Something Witchy This Way Comes: A Jolie Wilkins Novel (3 page)

I just couldn’t stay at Kinloch Kirk that night. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe it had something to do with Sinjin, who was also staying there, back in his room in the basement. It was like things were just the same as they’d always been, only now Sinjin was being held in confinement with a guard posted outside his door. Or maybe it was just that I needed a little alone time and my house was teeming with people, busy doing this and that. Either way, I had this irrepressible desire to hide away at Pelham Manor, Rand’s home in Alnwick, England. Luckily for me, it was just a hop, skip, and a jump away (otherwise known as a thirty-minute trek straight down the A1 from Kinloch Kirk).

Rand didn’t seem averse to the idea of spending the night at his place either, so we agreed to regroup in thirty minutes, giving me ample time to pack. Yes, as a witch, I could have just magicked myself a clean outfit, toothbrush, and hair tie for the night, but I felt drained and didn’t want to waste my energy. Sometimes it was just easier to act human.

I plopped my backpack on my bed, zipped it open
and piled my pink-and-black pjs inside as I watched my cat, Plum, loop herself between my feet.

“You’re on your own tonight,” I said, and smiled as she purred up at me. Reaching down, I picked her up and snuggled her against my cheek, loving the feel of her soft fur. She started spreading her paws against my neck, like she was kneading bread, and I giggled against her, suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude. Why? Because I loved my life, as complicated as it was. And everything I’d worked so hard for had almost been torn away from me. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Rand, I wouldn’t be here now. I’d be in a parallel life, with no knowledge of what I was missing.

And that was when it struck me. Even if Mercedes and Sinjin believed they were acting in my best interests, even if they were convinced that they were saving me from a death at the hands of the Lurkers, they had gone about it in entirely the wrong way. And for that they deserved to be reprimanded. Because in the end all anyone has is control over his or her own destiny, the ability to make his or her own decisions. And that innate right had been snatched from me.

I walked over to the window, feeling suddenly claustrophobic. I had this sudden and blinding desire to lose myself in the beauty of the clouds as they eclipsed the moon. Even though I hadn’t done any time-traveling myself—well not since I’d traveled to and from 1878 months ago—I still felt exhausted. It was as if the strata of memories I now had from two separate realities were constantly in conflict with one another, and it was hard to remember what was true. It was pretty damn confusing when you had two sets
of memories about the same events. It was taxing—no, exhausting, to say the least.

And what was even more exhausting was trying to catalog my feelings toward Sinjin. I still cared about him, a lot. And, yes, I was still hurt over what happened between us. Did I love him still? I wasn’t sure. Ever since I’d bonded with Rand, the feelings I harbored toward Sinjin had been somehow numbed. I mean, they were still there—it wasn’t as if they’d disappeared—but there was a general detachment that just felt strange to me. Strange because it was as if my feelings and emotions had been papered over rather than fully dealt with.

I just wished, more than ever before, that things between Sinjin and me could be the way they were before he changed the course of history. The sad truth of the whole stupid thing was that I missed his friendship. I missed his witty banter and the fact that I could always rely on him for a laugh. But more than that, I’d felt I could always rely on Sinjin … period. He had been my protector and guardian, yes, but he’d also been so much more than that. He’d been my friend, and the loss of his friendship was impossible for me to accept. Especially because I couldn’t feel the ache and void of losing him.

But what about his ulterior motives, Jolie?
A voice inside me piped up.
You’re remembering the good times and none of the bad
.

I always knew Sinjin was selfish and power hungry, but I had accepted those shortcomings, figuring they were just part of the enigma known as Sinjin—part of what made him who he was. His imperfections had almost been endearing, charming in their limitations.
But after this whole time-traveling mess had reared its ugly head, it was suddenly clear that his imperfections weren’t quite so harmless …

Maybe he was telling the truth when he said his sole purpose was to protect me
, I argued with myself.

You know there’s more to it than that. Sinjin is admittedly selfish, so really, what would he gain by purely doing it to protect you? Nothing. No, he wanted you to fall in love with him so he could control you, and in doing so, control the crown
.

Maybe, but maybe not. That just sounds so cut-and-dried, and you know Sinjin is anything but easy to figure out. No, he’s the most frustratingly complex person you’ve ever met—well, aside from Rand
.

