Chasing the Witch (Boston Witches) (14 page)

“That’s an option, but we still have some time to think. Have you found the girl, yet?”

“Not yet, but we’re close. There has been another development. It’s about Jilly. Her abilities are growing. I’ll let you know more when we figure it out all the way. Is Caroline with you?”

“Not at the moment. She’s with Kat at the hotel. I’m at the holding cell where we have Sabine.”

“Keep me posted on the situation, I’m going to call Caroline.”

“I will, and let me know when you find the girl.”

William hung up and dialed Caroline’s number. She answered right away. “Will?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Are you ok? I just talked to Nik and he told me about Patrick.”

“I’m fine; he didn’t want to hurt me. He wanted to know where Sabine was; but I did not have that information for him. He left, but he told me I would see him again very soon. Finding him in the house was scary. I don’t want that to happen again. We need to find him before he does something worse than scare someone.”

“First of all, I’m glad you’re ok. Secondly, I agree with you; but there isn’t much I can do from here. Nik’s going to be staying there and keeping things in hand until your sister and I can find Hannah and come home. Do you want to come here with us? Nik can send you over on his jet.”

“No, I need to stay here. I know I can’t do anything, but I don’t want to run from this, Will,” Caroline said with conviction.

William smiled. “You and Jilly are more alike than you think, Caroline. That is precisely the response I expected from you. Let me know if you change your mind, okay? I’ll be in touch.”

“I will. Take care of yourself and find that poor girl so you guys can come home,” Caroline said before hanging up.

William put the phone down and leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. He felt helpless being so far away. His first instinct was to jump on a plane and find Patrick, but he knew that Hannah needed him more. Knowing how much pressure Jilly was under already, William dreaded having to break the news about Patrick. Reluctantly he stood up to do it. He found Jilly asleep on her bed, wrapped in a towel, with her hair coming loose from the knot she had tied it in and fanning around her on the bed. He stood looking at her for a moment. She was so beautiful; sometimes it hurt to look at her because he loved her so much. He walked over and sat on the bed next to her. “Jill, honey, we need to talk,” he said as he shook her gently to wake her up.

Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled, releasing a yawn as she stretched. “What’s up?” she said in a sleepy voice.

“It seems like you are feeling better,” he said cautiously.

“Yeah, I think the nap helped a lot. My mind was on overload. Everything in my life keeps changing and I feel like I can’t adapt to the change fast enough. So, I’m sorry if I snapped at you or if I was rude. I was just trying to cope in the best way I could. I think I’m okay now, though.” Jilly rummaged through her suitcase for a pair of jeans and a shirt. She finally found what she was looking for and quickly got dressed.

William sat next to her. “Okay, so first, I have to tell you that Patrick got out....”

Jilly interrupted him. “What? How did he do that? We put up stronger wards; he shouldn’t have been able to do anything!” Her voice raised a few octaves.

William stopped her there. “I don’t know, Jill, but he’s out. He was waiting in the house for Caroline when she got back.” He saw her expression go from curious to terrified in a split second. “Don’t worry. She’s fine. He didn’t hurt her at all. He just wanted information about Sabine. Since she didn’t have any, he left. She’s with Kat and Nik now, and they’ll take care of her.” He stopped talking and watched her as she processed.

“Okay, so what now? We’re here and he’s there. What are we going to do about this situation?”

“Nik’s going to keep the situation over there under control for now and we’re going to find Hannah,” he replied. She needs us more than they do at the moment. I’m going to be honest though, my first thought was to jump on a plane and race home when I heard he was waiting for Caroline in the house. I know exactly how dangerous he is and I do not want anything to happen to Caroline or anyone over there, for that matter.”

“I just had the same thought, but I also came to the same conclusion. We came here for a reason. We shouldn’t leave until we find Hannah.” She stopped talking and looked down at her hands, not wanting to talk about what was coming next.

William squeezed her hand. “Jill, you shouldn’t be afraid of what you can do; you need to embrace it and learn how to use it. Were you afraid of your magic when you started your training?”

“Of course I wasn’t. That would have been silly. This is an entirely different type of situation, though. This is something I was not at all prepared for. With my magic, I had thirteen years to get used to the idea of being a witch. This sort of just fell on me with no warning,” Jilly spoke with more force than she had intended.

“I get that, I really do. But we don’t really have the time to let you ease into it. We need to figure out how you did it and see if you can do it again. It might be the key to finding Hannah. This might be your ability, like my ability to move things and start fires. This could be great for you, if you just let it.”

Caroline felt better after talking with William, but she still really wanted to speak with her sister. She promised herself she would call her again before she went to bed. Katya helped her get settled into her room in their spacious suite at the Ritz-Carlton. She felt spoiled after staying in the suite in New York and this made her feel even more so. The room was amazing. It had everything she could possibly want, but she longed to be home. She cursed Patrick silently as she unpacked her suitcases.

