Caravan Witch (Questing Witch Book 2)

by Shannon Mayer

  “Alex, Oka, Wade, go back to the truck and take it to the caravan. I’ll be right behind you,” I said. The lie didn’t sound right coming out of my mouth, and I knew Oka heard it. Alex probably did too.

  “No, you’re coming with us.” Oka leapt into my arms, once again in her tiny form.

  “Mac and I will be right behind you. You’ll need a diversion anyway, and as it turns out, Mac is pretty good at those,” I said. And the warlock . . . he was closing in on us. I had to get them out before he found us.

  Before he found me.

  “Pam. Let me stay behind if you’re worried,” Alex said. “The bear and I will take care of it. You take the truck and go with Oka and Wade.”

  “No. It’s me and Mac. Now go. Before your window of opportunity closes.” I pushed a thin rope of spirit through him, pushing him away. Bending him to my will just a little.

  Oka looked at me. “If that happens, we’ll just break it open, right?”

  I held her tightly and kissed her lightly on the nose. She put a paw on my face, not quite pushing me away. “Right. Go break a window, cat.”

  “Right behind us, right?” she asked.

  “On your furry little ass,” I said, sounding more sure than I felt.

  Reluctantly, they took off toward the truck while Mac and I sat behind the building.

  “Okay, what’s up?” Mac asked, clearly completely confused about what was going on.

  I let my head fall back against the wall and looked up at the early morning sky. “I am the caravan witch. Stefan and his gang will never stop going after the caravan. I need to figure out who the Sorceress is and end it. It’s my duty. Not to mention the warlock. He has a part in this too.” I really wished Raven had warned me about him.

  Then again, maybe he didn’t know. I suppose a father didn’t know everything.

  Mac stared at me. “Wait. Did you say warlock? I thought I misheard you before.”

  I nodded, tired just thinking about the newest player. “Yes I did, and no you did not.”

  “Oh, well, that’s just fucking great,” he grumbled. But he didn’t protest, and he didn’t try to talk me out of it. He simply took my hand in his and squeezed. “Let’s do this. Warlock and all.”

  26

  There was only one thing left for me to do now that Oka and Alex were driving away.

  Deal with the warlock.

  I opened to spirit and filled myself to the point of bursting. I was so tired, though, so fucking damn tired I wanted to just close my eyes and sleep.

  But this was the only way to keep the caravan safe. To keep Richard, Lily, Ruby, Frost, Marley . . . all of them safe.

  Stronger with both, the darkness said. Without me, the warlock will take you.

  I didn’t know if that was true.

  But I did know that blending both had worked before and I’d not lost myself to the darkness. I opened to the blood magic and it rolled inside me until it consumed me in a way my other magic never had. Spirit flared around it, almost as if it were angry . . . but then I rolled them together.

  Mac took hold of my arm, and I jumped at his touch. Something inside me was on fire, and I needed more of it. Now.

  “Someone’s coming.” Mac shoved me against a wall. The action lit my whole body on fire and I grabbed his shirt and jerked him close to me.

  His scent filled my nose and fueled my need for him. “What are you—”

  I cut his question short with a kiss. A deep, hungry, kiss I never wanted to end. The blood magic fed on it, and slowly combined with spirit until the darkness inside me glowed.

  Mac responded in kind, devouring me like I was food for his soul. The magic flowed from me to him, and wrapped around us tightly, binding us. He pulled back first, breaking the spell.

  He said, “Pamela,” out of breath.

  “I know,” I managed, just as breathless. But there had been something in that touch I’d needed. Strength. Love. Fire. Passion.

  A slow clap turned my head. “Oh, how precious! Fucking your familiar? Is that even allowed?”

  Mac spun around and shifted right where he stood, blocking my first look at the warlock in person. I stepped around him to better see my adversary.

  Slim of build and taller than me, he had pale hair that was nearly white. I wasn’t sure if that meant he was old, or if he just liked the look.

  “It took you long enough to find me,” I said, rolling the magic around in me.

