Chasing the Witch (Boston Witches) (29 page)

“Why on earth does everyone think they can tell me what to do, today?” she said a bit too loudly. “I’m coming, and that’s final. You’re my sister and I love you, regardless of what’s going on in our love lives. I’ll be there in fifteen.” She hung up before Jilly could respond, letting her anger push the pedal to the floor.

Jilly looked at her phone for a minute after Caroline hung up.

William came over when he saw the puzzled look on her face. “What’s up?” he asked.

“Caroline is on her way. She said she had a bad feeling and she’s coming whether I want her to or not. She was all worked up by the time she called me, sounds like your brother wasn’t keen on her coming here.”

William shrugged. “Patrick and I have very different ideas about relationships. He usually seeks to dominate the other person, whereas I like to let you be you.” He kissed her forehead. “When is she coming?”

Jilly sighed in resignation. “She’ll be here shortly. We should probably get back to the circles before it gets any later.” He nodded, and they walked toward the giant circle.

They passed Katya on their way. “Alex said everything is ready. You guys need to be within the center circle before the sun sets or the spell won’t work.”

“We’re on our way, now,” Jilly said.

“Jill, I’ll catch up with you in a minute,” William said. Jilly nodded and continued down to the circles. “Keep her safe, Kat. No matter what happens, make sure she’s safe.”

“You have my word, Will. I’ll do whatever I have to.”

He searched her face for a moment, then his expression lightened. “Wish me luck.”

She kissed his cheek and embraced him quickly. “You’ll be fine. You and Jilly are a force to be reckoned with.” She gave his shoulder a squeeze as she walked past him up to the house.

As he headed to the circles, he saw Caroline’s car pull up. He changed his course and walked over to her just as she was getting out of the car. The expression on her face was anything but pleasant.

“Caroline,” William said as he stopped in front of her.

“You better not tell me to leave. I’m sick of the people in my life telling me what I can and can’t do.”

He held up his hands in a gesture of peace. “I’m not telling you what to do, but you need to be careful. What we’re doing here tonight is going to be dangerous.”

“Why do you think I’m here? I know it’s dangerous, but I’m not letting Jilly do this without me. Besides, Emily has a new baby; she really shouldn’t be involved.”

He opened his mouth to refute her, but she had him there. “You can be the one to tell Emily she’s not needed, then.” he said, trying but failing to mask his grin.

She smiled and smacked him in the arm before pulling him into a tight hug. “I’m glad you don’t hate me anymore,” she said and released him.

“I never hated you, Caroline,” he said softly. “I just feel like you went about this whole thing the wrong way. If you had come to us from the start, it would not have gotten as bad. While I understand your choice, I don’t like it. I’m sure you found out today that my brother and I are very different.”

Caroline rolled her eyes. “That’s putting it mildly. He assumed that I would just do everything he said and not have any opinions of my own. I love him, but God help me, I do not like him right now. Let’s go break the news to Emily that I’ll be pinch hitting for her, today.”

“Say what you want, I’m not leaving!” Emily shouted from the next room.

“You don’t have to leave, Em. I just feel like I have less to lose if this goes badly. You have a new kid, and you can’t leave her without a mom,” Caroline said calmly.

“I’m not leaving,” Emily said and crossed her arms, daring anyone to say different.

“That’s fine. Go on up with Kat and Hannah, then,” Caroline said. Emily glared at her as she stomped off to join Katya and Hannah.

“You could have been a little nicer, you know,” Jilly scolded.

 “Do not start with me, Jillian,” Caroline said, her tone icy.

“Who’s starting with you? I was just stating a fact. I’m sorry if you had a crappy day, but I don’t need your negativity right now. This whole thing is going to be rough enough without you being awful. So either snap out of it or leave. Those are your only choices.” She glared at her sister and stalked off, leaving William and Caroline standing there. Caroline opened her mouth the say something, but William cut her off.

“You heard what she said, Caroline; I don’t want to hear it either. We’ll be down at the circles when you decide to play nice.” He turned on his heels and went to join Jilly, leaving Caroline alone with her thoughts. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she snatched it out. It was Patrick.

“What?” she spat out.

“Hello to you too, my love.”

“What do you want, Patrick? I need to get to the circles before it gets dark.”

“I wanted to apologize for our fight. My behavior was atrocious. Will you forgive me?”

Caroline sighed, smiling in spite of herself. “I’ll think about it; but right now I have to go. I’ll see you when I get home.”

“Be safe, my darling.” Patrick said before hanging up.

She hung up and went to join the others, her heart feeling lighter.

William and Jilly were standing in the middle of the smaller circle talking with Alex when Caroline walked up. “Sorry I was an ass. I’m better now,” she said with a shy smile. “What do you need me to do?”

Alex glanced at her. “Nothing really, you just need to hold hands with them while they recite the spell.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if I was in on that?”

