Cut to the Crone (A Spell's Angels Cozy Mystery Book 4)

by Amanda M. Lee

  Since he had a point, I acquiesced. The sigh that escaped when he started digging his fingers into my tender skin was loud enough to bounce off the walls. “That feels good.”

  “I’m glad.” He kissed the back of my neck and kept working. “Did you know Zoe could heal people?”

  “Kind of.” Honestly, the mage had been one surprise after the other since we’d first crossed paths. That was less than forty-eight hours ago, and yet in some respects it felt as if I’d known her forever. “I think she can do a lot more than we realize.”

  “How much more can she possibly do? Did you see what she did to the tree? We thought the kid was bad.”

  “The kid is a mixture of her parents. She has both of them in her, two natures vying for supremacy, although I do think Zoe might have dominion over some of her attitude.”

  “You think?” He chuckled. “I’ve never heard a kid curse that way in front of her parents. I think Aric was horrified.”

  “No, Aric reacted in the way he was expected to react. He didn’t care. He just wanted to give Sami a moment of normalcy so she could settle in. He’s a really good father.”

  “He is.”

  “Your shirts are still out in the yard, by the way. We didn’t bother to collect them. I could go now.”

  “Leave them.” He moved so he was closer, his chest pressed to my back. “If the shifters want to take them, it’s not the end of the world. It’s not as if they don’t already know our scents. Otherwise I’ll collect them myself in the morning and toss them in the wash.”

  “Okay.” I was too tired to get up anyway. Then I thought back to the darkness I saw in Zoe’s eyes. “Have you ever heard of the Archimage?”

  He kept his hands moving over my back. “No. Who is that?”

  “I don’t know. I heard Sami say it. She said we could trade the Archimage for the vampire. I was just wondering what it is.”

  “I honestly don’t know. You could ask them.”

  “I didn’t want to bother them when they were so obviously shaken.”

  “That’s probably a good idea.” He slipped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my shoulder. “I know things didn’t go as planned, and that probably upsets you, but there’s no way they’re going to be able to pull off that maneuver again.”

  “No. Sami will be insulated with her parents at every juncture going forward.”

  “We’ll figure out how to save the vampire.”

  I desperately hoped that was true. Rather than dwell on it, I squeezed his knee. “I’m still tense. You need to keep rubbing.”

  His chuckle was low and dry in my ear. “For how long?”

  “Until Merlin comes out.”

  “What if he never comes out?”

  “Then it’s a good thing you’ve got strong hands.”

  He went back to rubbing. “Twenty minutes and then it’s bedtime. I’m exhausted.”

  Since I was right there with him, I merely nodded. Tomorrow was a new day, and somehow it felt as if war was upon us.

  MERLIN NEVER CAME OUT FROM under the bed. Ultimately, I left him to chill out on his own and crawled under the covers. Gunner slipped in next to me, rolling my head until it landed on his shoulder, and then he was out.

  My body was weary, to the point where every muscle hurt. My mind refused to shut off, though. It was only after listening to Gunner’s steady breathing for a full hour that I drifted off, however, peaceful surrender was not waiting for me.

  I sensed her before I saw her. The dreamscape was familiar, it was the clearing in the woods where we’d found Gunner. The scenery was washed out, a muted gray world. I recognized it from a previous visit, and yet this was different.

  “I was wondering if you would ever come.” The voice was female, impatient, and I was already shaking my head when I turned to find her sitting on a fallen log.

  While I didn’t know her true identity, she felt familiar to me. I was positive I’d crossed paths with her somewhere before in the real world, and I was certain we’d shared many a dangerous fight in my dreams. I simply couldn’t remember the specifics about her. There was a black hole in my mind where my memories of her should have resided. The only thing I knew for certain was that she’d appeared to me in the aftermath of a local man’s death, a man who turned out to be an uncle, although that was something I didn’t discover until he was gone.

  Was she a family member? I couldn’t say.

  Was she an enemy? It was possible, but that didn’t feel right either. Of course, that didn’t mean she was my friend.

  “What are you doing here?” I circled, giving her a wide berth, scanning the tree line for hints of movement to indicate we weren’t alone. There was nothing. It was a quiet night, no birds rustling in the trees, and nothing behind the small piece of land we occupied.

  “I came to see you,” she replied, tilting her head. “You look ... tired.”

  “Really?” The statement was ludicrous on the face of it. “I’m asleep right now. That’s how you managed to invade my dreams. Maybe you should let me sleep if you’re so worried about my energy levels.”

  “You’re also cranky.” She lobbed a smile in my direction, but it was flat. “I take it you had a rough day.”

  I opened my mouth, a hot retort on my lips, and then I regrouped. “Are you aware of what’s happening here?”

  “I’m aware of what’s happening with you. You’re tense.”

  “That wasn’t what I asked. I want to know if you’re aware of what’s happening here, in Hawthorne Hollow.”

  She didn’t immediately respond, shifting on the log and stretching her legs out in front of her. It was a stalling tactic, I realized. She was debating how to respond.

  That’s how I knew it wasn’t a dream. It was something more.