  “Oh, please. I knew exactly where you were.” He smiled widely, and I tried to look behind him, searching for the Sorceress. I knew she was here. Her magic prickled my skin, making the hair on my arms stand on end.

  The warlock shifted, making his stance a bit wider, and a small hand pushed him aside. “Pips, please. I don’t need you to guard me. If anything, you’ll need my protection,” said a young voice. Childlike was my first thought. Maybe she just—

  She stepped out behind him and my mouth hung open. It was a girl. Not as in just a girl, but as in a little girl. A child. No older than I was when I first met Rylee.

  But that wasn’t what freaked me.

  Mac sucked in a sharp breath, and I just stared at her. She could’ve been my little sister if I had one.

  Same hair, same build, only our eyes were different. Where mine were blue, hers were bright green, and dancing with black magic that rolled beneath the surface, blood magic just like mine.

  “Well, this is a surprise,” I said before I could stop myself. The magic was so thick on her, it was like a second skin, and I wondered if it looked the same on me, or if she’d embraced her magic with less reluctance, so it . . . fit her better.

  Could she really be behind all this?

  “You realize you could help people with your powers, instead of hurting them.” I arched a brow at her.

  A wicked smile spread across her face. “You have been a thorn in the side of the First Witch, and I can see why. Your heart for the humans makes you weak. But she believes you may yet prove useful,” she said as she pulled back the cloak covering her head, showing even more how similar she was to me. Goddess, who was she? Was it possible she was related to me?

  “What exactly does that mean?” I asked, stalling for time. Time for Alex and Oka to get the truck all the way out. Past Stefan and his men. Past the gate, all the way back to the ravine.

  “So, the First Witch wants me as some kind of slave?” I asked, trying to focus on the conversation at hand.

  “To work for the First Witch is a privilege, not slavery. And for you to insinuate otherwise is a slap in her face.” Her youth only made her indignance comical, and I wondered what Alex had thought of me at her age.

  “Well, then, consider her bitch slapped.” I smiled.

  The young girl frowned and flicked her hand up. Honestly, it was barely perceptible, but I saw the stream of black heading straight for Mac. I dove for him, knocking him down, and the magic grazed my leg, doing little more than tearing my pants.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  He nodded. “I don’t know how to fight this.” Frustration made his clear blue eyes dark and I straightened.

  “Together. We fight it together,” I said, trying to sound confident. Truth was, I had no idea how to fight her either. I was just winging it like I always did. But that approach hadn’t failed me yet, so why change a winning formula?

  But the warlock, fool that he was, thought he could take us out himself. Cut us off at the pass or something ridiculous like that. So he pulled a gun and started shooting at us.

  “Are you serious?” I stood, my magic pouring out of me, creating an impenetrable wall. The bullets hit it and fell to the ground with no sound at all. The soft grass beneath our feet caught them nicely.

  “That all you’ve got in your bag of tricks, Pips?” I said to his back as he took off running. “Pips, who the hell is named Pips?”

  “He’s a fool,” the young witch agreed. “And so are you.”

  Her black mist crawled toward us, sparkli
ng as it went, and I let my own darker magic woven with spirit loose to meet her. Mac stood behind me, holding onto my shoulders, giving me strength. I drew from him, pouring more of myself into the magic, trying to overwhelm hers.

  A storm ignited when our magic collided, lightning erupting, thunder crashing around us. An unnatural wind whipped our matching blond hair away from our faces, and every flash of lightning revealed how wild her eyes were with each passing moment.

  But her magic never reached me, and mine didn’t reach her either. Instead, it slunk along like slime, away from us, toward the garden.

  The warehouse was the first thing to go, exploding into a million pieces, and showing the garden beyond it. Chunks of shrapnel fell around us; a few hit me, but I held firm. As did the Sorceress.

  Sweat beaded on my forehead as I struggled to keep the storm contained, but still, the magic escaped. It called for death. And it would take it where it could.