“Marginally, but not enough to make a huge difference; Jilly and William are incredibly powerful by themselves. You will just be there in case something goes wrong and they need assistance. Although I’m not sure how much help you’ll really be. You’re not exactly trained,” Alex said derisively.

“Hey, what’s your problem?” Caroline asked.

“I don’t approve of you or your life choices,” he spat out.

“You don’t even know me,” Caroline said, shocked.

“I know enough,” he said and walked away.

Caroline turned to her sister. “What was that all about?”

Jilly shifted uncomfortably. “Um, he doesn’t really like Patrick too much.”

“Why? I thought they just met.”

“Not exactly. Remember how Patrick got out before?” Caroline nodded. “Katya told me that Alex and Hannah’s mom were engaged when her coven released Patrick. He kind of stole her from Alex.”

“Seriously, he’s mad at me because he wasn’t man enough to hold on to his girl?”

“That’s not all of it. Patrick was the one who called the shadow wraiths to come for Alex.”

All of the color drained from Caroline’s face. “I didn’t know,” she whispered.

“Well, of course you didn’t. How could you have known that? I just found out myself,” Jilly replied.

“Why did he do that? Why would anyone do such a thing?”

“You knew the type of man Patrick was when you got involved with him, Caroline. None of us have been silent about who and what he is. This really should not be that surprising. Look, we can talk about this later. The sun is almost setting.” They all joined hands and waited for full dark.

When darkness had fallen, William and Jilly began chanting the spell, the magic flowing through them like water. Caroline opened her eyes to watch and found them both glowing brightly in the darkness. A few moments after they began the spell to call the wraiths, she heard a hissing noise off to their left. Caroline whirled her head around and saw the glowing red eyes of a shadow wraith looking at them. After ten minutes, all three of the wraiths were within the circle. Jilly opened her eyes and counted to make sure they were all accounted for before squeezing William’s hand. They chanted a different spell that would bind the wraiths in the circle until they agreed to stop hunting Hannah. Wind whipped through the trees and leaves flew in circles around them all. A bluish fog pooled around the wraiths, binding them to the circle. Once Jilly and Will finished, they fell silent, watching the wraiths.

“Why have you called us?” the center wraith whispered. Its voice was a scratchy hiss in the night air.

“We want you to abandon your quest,” William replied.

“Why would we do that for a practitioner of white magic?” the wraith countered.

“Simple. If you do not abandon your quest, then you will be stuck within the circle forever. Nothing but your word will release you; and should you begin hunting her again once you’re free, you will be instantly called back within the circle.”

The wraiths shrieked in anger, causing everyone to cover their ears to drown out the sound. Finally, after a few moments, the center wraith spoke again. “We agree to your terms, warlock, but this is not over.” With a pop, they were gone.

Jilly was the one who finally broke the silence. “Does anyone feel like that was too easy?” William and Caroline both nodded.

“That really was a lot easier than I thought it would be,” Caroline agreed. “I assumed that there would be a fight.”

“It’s not over yet,” William said softly. “We’ll have to deal with them again in the future. We’ll have to find a more permanent solution to this problem.” The trio walked out of the circle and over to the deck where the others were congregated.

“I’ll begin research again in the morning,” Alex said with a smile on his face. “It’s nice to see the good guys win against them every now and again.” Everyone smiled. The feeling of relief was universal.

“Well, this has been fun; but I’m going to head out,” Caroline said and hugged her sister goodbye.

“Okay, call me tomorrow so we can figure everything out.”

Caroline smiled weakly and went down the steps to her car. Most everyone went into the house to get some dinner, but Emily and Jilly remained on the porch.

“You okay?” Emily asked.

Jilly shrugged. “Honestly? I don’t know if I am or not. This whole situation keeps going from bad to worse. Sure, we’ve got this problem solved; but I know that another one will pop up again soon. There’s no doubt it will be worse than the one before it.” A few tears leaked out of her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away absently.

“I want to say something totally inspiring here, but I can’t. What I will say is this: you’ll get through it. One way or another, you and William will make it through this.”

Jilly sighed. “It’s not William and me that I’m worried about. It’s Caroline and me. I’m so afraid that the line in the sand has been drawn and that there’s no going back from it.”

Emily didn’t say anything; she just drew Jilly into her arms and hugged her tightly.

Caroline found Patrick sitting in the living room of the cabin when she got home.

“I take it everything went as planned?” he asked without looking up from his laptop when she came in.

“Yeah, the spell worked and the wraiths abandoned their quest. William thinks they’ll be back eventually, and Alex is going to research something more permanent.” She dumped her purse and jacket on the small table by the door and curled up next to him on the couch. He looked up and smiled. His hair was rumpled and he needed a shave, but Caroline thought he had never looked so good.