  “You live on another plane, right?” Our previous interaction involved her taking control of the conversation, leading me down a specific corridor and not allowing me to stray. “Does that mean you’re dead?”

  “Do I look dead?”

  “Why do you always answer a question with a question?”

  “Why do you always answer a question with a question?”

  It took everything I had not to leap over the log and start throttling her. Honestly, though, I knew it was a waste of time. This wasn’t real. Er, well, it was real in some respects. The conversation was likely happening, it simply wasn’t happening in the way it would for normal people.

  “What do you want?” I was too tired to play games with her. “You must be here for a reason.”

  She blinked several times, slowly, like an owl, and exhaled heavily. “You never did have any patience. I hoped you would grow out of it.”

  “Well what a sad day for you.”

  She ignored the snark. “I’m here because I am ... concerned ... about the state of the world today.”

  “That’s rather vague. What is it that bothers you? Politics? Sports? How do you feel about the state of reality television? If you’re anything like me, you’re convinced the Kardashians should be locked on a private island and cut off from good, decent folk for the rest of their lives.”

  Her face was blank. “I don’t know who that is.”

  “And you’re utterly humorless to boot.” I clucked my tongue. “I’m tired. It’s been a really long day. I can’t help but believe tomorrow is going to be even worse. It would be helpful if you told me what you want so I could let my mind drift.”

  “Tomorrow will definitely be worse,” she agreed, her expression unreadable, her voice soft. “The tendrils of your life are colliding, Scout. What you are, your potential, will become obvious very soon.”

  “Is that supposed to be a good thing?”

  “It is the way things were meant to be.”

  “That’s also not an answer.”

  “I can’t give you the answers you seek. Not yet. You’ll face a reckoning one day, and soon, and then the answers will become clear.”

  “So basically you’re say
ing that you’re completely useless to me. Thanks for that. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your insight into this situation. Your help has been invaluable.”

  Her scowl was pronounced. “You must beware the Archimage.”

  I froze, the weird feeling from before coming back to haunt me. “What is it?”

  “You know.”

  “How do I know?”

  “Because you’re you. Think.”

  I didn’t appreciate the murky games. “Either tell me or I’m leaving.”

  Her smirk was back. “We’re inside your head. You don’t really have the option of leaving.”

  “You don’t know. I might be able to find a way to leave. Or block you.” The shadow darkening her features told me she didn’t like that idea one bit. “If you want to keep this avenue of communication open, which you clearly do, you need to give me something.

  “Now, I don’t know who you are, and I’m too tired to press the issue tonight. I need to know what you’re afraid of. Why were you drawn to this particular moment in time? What is it you’re trying to warn me about? What is the Archimage?”

  “It was a book.”

  The answer was succinct, and yet it took my breath away. The moment she said it, a few of the missing pieces tumbled into place. “A magic book.”

  “That’s the only sort of book we really care about. You don’t see me dropping in to have a chat about Tailchaser’s Song, do you?”

  I had no idea what that was, but I filed the title away to reflect on at a different time. “Why is the Archimage important?”

  “It’s a tome as old as time.”

  “Kind of like Beauty and the Beast?”

  Her face remained immobile.

  “Never mind.” I waved my hand. “I remember stories about the book. That’s why mention of it jogged my memory earlier. It was supposed to be the most powerful book in existence, and then it disappeared like fifteen years ago or something.”

  “Not to play the semantics argument, but it didn’t disappear. It was absorbed.”

  I frowned. “I don’t understand what that means.”

  “A woman found the book in her possession. Others wanted the book for evil purposes. To keep them from getting it, and to boost her own power, she absorbed the book. Now everything that was in the Archimage is in her.”

  Zoe’s dark eyes flashed inside my head, a brief glimpse, and then I was back with the strange woman. “A mage absorbed the book.”

  She nodded. “Your new friend.”

  “I’ve heard stories about the mage who absorbed a powerful book,” I admitted, my mind busy. “I didn’t really put it together, or maybe I’ve just been too busy to really think about it, but I didn’t realize it was Zoe. When they said she absorbed a book—”

  “She really absorbed a book,” she confirmed. “When she did that, she became one of the most powerful beings this world — and frankly, all the others — have ever seen.”

  “I don’t understand what that has to do with you.”

  “She’s dangerous to you.”

  “No she’s not.” On that I was firm. “She’s my friend.”

  “The child is dangerous. She’s even more than the mother. She is a being of multiple worlds, with the attention of a god walking in her shadow, and she has more power to wield than could ever be considered healthy.”

  “I think all she cares about right now is destroying a few shifters, and maybe a few evil vampires. Oh, and getting her father to let her date.”

  She made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat. “You’re not seeing the bigger picture here. Beings that powerful were never meant to exist.”

  “Perhaps people say that about me. I’m a Child of the Stars, right? What does that mean? In comparison to mages, where do I stack up? Does it even matter in the grand scheme of things?”

  Frustration, lightning quick, sparked in her eyes. “It all matters. Why can’t you see that?”

