by Deanna Chase
“Okay, so you are serious. Maybe they’re hiding from the chaos.”
“They wouldn’t do that,” he said.
Okay, so now we had the announcer and some of the candidates gone. What was next? Thank goodness Nicolas and Liam were still here. I turned around to see what they thought about this latest development. They weren’t behind me. I scanned the crowd, but still didn’t see them.
“Mr. Jenkins, have you see Nicolas or Liam?” I asked.
He shook his head.
I turned to Annabelle and Jon. “Have you all seen them?”
“Not for a few minutes,” Annabelle said.
Now I was starting to panic. Were had they gone?
“Let’s go look for them.” I ran toward the hallway with Annabelle and Jon following me.
The place was a lot more crowded now that the ghosts were here. I wasn’t completely sure who had or had not been reanimated. When we reached the hallway, I looked to my left and then to my right. That was when I spotted Kristin. She was still with Christian.
“There they are.” Annabelle pointed.
Kristin glanced over her shoulder and saw us. She was acting strange and now that Nicolas and Liam were missing, I had to catch her. Had she seen Liam? I darted down the hallway. Kristin and Christian vanished around the corner. Annabelle and Jon came with me. When I turned the corner, Kristin and Christian weren’t there. There was only one place they could have gone.
“They must have gone outside,” I said as I ran toward the door.
The hotel guests in the lobby were casting strange looks at us. I apologized as I ran.
After pushing through the revolving doors, we stood on the sidewalk like lost little puppies. People rushed past us as if we were permanent fixtures. It would be impossible to find Kristin and Christian in this crowd. It was kind of hard to pause and look for them too with people pushing their way around us.
“Where is everyone going in such a hurry?” Annabelle yelled over the noise.
The constant action was causing me a panic attack.
“I see her,” Jon called out, pointing down the street.
Now we had to figure out how we were going to make it through the hordes of pedestrians to reach Kristin and Christian. How could she move so fast? She had to be using her magic. Her behavior was suspicious to say the least. Why would she leave without saying a word to Liam? And why was she leaving with Christian? Did they know each other? Apparently they did.
“Don’t take your eyes off them,” Annabelle said as we rushed down the sidewalk.
To my surprise, no one was looking at us strangely as we ran by. They were probably used to people doing it.
“They’re going down to the subway,” Annabelle said.
“We’ll never find them now,” I said.
“Can you do a spell to find them?” Annabelle asked.
“How can I do that here?” I asked, looking around at the busy street.
The sound of cars whizzing by and honking made it hard to concentrate on anything. I didn’t know if I would be able to focus my energy. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice. Something had to be done.
“Let’s stand over here.” I pointed to the little coffee shop just up ahead.
“Do you think they’re open?” Annabelle asked.
“It’s New York City, everything’s open all the time,” I said.
“Right. I forgot,” Annabelle said.
The three of us stepped into the coffee shop. Luckily, no one paid us any attention. Jon helped me with the spell, reciting the words and offering his energy. Unfortunately, nothing happened. I expected to get some sort of sign of where Kristin had gone, but there was zilch. The hectic pace must be seriously messing with my magic mojo. Next, I tried another spell to locate Nicholas and Liam. That didn’t work either. To say that I was discouraged would be an understatement.
I sighed. “We might as well go back outside.”
When I looked to my left to say something to Annabelle, she wasn’t there. Jon was gone too. What was happening to everyone? Panic didn’t even begin to describe the way I felt right now. I glanced back into the coffee shop window, but they weren’t there. There was no way they would’ve taken off. Plus, it had only been a split second.
Just then someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me back. I struggled to remain on my feet. If this person got me to the ground then they’d be able to drag me away. Was this what had happened to everyone else? Had they gotten Annabelle and Jon just seconds ago? I struggled to get loose from my attacker. Wasn’t anyone around going to help me? Finally, I managed to get loose from the hold the person had on me. I spun around to see who had attacked me.
Chapter 5
Kristin stood behind me with a crazed look in her eyes. Anger flared in her eyes. She lunged at me again, but I pushed her away before she had a chance to grab me again. I tried to cast a spell to get her to stop from attacking me. Her energy pressed against me and I knew now she had been the reason why the spells I’d just cast hadn’t worked.
“So you’re trying to use magic against me?” I asked.
Kristin didn’t answer, but instead just glared at me.
“Why did you do this?” I asked as I pushed back her magic. “What have you done with Liam and Nicholas?” I demanded.
I thought I’d had bad dates before, but Liam was having one heck of a night.
“They’re away, which is exactly where they need to stay,” she said.
“Why would you say such a thing?” I said. “Where is Christian, and what did you do with the other coven members?”
“That doesn’t matter,” she said.
“This has to do with the award, doesn’t it?” I asked.
“Wow, you’re bright,” she quipped.
“I want to know what you’ve done with my friends.”
Someone bumped into me and I glanced back. When I turned around again, Kristin had disappeared. Why did she kept doing that? Apparently she wasn’t going to give me any hints as to where everyone had gone. Kristin had to be stopped. Whatever she’d done to everyone I couldn’t let happen again. Plus, I had to reverse the effects of this magic and bring everyone back. That was a lot to accomplish for one witch, even if I was the leader.
