Fate Changer (The Lost Witch Trilogy #3) (21 page)

Gretchen’s reaction to Lash’s news put a pall over the small group, but Agnes was determined to keep things upbeat. “Sometimes, we make mistakes when it comes to love, my children. Don’t you worry about my girl. She’ll need a little while to grieve, but she’ll be fine soon. Hearts are pretty resilient little things.”

Sarah rubbed the spot over her heart and silently agreed. She hadn’t said anything, but listening to Lash calmly talk about her father being tortured hadn’t sat well with her either.

Zane leaned over and kissed her cheek softly. “Hang in there. This will all be over soon. And you never know. There’s always the possibility that Race will wake up and change his mind. Maybe hanging out with Charles will be a good thing for him.”

Sarah nodded her head, but looked away. She was caught by Lash, staring at her with a frown. “What Lash?”

Lash shook his head and pushed his plate away. “You and Gretchen. You’re so dang soft hearted. He was trying to kill you just a couple days ago. While he was sitting right here at this table, holding Gretchen’s hand and patting Zane on the back and telling him that everything happens for a reason, he was spooning poison in to your mouth. You should not be feeling bad for him. He’s just as big a monster as Charles is.
More so
. At least Charles is up front and tells the truth about his plans and what he wants. Race just lies and eases his way in, and plays with people’s hearts and emotions. He’s pathetic Sarah. Don’t waste another second of your life pitying him. He doesn’t deserve it,” Lash said, turning red in the face.

Charlie nodded her head in complete agreement. Agnes looked at Lash and raised an eyebrow. “You know Lash, you’re kind of brilliant. You cut right down to the matter of things. I’m glad all of us tender hearted women have you around to keep us on track.”

Zane shook his head looking offended. “
And me
? Am I good for nothing here?”

Lash grinned and rested his head in his hands. “I hate to break it to you Zane, but I’m kind of the Alpha dog of this pack now. But don’t worry, Betas are useful.
Occasionally
.”

Zane laughed at that and stood up, walking over to stand behind Lash’s chair. “Dude, I’ve been Alpha since day one. You’re welcome to try for the title though,” he said and tipped Lash’s chair back making him fall, before catching him at the last second.

Lash sat up straight in his chair and then stood up too. “Listen bro, any time you want to take things outside, you say the word,” he said with a friendly smile that contradicted the serious glint in his eyes.

Zane put his hands on his waist, ignoring Sarah’s glare. “I like the sound of that. But just remember
, I don’t like to play fair
.”

Lash winced, obviously remembering something and sat down. “Fine, I will concede that it’s possible that we’re
both
Alphas.”

Zane laughed and slapped Lash on the back. “Whatever makes you happy.”

Sarah pointed to Zane’s chair and raised her eyebrow. Zane’s cocky smiled disappeared immediately as he moved to sit down again and Charlie laughed.

“
Now
who’s the Alpha?” Charlie asked, grinning when Sarah raised her hand.

Agnes shook her head in amusement as she snagged the last piece of sausage. Charlie took a sip of orange juice and studied the people surrounding her and then sat her glass down and sat up in her chair.

“I’d like everyone’s opinion if you don’t mind. I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I’d like to change my name. I can’t stand the fact that I’m named after my father. When I read over my mom’s medical charts, the only reason the nurses named me Charlie, was because my mom had been screaming the name Charles when they’d brought her in the first day. I refuse to be named after the man who raped my mom. So, I’m open to suggestions,” she said, looking fierce, determined and proud.

Lash smiled sadly at her and reached out for her hand. Sarah closed her eyes, feeling for a moment what life must have been like for her cousin.

“Charlie, I like your idea. Let’s do it. So what names do you like? Why don’t we grab some paper and just write a few down and see what fits?” Sarah said, putting a smile on her face.

Zane smiled sadly at Charlie and nodded. “I think you look like a Shelby.”

Charlie winced. “
Wow
, really? Okay, next one,” she said as Agnes wrote down everyone’s suggestions.

Lash looked like he was concentrating and then raised his hand for attention. “I’ve got it. You and Sarah are cousins, right? She’s got an old fashioned witchy name. You should too. What about Hester?”

