Olivia sighed, shaking her head in resignation. “So… are we clear on how it’s going to go down?”
“More or less,” Theo replied.
“I’m going to bind my father so that he can’t use his powers. At that point, you should be able to overpower him, and Jake can get the cuffs on him. After that, we’ll hand him over to Chief McCallister, and he can do what he wants with him.”
“We can’t rule out your father having the white-haired guy with him,” Jake interrupted.
“Davis?” Olivia mused. “No, we can’t. They seem to have been in this together right from the beginning, so I think we can expect him to be there too. If we can take him, I’m sure the authorities want to speak with him about my father’s escape from Morley Ridge. Do you have more than one set of cuffs?”
“I’ve got cable ties,” Jake replied, more seriously. “They fit easily in your pocket. Theo and I can take a couple of them each.”
“Have you both got your guns?” Theo and Jake nodded.
“I’m still wondering if we should include Chief McCallister in this.” Jake looked at Olivia. “He’s a good guy. I think we could do with a bit of extra back up. We still don’t know exactly what we’re walking into.”
“No,” Olivia stated. “We just don’t know enough about him, Jake. If this was a normal situation, I’d say yes, but we don’t know how he’s going to deal with the whole ‘magic and demons’ thing. It’s not fair to involve him in something like this. Once you know the truth about the magic world we live in, there’s no going back. He doesn’t need to know that the stuff horror movies are made of is real.”
“Fine,” he replied. “I don’t like it, but this time it’s your call.”
“Okay, when we get into the woods, we need to get to Boothe’s Hollow as quickly as possible. As you know, my father is incredibly powerful. Once he casts the circle around the clearing, we won’t be able to cross the line, and all of this will be pointless.” She glanced across to the window. “We’ve got about an hour until sundown.”
There was another knock at the door and Theo disappeared.
“Are we expecting someone else?” Jake asked in confusion.
“Just one more person.” Olivia looked slightly apologetic. “Just try not to freak out too much, okay?”
“Sorry I’m late.” Louisa stepped through the door, carrying a large box of medical supplies. “You have no idea how hard it was to sneak all of this out of the hospital.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Jake frowned.
“Oh, hey, Jake.” She glanced absently at her brother. “Theo, there’s another box in my car, would you mind?”
“Don’t ‘hey, Jake’ me,” he snapped at her before turning to Olivia. “Why is she here?”
“Relax,” Louisa answered before Olivia could open her mouth. “I’m not here to gate crash your little hunting party, but I am here to stitch up any of you idiots if you manage to get yourselves hurt.”
He looked to Olivia, who just shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea.”
“You’re not going into the woods?” he asked Louisa suspiciously.
“No, because I don’t have a death wish,” she answered easily.
He harrumphed, slightly mollified.
Louisa scooped an enthusiastic Beau off the floor and nuzzled his adorable face. “Besides, someone has to watch this handsome boy.”
Theo dropped the other box down beside the first. “My God, Louisa, what have you got in there?”
“A bit of everything.” She shrugged as Beau licked her face happily.
“We should go,” Olivia spoke quietly.
Louisa dropped Beau back to the floor. She hugged each one of them in turn, leaving Olivia until last.
“Be careful,” she whispered. “I just got you back, and I don’t want to lose you again.”
“I know.” Olivia hugged her back tightly. They stepped back, a look passing between them before she turned to the others. “Okay, let’s go.”
