To Love a Witch Read online

  Landon’s glare was withering. “I’m going to make you sit down with a dictionary tonight and defend every single word you just used. As for what happened last night being a good thing, I’m pretty sure an argument could be made for the exact opposite.”

  Aunt Tillie blinked and stared at him. “Yup. The doughnut smell was too much. I think we’re going to have to walk it back. Maybe we’ll start with almonds or something. We’ll have to ease you into having this much power.”

  “Don’t even think about taking this smell away,” he warned. “We had a deal ... and I went out of my way to mess with Margaret Little today. You owe me.”

  “Not to take his side, but he did mess with Mrs. Little very well today,” I offered, studying my fingernails. With each passing moment, my agitation grew and it became harder to pretend I was okay with what was about to happen. “You would’ve been so proud.”

  “Fine.” Aunt Tillie turned back to the cauldron. “You can keep your curse for the time being. You’d better start using it, though. You’re going to be the boy who cried doughnut if you’re not careful.”

  The visual made me smile ... and then I remembered I was annoyed with him. “Seriously, what’s going on with you and my dad?”

  “Oh, geez, Bay.” Landon looked away. “It’s not a big deal. They have that huge field behind the bed and breakfast and I asked them if I could set up a private picnic there. He thought I was bringing the basket for us today and I promised to let him approve the menu.”

  “Seriously?” I couldn’t help being a little disappointed. “That’s the big secret?”

  “I’m trying to make inroads with him, Bay,” he explained. “He doesn’t like me. I plan to be in your life for a very long time. He wants to be involved in things that are generally controlled by your mother and aunts. I thought I would help both of us out with this picnic idea.

  “The only problem is that we were supposed to have the picnic this week. Instead we’ve been dealing with murderous teenagers, dead bodies, and a ghost that can kill you,” he continued. “Just once I’d like to be able to pull off a romantic afternoon without a single hiccup. Is that too much to ask?”

  I stared at him blankly. He seemed wound up, which meant that the Dani situation was getting to him, too. “I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say. “You’re very romantic. I love the picnic idea. Having my dad help was a stroke of genius. I ... am so sorry.”

  “Oh, geez.” Landon shook his head. “I’m still going to throw the picnic. There’s no stopping me. As for the other stuff, that’s not your fault. I didn’t mean to yell like that. I’m just ... afraid.”

  “What are you afraid of?” I was truly curious.

  “It’s almost time, Bay. That potion will be finished in less than an hour. Viola will show up around the same time. Then that will be it. We’ll walk into another fight and I’ll be powerless to do anything to help you. It freaks me out sometimes.”

  He was open, emotionally naked, and altogether enticing. “It freaks me out sometimes too,” I admitted, moving to the couch and sliding close. “It’s going to be okay, though.”

  His smile was wry. “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”

  “I think it’s a line we can share.” I pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth and inhaled deeply. “As soon as we have Dani in custody and stripped of her powers, I’m going to sing the Dunkin’ Donuts jingle and roll you really hard.” I paused after the words escaped. “Huh. That sounded more romantic in my head.”

  He barked out a laugh and pulled me tight. “I can’t wait.” The kiss he graced me with was soft and sensual, and for a moment I forgot we were in the middle of a catastrophe. Then a splash of water hit me in the face and I was forced back to reality.

  “What the ... ?” I wiped the water from my face and glared at Aunt Tillie. She had an open bottle of water and looked ready to murder someone.

  “No!” She jabbed a finger in our direction. “I will totally remove the smell if you don’t stop that.”

  “Don’t threaten me,” Landon warned. “We had a deal. In fact ... .”

  I lost track of what he was saying when an ethereal whirlwind arrived in the store. Viola, her hair perfectly in place despite the entrance, looked almost gleeful when she came to a stop.

  “Well?” I asked expectantly.

  “I found her. It wasn’t easy.”

  I smiled, but it was more of a grimace. It was time.

  THE FACT THAT WE ENDED UP BACK at the house on the lake held a certain amount of synchronicity. It seemed there was a message in there somewhere, a lesson maybe, but I came up blank as we parked in the driveway.

