was awake.
When they pulled into the ambulance bay at Onslow County Memorial Hospital, Dani hopped out first. Cole crumpled into the space she’d vacated.
“David?” Dani came around to check on him, and he was asleep. “David, we’re here.”
He woke slowly. “Get a stretcher for Cole. I’ll find a cab.” He used the car to pull himself to his feet.
“A cab?”
The driver was getting restless. “Something wrong?”
David stared at her with determination in his sunken green eyes. “You’ll be okay here. Tell the police what happened. I have to find Ryan.”
Chapter Six
Dani stood over Cole’s bed in the emergency department of the Onslow County Memorial Hospital, watching his chest rise and fall. He was asleep—deep asleep—with no chance of waking up on his own. And there was nothing the doctors could do except make him comfortable. A necromancer had cast a nightmare spell on him, and only a necromancer could break it.
Asleep, he looked so young. She knew he was thirty, but under this spell he didn’t seem any older than a teenager, and her heart twanged with impotent grief.
“Miss Ferraro?” A detective and a uniformed officer were at the curtain. “May we speak with you please?”
She’d already given an abbreviated statement of facts to the ER doctor after David had gone home in a taxi, but of course the local police would need a statement of their own.
The man introduced himself. “Detective Moyer. Pleasure. Can you describe the place you were being held?”
She related the details of the cabin and surrounding property near the old Hofmann Forest to the best of her ability, confident he could find it when he retraced her and David’s walk to freedom.
“And the person who abducted you?”
“I don’t know who did the abducting. They must have hit me on the head.” Or hit her with a jolt of magic. But Dani wouldn’t mention that to the police. They’d laugh and file her case under the absurd, and no one would take the threat to Ryan seriously.
“But,” she said, “Two men kept us in a basement.” She gave the detective a thorough description, everything from Jeff’s dark skin and soulless eyes to the Carver’s red hair and potbelly. Those were two men she’d never forget.
“You said David Wilkes was there with you. Where is he now?”
“The men threatened to kidnap his son,” Dani explained. “David went to check on him.”
“Do you know his home address?”
Dani thought back to her map spell in the basement. “Yes, it’s 232 Pear Street in Auburn.”
Detective Moyer clapped the uniformed officer on the shoulder. “Get over there and make sure David Wilkes and his son are safe.” He whistled for a doctor, who joined them. “Doc, this young woman needs a full work-up including a rape kit and a head CT. ASAP.”
Dani didn’t have time for all that. “I wasn’t raped. I don’t have a concussion. I just want to—”
“Do you want to find these creeps, or not?” The detective scowled at her. “You have evidence on your body. Without it, we can’t move forward. Do you understand?”
She nodded.
“Good. Go with the doctor. I’ll check on you in a bit.”
* * *
The cab hadn’t even come to a full stop before David threw cash at the driver and hopped out. In the early morning gloom, he sprinted up the sidewalk and splintered wood getting the damned front door open.
“Ryan?” he called.
His mother screamed from the living room sofa, but he ignored it. He needed to lay eyes on his son. He hadn’t stopped to feel real panic until right now, too afraid he’d crack under the weight of it. But it swamped him as he scanned the front room and kitchen for his four-year-old.
If the Carver had beat him here…
Then David found him, tucked into bed. Tears blinded him as he grabbed up his boy and clutched his little body to his chest.
“Are you okay?” he asked, lifting Ryan higher to see his face in the glow from his aquarium. “Are you alright?”
“David!” His mother careened around the corner and threw herself at both of them. “You’re here! Oh, thank God!”
David slipped his arm around her, too, and exhaled for what seemed like the first time in a week. During his days in the Carver’s basement, there had been many times he’d fantasized about standing in this very spot, breathing free and feeling safe. He’d begun to despair of it ever coming true.
Reluctantly, he laid his sleepy-eyed son in bed and tucked the blankets around him before pulling his mother into the kitchen.
“You’re bleeding!” Joan exclaimed once she saw him clearly. “What happened? Where were you?” And then, without waiting for an answer, “We have to call the police!”
