Halfway Hexed (37 page)

He pointed a finger at me. “You unholy bitch!”

“I’m not unholy or a bitch. You guys were pouring whiskey on my head when I’m half drowned already. I’m sure God is going to agree that I was provoked.”

“Well, I was provoked, too.” He reached in and grabbed my legs, pulling me so that my shoulders sank underwater, and my head was below the level of the tub’s rim.

“Hey!”

Boyd walked away.

“Hey! Hang on.”

He didn’t turn back. I saw light when he opened his SUV.

“Boyd!” I called. The water was already to my chin. I needed to get out. “C’mon. I promise not to cast any more spells. Come back, and let’s talk this over.”

The door slammed shut and a moment later the engine roared to life.

“This is not good.”

I heard Boyd drive off. I craned my neck, trying to get my head above the tub’s lip. Not happening. What’s more I could hear water sloshing against the outside walls. I wondered what would happen first, the rain filling the tub up and drowning me or Corsic Creek overflowing and drowning me. It was also possible that I’d freeze to death before I drowned because maybe the water was not quite as cold as the water that the
Titanic
sank in, but I swear it was close.

This abuse was the ultimate snub.
I need out; turn over this tub.

Nothing. I huffed a sigh and tried several more times without success.

“This is really not good.” My heart pounded in my chest, and I closed my eyes, trying to stretch my mind out. “Edie!” I called. “Bryn!” I took a deep breath and exhaled, licking my swollen lip. “Mercutioooo!”

Unfortunately, I could tell it was no use. Even I could barely hear my cries over the sound of the wailing wind.

Chapter 35

At just the right angle, I could keep my chin, my nose, and my lips above the waterline. I’d been trying to cast all sorts of spells to tip the tub over or to empty it or to be ejected out of it, but nothing worked. What’s more, I kept getting water in my mouth when I tried.

I did have a strategy that was working. I held my breath, pulled my legs in and shook them back and forth to make the tub overflow as much as possible, then lifted my legs out, and I’d have a little more room to keep my mouth out of the water. I had no idea how long I’d been doing it for when I saw light through my closed eyelids.

“I’m here!” I said, barely hearing my own voice. I coughed on the nasty water that got in my mouth and spit it out.

My ears were underwater, plus there was the storm, so I couldn’t hear much. If I hadn’t been half frozen, the quiet would’ve been kind of peaceful.

I felt hands grabbing me, heard muffled shouts. Then the ropes were being cut and someone hauled the rocks off me.

I opened my eyes, but water blurred my vision as I was pulled from the tub.

Mercutio yowled louder than the wind, and I blinked several times. Bryn stood in knee-deep water next to the tub as Steve climbed back into a canoe. When Steve was sitting, Bryn, who was holding me, handed me to Steve, then climbed in himself.

Steve set me on a cushioned bench and wrapped a coat and blanket around me.

“Who put you in there?” Bryn demanded, glancing back at the tub.

“Jenna’s people.” My teeth chattered. “What’s going on? Is the town evacuated? Where’s Andre?”

“He wanted to come, but there wasn’t room,” Bryn said. “Lennox and Andre took another canoe to Macon Hill. I think Barrett must be casting from there. I’m not sure how he tapped into the tor’s power. He doesn’t have a connection to it. Lennox says the tor’s core power can only be used by certain families. The first families who found it and, through a ritual, claimed it. Yours and mine and Tom Brick’s.”

“Huh.” I shook, rubbing my numb legs.

Mercutio climbed on my lap, and I wrapped the blanket around us both. Bryn passed me an umbrella, but my hands were too cold and stiff to hold the handle. Instead, I put the blanket over my head and huddled inside it. Bryn recovered his paddle from the floor, and he and Steve started us going.

“How’d you find me?”

“Mercutio. He’s able to track your magic with incredible sensitivity. And your power’s mingled with mine, so it wasn’t hard for me to feel it when we got close enough, even submerged in that water.”

“The boat’s filling up. We’ll sink,” I said, unable to stop shaking. My muscles and joints ached.

“We’ll be all right.”

“What happened to the bad guy? Scarface?”

“I didn’t have time to question him. Andre handcuffed him to the banister at the top of the stairs.”

“I can’t feel my feet,” I mumbled.

“I know you’re freezing. We’ll get out of the rain as soon as we can,” he said, shoving the paddle in and giving the water a hard stroke.

“Mr. Lyons,” Steve shouted.

Bryn glanced over his shoulder.

“Current’s pulling us south. I don’t think we’ll be able to reach Macon Hill.”

“Just keep steering east,” Bryn yelled. His magic flared as he whispered a spell. The boat surged forward, but the water lapped over the sides and tilted us to the right.

Branches and other debris banged into us, and the water continued to rise. The town was flooded. In some places, the water only filled the streets. In others, whole houses were partially submerged.

We passed through a neighborhood where people were being rescued from their rooftops. Our canoe rode low, half sunk from all the water we’d taken on. I cursed the rain and the wizard who’d brought it.

“We have to empty this water out,” Bryn said.

The first couple rooftops Steve aimed for, we couldn’t reach, but finally, we got to one.

The water ran down, but the shingles were ridged, and the texture helped me keep my balance as I climbed on it. Bryn and Steve flipped the canoe and lifted it upside down before flipping it back over.

Mercutio hissed, and I turned my head. His eyes shone in the moonlight, and I followed the line of his gaze to Steve.

The water streamed around Steve’s ankles, but he seemed steady on his feet as he and Bryn lowered the canoe onto the water’s surface.

“What?” I asked Merc as he darted forward.