  “It’s empty,” Chief Terry noted from the front seat. Thistle sat in the passenger seat, leaving the back for Landon, Aunt Tillie, and me. Landon insisted we sit together so we could talk, but we’d made most of the drive in silence.

  “She’s in there.” I was certain. I wanted to kick myself for not thinking of it sooner. “She was smart to do it this way. She didn’t have far to walk. We were here, but looking in a different direction. She waltzed right into the house and set up shop.”

  “And she has a ghost to protect her,” Thistle noted. “Maybe she’s a genius and we didn’t realize it.”

  “Maybe.” I rubbed my forehead. “Everyone remembers what we’re doing, right?”

  “We remember.” Thistle looked resigned. “This is going to work, Bay. I know it’s a lot to deal with, but it’s going to work.”

  “It is,” I agreed, although I mostly said the words for Landon’s benefit. I recognized that he more than anybody else needed to hear it. “You guys have to stay here.

  Landon scowled. “I’m still not clear about why we have to stay here. We have rubber bullets. We could incapacitate Dani from a distance if need be.”

  I held on to my eye roll, but just barely. “She won’t fall for that.”

  “You don’t know.” He sounded desperate. “Bay, let me go with you. Don’t do this alone.”

  “I don’t have a choice.” Of that I was quite certain. “I know how to fight off Valerie this time. I still can’t have you out there. You’ll be a distraction.”

  “But you can have Thistle and Aunt Tillie?”

  I felt helpless in the face of his angst. “They’re witches. They have magic to protect themselves.”

  “Whatever.” He threw his hands in the air and stared straight forward. We’d put him in the center so Thistle and I could use the doors without risking him having to step outside and make himself vulnerable.

  “I’m not trying to hurt you,” I insisted. “I just ... need you to be safe.”

  “I need that for you too.” His voice was low.

  “Landon ... .”

  “Son, you have to pull it together,” Chief Terry interjected, his voice tight. “I don’t like it any better than you do, but if we’re out there she’ll make a mistake because she’s desperate to protect us. A mistake in this situation could cost her life. You don’t want that.”

  Landon screwed up his face. “Since when are you on her side in situations like this? You’re supposed to be on my side.”

  “I’m on both your sides. She’s doing the best she can. You have to let her go.”

  Landon muttered a few words under his breath that I couldn’t quite make out and then focused on me. His eyes were bright, clear, and full of love. “Don’t you leave me, Bay. Keep your mind on what you’re doing. You’re better than her. You’re smarter than her.”

  “And you have me,” Aunt Tillie added, pushing open her door. “Nobody is badder than me. Now come on. If I have to watch you two fall over each other a second longer I’ll be sick to my stomach.”

  Under different circumstances I would’ve laughed. That seemed like the wrong reaction here. “I’ll come back to you,” I promised, pressing my hand to his cheek. “There’s no getting rid of me. You’re stuck with me ... forever.”

  “You’d better make sure that’s true.” He let loose a
growl as he kissed me, long and deep. Then he squeezed my hand and nodded. “Kick her ass.”

  That finally nudged a smile out of me. “Consider it done.”

  WE WERE BARELY OUT OF THE VEHICLE WHEN I called to the ghosts. Viola was the first to appear. I’d told her it was coming and she seemed excited.

  “I’m like your general, eh?” Her eyes sparkled.

  Aunt Tillie snorted. “Good grief.”

  I ignored my great-aunt and nodded. “You are my general.” I glanced around to count the ghosts I’d managed to call. Seven. It was a decent number, though with the amount of rage fueling Valerie I wasn’t sure it would be enough. “You know what you have to do.”

  Viola nodded. “We need to keep the ghost busy until you can kill the witch.”

  “We’re not going to kill her unless we have to,” I clarified. “If we can break that spell, Valerie should return to some semblance of her former self. When that happens, she can cross over — or at least stop murdering people.”