Sarah snickered at Lash’s name and looked down quickly when he glared at her. Charlie tilted her head as if she were thinking about it but shot a horrified look at Sarah over her shoulder. “Um, let’s put it down on the list. It’s very unique Lash. Thank you.”

Lash looked pleased and sat back as if it were settled. Gretchen came back into the kitchen, and got caught up to speed on what they were doing and smiled excitedly. “I can help you file the papers for changing your name legally down at the clerk’s office this afternoon.”

Charlie looked excited and drummed her fingers on the table. “Come on Sarah, you’re a girl. What would you change your name to if you could?”

Sarah sighed and sat back as Zane put his arm around her shoulders. “Well, I kind of like Lash’s idea of an old fashioned name. And I think it would mean a lot to your mom, if maybe, um, you were named after your grandmother. Wasn’t your grandmother’s name, Jenny?”

Charlie looked stunned by the suggestion and nodded her head slowly, but then surprised everyone when a single tear slipped down her cheek. She wiped it away automatically as her face brightened in a smile. “
I love it,”
she whispered, looking at Sarah in gratitude. “From now on, I want everyone to call me Jenny. My mom will love it too. I can’t wait for her to get back so I can tell her,” she said, looking at everyone around the table with eyes shining in happiness.

Sarah got up and went around the table to hug her cousin. “It fits you. You were never a Charlie. Inside, you were always beautiful Jenny.”

Agnes sniffed and wiped her own eyes. “
Jenny
, tonight in honor of your re-naming, we’ll have a special dinner. What would you like?”

Jenny clapped her hands, delighted. “Agnes, everything you make is delicious. Surprise me. Gretchen? Can we go now? I don’t want to wait another second.”

Gretchen smiled and hugged Jenny. “Of course. Mom, why don’t you come with us and we’ll stop by the store so we can get all the ingredients you need for tonight.”

Agnes hopped up and went in search of her purse. Lash got up from the table and walked over to Jenny and pulled her into his arms. Jenny’s cheeks turned bright pink as Lash hugged her and then surprised her by leaning down and kissing her lightly on the lips. “When this is all over Jenny, would you like to go out with me?”

Jenny’s eyes went big and round and her mouth opened in surprise. She jumped up and threw her arms around Lash’s neck and surprised him by giving him a big smacking kiss. “You better believe it,” she said.

Chapter 19 – The Help

After Jenny, Agnes and Gretchen left, Sarah, Zane and Lash decided to go up to the widow’s walk. Zane and Lash were bored so they decided to have an arm wrestling contest. Zane kept cheating by controlling the blood in Lash’s arm, but they were having fun arguing, so Sarah ignored them. She practiced floating around the roof. Now that her body was free from the poisons her father had given her, she should be able to access her power just as easily as she had before. But it took twice the effort now and she couldn’t figure out why. When she was able to finally get her energy to flow, she felt great. She felt normal and powerful but then it would fade and it would take just as long to get the flow back, no matter how many times she tried.

She walked over to the front of the house and leaned against the railing, frustrated and worried. She leaned her chin on her hands and sighed despondently but stood up straight as she caught the rise of dust in the distance. Someone was coming down the gravel road towards the house. Sarah bit her lip in excitement. It could be Agnes coming back because she’d forgotten something,
or
it could be Beatrice and Teresa.

“Guys! Come here. Someone’s coming!” she yelled over her shoulder. Lash and Zane immediately came to her side, staring suspiciously at the road.

Sarah frowned in disappointment when she saw the black and white paint job and the lights on top of the car. It was a policeman.

“Great. He’s here to tell us Francis died of natural causes, how much do you want to bet?” Lash said disgustedly.

Zane frowned darkly at the car and glanced at Sarah. “If this is trouble, we’re going to have to do a little mind control. We’ve got everyone coming in today. We can’t be dealing with red tape, or trumped up charges from Charles or anything else. Geeze, this is giving me a head ache already,” he said, motioning Lash and Sarah to the door.

Sarah sighed and preceded them down the stairs. She hoped for good news, but with their luck, Charles was controlling the whole police department now and she and Zane were wanted for disturbing the peace or jay walking. This, she did not need right now.

