Luke walked into his gym. I stopped on the threshold and just stared, the air going out of my lungs and my mouth drying like the Sahara Desert. I didn’t understand what I was looking at; I didn’t understand what it said or what it meant. What I did know was that Lindsey had written her scrawling vision in spell language.
Foreboding clutched my lungs. Something very bad was coming. Now I knew for sure it involved witches. Which ones? My parents? Damon? Someone else? What were they after? And more importantly, what were they willing to do to get it?
“Beck?” The girls had squeezed past me and stood looking at me in concern.
“What’s wrong?” Jen asked. “You look like someone brained you with a frying pan.”
I could only wish. I liked to tell myself that I wasn’t going to let any witch grab me, or use me, or do anything to me I didn’t want. But the truth was, even though I had a lot of power, that didn’t make me strong enough to stand against someone who’d decided they wanted me and were willing to go to any length to make that happen. I didn’t know shit about creating spells, I didn’t have a lot of experience using my magic, and I had a lot of enemies, most of whom I didn’t know. In all truth, I was pretty much a sitting duck.
If someone kidnapped one of the girls or Ajax or Damon, the way Flannery had taken Lydia’s cats, I would do almost anything to get them back. I’d let them beat me with riding crops; I’d let them use me as a broodmare; I’d give up my freedom and everything I held dear if it would keep them safe.
I absently rubbed my hand over the bandage on my arm hiding Aunt Mitzi’s bite. I hadn’t seen her coming any more than I’d foreseen Garrett coming after me. If my history ran true to form, I wouldn’t see my next enemy coming.
“I think I need to move to Aunty Mommy’s estate,” I told them, my voice sounding eerily calm and hollow. “I think you three need to move there, too. The gargoyles will protect us until we can figure this out.”
I hoped so, anyhow. I’d ask and hope to hell they were willing. And Damon. Suddenly I wanted him back here and safe. I needed to warn him. Maybe he’d have some idea of what Lindsey’s scribbles meant.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
“Beck,” Lorraine said softly, reaching for my hand. “Until we figure what out?”
I shook my head slowly, feeling dazed. “Who is out to get me. I’m just not sure I can count that high.”
The End.
