As he headed to the circles, he saw Caroline’s car pull up. He changed his course and walked over to her just as she was getting out of the car. The expression on her face was anything but pleasant.
“Caroline,” William said as he stopped in front of her.
“You better not tell me to leave. I’m sick of the people in my life telling me what I can and can’t do.”
He held up his hands in a gesture of peace. “I’m not telling you what to do, but you need to be careful. What we’re doing here tonight is going to be dangerous.”
“Why do you think I’m here? I know it’s dangerous, but I’m not letting Jilly do this without me. Besides, Emily has a new baby; she really shouldn’t be involved.”
He opened his mouth to refute her, but she had him there. “You can be the one to tell Emily she’s not needed, then.” he said, trying but failing to mask his grin.
She smiled and smacked him in the arm before pulling him into a tight hug. “I’m glad you don’t hate me anymore,” she said and released him.
“I never hated you, Caroline,” he said softly. “I just feel like you went about this whole thing the wrong way. If you had come to us from the start, it would not have gotten as bad. While I understand your choice, I don’t like it. I’m sure you found out today that my brother and I are very different.”
Caroline rolled her eyes. “That’s putting it mildly. He assumed that I would just do everything he said and not have any opinions of my own. I love him, but God help me, I do not like him right now. Let’s go break the news to Emily that I’ll be pinch hitting for her, today.”
“Say what you want, I’m not leaving!” Emily shouted from the next room.
“You don’t have to leave, Em. I just feel like I have less to lose if this goes badly. You have a new kid, and you can’t leave her without a mom,” Caroline said calmly.
“I’m not leaving,” Emily said and crossed her arms, daring anyone to say different.
“That’s fine. Go on up with Kat and Hannah, then,” Caroline said. Emily glared at her as she stomped off to join Katya and Hannah.
“You could have been a little nicer, you know,” Jilly scolded.
“Do not start with me, Jillian,” Caroline said, her tone icy.
“Who’s starting with you? I was just stating a fact. I’m sorry if you had a crappy day, but I don’t need your negativity right now. This whole thing is going to be rough enough without you being awful. So either snap out of it or leave. Those are your only choices.” She glared at her sister and stalked off, leaving William and Caroline standing there. Caroline opened her mouth the say something, but William cut her off.
“You heard what she said, Caroline; I don’t want to hear it either. We’ll be down at the circles when you decide to play nice.” He turned on his heels and went to join Jilly, leaving Caroline alone with her thoughts. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she snatched it out. It was Patrick.
“What?” she spat out.
“Hello to you too, my love.”
“What do you want, Patrick? I need to get to the circles before it gets dark.”
“I wanted to apologize for our fight. My behavior was atrocious. Will you forgive me?”
Caroline sighed, smiling in spite of herself. “I’ll think about it; but right now I have to go. I’ll see you when I get home.”
“Be safe, my darling.” Patrick said before hanging up.
She hung up and went to join the others, her heart feeling lighter.
William and Jilly were standing in the middle of the smaller circle talking with Alex when Caroline walked up. “Sorry I was an ass. I’m better now,” she said with a shy smile. “What do you need me to do?”
Alex glanced at her. “Nothing really, you just need to hold hands with them while they recite the spell.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if I was in on that?”
“Marginally, but not enough to make a huge difference; Jilly and William are incredibly powerful by themselves. You will just be there in case something goes wrong and they need assistance. Although I’m not sure how much help you’ll really be. You’re not exactly trained,” Alex said derisively.
“Hey, what’s your problem?” Caroline asked.
“I don’t approve of you or your life choices,” he spat out.
“You don’t even know me,” Caroline said, shocked.
“I know enough,” he said and walked away.
Caroline turned to her sister. “What was that all about?”
Jilly shifted uncomfortably. “Um, he doesn’t really like Patrick too much.”
“Why? I thought they just met.”
“Not exactly. Remember how Patrick got out before?” Caroline nodded. “Katya told me that Alex and Hannah’s mom were engaged when her coven released Patrick. He kind of stole her from Alex.”
“Seriously, he’s mad at me because he wasn’t man enough to hold on to his girl?”
“That’s not all of it. Patrick was the one who called the shadow wraiths to come for Alex.”
All of the color drained from Caroline’s face. “I didn’t know,” she whispered.
“Well, of course you didn’t. How could you have known that? I just found out myself,” Jilly replied.
“Why did he do that? Why would anyone do such a thing?”
“You knew the type of man Patrick was when you got involved with him, Caroline. None of us have been silent about who and what he is. This really should not be that surprising. Look, we can talk about this later. The sun is almost setting.” They all joined hands and waited for full dark.
When darkness had fallen, William and Jilly began chanting the spell, the magic flowing through them like water. Caroline opened her eyes to watch and found them both glowing brightly in the darkness. A few moments after they began the spell to call the wraiths, she heard a hissing noise off to their left. Caroline whirled her head around and saw the glowing red eyes of a shadow wraith looking at them. After ten minutes, all three of the wraiths were within the circle. Jilly opened her eyes and counted to make sure they were all accounted for before squeezing William’s hand. They chanted a different spell that would bind the wraiths in the circle until they agreed to stop hunting Hannah. Wind whipped through the trees and leaves flew in circles around them all. A bluish fog pooled around the wraiths, binding them to the circle. Once Jilly and Will finished, they fell silent, watching the wraiths.