  The nearest animals were a herd of cattle to the left of us. The magic hungrily crawled toward it, and I tried to rein it in, to keep it away from the cows, but I couldn’t, not and keep her magic back at the same time.

  The cows actually screamed when the magic hit them, curling around their legs, and downing them one by one. Some of them tried to run, but they couldn’t. Nothing could outrun the death magic.

  “Pamela,” Mac warned, and I didn’t respond. I saw it. I knew what was happening. But what could I do? This magic came at a price. Hopefully that cost stopped at a few head of cattle.

  Even with spirit at my beck and call, I couldn’t stop it. The combined blood magic was too much.

  The garden turned to death around me, and there wasn’t a damned thing I could do about it. The grass at our feet turned brown, berry bushes near the river shriveled and turned to twigs, and more and more animals cried out in the distance as the magic spread through the entire garden.

  It’s what this magic was.

  Death. Everything we touched turned to dust now. This was the cost.

  “No,” I said aloud as I broke off my connection. The storm stopped abruptly, the wind died down, and my ears rang from the sudden silence.

  I wouldn’t become that. I looked at the girl, basically another version of me, and I knew I couldn’t be as callous about life as her. I was hardwired to save, not kill, and I refused to step that far into the darkness again. If I did . . . I wasn’t sure I’d be able to come back.

  The thought sent a shiver down my spine as the garden settled, and I watched the young girl shake her head in disgust.

  “You are truly weak. I think the maze will break you. But the First Witch thinks otherwise. She thinks it will hone your skills and make you into something useful. Finally. It’s time to take your place among us, Pamela. Or die trying.”

  She flung a hand out, and Mac grabbed me and tried to pull me out of the way as if that would save us from what was coming.

  I had no time to react. Her magic swirled around us, creating a vortex, and sucked us both through it. The garden disappeared, everything disappeared, and the only thing that still existed was my hand in Mac’s.

  27

  Alex

  I hated that we were leaving Pam behind, but I couldn’t stay. I had to go.

  And I knew that Pam had done that, forcing my hand somehow. “Damn it!”

  I fired up the truck packed to the gills with food for the caravan and took off toward the hidden door.

  “That way.” Wade pointed the opposite way I wanted to go, opposite of where people were streaming out.

  “What?” I didn’t want to trust him, but he didn’t smell like a lie. Nor did he smell suspicious like Jasmine.

  “Go that way; there’s more than one way out of this place, and the other door might be less packed.”

  I looked at Oka and she shrugged. “If he’s wrong, we let them have him,” she suggested.

  I nodded and turned the truck to the right.

  Wade was right, though. The crowd thinned out as I drove deeper into the compound following his directions. But I still didn’t feel good about it.

  “Feels wrong to be driving into the compound,” I said as I watched someone run the opposite direction we were going.

  “Trust me,” Wade said.

  Thing was, I didn’t. I didn’t know him. But Oka liked him enough to save him, and apparently welcomed him to the caravan, and that had to be enough for me. She trusted him, at least a little. So I should too.

  “There,” he said as he grabbed my shoulder and pointed. “Right there.”

  I saw it. A smaller tunnel than we’d been through before, but less hidden too. It had locked gates in front of it.

  “Is that even big enough to get the truck out of?” I asked.

  “And what about the gates?” Oka added.

  “We’ll be fine,” Wade said as he held up another set of keys with a jangle. “I grabbed them on our way out of the cells.” I slowed in front of the gate, and he was out before I even stopped. He ran up and I could see him filing through the keys.

  “Maybe he is handy to have around,” Oka said. I shrugged, not sure yet as I looked to my left and right. No one moved around us. The compound had emptied quickly. Thunder erupted from the warehouse and I gripped the steering wheel harder.

  “Pam,” I whispered.

  “She’s fine,” Oka assured me. I had to believe her. I couldn’t drive away thinking otherwise.

  I blinked and Wade was back in the truck. “Go. There’s another gate at the end.”

