by Anna Abner
David tried to pull himself together and sit up so Dani wouldn’t know how badly the surge of power had hurt. But she saw right through his tough-guy routine.
“Don’t move, tough guy,” she said, her warm eyes crinkling at the corners.
“It gets easier,” Holden said. “You learn control.”
“You did great.” Dani withdrew her hands, and he had the gut-churning thought that it would be the last time she’d ever touch him.
Chapter Seventeen
Magic. It tingled in Dani’s fingertips and rushed under her skin.
She was a full-powered witch again. And she was miserable.
Holden went home to Rebecca. David left to pick up Ryan from day care, and Dani took her second shower of the day, not because she’d gotten dirty, but because she felt dirty. It was hard not to resent her magic for ruining all the recent happiness she’d experienced with David and Ryan. But the water didn’t wash away the crushed dreams or achy disappointment. By the time she stepped out of the bathroom, David had returned, eaten Chinese take-out with his son, and was in the process of putting Ryan to bed. She heard his rendition of Good Night Moon through Ryan’s closed bedroom door.
Sadly, she slipped into David’s bedroom alone and dressed in the red camisole and satin shorts that had been so fun and exciting yesterday. Tonight they felt ridiculous on her body. She’d rather wear a shroud made out of sheets. She’d rather wear just about anything but the sexy sleepwear David had chosen with such anticipation. Because tonight she was sleeping alone.
She couldn’t trust her body, so recently unbound, not to betray her while she was asleep and vulnerable. She might injure David, and it was a chance she wasn’t willing to take. Tonight she’d sleep on the couch. And tomorrow? Even if they convinced heaven to intervene, she was still a witch and still hazardous to David’s health. Full control was months, maybe years, away. And maybe she’d never have enough control to ever be comfortable touching him again.
Because she felt silly, she borrowed David’s bathrobe and covered herself in it before drying her hair and rubbing lotion on her arms and legs.
She didn’t hear David come in, but the light in the room changed, as if his presence affected the atmosphere.
“Cold?”
She couldn’t tell if he was teasing. “A little,” she fibbed. “Is Ryan all tucked in?”
“Snug as a bug.” He stood in the doorway, not entering and not leaving, either. He seemed very tall. And very wounded.
Might as well rip the Band-Aid off. “I’m sleeping on the couch tonight.”
He didn’t say anything right away, but he looked like he considered and discarded several replies.
“I know what you’re going to say,” Dani added. Something noble like, I don’t care if you hurt me. It’s worth it. “But I would never forgive myself if there was an accident. So, for tonight, I need some space.”
“Some space.” A storm cloud brewed behind his eyes.
“Just for tonight.” That wasn’t completely true, but she couldn’t tell him the whole truth. Not yet.
“You’re not going to touch me, are you?”
“I…” Oh God she wanted to. More than anything else. More than she wanted to find Cole or stop the Dark Caster or punish the Carver. She swallowed past the lump in her throat.
“You’re not even going to try?” His hand strangled the doorknob as he waited for her answer.
“I’m not ready,” she confessed. “I don’t have enough control.”
“You’re my guest,” he said as if he’d decided on something. “You’re sleeping in my bed. Where you belong, I might add. Where I want you to be. Good night.” He retreated, shutting the door with a deafening click.
* * *
Thursday dawned warm and humid, and Dani woke alone. She rolled onto David’s side of the bed, now cool to the touch and vacant. The bedroom door opened as if he could sense her wakefulness.
“Morning.” David set a food-laden tray near her feet.
Dani leaned forward on the bed still dressed in her negligee, to admire the bagels, cereal, oranges, and coffee.
“You’re spoiling me,” she teased, taking a big bite of bagel.
Smiling nervously, he peeled an orange and laid the wedges next to her coffee cup.
“I don’t want you to freak out,” David said, “but while I was in the kitchen Mitchell Sims called with news about Bailey Haas.”
Dani’s stomach twisted. “Did you tell him I blinded the guy?”
