Fate Changer (The Lost Witch Trilogy #3) (20 page)

Zane laughed and twirled a lock of hair around his finger. “You could do it right now and you know it. You feel just as powerful to me as always.”

Sarah frowned and leaned her head on his shoulder. “I don’t feel my power swirling around inside me like I used to. It was always pumping through my system, trying to get out and now, it feels like it’s there, but it’s so deep inside me now.”

“It’s possible it’s dormant. You’ve been through a lot. But if you need it, it will be there. Trust me, you’re still the most gorgeous, powerful witch I know,” he promised, kissing her fingers.

Sarah smiled. “
Even if I’m a ginger, huh
?”

Zane winced and lay back in the sand, pillowing his head on his hands. “Are you ever going to let me live that down?” he asked sound aggrieved.

Sarah lay across his chest and laughed softly. “Actually, no. That little comment pierced my heart a little too deep. I don’t think any magic can heal it either.”

Zane shook his head and cracked an eye open to look at her. “Magic won’t, but love will. And I love you, my beautiful ginger witch. I love you more than my life. I would hate it if you had any other hair color by the way. Your hair suits you so perfectly that it would break my heart if anything happened to it,” he said sounding serious.

Sarah smiled happily, “I was thinking of getting this cute little haircut. It’s kind of short, like a bob almost.”

Zane flipped her over so she was on her back and he was staring down at her. “If you’re done torturing me now, why don’t we talk about where you want to go on our honeymoon. When this is all over, I wouldn’t mind living here in Maine, or we could move back to my home town in Colorado. I wouldn’t mind living in Florida though either. You and me surfing and eating Cuban food. I can imagine it already.”

Sarah reached up and played with his white-tipped blond hair. “I don’t care where we live as long as you’re there. But as far as the honeymoon, let’s go to Australia. I’ve always wanted to see dingoes and kangaroos and swim in shark infested waters. What do you say?”

Zane grinned. “Of course you want a honeymoon filled with danger. It would be weird if you didn’t,” he said before leaning down and kissing her.

Sarah sighed happily and wrapped her arms around Zane’s neck, pulling him closer. She opened herself to him and grinned as her power swept up and surrounded Zane like it used to.

Zane lifted his head briefly and kissed her neck. “See? I told you it’s all still there. I think that’s the problem though. You just haven’t been kissing me enough.”

Sarah wondered if he could be right and decided to make up for lost time. Later they went back inside the house as the sky began to darken and headed to the fireplace to warm their hands.

Lash and Charlie were cuddled up on the couch looking at a magazine together and Sarah noticed that his arm was around Charlie’s shoulders and he looked completely at ease and peaceful. She looked over her shoulder at Lash and he looked up and caught her eyes on him. He smiled at her and winked and she winked back.

She turned back to Zane and spoke to his mind,
You know, I’m actually really happy right now. How weird is that?

Zane pulled her in front of him and wrapped his arms around her as they watched the flames.
It’s not weird at all. That’s what happens when you’re with the people you’re supposed to be with, doing what you’re supposed to be doing. Totally normal.

Sarah grinned and shook her head, but jumped in surprise when Gretchen and Agnes rushed through the doorway, looking flustered and talking loudly.

“Oh there you are. Come in the kitchen! We have news!” Agnes yelled with a smile, pumping her hand into the air triumphantly.

They hurried after the women who had boxes of pizza already laid out on the table.

“Eat, eat. We’ll talk while you eat. Don’t let it go cold,” Agnes said sternly, handing out napkins.

Gretchen was in the kitchen getting drinks and yelled out, “Don’t tell them until I’m there!”

Agnes grinned and sat down at the head of the table, looking very pleased with herself. Sarah obediently took a slice of the vegetarian pizza and studied the older witch. Something good had happened, but what?

Gretchen passed out the drinks and then grabbed a plate and took a piece of the chicken and artichoke pizza before motioning for her mom to continue.

