Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 67614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67614 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
The little face crumples into an expression of rage, and the boy shifts into a man—a tall one who moves to advance on me. I stand my ground and continue talking.
“Anything that is not for my highest good must leave.” It’s growling now, avoiding the smoke from the bundle. “Did you hear me, asshole? Get the fuck out of here.”
It roars in anger, but when I advance with the smoke and clear intentions, it rushes to the window and leaves.
The room changes back to the empty apartment that was here earlier.
And yet, I feel a tingling in my shoulders that tells me I’m not alone.
The growling begins behind me. When I turn, I see a dog. A red one with human eyes, its teeth bared.
“Fuck this.” I raise my hands, trace a sigil in the air, and begin a banishing and warding spell. “Evil hiding in plain sight, I use this spell with all my might. To banish your form and vanquish your hate, this chant today will seal your fate.”
It snarls and then runs out the door. I move to follow, but something shoves me from behind, and then everything goes dark.
“I think he’s waking up.”
I hear Breena’s whisper. She’s here? She must have come to the shop to see me.
My eyes blink open, and I see she’s not alone. Jonas frowns at me, holding a stethoscope to my chest. Breena peers down at me over his shoulder.
“Hi,” she says with a forced smile. “Welcome back.”
I move to sit up, but Jonas pushes me back down. “Stay still. You have a concussion.”
“No, I just tripped over something. I need to get home.”
They exchange a worried glance.
“You are home, Giles.” Breena moves away, and I hear her pouring something into a glass. “Here, you need some water.”
“Just a minute,” Jonas says once more as he shines a light in my eyes. “Better than yesterday.”
“Yesterday?” I stare at him as if he’s gone mad. “What are you talking about? I just fell down a few minutes ago.”
“Two days,” Breena says and bites her lower lip. “We found you above the shop two days ago. There was a fire.”
“What?” I sit up, ignoring Jonas. “Is my shop gone? Just tell me.”
“No. It was only a small fire from the cleansing bundle you had with you upstairs. It set off the smoke alarm, and someone got there before it caused any real damage.”
“Thank the gods.” I lay down again and will my heart rate to slow. “Oh, shit! Mr. Boksich needs his ring.”
“I spoke with him,” Breena assures me. “It’s fine. Everything is okay.”
But it doesn’t feel okay.
It feels off.
“Who are you, really?”
Breena and Jonas share a look, and then Breena’s gone, and it’s just Jonas looking down at me. His lips pull into a sinister smile.
“You’re going to die,” he says.
“Giles!”
I open my eyes and stare up into Xander’s face.
“If you’re not really Xander, I’m going to lose my shit.”
“It’s me,” he says, kneeling next to me. “What happened?”
“Fell.” I sit up, and the room spins. “I think I need to get out of here.”
“Let’s go.”
“I had a lit herb bundle.” I look around and find that it burned itself out. I grab it, and Xander helps me to my feet and down the stairs. “I don’t like that it’s trying to fuck with me in my shop.”
“I don’t either,” he says grimly. “Let’s get you home.”
“No.” I stop. Now that I’m outside and in the fresh air, I feel much more with it. Not dizzy. Not disoriented. “It keeps trying to disorient me. Like it wants to confuse me.”
“That’s pretty much on par for this thing.”
“Yeah. But I’m not about to be scared out of my own business, Xander. This is mine. I’m not going anywhere.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to make it clear, plain as day, that it has no power here.”
Xander nods and looks up at the building, then back at me. “Did it touch you?”
I start to say no but then remember that it felt as if something pushed me down. “Maybe. I don’t think I fell. I think I was pushed.”
“Ballsy little fucker,” he mutters. “Okay, we need some supplies and some witches.”
“I don’t want to call in the coven.” I shake my head. “They’re already doing a lot.”
“There’s power in numbers, but I don’t think it’s necessary to call in the whole coven. We’ll just have the other four join us.”
“Right now?”
“Right fucking now.”
Xander and I reach for our phones and start making calls. I can tell I’ve pulled Breena out of a working haze, but when I explain what just happened, her eyes clear and narrow on the FaceTime call.
“What do I need to bring?”
“Your besom,” Xander says over my shoulder. “We’re going to clean house.”
“I just made a new one. I’ll also bring some floor wash powder and some salt. Oh! And—”