I saw the swishing movement a moment too late. I screamed, “Snake!”

Mercutio’s teeth clamped down on the middle of the water moccasin at the same time it struck, sinking fangs into Steve’s forearm. Steve howled and jerked his arm. The snake recoiled and twisted toward Merc.

I lurched forward as it bit Merc’s shoulder. I grabbed the snake’s slimy neck and squeezed. Merc’s teeth tore the snake’s middle open as he jerked his mouth sideways. The snake writhed and I yanked it back, pulling its fangs away from Mercutio.

I shook the heck out of its head until Mercutio let its body go and looked at me, giving a soft “We’re done here” yowl.

It took me a minute to realize that there was no reason to hang on to a dead snake. I whipped it into the water, and the current dragged it away. I turned to see Steve holding his arm and talking to Bryn, who nodded.

When we returned to the boat, Bryn went to the back of the canoe, and Steve sat next to me in front. I helped Steve paddle as we maneuvered to a roof three houses away where a couple of deputies were putting people into a powerboat.

“He wants me to go. I can’t help him like this,” Steve explained, climbing out. His arm was already puffy from the venom.

I nodded.

Steve put his mouth to my ear. “You guys should come with me. You’ll never make it all the way across town.”

Smitty came over and ushered Steve to the bigger boat.

“The roads out of town are impassable, and there aren’t enough boats with motors. Damn rain’s still coming down,” Smitty yelled, shaking his head. “I can fit two more. One of you will have to wait here, and we’ll come back for you!”

Steve gave me a questioning look, and then Smitty gave him a little push to get him going.

“Go on,” Smitty said.

Steve looked over his shoulder at us as he climbed in the boat.

“Your face is a mess, Tammy Jo. What happened to it?” Smitty asked with a frown.

“I fell.”

“Right,” he said, taking my arm. “Come on. I’ll come back for Lyons.”

“No, you go ahead. There are little old people over there,” I said, pointing. “You have to get them first.”

Smitty looked at Bryn, who was sitting in the boat. “You wait right here, Tammy Jo. I’ll be back for you both.”

As soon as the police zoomed away, I looked over my shoulder at Bryn.

“Can we make it?” I asked.

He nodded, so I picked up the front paddle and dipped it in the water.

Mercutio yowled.

“I know. I’m not sure about this either,” I said.

I was hardly any help to Bryn when we dumped the water out of the canoe the second time. My arms shook from the effort, but I wasn’t sorry that we’d decided to try to get to Macon Hill, because we’d found five-year-old Paige from my neighborhood and her teenage babysitter, Charlotte, along the way. I doubt the police would have checked the deserted area we found them in.

The teenager held Paige, who was fuzzy-headed from being half frozen. She kept squirming, trying to get her arms around Mercutio.

“Paige, honey, stop wiggling,” I said. “Merc’s not really the type to cuddle.”

“Hang on to her,” Bryn shouted at Charlotte several times. The last was just before a wave tipped us into the side of a tree.

Paige slipped like a greasy sausage from the girl’s arms and disappeared into the water.

“No!” I shrieked, jumping up.

Bryn slapped my hands on to a tree limb. “Hold the boat here for me!” Then he dove in headfirst.

Charlotte wailed, and I shook my head, mumbling and biting my lip. The water was as black as tar and running fast. He’d never find such a little girl in all that. Tears welled in my eyes.

“Let him find her. Please, God, let him find her.”

Merc stuck out his tongue to catch the rain, then gave a soft yowl. A bluish light loomed under the surface, and I blinked. A moment later Bryn surfaced, dragging Paige. He swam to the boat with the current trying to sweep them away.

“Help him,” I yelled at the girl. It took all I had just to keep my grip on the branch.

Charlotte pulled Paige into the boat, and Bryn hauled himself in, blue-lipped and breathless. He sat in several inches of water on the floor of the boat next to the bench where I sat.

“I have to let go,” I said, my arms shaking from being so tired.

Bryn rose, teetering a bit. He grabbed the branch to help me keep us steady.

He had to yell above the noise of the storm. “We have to keep going. If we drift, we’ll smash into trees, and the boat will break apart. Understand?”

I nodded.

“It’s not much farther to Macon Hill.”

“Okay!” I yelled. There was no choice. If we ended up in the water, we’d all drown except for maybe Bryn.

“I need power,” he said. “I could invoke more black magic, but it would be risky—”

I tipped my face up and closed my eyes. Our mouths were so cold that our lips felt like rubber pressing against each other. The magic was sharp and spiky at first and then warmed up and surged between us.

He didn’t hesitate. He sucked power off, then pushed a little of it deep into my chest. He took his place on the back bench.

“Hold on!” he told Charlotte and pressed her shoulder until she was sitting on the floor with Paige between her legs.

Mercutio sat next to me, but faced them, like he didn’t trust Paige not to jump out of the boat again.

Facing forward, I rowed. I couldn’t hear Bryn’s voice above the storm, but I knew he was whispering spells because we bobbed over the water in the opposite direction of the current.

Finally, we ran into the slope of the mountain and saw a bunch of townspeople rushing toward us to help. I was so relieved, I could hardly speak. Then I remembered that our work was far from done.

Bryn gave the kids to the people, and we pulled the boat up onto the muddy bank to keep it from washing away. I saw bobbing light from men’s flashlights. They were building a makeshift shelter about fifteen feet above the waterline.

As I straightened, I spotted a flash of red hair and froze. A woman dressed in an ivory-colored hat with plum trim and a matching rain slicker was with a group standing under a cluster of trees. Her white Wellington boots squelched in the mud as she turned.