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)
Lorelei laughs. “She says she’ll give you your privacy.”
“What was that?” Lucy asks, looking over at me.
“I didn’t say anything, sweetheart.”
She frowns, purses her lips, and swallows hard. “Oh, okay.”
She’s been doing that a lot, asking me or others to repeat themselves when nothing has been said. It makes me wonder what’s tormenting her and what she’s been hearing.
I absolutely despise that I can’t do more to help her.
“I really am tired,” Lucy decides and finishes her tea. “I think I’ll go to bed for the night. I’m sorry that our fun girls’ night went to hell in a handbasket.”
“I had a great time until we opened that box,” Breena assures and gives her a big hug. “Go sleep off the nasty. You’ll feel better tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Lucy kisses her cousin’s cheek. “Have a good night, you guys.”
Lucy and Nera leave the room.
“We’re going,” Lorelei says. “You are to stick to her like glue.”
I nod, and when the women are gone, I lock the door and set one last protection spell before climbing the steps to Lucy’s room.
She’s back in bed with Nera, and she’s already asleep.
I slide into bed with them and pull Lucy close. I need the comfort of having her in my arms.
They’re all hanging.
I’m walking in a forest, through the trees, and everyone I’ve ever known is hanging from the limbs with ropes tight around their necks.
I’m too late.
I search and search for Lucy, still hopeful that she was spared, but all I hear is silence. No one calls out for help.
All that’s here is death.
I swear I hear footsteps behind me. Rustling in the fallen leaves. A twig snapping underfoot.
But when I whirl around, no one’s there.
“Hello?” I call out.
“Jonas!”
“Lucy?” I whip in the direction of her voice. “Lucy!”
“Jonas, help me!”
I’m running now, my lungs burning from exertion. But I can’t get through the mass of hanging bodies. It just never ends.
Suddenly, something falls on me, tackling me to the ground.
I can’t breathe under the weight of it.
“Bark!”
I struggle to sit up, but Nera’s lying on my chest, his nose against mine.
“Nera?” I glance over, but Lucy’s not in bed with me. “Where is she?”
He barks again and jumps off the bed, bouncing and eager for me to follow him. I step into my shoes and hurry down the steps to the first floor—and stop cold.
The entire apothecary shop has been destroyed—everything tossed from the shelves and spilled, shattered, or broken on the floor.
“Nera?”
I hear another bark from the kitchen and almost slip in the remnants of broken tincture bottles on my way across the room.
More destruction here. The wards Breena made have been thrown and smashed against the wall, along with the simmer pot. It looks like a child had a temper tantrum and broke all his toys.
And, standing at the open door, is Lucy. She’s on the threshold, the door wide open, and she’s simply staring outside, her hair fluttering in the cold breeze.
I rush to her, take her shoulders in my hands, and turn her to me. She’s bloody from head to toe, and my stomach jerks as I wonder if it’s her blood or if she struggled with an intruder.
“Lucy?” The white film covering the irises of her eyes makes me shudder. “Where are you going, honey?”
She doesn’t blink. Her eyes don’t focus on mine.
“To him.”
Nera barks and dances beside me. He stares outside, then looks up at me and whines, but when I look, no one’s there.
I don’t see what he does.
I raise my hands high over my head and begin the first spell that comes to mind, sending flames into the outdoor fireplace and the oven here in the kitchen.
Calling on my element and the deities, I repeat the spell over and over until the wind dies, and Nera calms, whining as he nudges Lucy’s hand with his face.
Lucy falls into a heap on the floor, and I finish the spell, then lift her and signal for Nera to follow me.
Without thinking twice, I walk with Lucy in my arms all the way to Astrid and Hilda’s house.
Halfway there, the older witches are already running toward me. They’re out of breath and look terrified.
“Something imprisoned us,” Astrid says. “We couldn’t get out of the house.”
“She can’t stay at her place,” I add immediately as we hurry back to Astrid and Hilda’s. “It’s not safe.”
“We were trying to get to her,” Hilda replies, hurrying ahead to the cottage.
Without asking, I start a fire in the hearth and set Lucy on the couch.
“Whatever has its sights set on Lucy is strong,” I say at last and look up at the women. “It blocked me from her mind and sent me into a nightmare while it terrorized Lucy in her own home. And all of that after we’d all set incredibly strong protection spells. I’ve never seen anything like it.”