“Where do you think Patrick is?” she asked Katya when they were finished and sitting on the bed.

“I don’t know. He could be anywhere. I think he’s going to stay close to the city because he wants us to lead him to Sabine and eventually Mary. He won’t risk losing Sabine, especially if he needs her to find Mary.”

Caroline nodded her head after Katya finished. “What’s the plan now? What are we supposed to do?”

“We’re not going to do anything. We’re just going to lay low until William and Jilly come home, after they find Hannah. We need to keep an eye on the situation and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid until then.”

“But how would we stop him if he did try something? Isn’t he really powerful?”

“Yes, he’s powerful; but so are Nik and I. We’re all about the same age, give or take fifty years. We can subdue him if necessary. I don’t want you to worry about that, though. We’ll be fine.” Katya patted Caroline’s shoulder. “Now, let’s go out and find Nik so we can talk about the plan.”

She led Caroline out of the room. They found Nik sitting in the living room of the suite with papers spread around him and his laptop in front of him on the coffee table. He was having a video conference with somebody. Caroline didn’t understand what they were saying, but she knew they were speaking in German. The two girls waited in the doorway for him to finish. Once he shut the laptop, they made their way into the room and sat on the opposite couch.

“That was Greggor,” Nik said. “I was telling him we aren’t going to be able to come to him due to the circumstances here. He says he’ll be here within the week, he needs to wrap up a few projects he’s working on before he can come. He’s very curious about the plans and he offered to help as much as he can.”

“What are we going to do about Patrick?” Caroline asked.

“We’re not going to do anything about him,” Nik replied. “We’re mainly going to just keep watch over the town and make sure he doesn’t do anything horrible until Will gets home. I don’t think we’ll have any problems. He won’t find Sabine because none of us are going to go to the bunker where she is. I’ve called the men and they’re staying underground until this blows over. They have supplies to last for two years, so they’ll be fine. I don’t want to risk anyone leading Patrick to Sabine by accident, so no one comes or goes from that location.”

“That’s fine with me. The less I know about all of this, the better off I am,” Caroline said. “Will I be allowed to go to work?”

“Of course. We’re not really hiding from him. He could find us easily enough, here. I just didn’t want you in the house by yourself,” Nikolai replied.

“Okay then, I need to go in for an hour at least, today. Both Jill and I have been away for too long and I’d like to check in for a bit.”

“Katya will go with you then,” Nik said as he glanced at Katya for confirmation. She nodded and the girls left the room to grab what Caroline needed for work.

William and Jilly sat at the dining room table eating dinner, discussing how they were going to find Hannah. “I think we need to figure out how to harness your new ability. That will be the key to finding her,” William said.

“Yeah, but how are we going to do that? It’s not like I can just push a button and go wherever I want. I’ve only done it the one time that we know of,” Jilly replied.

“Exactly, the one time that we know of. You could have been doing this for years and not even realized it. With us, our abilities usually manifest around the same time as our magic does. Can you remember any vivid dreams from that time?”

Jilly thought for a moment. “I’ve always had vivid dreams. I thought it was because I’m a witch.”

“That can be true sometimes. However, I think you’ve been actually going to these places in your dreams, or at least a part of you has. I think tonight you should think about Hannah exclusively and see if you can find her when you’re dreaming.”

“It’s worth a shot and we don’t really have a lot of options right now. We need to find her quickly so we can get home and handle that situation” she sighed in frustration. “Do you think we’ll ever live a normal life? When no one is after us or trying to kill us?”

William chuckled. “I’d like to think it will get a bit easier, but I don’t think we’ll ever be normal. There are too many people out there who need our help for us to just sit on the sidelines.”

“I guess you’re right; but it would be nice to not be afraid that someone I love is going to be hurt or kidnapped all the time,” Jilly said with a sigh.

“I know, but normal and easy just aren’t in the cards for us, love.”

Jilly’s phone rang. “Hello?” she said, and then her eyes widened in shock. “Where are you? Okay, stay there. We’ll be there to get you in twenty minutes.” She hung up and looked at William. “That was Hannah.”

“How did she get your number?” William asked. “I only gave our numbers to the shopkeeper.”

“I didn’t ask, but we need to get her. She’s outside of the bookstore and she’s in trouble. Get your coat and let’s go.” They both raced to their rooms to get dressed and scrambled outside into the car. William drove so they didn’t have to bother his driver. He knew the city well since he’d lived there for hundreds of years. He stomped down on the gas pedal and they roared off into the night.

Jilly was anxious the entire drive into the city. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her nerves as William drove.