Agnes steepled her hands together and grinned at everyone. “When we were at the store, Harold, the manager came up to me and told me that Beatrice had called a day ago and that I was supposed to call her. He handed me a piece of paper with the message and let me use his office. There’s no way Charles would think of tapping into that phone. Beatrice is one brilliant woman. So I called it, and she answered immediately. I swear, she could be a witch, she is just that smart. Anyways, she told me that she and Teresa have been super busy getting in touch with all the witches on Francis’s list. Twelve of them will be coming here tomorrow. Twelve! They’re going to help us stand up to Charles. We’re going to have back up. Do you know what this means?” she asked, her eyes shining brightly.

No one knew and so they shook their heads. “It means, you little witches,
sorry Lash
, you little blood sucker, that this will be over soon! We’ll be free from Charles and Race and everything. We’ll be free. You kids will be able to go to college next year and start real, normal lives.”

Gretchen grinned and leaned over to touch her son’s cheek. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

Zane nodded, but his smile was kind of small compared to his mother’s and his grandmother’s. “It is wonderful Mom. It also means that we have a show down to prepare for. We only have one day to figure out what our plan is. Lash? Are you up for a little reconnaissance?”

Lash finished his bite of meat lovers and wiped his mouth before grinning. “I’m always up for spying on psychos.”

Zane grinned at Lash and nodded his head in approval. Sarah shook her head with a small laugh. She never would have bet on Zane and Lash ever being good friends. But here they were, each other’s biggest cheer leaders.

No, you’re my biggest cheer leader.

Sarah smiled at Zane and wiped a smear of sauce off his chin. Zane kissed her lightly and grabbed another slice.

They talked about everything from where the witches would stay, to what they would do, to trying to figure out what Charles’s reaction would be. Most likely, he would know quite a few of the witches coming to town and there would be no way they could hide their arrival from him.

Charlie pushed her plate away and grabbed a bread stick, tearing it into little pieces. “This show down thingy. What exactly would that entail? I mean, when Sarah and I had our fake little witch fight, it was kind of cool and everything, but I don’t know how to do a shield of energy like Zane and Sarah. I don’t know how to fight like a witch,” she said, sounding nervous.

Lash reached over and patted her back. “I’ll watch out for you Charlie. Don’t worry about it.”

Sarah shook her head. “No Lash, she’s right. And what about you Agnes? And you Gretchen? Can you guys do a power shield?”

Gretchen shook her head immediately. “No, I’ve never been able to control energy the way you two do. I’m not like that.”

Agnes nodded her head in agreement. “Gretchen and I are very similar. We have the intuition and the dreams and if pushed we can produce small amounts of energy, but we’re just not on the same level as you are,” she said with a frown.

Sarah turned and looked at Charlie. “You can mind control to a certain extent and that takes some power. Have you ever tried to control energy? Like, do you ever feel it rushing around inside of you like water?”

Charlie shrugged and blushed a little. “Sometimes, when I’m with Lash, I kind of feel this energy swirl around my heart and my heart starts to beat fast and sometimes I have trouble breathing. Is that what you’re talking about? Does Lash trigger my power?” she asked, staring at Lash with interest.

Agnes laughed with a big grin on her face and Gretchen leaned over and squeezed Charlie’s arm with affection. “Sweetheart, that is just precious,” Gretchen said with a twinkle in her eye.

Charlie looked confused and looked to Agnes to clarify. Agnes sighed and looked at Lash with an amused shake of her head. “That’s not your witch power Charlie. That’s you falling in love with Lash.”

Lash’s mouth fell open and he turned to stare at Charlie. Charlie blinked a few times in surprise and then looked back at Lash, mirroring his expression. Sarah grinned and glanced at Zane who reached over and grabbed her hand under the table.

Is that how you feel when you’re around me?
Zane asked inside her mind.

Sarah smiled to herself and then looked at Zane, letting all of her feelings show on her face.
That doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel when I’m around you,
she assured him. And then squeaked when Zane grabbed her and kissed her breathless. Sarah pushed him away finally, smiling happily.

No one was paying attention to them though as Agnes and Gretchen were completely focused on Charlie and Lash. Lash finally closed his mouth and cleared his throat. “
Wow
, um, that’s kind of cool,” he said, smiling slowly at Charlie.

Charlie blushed and looked away. “Okay, that wasn’t embarrassing at all,” she said, turning red, but didn’t protest when Lash reached over and grabbed her hand on top of the table, so everyone could see it.