They waited for the knock and then Sarah put on a polite smile and answered the door.

It was a police officer she didn’t recognize. He was young, tall and had short dark brown hair. And he looked just as irritated as she felt.

“Good morning. I assume you are Miss Hudson?” he asked calmly.

Sarah glanced nervously at Zane before answering in the affirmative. “Yes, that’s me. What can we do for you officer?”

“My name is Officer Baker. I’d like you to come down to the station with me. I need to question you about the disappearance of Mason Crossly. His body washed up on the beach a few miles down from here and we had a report that he was last seen with you.”

Sarah’s mouth fell open in shock and she turned and looked at Zane who looked just as surprised. She swallowed and looked at Lash, but he was staring angrily at the officer.

“I’m sure Sarah will want a lawyer present before she answers any questions,” Lash said, crossing his arms over his chest and looking mean.

Sarah opened her mouth to say something, but Zane’s voice in her mind stopped her.
Let me handle this.

Officer Baker looked unimpressed by Lash and turned to speak to Sarah, but stopped and looked confused for a moment. He then looked down at his feet and rubbed the bridge of his nose before looking up at Sarah. He tilted his head and stared at her as if he were confused she was standing there in front of him.

“Hmm, okay then. Um, I’m going to take off now. If you have any more questions for me, just call down to the station and ask for Officer Baker. Good bye now,” he said and then turned and started walking down the stairs.

“Wait!” yelled Sarah, holding out a hand.

Zane sighed and rubbed his forehead, muttering under his breath. Sarah ignored him as she walked down two steps.

“Officer Baker, has there been any progress made on the investigation into my grandmother’s murder? We haven’t heard anything from the police department.”

Officer Baker looked perplexed and shook his head. “Miss Hudson, there
is
no investigation. Your grandmother died of natural causes. She was an old lady. It was her time to go. You have my condolences miss. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he said and then nodded his head at her and walked quickly towards his police car, driving away moments later.

Sarah lowered her head and closed her eyes. “He’s just going to get away with it.” A wave of rage washed over her and she stomped her foot, sending out sparks of bright white energy.

Zane massaged her shoulders and leaned his head against hers. “He won’t get away with it Sarah. One way, or another, he’s going to pay.”

Lash leaned up against the porch railing and stared moodily at the dusty road. “Trying to get you accused of murder. He’s not that good at romantic gestures is he?”

Zane snorted. “Charles’s idea of a romantic gesture is murdering her grandmother and then asking her for a lifetime commitment. Yeah, he’s real smooth.”

Sarah shook her head and sighed as she moved to lean against the porch next to Lash. “I think it was just a warning. I get the feeling he’s starting to lose patience. I don’t think he’s going to give me the whole month. I bet he makes his real move soon.”

Zane stood next to her and put his arm around her shoulders. “And we’ll be ready.”

Sarah nodded, but felt slightly sick to her stomach at the same time. It felt like she was at the top of a roller coaster and she knew she was getting ready to careen downward into an upside down spiral and she had no idea if she was even wearing a seat belt.

Lash stood up straighter and pointed down the road. “More company.”

Sarah squinted her eyes and looked closely. She could barely see a small cloud of dust, but Lash was right. She crossed her fingers and hoped Officer Baker hadn’t remembered he wanted to question her.

They watched silently as four cars moved in a slow line toward the house. The first car was a beautiful bright green jaguar. The next car was a rusted, faded white minivan and the third car was non-descript sedan and the fourth was an old blue Ford truck.

“
Witches
?” she asked, feeling her heartbeat speed up and a feeling of excitement shoot through her stomach.

Zane squeezed her arm and kissed her cheek. “Our reinforcements are here Sarah. Charles won’t know what hit him,” he said with relish.

Lash grinned and pumped his fist in the air. “Yes! We’ve got ourselves a little witch task force.”

Sarah laughed lightly and walked down the steps to greet the newcomers. A tall, black man in a suit got out of the jaguar and walked right up to her, holding out his hand to shake. He smiled kindly and introduced himself as Ethan Jewkes. Sarah felt a small volt of electricity slip from his hand to hers and she raised her eyebrow in surprise. Ethan bowed his head and then grinned at her.