“No, I told Mitchell I wanted to meet a childhood friend. And.” His eyes lit up. “He found him.”
“Mitchell found Bailey?” She couldn’t process for a moment. Had it been that easy? One phone call? One quick search and he was found?
“Yeah. His family moved to Sailor’s Bay.”
“Sailor’s Bay?” All these years and Bailey was thirty minutes away on the other side of the New River Air Station?
“Hey.” David reached for her hand, but she avoided his touch. She wasn’t stable enough. “Aren’t you happy?”
“I’m glad you found him, but I’ve spent so many years hating myself and pitying him, I don’t know how to react. What am I supposed to say to him?”
“Whatever feels right.”
She hopped off the bed and picked through her new clothes. Skirts, shorts, and spring dresses. No, no, no. Then, under all the new things, she found the long pants and long-sleeved tee she’d arrived in. David had washed and folded them.
She clutched her old clothes to her chest. “We should get this over with.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to take a minute and plan what you’re going to say? You didn’t eat very much.”
“I’ll think about it on the way, but I really just want to go.”
There might not be a lot of time left, so she had to get to it. The Carver could call at any moment and she’d have to drop everything and leave. Fixing Bailey sort of felt like a now-or-never kind of prospect.
They were quiet on the drive. David would, no doubt, have helped her work out her feelings if she’d asked, but she wasn’t even sure how to express the opposing emotions inside her.
On the one hand she was so thankful for the chance to repair the mistake she’d made a decade ago. At the same time, she suffered incredible guilt not only for what she’d done to Bailey but for leaving him handicapped. She’d tried to find him, but she hadn’t looked that hard. David must think she was a heartless monster, especially after she’d confessed she’d never righted the original wrong.
The Haas family lived in a nice house in a planned community near the beach. A pretty older woman answered Dani’s knock. “Yes?”
“I’m looking for Bailey,” Dani said. “Is he here?”
“Oh, he just left.” The woman leaned out the door and pointed down the street. “He’s walking to the beach. You can catch him if you hurry.”
Her throat tightening in fear, Dani jogged down the driveway and followed the sidewalk toward the sound of the ocean. She turned a corner and spotted a tall man in Bermuda shorts ambling down the sidewalk with the help of a service animal.
“Bailey?” she called.
“Yeah? Who’s there?”
Dani came face to face with the boy she’d once squished into a closet to kiss. He was a little taller and a little thinner, but basically the same. She was fourteen again, full of butterflies, gathering courage to talk to a cute boy on the walk home from school.
His golden retriever glanced from Dani to Bailey.
“It’s me, Bailey. It’s Dani Ferraro. Do you remember me?”
He froze up for a second and then shook his head. “I’m on my way—”
There wasn’t time to ease him into this. Hoping he’d forgive her, Dani laid both her palms on Bailey’s left forearm. His skin was warm and firm.
He flinched.
Like a defensive lineman, David blocked Bailey from behind and gave her a nod of approval. He grabbed Bailey by the shoulders and forc
ed him to stay put so she could finish her spell.
Gently, he said, “Easy, friend. Let her do this for you.”
Dani’s power spread out from her fingertips like a blast of cold air and invaded Bailey’s body.
Bailey wrestled David’s grip, squeaking nonsensically, but didn’t break free. His dog barked nonstop.
“I’m sorry it took me so long.” Dani pictured Bailey’s eyes the way she remembered them—brown with flecks of green. Pretty, kind eyes. She imagined them filling with health and strength. She pictured them healed.
“I’m sorry, Bailey.” Drained and a little woozy, she peeled off her hands, and Bailey shrugged David away. He removed his sunglasses and blinked at Dani with beautiful hazel eyes made new again. His gaze zeroed in on her face, and she knew he saw her.
“Stay away from me,” he warned. Taking hold of his service dog, Bailey jogged up the street the way he’d come.
David stepped into her eye line. “You did a good thing, even if he doesn’t thank you for it.”
