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  “Shh,” I admonished. “It’s time for a nap. I’ll wake you when the police arrive.”

  “There’s still a way out of this,” Charles barked. “I can give you some of the insurance payout. You don’t have to do this.”

  He was wrong. This was exactly what I had to do.

  “Have a nice night, Charles. I’ll see you in a little bit.”

  I let the magic fly and then stood back to watch Charles Whitney face what he so richly deserved.

  Twenty

  I was still standing next to Charles’ prone body twenty minutes later when I heard running in the forest.

  Tut, who waited with me, twitched his ears. “Help is coming.”

  I knew who it was before I even saw his shadow. “Augie.”

  “I’ll leave you to it.” Tut’s tail slashed as he moved to the other side of the small clearing. “Don’t worry about reporting back to the home office. I’ll handle that for you.”

  I knew it! “Go ahead, tattletale.”

  “I’m going to tell them you managed to balance both sides of your life for a change.” Tut disappeared into the underbrush. “Perhaps you’re showing growth after all. Try not to make a fool of yourself with August Taylor. It will ruin your perfect day if you do.”

  I managed to contain my temper, but just barely. I jerked my head to the right when Augie came crashing through the trees, pulling up short when he saw me and leaning over to catch his breath.

  “You’re okay,” he wheezed out, pressing his side as if to ease a stitch. “I wasn’t sure. I thought … .” His eyes landed on Charles. “Is that who I think it is?”

  “Charles Whitney,” I volunteered, bobbing my head. “It seems he was working with his daughter. They plotted together to kill Blair and then they decided to add Rebecca to the mix.” Rebecca! I’d almost forgotten about her. “Is she … alive?”

  Augie nodded as he studied my face. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to react – I’d used my magic to take out a murderous human, after all – and I could only hope he thought I was in shock. That would be my best defense.

  “She’s alive,” Augie confirmed, his expression unreadable. “The paramedics transported her to the hospital. She regained consciousness as they were loading her onto the gurney but didn’t seem to know who attacked her.”

  Uh-oh. “It was Sheridan. I … did she get away?” The idea of joining a search to find that nutjob filled me with dread. “Maybe we should start putting together teams.”

  Augie held up his hand to still me. “We got her. She wasn’t far from Rebecca. She was cowering behind a bush. She kept waving her hands around, as if warding off an attack. She admitted to everything if we agreed to save her from the attacking bat … something we didn’t see.”

  Swoops. “Oh, well … .”

  “That’s how I knew you were in trouble,” Augie continued, barely taking a breath as he barreled forward. “You’re the only person I know with an attack bat. Sheridan said she was talking to a woman and that woman ordered her bat to attack and then she took off into the woods.”

  I was affronted. “I didn’t order Swoops to attack.” As if I’d need a bat to protect me from the likes of Sheridan. “He did it on his own.”

  Augie chuckled, the sound catching me off guard. “I love that you’re somehow offended by that. Does it matter? The more we let her talk, the more Sheridan basically handcuffed herself. When she mentioned her father’s part in everything, and said he chased a pretty blonde into the woods … well, I knew.”

  “I’m fine.” I gestured toward Charles and wrinkled my nose. “He’s going to have a bit of a headache.”

  “I figured.” Augie took an uncertain step toward me. “Did he touch you?”

  “No. Well, I guess a little. But I managed to get behind him and slam his head into a tree to make sure he was down. I’m pretty sure I did ten times more damage to him than he did to me. He only scratched me.”

  “Let me see.” Augie closed the distance between us and grabbed the hand I held up. There was a thin scratch across my knuckles. “That doesn’t look so bad.”

  “I said I was fine.” I forced a smile for his benefit. “I’m really tired, though.”

  “I don’t blame you.” Augie gave my hand a squeeze before releasing it. “Um … I’ll take care of Mr. Whitney. You’ll probably have to fill out a police report tomorrow so they have everything on record. If you’re tired, you can go home. I’ll handle the rest of this.”

  It was a tempting offer … and one I needed to take. I was exhausted from letting loose two huge bursts of magic in one day. I needed sleep. “I’ll contact the police department first thing in the morning.”