Don’t give him the benefit of the doubt. You’ve always given him the benefit of the doubt, and look where that’s gotten you
.

Well, I’m also not about to believe that he cares only about himself. Not when he’s proven his goodness on multiple occasions
.

There you go, trying to give him human attributes again. He’s not human, dummy!

I know that!
I insisted, irritated with myself for the name calling.
But what if there weren’t more to the time-travel bit? What if Sinjin’s reasons were purely selfless? What if Sinjin really loves me?

Seriously? Wow, you’re dumber than I thought!

“Jolie?” Rand’s voice came from the doorway. I turned to face him and smiled with embarrassment, realizing I hadn’t finished packing before I’d started arguing with myself. And then something horrifying occurred to me.

“Could you hear any of that?” I asked, hoping—no
praying—that the answer was no. I knew Rand wouldn’t take any of it well—his stance on Sinjin was pretty obvious.

“Any of what?”

I took a deep breath. “My argument with myself?”

Rand chuckled and shook his head, his eyes warm as he smiled down at me. “No. Rest assured that you can keep your lunacy to yourself.”

I laughed, and then just gazed at him for a few seconds, still not quite able to believe he was fully mine. Through the course of our relationship, we’d endured so many ups and downs, so much back-and-forth, that it almost didn’t seem real.

“Are you still arguing with yourself?” Rand asked with an amused grin as he crossed his arms against his expansive chest and leaned against the wall.

I shook my head and felt my cheeks color. “No.”

“Well then?” he asked, gesturing toward my half-packed backpack.

“Okay, I’ll just be a minute, promise,” I said with a smile. Rand approached me and took the cat from my arms, pausing to give her a pat on the head. Then he set her down and we both watched her scamper out of the room.

“Jolie,” he said, and I brought my attention to his handsome face. “You realize we can’t avoid this situation forever?”

I exhaled. “Yeah, I know, but I don’t think it will be a big deal for one night.”

He nodded, and I walked into the adjoining bathroom to fill my toiletry case. Emerging, I dropped the case into my backpack and zipped it up. I felt Rand behind me as he reached his arms around me, pulling
me into him. He was so warm, an electrical pulse shot through me at his touch. It reminded me of the first time we met—how he touched me and I instantly knew he was some kind of ethereal being.

“I know you’ve been through a lot,” he whispered into my ear, and squeezed me reassuringly. “Are you okay?”

I thought about it. Was I? I wasn’t sure. I mean, I was happy that we were all back in the proper time, and that I had all of my memories back. So that was a plus. But as far as the future went? That part wasn’t all roses and chocolates. “I’m honestly worried about the Lurker threat,” I said, and turned to face him, running my hands down his shirtfront. “If what Mercedes said was true, then we might be on the cusp of something huge.”

Rand nodded and sighed, tracing the outline of my cheek with his index finger. “If the Lurkers attack us, they attack us.”

I frowned, thinking it wasn’t quite that simple. ’Course, maybe it was. I mean, there was only so much we could do to thwart the danger, only so much we could do to prepare. And the scary part was, everything we’d been doing still wasn’t enough. “Maybe it would have been better for all of us to seek asylum in the past?” I asked, swallowing down the fear that was suddenly choking me.

Rand shook his head. “It would be merely prolonging the inevitable, and as you witnessed yourself, the Lurker threat was just as real two years ago as it is now.”

I nodded. The Lurkers seemed to have the power to
reach me no matter where I was in the spectrum of time. “Then what can we do?”

He cocked his head to the side and frowned. “What we’ve been doing, I suppose. Continuing reconnaissance missions and hoping to uncover any information about them that we can get.”

It didn’t seem like much. But therein was the problem—we just didn’t know what we were up against with the Lurkers. It wasn’t anywhere near as cut-and-dried as the war with Bella had been. Then, we’d known exactly how many were fighting with her, and more exactly, what they were capable of. We didn’t even really know what the Lurkers were—half-vampire, half-witch, or both. And speaking of Bella … “Is Bella still in confinement here?”

Rand nodded. “Everything is as it was when Sinjin was sent back, Jolie.”