“I know.”
“When he calms down and thinks about what you’ve done, he’ll wish he’d been nicer to you today.”
Or maybe he would hate her forever. “I blinded him and left him like that for over a decade. I’m the bad guy here.”
“You hurt him,” David said, “but it was an accident, and you were just a kid. You didn’t attack him maliciously. Don’t beat yourself up too badly. Do you hear me?” He bent until they were eye to eye. “What you did when you were fourteen does not define you.”
Good point. Emi was fourteen, and she seemed so young. Yet some of her choices today could haunt her for the next decade. Or longer. Dani climbed into David’s rented green Volkswagen and snapped on her buckle.
“Once we pick up Ryan,” Dani said, “let’s call Emi.”
“Feeling melancholy?”
“A little,” she admitted. “But she’s alone and scared and emotionally shut down. I can relate.”
* * *
David and Dani collected Ryan from New Horizons, and he scuttled into his bedroom to play with toys. Like she was under surveillance, the moment Dani closed the front door of David’s condo, her cell phone sang “Because of You” by Kelly Clarkson.
Dani answered the unlisted number.
“I think it’s time you and your necromancer got back to work.” The Carver.
Her skin prickled. For a moment she flashed back to the basement and that lost, icky feeling of being trapped and at the mercy of a sadist.
“Whatever you think is going to happen,” she said, “is not going to happen. I will not harm another person, no matter how much you threaten me.”
The tone of her voice must have tipped off David that something was wrong. “Darlin’, who’s on the phone?”
She rushed into David’s bedroom to finish the call in private. But he followed her.
The Carver continued, unabated. “I was hoping this would persuade you.” A scream ripped through the line, a male voice choked with pain and fear.
“Who is that?” Dani growled. If they were hurting Cole, she’d lose it. Just completely lose her mind.
The scream was abruptly cut off. “Derek’s here and waiting for you to start the spell.” He rattled off an address in town. “Bring your necromancer and we can be done with this in a couple of days.”
“I’m coming.”
The phone went dead.
“Was that him?” David backed her into the dresser, giving her barely enough room to breathe. “What did he say?”
“Uh.” She needed space to move. To think. “I have to go.” The maniac had a new chew toy, and Dani couldn’t allow him to destroy it the way he’d tried to destroy her and David.
“No, I don’t think so. Tell me what he said.”
“He has a victim. I have to go.”
David closed the gap, forcing her to flatten her spine against the bedroom door lest she touch him. “It’s too dangerous. I’m not letting you get hurt or worse. We have a plan, and we’re sticking to it.”
A prayer to heaven? With no guarantee of a response? That wasn’t good enough. “I can handle it. This is why I got my magic back.” But damn if she wasn’t shaking with terror. Like a drug, it pulsed through her veins and fogged up her brain.
David grabbed her arm, hard. “You are not going—”
At the unexpected touch, her blood pressure spiked, and her magic fritzed. She tried to rein it in, but it was too late. Time slowed as waves of magical energy radiated out of her body and into his. If there were any way to stop it, she would have.
Words died on his lips. His eyes widened a fraction.
Dani couldn’t break contact fast enough. She watched him crumple at her feet like a witness in her own nightmare. Because that’s exactly what it was. Her worst nightmare come to life. She’d hurt David.
Chapter Eighteen
“David!” She dropped to her knees but didn’t touch him, was terrified she’d injure him worse. “Oh no. David, say something.”
Any signs of life were faint, but he was breathing. A pulse ticked at his throat.
She hadn’t killed him.
Relief washed over her, bitter sweet.
She held back a sob as she called 911 on the house phone.
“I can fix this,” she whispered, laying the phone beside him without answering the voice on the other end. “I’m going to fix this.”
She found David’s cell phone on the kitchen counter and searched for Joan’s number in his address book with a pair of sh-sh-shaky hands.
Joan answered right away. “Hi David, how are you?”
“It’s Dani,” she said, her words running together in a rush, “I’m bringing Ryan to you. What’s your address?”
