by Kathy Dexter
Logan stepped onto the porch. “Can’t sleep?”
Hunter expelled the air caught in her lungs and straightened her shoulders. “I thought you were inside with Lou. Not out here making noises like Dr. Fleming sneaking up on us.”
Logan choked off a spurt of laughter. “Sorry. Figured I’d be back before the gang stirred. Managing a quick shower and a change of clothes at my house was better than accessing a bathroom with four women here.”
Hair damp and curling out of control, Logan quirked a smile intended to placate.
Hunter’s heart rate jumped again but for a different reason. Longing suffused her inner core, stirring emotions roused last night when she’d leaped into his arms. “Coffee’s ready.”
“Great. I’ll be right back.”
In a few moments Logan returned with a full mug and shifted the second rocker close to the first before he sat down.
Hunter glanced toward the door. “Anyone else awake?”
“Pretty quiet. Except for Lou’s snoring.” Logan bent over to pick up the grimoire, which had slid under Hunter’s rocker. “Your grandmother’s journal? The one she hid inside the book of fairy tales?”
“It’s more than a journal.”
“A grimoire.”
Hunter blinked. “How did you know?”
“Didn’t Riley tell you about her mother’s murder? How she hid a grimoire from her killer so he couldn’t use it to gain control over the world of magic?”
Hunter was stunned at the similarity. “Like my grandmother.”
“Riley didn’t want you to meet an enemy alone, as her mother had. So she told me the secret of Mary Hawthorne’s journal, figuring I could keep an eye on you.”
Hunter’s skin prickled with heat. “I don’t––”
“––want a babysitter. But perhaps an ally fighting alongside?” Logan leaned toward her. “Riley’s greatest regret is that she wasn’t with her mother when she needed her most.”
“The same way I felt about not being there for Kat when our parents died.”
Logan brushed the back of his hand along her cheek. “Your grandmother went to great lengths to get the grimoire to you. I’m sure she didn’t expect you to face danger on your own.”
Hunter swallowed a sudden lump. Where would she be without the friends who’d stood by her? Ally fighting to free her from Aunt Miranda’s cocooning, Lou and Finn helping her decode Mary Hawthorne’s scroll, Theo willing to battle the museum thieves. And Logan. “You saved me. Snatched the knife from Davy Jones.”
“Are you saying you owe me a life debt and place your life in my hands?” Mischief sparked in his eyes. “That could be fun. For both of us.”
Desire crept along Hunter’s neck and flushed her cheeks. She licked dry lips. “Sounds enticing. Although since I restored you to health in the hospital, the debt has been paid, don’t you think?”
“Oh, yes. And since you also saved Theo and his mother, perhaps I’m now beholden to you,” he murmured close to her ear.
“Then again, you dragged me out of the lake ten years ago. I would have drowned.”
“Getting to be a long list of indebtedness.” Logan grinned and handed her the book. “Maybe you better concentrate on getting this translated.”
“Riley told you?”
“Finn and Lou mentioned how they worked with you to decipher Mary Hawthorne’s scroll.”
“A clever woman. She disguised writings from the Ancients by garbling their words and constructing a code.”
“Like Riley’s mother, Mary Hawthorne must have known she had to protect the grimoire.”
“I think my grandmother made plans after the museum was broken into shortly before her death.” Hunter told him about Miranda’s gang of thieves, her aunt pretending to be her twin, and the resulting change in the Hawthornes’ wills.
Logan gave a low whistle. “Must’ve been some conversation you had with your aunt.”
“Exhausting.” Hunter described the custody battle that separated her from her sister and the psychic warning supposedly from Twyla Temple. “If we combined our magic, Kat and I could be destroyed. So Clarissa and Miranda decided we must continue to be kept apart.”
“Without telling you why?”
Hunter frowned. “Odd that they didn’t. Worse, it was all a hoax by someone pretending to be Twyla.”
“Heartless. But perhaps necessary.”
“How can you say such a thing?”