“Why have you called us?” the center wraith whispered. Its voice was a scratchy hiss in the night air.
“We want you to abandon your quest,” William replied.
“Why would we do that for a practitioner of white magic?” the wraith countered.
“Simple. If you do not abandon your quest, then you will be stuck within the circle forever. Nothing but your word will release you; and should you begin hunting her again once you’re free, you will be instantly called back within the circle.”
The wraiths shrieked in anger, causing everyone to cover their ears to drown out the sound. Finally, after a few moments, the center wraith spoke again. “We agree to your terms, warlock, but this is not over.” With a pop, they were gone.
Jilly was the one who finally broke the silence. “Does anyone feel like that was too easy?” William and Caroline both nodded.
“That really was a lot easier than I thought it would be,” Caroline agreed. “I assumed that there would be a fight.”
“It’s not over yet,” William said softly. “We’ll have to deal with them again in the future. We’ll have to find a more permanent solution to this problem.” The trio walked out of the circle and over to the deck where the others were congregated.
“I’ll begin research again in the morning,” Alex said with a smile on his face. “It’s nice to see the good guys win against them every now and again.” Everyone smiled. The feeling of relief was universal.
“Well, this has been fun; but I’m going to head out,” Caroline said and hugged her sister goodbye.
> “Okay, call me tomorrow so we can figure everything out.”
Caroline smiled weakly and went down the steps to her car. Most everyone went into the house to get some dinner, but Emily and Jilly remained on the porch.
“You okay?” Emily asked.
Jilly shrugged. “Honestly? I don’t know if I am or not. This whole situation keeps going from bad to worse. Sure, we’ve got this problem solved; but I know that another one will pop up again soon. There’s no doubt it will be worse than the one before it.” A few tears leaked out of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away absently.
“I want to say something totally inspiring here, but I can’t. What I will say is this: you’ll get through it. One way or another, you and William will make it through this.”
Jilly sighed. “It’s not William and me that I’m worried about. It’s Caroline and me. I’m so afraid that the line in the sand has been drawn and that there’s no going back from it.”
Emily didn’t say anything; she just drew Jilly into her arms and hugged her tightly.
Caroline found Patrick sitting in the living room of the cabin when she got home.
“I take it everything went as planned?” he asked without looking up from his laptop when she came in.
“Yeah, the spell worked and the wraiths abandoned their quest. William thinks they’ll be back eventually, and Alex is going to research something more permanent.” She dumped her purse and jacket on the small table by the door and curled up next to him on the couch. He looked up and smiled. His hair was rumpled and he needed a shave, but Caroline thought he had never looked so good.
“I’m sorry we fought earlier, my love, and I’m glad Hannah is safe,” he said as he pressed a kiss to her temple.
“I am, too, but you’re going to have to come to terms with the fact that I’m not always going to do what you want.”
He sighed. “I know. I wish you would, though.”
Caroline laughed and playfully punched his arm. “Where’s the fun in that? Life would be so boring if I always agreed with you, wouldn’t it?” He tipped her lips up to his and kissed her softly. “Yes, it would, my darling. I quite enjoy our little spats, because then we get to make up.” He turned and pounced on her and she giggled into his lips.
“Wait, there’s something else we need to discuss,” Caroline said as she wiggled out from underneath him.
“Oh, and what’s that?” Patrick asked.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Alex? That was kind of a huge thing to leave out,” Caroline whispered, afraid of what the answer was going to be. Patrick sighed and sat up on the couch.
“What do you know?” he asked her.
“I know that he was involved with Hannah’s mom before you got out. And I know that you set the shadow wraiths on him.” Her voice was barely audible.
“That’s all true. Angeline was involved with Alex before, and also a little after, her coven released me. It wasn’t like I stole her from Alex; she came to me willingly.” Caroline made a rude noise. “Really, Caroline? You asked me about this. I did not really want to tell you. I’m not proud of it.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Go on please.” She motioned for him to continue.
“It wasn’t long before Angeline and I were living together. Soon after that, she was pregnant. Alex couldn’t let her go and he blamed me for her leaving him. I can agree that if I hadn’t come along, then she probably would have been with him for a while longer. But she would have left him, eventually. Angeline was not a sweet person by nature and this is why she and I worked together.” Caroline rolled her eyes at the last bit. Patrick smiled and continued his story.
“Alex would show up at all hours of the night screaming for her. Finally, right before Hannah was born, he challenged me to a duel,”
Caroline laughed. “A duel, really?”
“Yes, a duel. It’s not uncommon for witches or warlocks to fight in duels. As I was saying, he challenged me; but Angeline took pity on him and refused to let me fight. It was worse after that; he did everything he could to make us unhappy. He cast spells on our home and on the people around us. He was a man possessed. I got so sick of it, I finally called the wraiths. I’m not proud of what I did; but it’s done. I can’t take it back. He escaped, so that’s something at least.” His voice trailed off.