“What? Where is David? Put David on the line.”
There wasn’t time for this. “Tell me your address or I’m dropping Ryan off at the police station.” And she meant it. In fact, a police station might be the safest place for Ryan.
Joan hesitated another moment. “I’m at 690 Circle Drive. Now let me talk to my son.”
Dani hung up and hurried to Ryan’s bedroom but stopped short in the doorway. The child was flat on his belly on the carpet with a triceratops in one hand and a yellow bulldozer in the other.
“Ryan?” It wasn’t easy, but she forced her voice to sound calm and normal. “I’m going to drive you to your grandma’s. Get up. We have to leave right now.”
Bless his sweet heart, he didn’t complain or argue a single word but hopped up and ran for her.
“You can’t touch me,” she warned, backing up a step before he plowed into her. “I’m, uh, sick, Baby Bear. So no touching. Just follow me.”
“Is Daddy coming, too?”
Her throat closed up for a sec. “Daddy was so tired he fell asleep. Which is why I’m taking you to Grandma’s so she can play with you.”
“Okay.”
She got Ryan in his car seat in David’s rented Volkswagen Beetle, shut the door, and drove away.
* * *
Someone shone a light in his eyes, and David jerked awake.
“Take it easy.” An EMT put his hand on David’s shoulder. “You’re in shock. My name’s Scott, and I’m gonna get you to the hospital.”
His brain couldn’t track a quarter of those words. “What?”
“You passed out. Has that ever happened before?”
“No.”
“You were unresponsive.”
David exhaled, and cold white breath hissed between his lips. His teeth chattered, making it hard to talk. “Where’s Dani?”
“I don’t know any Dani. Just sit tight while my partner brings the stretcher up here.”
“No.” Brushing off the other guy’s hand, he sat up. “Where’s Ryan?”
“No one else is here.” Scott shone another light in his eyes. “Your front door was wide open. Can you remember what happened?”
Oh, he remembered. He’d laid his hands on a very freaked-out
witch and gotten his brain fried.
His cell phone rang.
“Do you mind if I get that?” asked the EMT. “Cause it’s been going off since I got here.”
“Y-y-yeah,” he answered, rubbing warmth back into his arms. “Please.”
The EMT hit Answer and then Speaker.
“David?” his mother’s voice erupted into the room. “What is going on? Are you okay? What happened?”
“Where’s Dani?” he asked as the EMT took his blood pressure.
“All I know is your woman friend dropped your son off at my house like luggage on the sidewalk.”
“You have Ryan?” Oh, thank God. And thank you, Daniela. “He’s safe?”
“He’s fine. He’s eating chicken nuggets. What happened?”
“Where’s Dani?”
“I told you. She dropped off Ryan and left.”
“Was she alone?” David asked.
“As far as I could tell. What is going on David?”
Scott packed away the BP cuff and the little light and an ear thermometer while mumbling under his breath.
“Mom, please keep Ryan at your house. Don’t answer the door to anyone. In fact, don’t even go near the doors or windows. Stay inside until I call you.”
“David!”
He hung up. Immediately, the phone rang again, but he silenced it.
“I have to go.” He climbed slowly to his feet because the room was spinning, but he made it upright and stayed there.
“That’s not a good idea. You’re in shock. Your blood pressure tanked. So did your body temperature.”
“I’m fine. I have to go.”
Scott turned on his tough EMT stare and lowered his voice. “When I got here you were unconscious and unresponsive. You need to be in a hospital until we know what caused you to pass out and go into shock. Until you do, you’re in danger of a blood clot, or a heart attack, or a stroke. You might have a concussion. You need to talk to a doctor.”
All of that may be true, but he didn’t have time for doctors. “I have to go.”
With a resigned sigh, the guy collected the rest of his gear and gave David a curt nod. “Good luck, brother.” He carried his plastic box out the front door.
David called Dani’s cell. No answer. Fear ratcheted up his anger.