“Because I’m thinking like a cop. A killer cast a spell to block memories of your parents’ murders and then took extra steps to ensure you never remember. Kept you away from your sister so you couldn’t link and break the curse.”
“Who could possibly be so cruel?” She leaned forward until her forehead rested on Logan’s shoulder. “Worse, I wasn’t there for Kat. A twelve-year-old, alone, confused about who to trust. Uncle Gideon pressured her to give her magic to him.”
Logan drew a sharp breath. “That’s why Oralee fled from Gideon and tried to get Riley to stop using magic. Apparently her husband could track them if they used their powers.”
“Kat concealed her magic from Gideon to protect herself, too. Told him her conjuring abilities disappeared when our parents died. But that was ten years ago. You think Gideon is now threatening to steal magic from the people of Mystic Lake?”
“I don’t know. Has Kat said anything?”
“I didn’t ask. Maybe Clarissa knows something. She’s Gideon’s mother.” Something Clarissa said. . . “Aunt Miranda spoke of a codicil in my grandmother’s will indicating I would utilize the museum to protect the secrets of the Ancients. How could Mary Hawthorne know that?”
“She had her own special magic in addition to the spells in the grimoire. She could have used both to discover your future.”
“According to Riley, an ‘enlightened source’ revealed to the members of the Gyld that I had been chosen by the Ancients to access the mysteries in the grimoire. That’s a lot of responsibility.”
“One you’ve proven you can handle.”
“With help.” She laid her hand on his shoulder.
He placed his hand over hers. “Anything and everything I can give you.”
“I think the Ancients contacted me through the grimoire.” She filled him in on the voices rising from the book, whispering of a dragon ride. “Henry and I landed on a cliff above Cryptic River. The voices of the Ancients rose from the waters and revealed my mother’s bones are there. That’s why I came to the police station for my father’s ring. With that and my dragon I can free my mother’s spirit.”
“Just as you released your father’s bones from the depths of Mystic Lake.”
“Hopefully no out-of-control storm this time.”
“Forget about the problems haunting us from the past for a while.” Logan put down his coffee cup and took her hand in his. “Let’s take a walk by the water.”
Hunter smiled. “And watch the sun color the world.”
They walked across the grass to the sandy shore.
Hunter waved toward the water. “That’s where we first met, even though I can’t remember it.”
Logan directed her attention farther south where Ben West’s home stood. “I was eighteen, still living with my dad, but about to leave for college. I planned to take my canoe out for one last spin around the lake.”
“You saw. . . the boat explode?” Hunter struggled to get the words out. She had to know the details.
Logan found a couple of smooth-topped rocks where they could sit. “The whole thing was bizarre. No fiery blast. A strange rumbling and cracking, and then the boat disintegrated. Almost like a tornado had ripped it apart, but no wind stirred across the lake.”
“Magic.” Hunter shivered.
Logan wrapped an arm around her. “I thought so.”
“You called the police?”
“My father did. I had no time. Saw your body lying on the surface, unmoving, shoved my canoe into the water, and raced to get to you in time.”
She tightened her grip on his free hand. “I would have drowned.”
“You were face down with a gruesome gash on the back of your head.” Logan’s gaze scanned the lake. “I turned you over and brought you to shore where an ambulance waited.”
Something shifted inside Hunter’s head. A watery image floated to the surface. “I clutched a life preserver. It was you.”
Logan’s startled eyes looked deep into hers. “You remember?”
Hunter didn’t answer his question, but continued to describe the pictures flashing from the distant past. “Murky shadows seized me, wrapped octopus-like tentacles around my insides and dragged me toward a deep, dark pit. I held on to you as long as I could.” She shuddered as the kaleidoscope of confusion, terror, and agony swirled through her.
“We made it to shore.” His voice floated soft and reassuring on the morning air. “I couldn’t find a pulse, so I started mouth to mouth resuscitation. You came to.”
Hunter strained to recall those moments. “Your touch yanked me away from the abyss. Then I lost the connection between us.”