There was one spell that I had used before. It was powerful and drained all my energy though. For that reason it was dangerous and I didn’t like to use it. This time I had no other options though. After releasing a deep breath, I recited the words. Things seemed to stop around me. Traffic halted, people froze, and time seemed to stand still. Energy hummed through my body like an electrical current. As soon as I’d finished the spell, I almost fell to the ground. My legs were like cooked pasta.
Someone swooped their arms under me and pulled me to my feet. Nicolas was on my left and Liam was on my right.
“The spell worked!” I yelled.
“I’m glad you’re okay.” Nicolas kissed me.
Traffic moved again, and people walked past. No one seemed to notice what had happened.
“Where were you guys?” I asked.
“We were just roaming around the streets, trying to find our way back,” Nicolas said.
“I think someone blocked us from the building with their magic. It was strong,” Liam said.
I spotted Annabelle and Jon headed our way. Now I had to break the news to Liam about his date.
“I need to talk to you.” I touched Liam’s arm.
“This sounds serious.” Liam frowned.
“We’ll discuss it on the way back.”
Once Annabelle and Jon had reached us, we headed back to the ballroom. I filled Liam in on what had happened. He stared straight ahead and didn’t comment. He probably needed time to think. When we walked through the ballroom door there was considerably less people in the room.
Mr. Jenkins spotted us and rushed over. “It’s about time you came back.”
I glanced around. “What happened to everyone?”
He tossed his hands up.
“They left.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “The ghosts left?”
“Well, they’re not ghosts any more,” he said. “I couldn’t exactly stop them from leaving.”
No, I suppose he couldn’t. The board members would want to meet with me over that little hiccup. Now that things had settled down, we went back to our tables. The winner for the Coven Leader of the Year award was announced. Nicolas nor Liam won. Sure, I was disappointed, but Keri Bryant was an excellent coven leader. She deserved to win the award.
Christian had found his way back to the ballroom just in time to announce the winner. He’d confessed to everything, so that he wouldn’t get in deeper trouble with the board. Apparently, Christian had been bribed to vanish with the winner’s information. Kristin had lured Liam and Nicolas away so that they couldn’t win. She was coming back for Austin and Keri when I’d stopped her. Winston was absent when the winner was announced. He’d been the mastermind behind all of this scheme. He’d wanted to guarantee that he was the winner. Kristin had only been Liam’s date so she could help carry out this plan.
“So Kristin didn’t want me for my body after all?” Liam asked with a lopsided smile.
I hugged him tight, and whispered in his ear, “Anyone would be crazy to not want to date you.”
When I stepped away from the hug, Liam had his eyes locked on me for several seconds. Finally, I looked away to find Nicolas walking back over to us. He’d wanted to congratulate Keri.
He took my hand in his. “Let’s get out of here.”
“I thought you’d never ask,” I said with a smile.
With Winston now gone, it looked as if I’d have to find a new coven leader. Luckily, everything had worked out in the end. Except that I never knew what had happened to the former ghosts. Winston and Kristin hadn’t been seen again either. So, maybe things hadn’t really worked out, but I was back in Enchantment Pointe the next day. Being at LaVeau Manor went a long way toward making things right in my world. After all, home is where the witch is.
Click here for Hex the Halls, our bewitching holiday anthology. Release date: Nov 17th.
For more adventures in Halloween LaVeau’s witchy life, check out the entire series!
Forever Charmed—book one of the Halloween LaVeau Series
Charmed Again—book two of the Halloween LaVeau Series
Third Time’s a Charmed—book 3 of the Halloween LaVeau Series
Charmed, I’m Sure—book 4 of the Halloween LaVeau Series
A Charmed Life—book 5 of the Halloween LaVeau Series
For more books by Rose Pressey visit www.rosepressey.com.
About the Author
Rose Pressey is a USA TODAY bestselling author. She enjoys writing quirky and fun novels with a paranormal twist. The paranormal has always captured her interest. The thought of finding answers to the unexplained fascinates her.
When she’s not writing about werewolves, vampires and every other supernatural creature, she loves eating cupcakes with sprinkles, reading, spending time with family, and listening to oldies from the fifties.
Rose lives in the beautiful commonwealth of Kentucky with her husband, son and two sassy Chihuahuas. Rose loves to hear from readers.
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Catatonic
A Sekhmet Short Story
Liz Schulte
Young woman are falling asleep, but never waking up. When bounty hunter, Femi, is asked to look into the case, she’ll do something she never thought she’d do: risk her own life to save a bunch of humans.
Chapter 1
“This is disgusting.” I flung the stringy innards toward the bowl. “And it smells.”
Olivia’s laugh carried in the brisk fall air. “It’s a pumpkin. Not a dead body,” she said, helping her daughter Charlie scoop out her own pumpkin. “Aunt Femi is silly, isn’t she?”
Charlie giggled as she nodded.
“The body would be better.” I scraped the flat spoon deeper into the pumpkin. “Why exactly are we doing this? What’s the pumpkin supposed to do?”