Which meant that Bella was still my prisoner. And since she had refused to take a loyalty oath to become one of my subjects, she was still as much of a threat as she had always been. Well, at least she no longer had an army to command. But she still wasn’t exactly a ray of sunshine.

“We can worry about all of this tomorrow, Jolie,” Rand said with a small laugh, then smiled down at me. “Tonight, you need to focus on you and nothing else.”

I nodded and accepted his hand, throwing my overnight bag over my arm, only to have him pull it free, hoisting it over his shoulder. Then he escorted me from my bedroom and down the stairs. When we reached the vestibule, I recognized his black Range Rover just beyond the front doors.

“Your chariot awaits, my lady,” he said with a smile, holding open the front door for me. Glancing at the SUV, I was suddenly overcome with memories—memories of when I first moved to England with Rand, and how he’d trained me to become the witch I was today. It just seemed that every part of me, every facet of what made me who I was, had something to do with this man. It was nice to know that I’d have him by my side as I faced the biggest threat to myself and my kingdom.

He opened the door for me and I threw myself into the plush black leather of the Rover. I buckled up and leaned back in the seat, enjoying the classical music piped from the speakers. In many ways Rand had never outgrown his nineteenth-century roots. It was evident from his manners to the antiquated way he sometimes spoke to his musical tastes.

“What is this?” I asked, motioning to the CD player.

He listened for a moment or two, as if trying to decipher the melody, then nodded. “ ‘Carnival of the Animals’ by Saint-Saëns.”

I just shook my head in wonder and laughed. “Do you have a catalog of music in your head or what?”

He glanced at me and shrugged. “I’m a classical music enthusiast.”

I just nodded and allowed myself to enjoy the music, trying to drown out the nervous humming of my thoughts.

“I can feel your anxiety, Jolie,” Rand said as we pulled onto the A1107, headed for the A1. It was so dark outside, I couldn’t see anything other than the
moon, but even that was periodically shielded by the clouds. “What’s bothering you?”

I took a deep breath, knowing that this would be a touchy subject. “What if what Mercedes and Sinjin said was true?” Rand immediately started shaking his head, but I wasn’t going to back down just yet. “What if they
were
just trying to protect me?”

He glanced over at me and scowled. “Jolie, I nearly lost you.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “I know but—”

“But nothing. They completely stripped you of your freedom of choice. How can that not bother you?” His voice was becoming heated, as if this conversation were quickly on its way to Argumentville.

“It does bother me,” I responded, taking a deep breath. “Of course it bothers me, but I just wonder if it’s worth punishing them, and come to think of it, I don’t even really understand what punishing them means …”

He glanced at me and arched a brow.

“I mean, I don’t know if punishment is going to be a major thing or just a slap on their wrists. And not only that, but our focus should be on the Lurkers and how to stop them. Should we really waste time reprimanding Sinjin and Mercedes?” He took a deep breath but didn’t say anything, so I continued. “You heard Mathilda. Mercedes only acts to protect me and the kingdom.”

Rand was silent for another few seconds, appearing to zone out on the headlights as they lit up the dark road ahead of us. “Perhaps I can apply more lenience to Mercedes … but Sinjin does not deserve it.”

I knew Sinjin would be the sticking point. “I … 
I think I believe him, Rand. I think he was protecting me.”

Rand’s jaw was tight. “No.”

“Try to divorce yourself from the situation, Rand. Try to look at it objectively.”

He said nothing as we merged onto the A1. Then he turned and faced me, looking irritated. ’Course, I didn’t need to look at him to know that—I could feel it churning in my gut. “Jolie, you have the tendency to think people are better than they are. I don’t know how many more times I can warn you against Sinjin. You saw what he did when given free rein. If things had gone his way, he would have forced you and me apart. He used you, wanted to control you, and if I hadn’t been able to time-travel myself, he would have succeeded.”

I swallowed and nodded, thinking it was difficult to make a good case for him. Sinjin really had manipulated the situation and me. There was no point in trying to find the good in him, because maybe Rand was right, it might not exist. But somehow I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to it. Somehow, in my heart of stupid hearts, I was sure that Sinjin did care for me … that his actions were motivated by emotions far different from selfishness and ambition.