Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
I join him, remembering the words.
Evil be gone, washed clean away, leave this witch free of affliction today.
Over and over again, we repeat the spell, until Breena coughs, gasps, and then falls limp in Giles’s grip.
She’s sweaty but breathing and conscious.
“What in the world?” she asks as she looks up at Giles.
“You had an intruder,” he informs her. “But it’s been evicted.”
“I feel so cold.” She burrows against him. “Will you please take me home? I want to get under the covers and warm up.”
“I have a guest room here,” Xander says, but she shakes her head.
“I really want my own house,” she insists. “With my things. I’ll feel better.”
“I’ll take her,” Giles says. “And I’ll stay with her.”
“We will all come to you,” Xander decides. “I don’t want anyone alone tonight. We’re safer in numbers, and if this son of a bitch comes back, I want all of us together to fight it.”
“You know,” I say, remembering the wand that Louisa gave me earlier. “I was given a wand that once belonged to a very powerful witch. It may just help us in this fight. I left it in Hallows End, but it won’t take long for me to go and get it.”
“I think we need all the help we can get.” Giles helps Breena to her feet. “I’ll go get her settled and see you all there soon.”
“Lorelei, I’d like to get some things from the shop,” Lucy says. “Will you come with me?”
“I’ll take you both,” Xander replies and simply raises his brow at Lorelei when she starts to decline. “We can swing by your place, as well, and then go to Breena’s for the night.”
“I like the idea of the three of you together,” I say, agreeing with Xander. I pull Lucy to me and kiss her, hard and fast. “I won’t be long.”
“Just be careful.” She clings to me. “And quick. Because I’m freaked out.”
“I’ll hurry,” I assure her.
I ride with the others as far as Lucy’s house and then, after agreeing to see them at Breena’s shortly, I hurry to the bridge and cross into Hallows End.
It’s not quiet in the village tonight as everyone celebrates Samhain—as they always do, every month without fail.
I hurry to my cabin and find the wand right where I left it earlier today, then turn to return to Salem.
But when I arrive at the foot of the bridge, I hit a wall.
I can’t move forward.
I can’t cross back into the modern day, back to Lucy.
I narrow my eyes and reach out with just my hand, but it’s like touching ice-cold glass.
“Is everything well, Jonas?”
I turn to see Alistair standing not far behind me, a congenial smile on his weathered face.
“Yes, thank you. I was just thinking of a walk on this fine evening.”
“Yes, ‘tis a fine evening indeed. Enjoy it.”
“Thank you. I hope you enjoy the festivities.”
He simply shrugs. “I’m happy the others like it, but I have never been partial to the holiday. Now, Christmas is a holiday that I enjoy. It will be coming upon us soon.”
“Of course.” I offer him a smile, and Alistair nods and then walks back into the village.
When I turn to the bridge again, I’m still trapped, unable to cross.
Where are you? Lucy’s voice sounds frustrated.
Working on getting back. I seem to have hit a snag.
She’s quiet for a moment. What kind of snag?
I’m trapped, Lucy.
Chapter Twenty-One
The plan is coming together perfectly. Perhaps, rather than just one, there will be three this time.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lucy
What do you mean, you’re trapped?
But now, there’s no response from Jonas at all.
“Jonas says he can’t get back here,” I announce, hearing the panic in my voice. “Xander, he says he’s trapped.”
“Fuck,” Xander whispers and wipes his hand down his face. “I should have anticipated this.”
“How can it block him?” I ask as the frustration bubbles through me. My stomach is roiling, my breath coming fast as Lorelei drives us over to Breena’s. “How, Xander?”
“I don’t know,” he says grimly, shaking his head. “Let me think.”
I keep trying to reach out to Jonas, but all I can hear are snippets of words as if he’s trying to speak to me through a cell phone and has horrible reception.
“I will not lose him tonight.”
“We’re going to figure it out,” Lorelei assures me as she parks behind Breena’s car in the driveway. “We’ll get him here. There’s just a weird blip in the matrix or something.”
“This isn’t a movie, Lorelei.”
Nera runs ahead, anxious to make sure that his favorite person is okay.
When we walk into the house, Giles is sitting on the couch, his head in his hands. He looks up at us with haunted eyes and shakes his head.
“This is some fucked-up shit.”
“Is she okay?” I ask him.
“She’s sleeping. I had a hell of a time keeping her awake on the ride home. Finally, I just let her drift off and carried her to bed when we got here. She’s exhausted, as if she ran a marathon or something.”