“It lights up!” Charlie said, then looked to Olivia to make sure that was right. “This is my first Halloween,” she said proudly.
My heart squeezed a little. Given everything this kid had been through in her early life, she deserved every ounce of happiness she could find now. I couldn’t think of two better people than Olivia and Holden to keep her safe.
“You nailed it, Charlie. We’ll carve a face in the pumpkin, light a candle inside it, then put it on the porch. It’s fun.”
I scrunched my nose. “When did carving vegetables become fun? If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times: humans are weird.”
“I’m going to be a cat woman for Halloween,” Charlie announced. “Want to see my costume?”
I leaned forward. “You bet I do.”
She grinned and ran into the house.
“Wash your hands,” Olivia yelled behind her. “She’s obsessed with Batman right now.” She watched the door for a couple moments, looking really happy. Then she smiled a little to herself and turned back to me. “Are you working a case at the moment?”
“Nope. Nothing interesting has come up, but usually around Halloween things get a bit crazy.”
“I might have something unusual.” Olivia raised her eyebrows. “Interested?”
“Always. What’s up?” I set my mucky seed-scooping spoon on the table.
A flicker of doubt shot across Olivia’s face and she concentrated harder on carving the jagged mouth Charlie had drawn on her pumpkin. “I probably shouldn’t say anything. I’m not supposed to be involved.”
It wasn’t like Olivia to toss out a lead only to reel it back in. So that meant whatever this was probably had to do with her job as a reaper. Though she was trying, the whole neutrality thing didn’t work easily for her. Technically, she couldn’t take sides. But, then again, she “technically” couldn’t have a family either, but Olivia always managed to break the rules with good intentions—which was probably why we got along so well. All we needed was to find her a loophole. “Well, if you tell me, then you won’t be involved.”
She smiled and shook her head. “Have you seen today’s paper?”
I never read the human news. There wasn’t any reason to. I wasn’t a part of that world. They did their thing and we did ours. It was for the best, really. There was a first time for everything, though. “Actually, I haven’t,” I said. “You wouldn’t happen to have it?”
She nodded. “Beneath your pumpkin.”
I pushed the uncarved squash toward her and looked at the paper. It was the obituary section and one name was circled: Amy Walters. I scanned the paragraph for cause of death, but it didn’t give one. Actually it didn’t say much of anything other than funeral information for tonight. “Huh,” I said, obviously missing whatever she intended me to see.
“She was barely twenty,” she said. “So much life left to live.”
I nodded. Okay, so she was killed before her time. If Olivia wanted me to investigate, that meant the death was somehow connected back to the Abyss. Now we were talking. However, investigating a human crime wouldn’t be easy. The first problem was most humans couldn’t see me. Only those who had their eyes opened to our world. Second, we were supposed to leave humans alone. If our existence was revealed to the human population, a bounty hunter (someone like me) would come after the person who broke the one and only rule we all had to follow. But like a little detail like that would stop me. “Unfortunately humans can’t see me. Maybe Maggie could come along.”
Olivia’s head tilted back thoughtfully. “Maggie’s getting ready to open a bakery. I don’t think she has much time.” She popped a triangle eye out of the pumpkin. “Have you visited Selene’s coven recently? I wonder how
they’re adjusting to life out of the Abyss, especially Jessica. I can’t imagine what she’s been through. It’s too bad she lost her abilities. It must be tough.”
I shook my head. Olivia was definitely never going to be neutral. She couldn’t help but meddle.
The door slammed behind Charlie and she bounded toward us dressed head to toe in black with ears and a mask over her eyes.
“See Aunt Femi. Cat woman. Now I’m just like you.”
I grinned. “Well, I guess if you have to be someone other than yourself, that’ll do.”
I tore off the section of the newspaper and slipped it into my pocket. It looked like I had a new case after all.
Chapter 2
Seeing the coven was good in theory, but they were also eight hundred miles away. Not exactly practical if you couldn’t transport—which I couldn’t. But that’s why it paid to have friends. I swung open the door to the Office and sauntered up to the bar.
“What can I do for you, beautiful?” Sy, the gorgeous half-elf and owner of this establishment, gave me his patented crooked grin.
I leaned forward, matching his smile, and traced a fingernail along the chiseled line of his jaw. “You can take me for a ride.”
His eyebrows lifted and his eyes darkened slightly. “Is that right?”
I leaned in close, my lips nearly grazing his ear. “Yeah. I need you.”
His mouth opened and then closed again.
“To take me to see your cousin.” I laughed, plopping down on a barstool. Sy was too much fun to mess with.
He released a gusty breath, smile gone. “Selene’s busy. What do you need?”
Since Selene had the baby getting in to see her was harder than trying on the crown jewels. “I don’t actually need to see her. The coven would do. I just need a lift.”
He poured a beer and sat it on the counter a few seats down from me. “Do you have a case?” he asked, turning back to me.
“Not exactly.” I could have left it at that, but then he would have refused to help me. “You could say I’m taking a vacation.”
The door opened and another bounty hunter came in and headed directly to the counter. “Beer,” he said to Sy.