  Viola smiled. “Maybe she’ll want to stay and hang out. She’s probably not so bad when she’s not all Hulked out.”

  I had no idea if that were true. “Maybe.”

  “Cool.” She shot me two thumbs-up. “We’ll handle the ghost. You worry about the rest of it.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  Viola moved to disappear but I stopped her. “The basement, right?”

  She nodded. “That’s where she is.”

  “Thanks. You’ve gone above and beyond.”

  “It’s fun. I like it.”

  She had an odd sense of fun, but I let it go. Within seconds, Viola had gathered the rest of the ghosts and they moved toward the house. I had no idea where Valerie’s traumatized spirit was, but I had to trust them to handle her. It was Dani I had to worry about.

  “Let’s go,” I said, moving up the steps. “I want to put this behind us.”

  “You and me both,” Thistle intoned.

  I tested the doorknob and found it unlocked. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Dani wanted us here. She wasn’t going to make it difficult for us to find her. I sucked in a breath, pushed open the door, and reached out with my senses. A malevolent force waited inside, but there were no traps by the door.

  Aunt Tillie and Thistle wordlessly followed as I slipped inside. I had to fight the urge to look over my shoulder, to glance at Landon one last time. I feared that if he saw the hesitation he would attempt to run to my rescue regardless. It took great courage to let me handle this. I couldn’t test that further.

  I wasn’t familiar with the house, so it took us a few minutes to find the stairs that led to the basement. They weren’t illuminated. Apparently Dani preferred some cat-and-mouse shenanigans to an outright immediate battle. Perhaps that would play to our advantage. At least that’s what I told myself as Aunt Tillie ignited her locator fairies and the stairwell glowed brightly.

  With each step, my heart pounded harder and my breath came in shorter gasps. By the time we hit the bottom of the stairs, I was an agitated mess.

  There was only one door. I exchanged quick looks with Aunt Tillie and Thistle, got nods from both, and used my magic to blow open the door.

  What I found inside was ... confusing.

  Dani was there, as we expected, but her arms were bound behind her and she was gagged. Her skin was pale, her eyes wide and pleading, and an aura of terror emanated from her.

  “What the ... ?” Aunt Tillie took a purposeful step forward.

  “It has to be a trap,” Thistle said. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  “It’s definitely a trap,” I agreed, things solidifying in my mind. “Just not the trap we thought.”

  Twenty-Seven

  “Wait!”

  Thistle had her hands on Dani’s gag faster than I thought possible and I barely managed to keep my wits long enough to stop her from yanking it free.

  “What?” Thistle froze, her eyes wide. “Don’t we have to know what’s happening here?”

  In an ideal world that would be true. Given what was happening in Hemlock Cove recently, I couldn’t say. I glanced at Aunt Tillie. “Can we trust her?”

  Aunt Tillie held out her hands and shrugged. “Do we have a choice?”

  I cast another look at Dani and then nodded at Thistle. “Fine. Remove her gag.”

  “Yes, your highness,” Thistle muttered, dragging the handkerchief from the girl’s face. “If you try chanting or casting a spell I’ll shove it right back in your mouth,” she warned, her eyes flashing.

  Dani rolled her eyes and focused on me. “I can’t believe you found me.”

  She looked sincere, but I knew better than to fall for her act. She clearly wasn’t alone in this. That didn’t mean she wasn’t a part of it. “I had help.”

  I glanced around the room, frowning. It looked like a standard basement. In fact, other than the couch Dani was trussed up on, there wasn’t any furniture. Apparently Heather hadn’t had a chance to decorate the space before she was killed. “It’s Hazel, isn’t it?”

  I wasn’t sure how I knew. In the moment I saw Dani tied up on the couch, though, I flashed back to Hazel’s reaction at the campground the previous night. Even though she hit all the right emotional notes, things felt slightly off ... and now I knew why.

  Dani nodded, solemn. “I wasn’t expecting it. She came into the cabin last night, right after you guys crossed the lake. She said she wanted to talk — we were talking nightly so I didn’t think anything of it — and she gave me a cup of tea.