“Well, that’s…” Caroline wasn’t really sure what to say to that.
“Yeah, well, now you know. Does this change anything for you?” he asked softly, sadness in his eyes. Caroline reached out and caressed his cheek.
“Of course it doesn’t change anything. But that being said, I don’t like that you did it and I hate that I had to hear it from my sister. If I have to see her smug face another time when she tells me something awful about you, I may just kill myself.” Caroline huffed out a breath, clearly irritated. Patrick pulled her in close and kissed her gently.
“I’m sorry, my love. Do you forgive me?” There was a hint of a smile pulling at his lips. Caroline knew she couldn’t stay mad at him, but that didn’t mean she was going to make it easy for him.
“I think you’re going to have to persuade me,” she said suggestively, as she got up and sauntered into the bedroom.
William and Jilly were cuddled up in her room watching TV in bed later that night. Jilly was restless; she kept shifting around trying to get comfortable.
“Everything okay?” William asked, after she shifted for the fifth time in ten minutes.
Jilly sighed. “I guess so. This has just been a rough week. I’m worried about Caroline. I’m worried about this mystery person who’s looking for Hannah. And most of all, I’m pissed at my grandmother for lying to us. If I had the time right now, I’d track her down and give her a piece of my mind.”
William chuckled. “Anything else you want to add to your worries?”
Jilly laughed. “I know, I tend to take on the world and then I make myself sick with worry. So tell me, are you and Nik really going to let your brother talk to Sabine?”
“We don’t have any other choice at this point. If she knows who’s after Hannah and the others, we have to let him. We’re going to take him tomorrow. For the record, I don’t feel great about it, either.”
Jilly patted his arm absently, as she thought about the situation. “I guess we’re going to have to trust him at some point. He is Hannah’s dad. I think in his own way he loves her enough to do what’s best.”
William looked at her. “I hope you’re right.”
Jilly opened her eyes, and she was in the forest again. The fog was so thick she couldn’t see anything but the trees.
“Hello?” she called out into the darkness.
“I’m over here. You may as well join me,” a familiar voice said in resignation.
“Patrick?” Jilly asked.
“Who else would it be? You always seem to crash my party in the middle of the night.”
Jilly slowly walked through the forest until she found him sitting in front of a small fire. “You’re alone?” she asked him, feeling slightly nervous about what she was walking into.
“Yes, and I had planned on keeping it that way. Since you’re already here, though, you may as well sit down.”
Jilly sat down and they looked at each other over the flames. “What’s on your mind, Jillian?” he asked her quietly.
Jilly sighed. “I just want to know I can trust you. And honestly, I didn’t mean to come here. I’m new at this whole teleporting thing.”
Patrick smiled at her in the darkness. “With this situation, Jillian, you can trust me. I have too much to lose if this goes wrong. Caroline and Hannah are everything to me and I only want to protect them. You can understand that, right?” His expression softened.
“I can understand that, Patrick; but you can’t go all rogue on us. We all need to work together. It’s not going to help anyone if we’re at odds on this. I want to trust you because Caroline trusts you; but you’ll have to earn that.”
He
smiled at her. “Understood.”
Jilly smiled back. “Okay then, I’m glad we had this chat. Where are we, anyway?”
“In the woods behind my cabin.” He didn’t say anything else; he just looked at the flames dancing around the logs.
“Do you think you can give me a ride home?” she asked quietly.
“You can’t be serious,” Patrick said with a laugh. “You popped in here on your own, can’t you pop back?”
“It’s all very new. Usually when it happens, I’m sleeping. So, I’ll ask again, can you give me a ride home?”
Patrick sighed. “Very well then, come along back to the cabin with me and we’ll see about getting you home.”
William was pacing around in the kitchen when Jilly snuck back in. “Where on earth have you been?” he asked as he pulled her in close and nearly squeezed the life out of her.
She pushed him away a bit. “Geez, Will, calm down. I had a chat with your brother, actually. It wasn’t planned; I just sort of popped in.”
“And how did that go?” He raised a brow in question.
“Okay, I guess. We sort of cleared the air.” William made a motion with his hand for her to elaborate on that. “We’re going to have to trust him. As hard as it is for us, we need to believe that he has Hannah’s best interest in mind. It’s not just Hannah, Caroline is in danger from whoever is looking for Hannah, as well. Out of all of us, he has the most to lose if this goes wrong. This person wanted Caroline from the beginning; I doubt that they’ve given up since Sabine failed.”
William was silent for a moment, taking in what Jilly had said. “I agree with you. He does have the most to lose in all of this. I’m still skeptical. I’m going to take it on a case-by-case basis, for now. We’ll start with the trip to see Sabine and go from there.” He exhaled and rolled his shoulders, trying to erase the strain he was feeling. “Now, my darling teleporting fiancé, we should get some sleep.” Jilly smiled and allowed him to lead her up to her room.
Chasing the Witch (Boston Witches) Page 18