  “Okay.” Augie looked as if he wanted to say more. I hoped he would hold off for at least twenty-four hours. I still needed to think things through where he was concerned. “Go home and rest, Skye. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”

  I was so relieved I almost kissed him. I thought better of it, though. “Great.” I moved toward the familiar path and stilled. “Augie, thanks for coming to my rescue.”

  Augie’s chuckle was soft. “You didn’t need me to rescue you.”

  “No, but it’s still nice you tried. I mean … you showed up. That’s the most important thing, right?”

  “Definitely.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “I’m looking forward to it.”

  AFTER TEN HOURS OF sleep and a huge breakfast of corned beef hash and eggs (I thought Swoops deserved it after his showing the previous evening) I spent two hours at the police station answering questions and filling out reports. Charles and Sheridan were both behind bars – Charles showing no lingering effects at having his head smacked against a tree – and they couldn’t scramble fast enough to point the finger at one another. Sadly, I thought there was a chance Charles might get off with a lighter sentence than he deserved because he could claim he was trying to protect his crazy-pants daughter, but it wasn’t something I could dwell on.

  Once finished there, I stopped at the coffee shop long enough to grab a big dose of caffeine, and then I headed to the newspaper office. It was almost lunch and I was considering ordering something to be delivered. Instead, I found a blanket spread on the ground in front of the building … and a smiling Augie sitting on it as he waited for me to join him.

  I came to a full stop ten feet away. “What are you doing here?”

  “Well, I’ve been giving it some thought.” Augie kept his hands busy by removing things from the picnic basket to his right. “At first I believed the right thing to do was to give you time to think about what you wanted.”

  Hmm. “And you’ve changed your mind now?”

  Augie bobbed his head. “If I give you too much time you’ll find a way to talk yourself out of this. I don’t want that. I want to give it a try.”

  “And what if it doesn’t work? I mean, let’s face it, if two people were ever destined to muck up a situation, it’s us.”

  Augie snickered, the sound low and throaty. “That’s true, but I still want to try.”

  “Why?”

  “Because the idea of not trying is worse than trying and failing.”

  I’d pretty much come to the same conclusion myself, although I wasn’t sure I wanted to admit it because that would be like rewarding him for his cheeky behavior. “Well … I still might not be done thinking about it.”

  I finished crossing to him and tucked my legs under me as I sat on the blanket, leaning to the side so I could peer into the basket. “Is that pasta salad?”

  “From the market. I know it’s your favorite.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I know you better than you think.” Augie’s smile was so charming it melted something inside of me. “I want you to say yes, that you’re willing to at least try.”

  “Why do you need me to say it?”

  “Because you’re a woman of your word.” Augie was earnest. “If you say you’ll try, I can believe it
. It may fall apart down the line, but I know you’ll try. You always follow through.”

  He needed to hear the words. I could understand that. Still, I wanted to delay the inevitable. “If we do this, how will it work?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean … how will it work?” I repeated. “Will we go to restaurants and bars together? Will we hold hands and skip through meadows? Will there be overnight visits? Are you going to complain about my bat? Are you going to give me crap for trying to sucker information out of Dylan? Are you going to, like … kiss me in public?”

  Augie’s face filled with amusement. “Your head is a busy place, isn’t it?”

  He had no idea. “I just want some clarification.”

  “Okay. Fair enough.” He nodded. “We’ll definitely go to restaurants and bars together. We kind of already started that last night. It was fine. Actually, it was better than fine. I enjoyed myself.

  “I can’t really see us skipping through meadows because neither one of us is the skipping sort,” he continued. “I think holding hands will be something that happens on a date-by-date basis, mostly contingent on your mood.”

  I stirred. “Why my mood?”

  “Because you’re moodier than me and pretending otherwise is a waste of time.”

  He was right. “Continue.”

  “I think I’m looking forward to the overnight visits most of all, but they’re not something I’m keen to rush,” Augie supplied. “I think we’ll know when it’s the right time for that. I will probably complain about the bat because it’s odd and strange to have a pet bat.”

  “He distracted Sheridan last night and made it so I wasn’t outnumbered,” I reminded him.