“That must have been when the ambulance arrived and took you away. I tried to see you in the hospital, but they turned me away. No visitors allowed.”
Just as Kat had been pushed out, denied access to her sister. Outrage burned through Hunter at how much her life had been controlled by others. By a murderer. At the same time, she rejoiced in recovering people she hadn’t realized she’d lost. “Somehow we found each other again at the Ball. As though destiny nudged us back together.”
“Even though I told you that night I’d recognized you from the picture on the back of your book, I felt the link from ten years ago.” He touched the sapphire dragon. “Like magnetic energy pulsating through us.”
“The same power that restored and deepened our magic.” Hunter interlaced her fingers with his, as they’d done at his father’s house to recharge the amulet. Once again, melodic rhythms hummed deep in her core. Sapphire flames trilled through her magic center, intensifying her awareness of Logan and her deep hunger for him.
Logan lifted their intertwined hands. “The magic within each of us is much like this. Connecting, linking, weaving a pattern. Haven’t you felt it, too?”
Unable to speak, Hunter nodded.
Logan’s lips caressed her hand. “In the hospital, you saved me from excruciating pain, extracted the burning damage with your magic. Absorbed the poisonous gases from the explosion so I could heal.”
“You risked your life to save mine.” Hunter’s smile wobbled. “Only fair I return the favor. That life debt you mentioned.”
“You mind linked and told me to hang on.” Logan held her gaze with his own. “And called me ‘love.’ If you––”
She cut off the rest of his words with her lips against his.
At first she’d only longed for a taste. She savored the morning sun warming the flavors of his mouth, and the breeze along his skin enhancing the aroma of pine.
Then his lips claimed hers and roused her desire. Breath to breath, yearning deepened, intensified, until edges softened and melted. When Logan nestled her against his shoulder and wound his fingers into her hair, she clung to him as though to save herself from drowning.
Again.
But this time a swelling tide swept her upward out of the shadowy depths. This is where I belong.
Yes, my love. Together.
The moon embraced them in silvery beams as their explosive desire swept them away on wave after wave of overwhelming passion. A grassy patch in the shadows of a leafy maple provided a soft bed where they wrapped themselves in each other’s arms. Mind and body linked and merged. They didn’t need magic. Their senses overflowed with enchantment of their own making.
And opened their hearts to the love which had waited patiently to be discovered.
CHAPTER 44
H UNTER DOUBLE-CHECKED to make sure she had everything for the séance: the fake amber pendant Gabriel had created; her father’s ring; the grimoire, shrunken to slip into the same pocket with the other objects. Glancing at the clock above the kitchen sink, she called, “Okay, everyone, time to get moving.”
“Anything I can bring?” Ally shut down her computer and stored it out of the way on a top shelf of the bookcase.
“I don’t think so.”
Kat turned from the windows where she’d apparently been studying the moon’s bright glow. “Where’s Aunt Miranda?”
“Right here.” Miranda stood on the stair landing, her slinky, silvery dress sparkling with bright, attention-grabbing crystal beads. Dolphin earrings, glittering with diamonds and sapphires, dangled from her ears.
Something about dolphins awoke a memory. “Did my mother give those earrings to you?”
Miranda’s finger skimming the jewelry. “Meredith believed dolphin magic could untangle troubles.”
“I remember.”
“You do?” Miranda winced. “These were her last gift before. . .we became estranged. I thought they might draw her to us at the séance.”
“A lovely idea.” Hunter moved to the stairs and held her aunt’s hand as she finished descending.
Outside the cottage, Logan stood beside his car. “Lou and I will follow you to Twyla’s.”
“Oh?”
He leaned forward so only she could hear. “In case Dr. Fleming has plans to meet up with Miranda tonight.”
Hunter sucked in a huge lungful of air. “You think that might happen?”
“I’m not taking any chances.” His fingers skimmed her neck, nestled for a moment.
Hunter glanced toward her car where Miranda had taken possession of the front passenger seat. Ally and Kat climbed into the back.
