Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 168701 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 844(@200wpm)___ 675(@250wpm)___ 562(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 168701 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 844(@200wpm)___ 675(@250wpm)___ 562(@300wpm)
Danica jolts and springs into action, as if she was frozen in animation and those blue lights woke her. She moves like she knows just what she should be doing. She grabs her aunt.
“I need my medicine bag,” she whispers, horror in her eyes. “Like… now.”
“It’s on my bus,” my mate says. “Fuck!”
“Getting it!” Linc shouts and sprints into wolf form, running fast.
“Oh God, Aunt Mimi. Oh God!” Dani cries, rocking with her aunt’s torso in an embrace.
“Rikki, it’s gonna be okay,” I tell her.
“Is it?” she looks at me and looks destroyed. I feel utterly helpless. And I fuckin’ hate it.
“Let’s break the circle up,” Vivica shouts. “Come help. Maybe Lucinda will wake up and can help us. Can you wake her, Erica? Do whatever you did with us?”
Jessica and Veronica jump in and start moving the crystals, brooms, candles, and wooden slabs out of the way.
Blue light pulses from my mate and her eyes are on Lucinda Alexander. The other witch lifts her head and looks around with alarm.
47
Erica
I feel like I’m in the middle of a wind tunnel, the force of the wind pushing me, shoving hard as I harness everything I have permission to use around me. I feel it coming through me from the sky, the trees, even the river. Like all this energy wants to help. I hope I’m reading it right and not harming anything. I pushed that energy at my sisters, and it woke them. At Lucinda. And now at Dani who’s laid hands on Auntie, trying to help her reverse what’s happened. I’m so thankful Grey broke that circle before whatever Aviva wanted to do was entirely done. My energy and Dani’s healing powers, together, maybe…
“She’s still not breathing,” Dani cries. “I can’t find a pulse.
Ronnie moves in and puts her hands on Aunt Mimi while Dani performs CPR.
“Aunt Mimi gave her power to Greyson?” Ronnie says like it’s a question as she’s processing whatever she’s picking up through touch. “To help us?”
Vivica crawls over on her knees, crying.
“Yeah,” Grey says. “Hers and Lyrica’s. She… told me stuff last night about the powers, gave me some advice. I knew what to do tonight because she linked it in here.” He taps his head. “We’ve got a link right now and she called to me and told me what to do and… I know she’s not dead, but it’s quiet now, it’s… I don’t get it.”
My eyes dart to Lucinda and I wonder if she can help, if she can give us any information. She was shocked when she saw what Aviva was doing. She was the first one Aviva attacked.
I stop pushing energy through Dani and redirect it to Lucinda, hoping she’ll snap out of the daze it looks like she’s in and tell us what we can do to help Aunt Mimi. The circle was broken rather than opened and closed, so the water is useless now.
I look at Greyson, who stares at Aunt Mimi with confusion. Because he can’t compute feeling a link to her and seeing her without a pulse.
Aunt Lyrica’s powers went to Aunt Mimi upon Aunt Lyrica’s death. It was how we knew she died. Aunt Mimi got violently ill, was overpowered by the rush of it.
That doesn’t seem to be happening with Greyson here. Instead, he’s emanating power and energy. I can feel it; there’s a lot of it. Ronnie scrambles to put her hands on Aviva’s implements. She lifts something from the ground and then drops it. It’s Aviva’s wand.
“That’s her ancestor’s wand. The witch who had powers like Erica. Wrapped pieces of her broom around it, too, under this leather. I think there’s something in the salt. She paralyzed us all. My god, it’s so fucking dark… the shit her ancestor did, the shit she was being pulled into. Like dark, black, evil quicksand. We could be dead if it weren’t for these charms around our necks. If Erica didn’t have unlimited energy to share with us. If Grey didn’t break the circle and stop her. What did she give Jessie? She opened the bottle of water. She touched Jessie’s altar.”
You’re not ever supposed to fuck with a witch’s broom. I found that out the hard way, too. After the fact when on trial and getting lectured about pulling straw from Aunt Lyrica’s broom. That piece of straw was believed to be pivotal in my spell to make Riley identify me as his fated mate because it had the essence of Aunt Lyrica’s strengths and powers in it.
Lucinda is slowly moving toward us on her hands and knees.
“Are you part of this?” I demand.
“No,” she rasps. “Where is she?”
“The river,” I point. “Are you part of this? Tell me or I swear I will hurt you.”
I’m gathering more energy now. It’s rising in me. I can do damage. I can feel so much power rising with my fury, I’m almost afraid of it.