  “Because I was left out in the cold and you like to play games.” I was officially at the end of my rope. “Unless you’re willing to tell me why you’re here, there’s nothing I can do for you. This conversation should be over.”

  “I’m not done.”

  “Well I am.” I moved to go ... somewhere. I figured heading into the woods would serve as a wakeup call of sorts. Before I could cross the barrier, she was on me. “Hey!”

  I fought back against her, trying to slap her hands away. It was too late. She’d managed to grab both sides of my head, and that’s when she started showing me a series of bloody visions that brought me to my knees.

  “You never could do anything the easy way,” she hissed, anger pouring out of her and into me. “Remember you asked for this. Maybe next time you’ll be less of a pain to deal with.”

  It no longer mattered what she said. All I could see were images, hundreds of them flashing by, each one bloodier than the next.

  My world was definitely changing. It was no longer a given that things would turn out okay.

  Evil was coming, and I was at the epicenter of it. If what this woman showed me was true, things were about to take a horrible, horrible turn.

  Nineteen

  I woke up shivering.

  “You’re okay,” Gunner murmured into my hair, tugging me tighter against his chest. He made a hissing sound when he registered the temperature of my skin and immediately shifted to stare at my face, the early morning light offering him dim illumination. “Are you sick? You’re so cold.” He pulled the blanket around me. “Are you crying?”

  It was only then that I realized the wetness on my face was tears, not sweat.

  He put his hands to the back of my head and tilted up my chin. “Baby, what’s wrong? What’s happening?” He looked frightened.

  “Nothing.” I forced a smile that probably looked more like a grimace. “I’m totally fine.”

  He didn’t look convinced. “Scout ...”

  “I’m fine.” I pulled away because I hated feeling vulnerable but he kept a firm grip on me. I quickly gave up fighting. “I just had a weird dream.”

  “Tell me.”

  I did. There didn’t seem to be a reason to hide what happened. When I was finished, he was thoughtful.

  “That’s ... interesting.” His fingers were gentle as they brushed through my hair and I could practically hear the gears in his mind working. “Do you think she’s really alive somewhere?”

  That was a good question. “I don’t know. I’ve thought about it, and it could go either way. It’s possible she’s dead and her spirit is somehow communicating with me. It’s also possible she’s simply on another plane and it’s easier to break through when I’m asleep and my defenses are down.”

  “She’s obviously related to you.”

  I bristled. “We don’t have proof of that.”

  “Come on, it makes the most sense. She obviously has a vested interest in your future.”

  “Unless that vested interest is simply that she wants to use me to wage a war on some other faction.”

  “Is that what you think?”

  I shrugged. “It makes the most sense, doesn’t it? Why else would she show me a series of bloody images and warn they could come true if I don’t learn to trust her?”

  “I don’t know that I believe that. I want to know what you think.”

  “I think ... I don’t want to deal with this right now.” That was the most honest thing I could say. “We need to focus on Rafael, getting him back. The longer he’s missing, the more likely it is that Zoe will do something crazy to get him back.”

  Gunner held my gaze a moment longer, as if he was going to push the issues, and then he sighed. He was obviously picking his battles. “I’m more worried about Sami. She’s at an age where she can’t control her impulses. What happens if she flies off half-cocked? She could burn this entire town down with just a simple thought.”

  I’d considered that, too. Since he’d brought up the subject, I figured it was a safe tangent
for us to focus on. “What do you think it was like raising her?”

  He lifted an eyebrow and leaned back, tugging me so I was cuddled in close at his side. “I think her parents did the very best they could to be normal, but they were likely tense a lot of the time.”

  “I think they learned to hide stuff like that from her.”

  “Maybe, but they’re still human, at least on a basic level. They wouldn’t be able to hide everything from her. She’s an intuitive kid, even if her emotions often take over.”

  “That’s because of her age. She can’t help herself. She’ll grow out of that.”

  “Really?” He cocked an eyebrow. “Her mother hasn’t completely grown out of the tendency to act first and think later. Did you see the way she vented?”

  “I did. I also saw her eyes momentarily turn black.”

  I have no idea if I meant for the second part to slip out but the look on Gunner’s face told me I should have kept it to myself.

  “Excuse me?” His eyes went wide. “They turned black? How is that possible?”

  “The Archimage,” I stated. “She absorbed it.”

  He waited a beat and then let his exasperation take over. “And?”

  I couldn’t stop myself from chuckling. “The book was full of magic. Not all of it was dark, though a lot of it was.”

  “Does that mean Zoe is evil?”

  “No.” I meant that to my very core. “She’s not even remotely evil. The book is ever present inside of her, though. I can’t pretend to understand why she did what she did the day she absorbed the book, but she must’ve thought she had no other choice. I’d heard the story but I kind of forgot about it. Actually, I discarded it. There have been so many stories about this particular mage that I figured, in reality, there had to be three different mages and some idiot simply screwed up and attributed all the stories to one individual.”

  “Obviously that’s not the case,” Gunner said dryly.

  I shook my head. “Not by a long shot. She’s everything they said she was, and more. On top of the magic, which is impressive, she’s also a wife and mother. Somehow she manages to do it all.”