What would Miranda do if Fleming contacted her? Hunter shrugged off that particular problem. She closed her hand around Logan’s and squeezed. Then she hurried to her car.
They wound down Wyvern Way, past the Museum of Magic, and along the western side of Mystic Lake––Phoenix Drive. A few minutes later, Kat told her to turn right.
Kat drew their attention to the building at the end of the driveway. “Tower House. Suitable for a psychic.”
“Ooh!” Ally exhaled an admiring breath. “My kind of place.”
Hunter pulled in ahead of Logan, her headlights lighting up the structure. She stared, hypnotized, at the two-story round building, ramming, like a castle’s stone turret, against the moonlit sky. Extra large windows glinted formidably in the darkness.
Miranda shook Hunter’s arm. “Let’s go. Everyone’s waiting.”
Hunter blinked and pushed her way out of the car. She joined the others on their way to the front door.
As they reached the porch, Twyla called from a balcony on the second floor. “Come right in. I’ll meet you in the foyer.”
Lou started toward the back yard.
“Wait, Lou.” Kat closed her eyes and sniffed the air. “Violet and honeysuckle permeate the area. Probably attached to some kind of alarm system. Twyla’s installed safeguards.”
“I’ll be on the lookout.” He slipped around the wall.
“Where’s he going?” Hunter asked Logan.
“Guard duty. He’ll keep an eye out for intruders.”
Ally rubbed a hand along her chin. “You’re expecting some?”
“Better to be safe,” Logan replied.
Miranda marched to the door and pushed it open. “Perhaps we should stop loitering outside and see what answers the psychic has for us.”
The five gathered in the entryway as Twyla skipped down the winding staircase with a light bounce. Her plum-colored skirt, covered in twinkling stars, swirled. She ran her fingers through chin-length, purple-streaked locks. “Welcome to my home.”
“It’s lovely. And your ceiling is magnificent.” Ally goggled upward. “Two kinds of wood?”
“Cedar and cherry,” Twyla said. “Perfect for my work.”
“In what way?” Hunter asked.
“Cedar summons helpf
ul spirits, and cherry is most beneficial to mediums, assisting us in overcoming obstacles in our communications with the other side.”
“My father installed the ceiling,” Logan’s voice held pride, “and carved the runes in the wood.”
“Runes?” Ally asked.
“Characters from an ancient alphabet.” Twyla pointed to some of the symbols. “The rune ansuz enhances my psychic abilities, and raidho attunes my inner being to the cosmic harmonies.”
Ally grinned. “Sounds like you’re speaking a foreign language.”
Twyla’s laugh chimed like a joy-filled bell. “We’ll use English during the séance.”
Miranda stepped forward. “I must speak to my sister.”
“We’ll try.” Twyla picked up a wicker basket from a sideboard near the front door. “Before we proceed, I ask all of you to deposit your electronic devices here until after the séance. They tend to jam communications with the spirit world.”
After her guests complied, Twyla led the way into the great room and to a cozy round table––about five feet in diameter––situated under a unique chandelier of wavy glass flames stretching in all directions. A pansy-hued cloth, decorated with intersecting spheres and loops of various sizes, covered the table.
“Circles everywhere. Even the drapes.” Miranda sniffed. “A bit overdone, don’t you think?”
“I’m sure your mother taught you better manners than that. Mine did.” Kat jerked out a chair for her aunt. “Sit and relax.”
“Ah, you must let go of the roughness between you.” Twyla circled her palms toward her guests and then pushed air away on each side. “I ask you to accept your differences and be open to what lies ahead.”
Hunter took a seat on the other side of Miranda, placed a firm hand on her aunt’s arm, and murmured near her ear. “If you insult Twyla and her home, you could lose your chance to make things right with Meredith.”
“Circles protect us and push away bad vibes.” Her voice tranquil, Twyla focused her intense, lavender eyes on Miranda. “At the same time, they assist in opening the doorway between this world and the spiritual one.”
Miranda’s face paled. “Sorry, Twyla. I was out of line.”