Authors: Trish Milburn
“It’s Egan. I keep waiting for the inevitable.”
“Don’t worry so much. He seems happy to have a pretty girl in his arms.”
“Egan always has a pretty girl in his arms.”
Keller spins me around so that I’m focusing on him again. “Maybe you’re so used to worrying that you’re doing it when you don’t need to.”
“Maybe.” I’m still not convinced, but at least for now the pair seem to be doing fine. Keller’s right. I have enough to worry about without adding the love-lives of my friends.
Keller and I dance, and dance, and dance. Occasionally, we sit out a song or two and talk with Eric and Paige, who are like industrial-strength glue now. When Toni begs a break at the same time Eric heads for the bar for sodas, Egan swings Paige into his arms and onto the dance floor.
My concern flares again. But when I look at Toni, her attention is on her feet.
“I think my feet are staging a coup against these shoes.”
“No wonder. Not exactly your normal footwear.” The strappy heels she’s wearing are foreign territory compared to her usual sneakers or boots.
“You neglected to tell me endless energy is another one of your witchy powers.” Toni nods toward where Egan and Paige are twirling and laughing.
“Afraid that’s all Egan.”
When Eric reclaims his date, Egan strides straight for Toni with his hand out. She shakes her head. “Dance with Jax.”
Before I can protest, the force of nature that is Egan Byrne pulls me onto the dance floor.
“You seem to be having a grand time,” I say when we’re facing each other.
“I am.”
I glance at the table where Toni and Paige watch us dance, offering them a smile.
“Looks like you and hunter boy are, too.”
I stare at the crowd beyond Egan. “Yeah.”
“But?”
I look up and meet his eyes. “I’m afraid you’re going to break Toni’s heart.”
“Nice to know you think so highly of me.”
“Don’t act so offended. I’m just going by your history.”
Egan’s gaze hardens. “Do I judge you based on your history?”
“You can’t compare the two. I haven’t left a trail of broken hearts in my wake.”
“Haven’t you?”
I start to refute his accusations then realize with horror that he might be right.
It’s not my fault, but my appearance does cause males of all ages, witch and non-witch, to stare. I never examined those looks of admiration too closely because I’d done nothing to deserve them, but what if they’d all fancied themselves in love with me?
Had it been the same for Egan?
“You see, we’re not all that different,” he says.
The song ends and Egan doesn’t seem the least bit interested in dancing with me again. Can’t say that I blame him. But he’s enough of a gentleman to usher me through the crowd back to the table. Once there, he grabs Toni’s hand.
“I can’t,” she says. “These shoes are the spawn of Satan.”
“Then dance barefoot.”
Toni thinks about it a moment too long, because suddenly Egan picks her up, eliciting a squeal of surprise, and carries her back onto the dance floor.
Keller wraps his hand around mine. “You okay?”
I smile and nod. “Yeah.” But for the rest of the evening, Egan’s words ring in my head. Does Keller really like me, or is he just under the same spell so many others have suffered?
No, he’s different, too strong to fall victim to false beauty. I had to believe that. But as I watch how he looks at me, and the way Toni beams at Egan, I have to wonder.
“I think I’ve seen enough of my cousin in girly mode,” Keller says when the house lights come on and the notes of the last song fade. “Let’s go out and see how long it takes them to find us.” Despite my new concerns, I can’t help the surge of excitement.
When we reach the truck, Keller swings me around in front of him. “I know the perfect way to end the perfect night.”
“Oh?”
He responds with lips instead of words. I lean back against the truck as he moves forward. The metal cools my back half, but the heat Keller generates more than makes up for it on the front half.
“God, get a room!”
We jerk back from one another to see Stacy stalking away, her heels clicking against the asphalt parking lot.
“What the
. . .
?” Keller starts.
“Okay, that girl is jealous,” Egan says as he and Toni stroll up holding hands.
“You’d think she’d have given up by now,” Toni says.
I watch as Stacy dives into her car and speeds from the parking lot. There’s something different about her. I get the impression that Stacy isn’t just being bitchy, but is genuinely upset. Maybe she really does like Keller and not only because he’s the one guy who won’t go out with her.
You always want the one you can’t have.
Fear spears through me at the thought. I want Keller, so much. Does that mean I’ll never truly have him, not for long at least?
As we pile into the truck and head down the road toward town, I can’t rid myself of the feeling of doom that’s settled over me. I keep searching the night passing by the windows, looking for whatever it is that has me on edge.
Keller squeezes my hand before putting both of his back on the steering wheel. “This is Shiprock Curve—”
“Watch out!” I reach out, as if I can help him steer away from the tail of the car in the other lane.
Keller jerks the wheel to the right and slams on the brakes. We all jerk forward and it takes us a moment to catch our breath.
Toni leans over the front seat. “That’s Stacy’s car.”
And the only thing that’s kept Stacy from going off the side of the hill into the ravine far below is the tree sitting about halfway back her hood.
We all jump out of the truck as fast as we can. Keller and Egan run toward the car.
“Jax, Toni, stop traffic in both directions,” Keller yells.
Toni and I take up opposite posts, Toni below the curve, me above it. I bite my lip as I watch the guys edge down the embankment to the sides of Stacy’s car. Light rain begins to fall, and thunder rumbles over the mountains.
“Is she okay?” Toni calls.
“She’s alive,” Keller answers.
“And semi-conscious,” Egan adds.