  We drove into the darkness and none of us spoke. The truck’s headlights created an eerie glow inside the small tunnel. I wasn’t even sure how Wade would get out and unlock the other gate, it was so close in there.

  But when we got there, he did the same thing, jumped out before I could even come to a full stop. He slunk along the edge of the truck until he was out front and opened the gate much quicker this time, knowing which key to use.

  “Okay, we’re clear. Let’s go.”

  I couldn’t believe it. I knew we’d never be clear in this world, but we’d done it. We’d escaped. But still, as we sped away from Stefan’s Breakers and his godforsaken compound, a sinking feeling told me we weren’t done with them. Not yet.

  I lost track of how long we drove. I thought I knew my way back to the caravan and headed in their general direction. Oka sat in silence beside me as we went, and I wondered how Pamela was doing. Were her and Mac headed toward us yet? I didn’t think so. If anything, they felt farther away. But how would I know that?

  I stopped the truck at a random spot after about thirty minutes and turned to Oka. “You hungry?”

  She shook her head no as I reached in the back for an apple. It was sweet, and I swiped at the juice that ran down my face.

  “I can feel her, Alex. She’s still alive. But she’s so far away, or maybe buried? I don’t understand it.” Oka shook her head. I didn’t like that I was feeling the same way. As if miles and miles were between us.

  “We are farther away,” I said.

  “What?” Wade asked.

  “Nothing. Talking to the cat.” He didn’t question me again and seemed to accept all this with ease. What else had he seen behind those walls? I’d have to ask him about it later.

  “No,” she snapped. “Not like that. It’s not a distance you can measure. It’s farther than that.”

  I didn’t know what that meant. But at the same time, I did. I could feel it too. A distance that couldn’t be crossed by running or driving.

  And that worried me. “How can that be? We left her at the compound. That’s where she is. If not there, maybe they are circling wide. That would take her farther from us.”

  But Oka shook her head again, and I smelled the truth in her speculation. Pamela was gone.

  Shitty, shitty, shit, shits.

  “One problem at a time,” I told myself. “We have to get this stuff back to the caravan. Then we can help her and Mac. That’s what she wanted us to do.”

/>   Oka nodded, reluctantly, but couldn’t bring herself to acknowledge our agreement out loud. I didn’t blame her there. This sucked. Pam needed help, and we couldn’t help her. We had to finish what she set us to do first.

  “At least she has Mac,” I said. But even as I said it I had the feeling that she wasn’t with Mac, that they’d been separated. But that couldn’t be. There was no reason for me to pick up on anything like that.

  Oka didn’t say anything to that statement either, and I frowned as my knuckles turned white from my grip on the steering wheel.

  We made our way back to the caravan and ended up having to leave the truck at the top of the ravine. We’d have to get a line of people going to create a conveyor belt sort of thing to get everything down to them. But it would work. We’d manage.

  Richard met us at the bottom with a concerned look on his face, making the wrinkles in his forehead deeper than I’d thought they were when we left.

  “What took you so long? And where’s Pamela? And who the hell is this?” he demanded.

  “Nice to see you too,” I said. “She stayed behind to deal with some problems. She wanted us to get the food to you ASAP. This is Wade. A defector.”

  Wade gave a quick nod, and his eyes drifted over the caravan. “They have a spell on them to hold them here, or they did, didn’t they?”

  I twisted around to face him. “How the shit did you know that?”

  “It’s what Stefan and his boss do.” Wade shook his head. “But I’d guess by the way the people are moving around here now that they are no longer spelled.”

  Richard pushed his way into the conversation. “I don’t know what this guy knows, but he’s right. There was a moment that suddenly a fog lifted. Everyone sat up, ready to leave. Wanting to leave.”

  Wade nodded. “Sounds about right. Whatever it was that Stefan’s boss wanted, obviously she got.”

  What she wanted . . . Pamela. She’d wanted Pamela and now that she had her, she’d released her hold on the caravan? My stomach rolled with what exactly that meant for my friend.