  “I was in a bad mood because I thought you were being mean. She started pacing by the window and talking. She was saying weird things,” she continued. “She insisted I drink the tea. I did because I was too tired to argue. After I drank about half of it, she started saying really weird stuff.”

  “Like what?” Aunt Tillie kept one eye on the door as she listened to Dani recount her tale. “She said that you guys shouldn’t be over there, that you were making a mess of things. She didn’t understand why you insisted on being involved in a police investigation. She was really ... like, jittery. It was hard to keep up with her.

  “I started getting sleepy and I realized she’d put something in the tea. But it was too late to do anything about it. I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I was here.”

  “Do you know this place?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No. Can you undo the ropes? My arms are numb.”

  I hesitated as I regarded her. “Are you working with her?”

  Dani narrowed her eyes. “You just found me tied up. Why would you think I was working with her?”

  “Because we can’t trust you,” Aunt Tillie replied simply. “Your motivations aren’t exactly clean here, Dani. You hate us and want to dole out retribution. We have a real problem here with Hazel and that ghost she created. We don’t have time to deal with your nonsense, too.”

  “Then let me go.” Dani kept her gaze on me. “Cut me loose and you’ll never see me again. I won’t attack you. I’ll just ... leave.”

  “We can’t allow that.” I felt sick when I realized I’d allowed Hazel to oversee Dani’s recovery after the previous incident. It was likely the older woman never had any intention of helping the teenager. Dani never had a chance ... but that didn’t mean I was stupid enough to believe anything that came out of her mouth. “You’re not meant to be a witch.”

  Dani’s mouth dropped open. “Excuse me?”

  “You’re not meant to be a witch,” I repeated. “This isn’t the life you’re supposed to lead. You’re not even-tempered enough to wield magic.”

  “And she is?” Dani was incredulous as she nodded in Aunt Tillie’s direction. “Are you kidding me? She’s, like, the worst person imaginable. She does horrible things to her enemies. I’ve heard stories! I know she likes to torture that unicorn lady.”

  “She does,” I agreed. Lying was out of the question given how far we’d come. “Her tortures are little, though. You killed your fa
ther. You tried to kill your mother. I have no doubt you would’ve killed your brother.”

  “I ... that was my aunt.” Even as she said the words I recognized the moment reality finally set in. She was still a child in some respects, but the acceptance on her face reflected adulthood. “I ... just wanted to make my aunt happy.”

  “And your father died as a result,” I said gently. “You’re not meant for the magical world, Dani. Your impulses are ... unfortunate. We’ve tried to help you, but you wouldn’t accept the help.”

  “I can’t.” Dani’s eyes were clear. “Whenever I look at you I see the woman who killed my aunt. I can’t just suddenly be your best friend.”

  “There’s only one way we can let you go.”

  “And what’s that?”

  I nodded at Aunt Tillie, who produced the potion bottle from her pocket.

  “What’s that?” Dani asked, her expression twisted. “Are you going to kill me?”

  “We’re not executioners,” I reassured her even though there was a time I worried we would have no choice but to kill Dani. “This potion will strip your powers. It will make you a normal human. If you willingly drink it, we’ll cut you loose and send you on your way.”

  Dani balked. “How long does it last?”

  “Forever. We could reverse it at some point, but I don’t see that happening. If you want a life — a true life — then you need to drink the potion and put Hemlock Cove in your rearview mirror. You can’t overcome what was done here.”

  Dani’s eyes were wide and pleading as she glanced between faces. “And what if I don’t want that?”

  “You don’t have a choice,” Aunt Tillie replied, matter-of-fact. “We’re going to give you this potion whether you want it or not. We can’t untie you until it’s done. You can have the peace of mind of knowing that you made this choice — the right choice — or you can have us force it on you. The outcome will essentially be the same.”

  “Not quite,” I countered. “If you force us to pour the potion down your throat, we’ll keep you tied up until Landon can get state hospital workers here to take you. You can’t be trusted with the general populace. If you do this willingly, there’s at least a chance for you.”