Right. Reality. “I’m fine. We escaped the people who were holding us, but they’re still out there somewhere. You and Ryan aren’t safe here anymore. We need to make a plan.”
His mother’s face drained of color. “You’re scaring me. Tell me what’s going on.”
“I was abducted, along with a young woman,” David said, images and memories flashing through his mind, “and held in a room in the woods. We got out, but the men who kept us captive threatened to hurt Ryan next. So, you’re going to take him away from here, and I’m going to help the police find Jeff and the Carver.”
His mother rapidly fanned her face with both hands as tears shone in her eyes. “Start over. You were what?”
* * *
It was dawn by the time Dani was done having blood drawn and her body photographed like it was a bowl of artfully arranged fruit.
She stopped by the nurse’s station on her way out of the county hospital.
“I’m friends with Cole in there.” She pointed at the room behind her. “And if anything strange happens—like really strange—you have to call me right away.”
The name Hannah was embroidered on the front of her top, and she nodded in a placating sort of way.
“I mean it,” Dani stressed.
Hannah finally gave Dani her full attention. “Noted, ma’am. But we’re very busy.”
Dani wrote her name and cell number on the back of a hospital hotline card. “I know you don’t get it now,” she said, “but keep this. Just in case.”
Nurse Hannah accepted the card, which was something, Dani supposed. In any case, she’d return as soon as she showered and changed her clothes and checked on her houseplants.
After calling a cab, she rode an hour home in the backseat. She didn’t close her eyes once, too nervous and wired to doze. When the driver pulled up in front of her building, the fare was equivalent to her weekly salary as a day care provider. But she handed the cabbie her Visa to swipe without a word of complaint and trudged upstairs.
Her apartment was cold and quiet, and she bolted the front door closed, even though she’d usually leave it open so a breeze could blow through the screen. But not today.
Before her abduction, she would have kicked off her shoes and clothes in the foyer and strolled half dressed into the bathroom to shower. But not today.
Because Jeff and the Carver and the Dark Caster had taken over her life. It didn’t matter that she was free. In her mind, she was still a captive.
No. Unacceptable. Neither of those jackasses was going to get the better of her. One necromancy spell and she’d have her magic back, and then Jeff and the Carver better watch out. Her new name would be revenge with a capital R.
She plugged in the cell phone Detective Moyer had returned to her and dialed Holden Clark’s number. Though he was new to the magic game, he had the skills to break both the nightmare spell on Cole and the spell of binding on her.
He answered after four rings. “This better be good.”
“It’s Dani Ferraro.”
“Holy crap,” he burst out. “Are you okay? Where are you?”
“Back home. But I need you and your Grams. Pronto.”
“Uh… I’m in Turks and Caicos.”
That sounded foreign, as in not in North Carolina. So, things had changed while she’d been incommunicado.
“Rebecca and I exorcized the demon, and we’re taking a vacation. I, uh, I thought you were dead, Dani.”
“Oh.” Shit. She’d never been resurrected before, and she couldn’t politely ask a man on a romantic getaway to jet home and do her a favor. “I didn’t know. Well, don’t worry, I’ll figure something out. Enjoy yourself. And say hello to Rebecca for me.”
“I’m really glad to hear you’re safe,” he said. “I’ll call you when we get home.”
They hung up, and Dani swore loudly. She only knew two necromancers. They didn’t grow on trees. Now, one was out of reach and the other permanently asleep.
No, that wasn’t right. She knew a third. David. He just needed a little persuasion.
Dani locked herself in the bathroom and stripped behind the closed door. She showered as rapidly as possible, not even bothering to shave her legs or condition her hair. It didn’t seem important. What mattered more than anything else was releasing her bound powers.
Dry and clean and dressed in a pair of long pants and a long-sleeved blouse, she checked on the only living things she’d ever invited to share her personal space. A row of three houseplants stood sentinel on the sill above the kitchen sink. An aloe and two wilting ferns.