Their words are still echoing when a blast of incredible coldness hits me and steals my breath. I whirl, instinctively knowing where to look. Lightning lights up the sky then, revealing three silhouettes atop Shiprock, their hair whipping in the wind and their clothing blacker than the night surrounding them.
I run, potential traffic forgotten. “Get her out of there, get her out!”
The guys jerk their heads up at me, but Egan’s attention immediately shifts to the rock protruding above them.
“What?” Keller asks.
“Witches,” Egan and I say together.
Keller pulls Stacy from the car and races with her to the truck. Egan uses his true speed and grabs Toni. I slide into the driver’s seat and take off before all the doors are closed. Everyone screams when Stacy’s car explodes behind us. My heartbeat goes stark, raving mad as I feel the force of the trio above begin shoving the truck toward the side of the road. Toni screams. I slam the accelerator to the floor.
“Egan, a little help.”
Egan rolls down the window and climbs into the bed of the truck as I push the truck’s engine to its limits and use my power to keep it on the road.
“Oh, God. He’s going to get killed,” Toni shrieks, frantic.
Possibly, but we don’t have any choice. These are not ordinary witches, and I’m not sure Egan and I could handle them even if they were. It doesn’t seem possible, but I feel no life force from them. But that doesn’t make them any less dangerous. Either Egan tries to fight off enough of the witches’ power to give us a chance to get away or their power will prove too much for me and the truck is going over the side. We’ll all die then. And the trio will keep shoving people off that curve.
The strain on the engine and on my power ease a little. Egan’s doing his job.
“Hang on,” I yell. I fight the steering wheel as we squeal around another curve. Sweat pours off my forehead into my eyes, but I have to let it burn. If I take a hand off the wheel, we’re gone.
Each tenth-of-a-mile tick of the odometer stretches like a lifetime, but eventually I feel the forces working against us lessen. I don’t slow down though. I have to get Stacy to the hospital.
I glance back when Toni cries out. Egan has fallen to his knees in the back of the truck. Then he disappears from sight.
Toni scrambles onto her knees to look out the back window. “He’s hurt.”
“No, he’s just spent. He’ll be fine.”
“Stop, let him back in.”
“Can’t. We have to keep going.”
“She’s right,” Keller says from where he’s holding Stacy upright and as immobile as he can.
I break every traffic law in Baker Gap, but we make it to the hospital in one piece. I’ve barely parked before I’m jumping out of the truck and heading for the ER. “Get Egan into the front,” I yell back over my shoulder.
I nearly slam into the sliding doors. “I need help.”
“Are you hurt?” a nurse asks.
“A girl, outside. She was in a car wreck.” As I lead the way back to the truck, I notice Egan heading for a bench at the side of the parking lot, Toni trailing behind.
Medical personnel swarm the truck. “You shouldn’t have moved her,” one of them scolds.
“Her car was on fire,” Keller replies. “We had to get her out.”
“Why didn’t you wait for an ambulance?”
“It was on Shiprock Curve, too dangerous to sit there in the rain,” Keller says.
Everything goes in a blur as Stacy is wheeled inside. She’s coming around and complaining about her head hurting. I hate to think what would have happened to Stacy if her car hadn’t had airbags. I answer the nurse’s questions as best I can, depending on Keller to fill in information I don’t know.
When the medical staff finally fades away, intent on helping Stacy and the other people in the ER, I wander outside in a daze. When the damp, post-rain air hits me, I begin to shake. Oh, God, Egan and I used our power, a lot of it. We might as well have blinking red target signs on us. A wave of dizziness swamps me, but when I think I might topple over, Keller wraps his strong arm around me.
“Are you okay?”
I can’t answer, can only turn toward him and bury my head in his chest. His arms come around me, tempting me to believe that everything is going to be all right.
“We could’ve all been killed.”
“But we weren’t, thanks to you and Egan.” Keller pulls back enough to caress my cheek with his thumb. “You were amazing.”
I try to smile at him as I slip out of his embrace, but it takes too much effort, like I’m lifting giant barbells at the edges of my mouth. What I’d done wasn’t amazing. I’d been the death knell of my normal life. “I need to check on Egan.”
Before Keller can touch me again, I head for the edge of the parking lot where Toni sits on a bench next to Egan, a tight, worried expression on her face.
“I tried to make him to go in and get checked, but he won’t,” Toni says.
“I’m fine,” Egan snaps as he scoots farther away from her. “Stop hovering.”
My heart breaks when I see how close Toni is to tears.
“You look like all the blood’s been drained from your body,” Toni says, not letting Egan’s foul mood dissolve her concern.
“He’s okay,” I assure her before he can say something even harsher. At least he’s fine physically. I know what he’s thinking because those same thoughts are pressing on me, too. “It’s normal to be physically spent for a while after using that level of magic, especially if you’re not used to it.”
Egan looks up at me then, seriousness residing in his eyes where the teasing flirt usually plays. “Guess we know a little of what we can do now.”
“Yeah. Knowledge is power and all that.” Just not enough power.
“What?” Keller looks from me to Egan and back. “What are you two thinking?”
I break eye contact with Egan and sigh deeply. “The power we used tonight saved all of our lives, but magically speaking it also lit up Baker Gap like a nuclear explosion. There’s no doubt the covens will figure out where we are if they don’t already know.”
“That wasn’t members of your coven tonight?” Keller asks.
“No. That was something else, something tied to that spot,” I say.
“That’s why they didn’t come after us,” Toni says.
I nod.
“How will your covens know then? They’re hundreds of miles away.”