After that, it was hard to get back on the subject of energy shields, but Zane insisted. Lash took off to do some spying while Zane suggested they hold old fashioned lessons like Francis used to do. He figured if he could learn new skills then so could everyone else. Four long hours later, Gretchen and Charlie could form fragile energy shields. Agnes had given up and gone to bed an hour earlier though. Sarah hugged her cousin before walking up the steps to her own bedroom for the night. Zane was back to sleeping on a cot beside her in her room and she was grateful. Not just for the boost it gave her power and recovery, but because she just felt safer when he was near.

Chapter 18 – Jenny

Everyone was sitting at the table, eating waffles for breakfast when Lash sauntered into the kitchen, grabbed a glass of orange juice and then sat down next to Charlie. He smiled at her, pulled a lock of her hair playfully and then snagged an extra plate and forked a couple waffles onto a plate as everyone stared at him silently, waiting for him to say something.

As the silence grew longer and longer, Sarah huffed out an impatient sigh. “Honestly Lash, if you don’t tell us what you found out, I’m going to have Charlie bewitch you into cleaning all the toilets in the house.”

Lash laughed and shook his head and Agnes grinned. “Ignore her Lash. It’s her turn to clean the toilets today. What did you find out sweetie?”

Lash took another sip of juice and then looked at Charlie with an intense look on his face. “
Wait a second
. You haven’t tried to bewitch me, have you?”

Charlie nodded her head immediately. “Well
yeah
, I’ve tried. But it doesn’t work on you. Relax, you’re uncontrollable attraction to me is completely your own,” she said with a straight face.

Everyone laughed at Lash’s expression and then Zane kicked his foot under the table. “Spill it,” he ordered.

Lash sighed and turned serious. “He’s so open it’s kind of insane. It’s like he’s not even trying to hide where he is, who he is or what he’s doing. I think, in his mind at least, he sees himself as so powerful that no one would dare spy on him. He thinks he’s untouchable. It’s kind of insulting to me that he’s not even making an effort. Anyways, Race is being held in the same room as Zane was held in. Charles goes in every few hours or so, tortures the guy a little and gets little tidbits out of Race on everything Sarah. It’s weird though. He’s asking things like what’s Sarah’s favorite color. Who’s her favorite music group? What’s her favorite kind of food? What does she like to do for fun? I mean, it’s weird. He’s a freakin’ stalker,” Lash said and then paused to take another bite of his breakfast.

Gretchen looked ill but smiled kindly at Lash as she passed him the sausage. Lash smiled in gratitude and took five links before continuing. “And Race doesn’t even know any of that crap, which Charles gets, but I think he just wants an excuse to cause him pain. Which Race deserves to be honest, so I was good with it. Charles isn’t really doing any damage either. It’s like they’ve still got that cousin rivalry thing going and he’s just messing around with Race. He’s keeping him around for a reason, that’s for sure. For what, I don’t know.”

Sarah looked at Zane and raised an eyebrow. Zane shrugged in return, not knowing what to make of it. Gretchen looked uncomfortable but Agnes looked pleased. “Excellent. Charles is so occupied having fun with Race that all of our new friends arriving will hopefully go unnoticed.
Perfect
,” she added as she poured more juice in her glass.

Gretchen ran a hand through her hair, looking stressed, as if things were far from perfect. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stand the idea of Charles torturing Race for fun. It’s just sick.”

Lash paused with his fork in the air and looked at her calmly. “
Why?
He sat there and watched
your son
be tortured for much longer. Gretchen, if we had just let Race walk free, he would have immediately started a new scheme to take out Sarah or Zane. You have to know that Zane is just an obstacle to Race. He doesn’t see him as your son or as anything else. I’m sorry Gretchen, but Race is right where he needs to be.”

Gretchen rubbed her hands over her eyes as Zane reached over and squeezed her arm. “I’m sorry Mom. I know you loved him.”

Gretchen gave her son a watery smile and nodded, blotting her eyes with her napkin. “Lash is right. I just have to realize that the man I fell in love with, is not who Race really is. I thought he was this amazing, loving, strong man. But he’s not. It’s just taking my heart time to catch up to reality is all,” she said and then got up and left the kitchen.