Dani filled the water pot and poured her three friends a nice little drink. She was always careful not to touch the waxy leaves. She’d been in control of her magic for years, but the ten-year-old memory of Bailey Haas’s face in her former foster family’s hall closet never let her relax.
Today was different. She studied the dark webbing running up and down both her arms from fingertips to elbows. She couldn’t hurt her plants. Not even if she tried. She hadn’t hurt David during their escape from the Carver’s cabin. She hadn’t hurt Cole in the car.
Dani set the water pot down and stroked the aloe, memorizing the soft and waxy texture, sure she’d never have the opportunity again. The moment she got her magic back this would be dangerous to their health because, though she’d had her power under control a long time, there was always the chance it would flip on without warning and blast whoever or whatever she was touching.
Her cell phone sang Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You,” and she jumped like a nervous puppy.
Her best friend Georgie’s photo smiled at her from the home screen.
They’d been working together at Happy Trails in the toddler program for two years and been friends nearly as long. Georgie was the one person Dani depended on to listen and care and give friendly advice.
Maybe their friendship wasn’t typical, but then she didn’t know what a normal friendship felt like. For years she’d pushed people away for their own safety. Georgie was the first person she’d let past her defenses because Georgie didn’t get touchy-feely with her. She respected Dani’s personal space. And thank God she did, or Dani’s friend list would be down to exactly one name. Cole.
She answered the call before it went to voice mail.
“Dani!” Georgie exclaimed. “Why didn’t you call me right away? I had to read about it on the fucking Internet. Where are you? Are you okay? What happened?”
Georgie paused for a breath, and Dani cut in. “I got home half an hour ago. I haven’t had a chance to do anything except take a shower.”
“You’re at home? I’m coming over. What do you need? Chocolate? Beer? Bandages?”
Dani grinned. “Yes, no, and no. Thanks, Georgie.”
They hung up, and Dani left the cell to charge while she marched through the apartment. If the Carver had gotten comfortable in her personal life, perhaps he’d done the same in her home. She strolled past her tiny kitchen nook to the beige cubicle the landlord adorably referred to as a bedroom, her gaze crisscrossing the space. She felt spied on, and an eerie tickle tip-toed up and down the nape of her neck. To distract herself, sh
e sorted the clothes in her secondhand dresser.
All of her clothing, mostly long-sleeved tops and long pants, had come from thrift shops and garage sales. She lived frugally for a purpose. She’d been saving huge chunks of her weekly pay, sometimes as much as half, in a credit union account to use as collateral for her day care business. It was the only reason her bank would even consider financing her. Currently, twenty-five thousand dollars sat in an interest bearing account waiting for the day Dani got approval of her business license.
There were no signs of a break-in, and she couldn’t find anything missing. It still felt off, though. If she’d had her magic, she would have cast a spell to reveal other casters’ marks, but that was impossible now.
Someone banged on the front door, and then Georgie let herself in, petite and blonde, her bouncy ringlets as pale as Dani’s were dark.
“Oh, honey.” The young woman stood in the foyer with her fingers linked at her waist.
Georgie’s first instinct must be to embrace her. She was a warm and nurturing person who hugged and held hands freely. But they couldn’t have been friends this long if Georgie couldn’t keep her hands to herself. So she remained respectfully outside Dani’s no-touch zone.
“How are you?” Georgie’s eyes scanned her face and then everything below her neck, as well. Only then did she pull a bag of peanut butter cups from her oversized purse and toss them at Dani. “This should help.”
“You’re the best.” She unwrapped one and sucked the gooey chocolate confection in her mouth, savoring it. “Come in,” she said around sticky peanut butter.
Georgie passed her on the way into the kitchen, took two tall glasses from the cupboard, and poured them cold Sprite from the fridge.
“I picked up your mail,” Georgie said. “After two days. So it wouldn’t pile up. I didn’t know what else to do…” From her bag she withdrew a stack of bills, special offers, and a magazine devoted to adventurous families.
“Thanks.” Dani drained her drink fast. “I’m starving.” She tossed another peanut butter cup in her mouth before offering Georgie the bag. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten. It must have been the day of her abduction.