  “Which means I’ll probably end up liking him.” Augie grinned. “I will still give Dylan grief for giving you information. I have a job to do. So do you. That aspect of our relationship probably won’t change.”

  That didn’t sound so bad. “Well, I guess that’s fair enough. We can give it a try.”

  Augie’s lips did a little dance, as if he didn’t want me to know he was secretly pleased by the words. I felt his excitement, though. Oddly enough, I shared it.

  “That’s good, but I wasn’t done.”

  “Oh.” I sucked in a breath when Augie leaned so close our lips almost touched. “What else were you going to say?” My head felt light and giddy. It was ridiculous I could still feel this way at my age … and yet I did.

  “I hadn’t gotten to the kissing part yet,” Augie said. “You wanted to know if I was going to kiss you in public.”

  “Right.” My heart pounded harder. “Are you?”

  “What do you think?” Augie didn’t wait for me to answer, instead slowly pressing his lips against mine.

  My first instinct was mortification. What if someone saw? We wouldn’t hear the end of it for weeks. When he deepened the kiss, though, and my fingertips and toes turned tingly, I decided I didn’t care about any of that.

  What’s a little mortification, after all? There was every chance Augie might be worth every moment of discomfort. I was looking forward to finding out.

  Enjoy the rest of the Elemental Witches of Eternal Springs Series

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  About the Author

  I want to thank everyone who takes the time to read my novels. I have a particular brand of humor that isn’t for everyone – and I know that.

  If you liked the book, please take a few minutes and leave a review. An independent author does it all on their own, and the reviews are helpful. I understand that my characters aren’t for everyone, though. There’s a lot of snark and sarcasm in my world – and I know some people don’t like that.

  Special thanks go out to Heidi Bitsoli and Phil VanHulle for correcting the (numerous) errors that creep into a work of fiction.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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  Books by Amanda M. Lee

  An Avery Shaw Mystery

  Who, What, Where, When, Die

  If it Bleeds, it Leads

  Buried Leads

  Shot Off The Presses

  The Preditorial Page

  Misquoted & Demoted

  Headlines & Deadlines

  Misprints & Mistakes

  Bylines & Skylines

  Off the Record

  Unwritten & Underwater

  Extra! Extra! Dead All About It

  A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Mystery

  Any Witch Way You Can

  Every Witch Way But Wicked

  Witching You Were Here

  Witching on a Star

  Something to Witch About

  Witch Me Luck

  Life’s a Witch

  Charms & Witchdemeanors

  The Trouble With Witches

  Murder Most Witchy

  A Witch Before Dying

  A Breath of Witchy Air

  A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Short

  Careful What You Witch For

  Wicked Brew

  On a Witch and a Prayer

  You Only Witch Once

  The Christmas Witch

  Bewitched

  A Solstice Celebration

  Witchdependence Day

  Happy Witchgiving

  Merry Witchmas

  Four-Leaf Clover

  Thistle While You Work

  Landon Calling

  I Dream of Twila

  How Aunt Tillie Stole Christmas

  A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Fantasy

  Witchy Tales

  A Witch In Time

  Make A Witch

  A Witchmas Carol

  All My Witches

  Close Encounters of the Witchy Kind

  An Aisling Grimlock Mystery

  Grim Tidings

  Grim Offerings

  Grim Discovery

  Grim Reunion

  Grim Expectations

  Grim Holiday

  Grim Rising

  Grim Tempest

  Grimlock Family Shorts

  Grim Like Me

  Grim & The City

  Now & Grim

  Grim & Bear It

  A Mystic Caravan Mystery

  Freaky Days

  Freaky Lies

  Freaky Hearts

  Freaky Games

  Freaky Places

  A Charlie Rhodes Cozy Mystery

  The Bigfoot Blunder

  The Chupacabra Catastrophe

  The Werewolf Whoops

  A Moonstone Bay Cozy Mystery

  Witchin’ USA

  Covenant College

  Awakening

  Whispering

  Conjuring

  Waxing & Waning

  Graduating

  Living Covenant Trilogy

  Rising Covenant

  Dark Covenant

  Eternal Covenant

  Dying Covenant Trilogy

  Haunted Covenant

  Desperate Covenant

  Everlasting Covenant

 

 

 

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