Chasing the Witch (Boston Witches) (19 page)

“We’ve just been talking about Hannah’s future and figuring out her powers and whatnot,” William replied. “We’ve decided she’ll stay with us.”

Jilly smiled brightly and hugged Hannah. “That makes me very happy; I was worried that you wouldn’t want to.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to stay? You guys have been nothing but nice to me.”

“I don’t know. I’m an irrational woman, I guess,” Jilly said with a laugh. “When do we land?”

William got up. “I was actually on my way to see the pilot when I started talking to Hannah. I’ll go and check, but it shouldn’t be longer than an hour or two, I think.”

An hour and thirty minutes later, the plane touched down in Boston and Jilly let out a sigh of relief. It was good to be home.

Hannah was nervous about meeting everyone, but she was excited to finally have a home. “How far away is your house from the airport?” she asked Jilly excitedly.

“Not far. I’d say about twenty minutes or so. You’re going to love it; it’s always my favorite place to be,” Jilly answered. Once they were all loaded up with their luggage, the trio made their way to Jilly’s house. It took them less than twenty minutes to get there and Jilly practically leapt out of the car once they stopped. She grabbed Hannah’s hand and they bounded up the steps to the front door. William followed behind at a slower pace; he was hampered down by a few bags. When Jilly opened the door, she found Caroline and Katya watching TV in the living room. Both ladies jumped up from the couch when they saw Jilly.

“Oh, Jill, I’m so glad you guys are home!” Caroline said with feeling, as she hugged her sister.

“Guys, this is Hannah,” Jilly said.

Hannah smiled a nervous smile. “Hi,” she said shyly.

“Hannah, it’s so nice to meet you! We’re very happy to have you with us,” Caroline said as she pulled the young girl into a hug. Hannah hugged her back, tightly.

“I’m happy to be here, too. Jilly said I can stay if I want to.” She turned and beamed up at Jilly.

“It’s nice to see you safe, Hannah,” Katya said as she came around the couch. William finally made it through the door and Caroline rushed over to help him in with the bags.

“You know, we have a ton of guys here who could have helped with that,” Katya said reproachfully, as she pulled him into a tight hug.

“I know, but I was already down there,” he replied with a laugh as he planted a kiss on her cheek. “Is Nik around?”

“He should be here somewhere. Maybe upstairs? I don’t really know,” Katya said as she gestured above offhandedly.

“Ok, I’ll let you guys get settled in. I’m going to go search for Nik. We should have some sort of summit or something to go over what we plan to do. Maybe we should do it after dinner. Is that okay with everyone?” he asked. All of the ladies nodded their approval and he disappeared up the stairs to find Nik.

“Do you want to go up and pick a room?” Jilly asked Hannah.

“Okay,” Hannah said with a hesitant smile.

“You can be close to me, don’t worry.”

Hannah sighed in relief. Jilly took her hand and led her upstairs to find a room. “There’s one right next to mine if you want. Will’s right across the hall from both of us, too.” Jilly opened the door to the room in question and Hannah smiled in delight. It was one of the girlier rooms in the house, a hold out from Jilly’s mother’s decorating days. It had a canopy bed in the center of the room against the wall with filmy white curtains hung around it. The bedding was a pale, almost white, pink with tiny roses embroidered all over it. It also had a big white chair in one corner for reading. It was every girl’s dream room. The bathroom had an old-fashioned claw-foot tub with a separate shower and an antique vanity with a built in sink.

“So, what do you think?” Jilly asked.

“It’s perfect! I really love it,” Hannah said exuberantly.

“We can get new furniture and bedding, if you want. This is your space and I want you to be comfortable,” Jilly said.

“No, I’m fine with how it is. Everything is so pretty,” she said with a smile.

“Okay then, I’ll let you get settled in. One of the guys will bring up your bags in a few minutes. Do you need anything else right now?” Jilly asked, eyebrows raised in question.

“No, I’m okay. I think I’m going to take a nap before we eat dinner,” Hannah said with a yawn.

“All right, I’ll leave you to it, then. I’ll be downstairs if you need me.” With that, Jilly closed the door and went to find her sister.

Jilly found Caroline in the kitchen making a cup of hot chocolate. “How is Hannah?” Caroline asked.

“Honestly, she’s doing so well,” Jilly replied. “I don’t know how she’s able to trust us, or anyone for that matter. She’s been through so much and lost everything. I’ll tell you, if I didn’t like Sabine before, I hate her now. To send those horrible things after Hannah and her parents is appalling,”

“I’m glad she’s adjusting. It’s a lot to deal with. Did Will tell you about Patrick?”

“What about him?”

“Well, this morning, he sort of invaded my mind.”

“What?” Jilly said, horrorstruck. “How is that possible?”

“I don’t know. He’s apparently way more powerful than any of us ever imagined. It’s clear that he wants something from me; I just don’t know what that is yet. It totally creeped me out to feel him in my head. It’s such an invasion of privacy, my thoughts were on display. I was afraid of thinking the wrong thing.”

“What did you finally do?” Jilly asked.

“Screamed for Kat. It was the only thing I could think to do. She put some sort of barrier up in my mind; so he hopefully won’t be able to get in anymore. She says I need to repair them every day or so just to be on the safe side.”

Jilly was quiet for a while, processing the information Caroline had just shared. “I’m certainly glad that Kat was with you. I’d hate to think what would have happened if you were alone.”

“Me, too. She was amazing. Now let’s talk about this crazy teleporting business you’ve been up to.”

Jilly laughed. “It’s all very crazy and new. I wonder if I’ve been doing it in my sleep for a long time and just never knew it.”

“Maybe. You’ve always been a very vivid dreamer.”

“Have you been into the shop, yet?” Jilly asked

“Not yet. Patrick keeps happening. Every time I make up my mind to go, he pops up in some unexpected way. I’m going to try and sneak over for a bit before we eat dinner.” She looked down at her watch. “I really should go now. It’s getting late.”

“All right, tell the girls I’ll try and come by tomorrow,” Jilly said. Caroline waved and headed out the back door. Caroline got into her car and drove in the general direction of the shop, but she made a quick left turn a few blocks from it. She stopped in front of an office building and sat idling until she saw the front door open. She smiled brightly when Patrick got into the car beside her.

“Hello, darling, thanks for coming to get me,” Patrick said as he planted a kiss on her cheek. “Did they give you any trouble?”

“No, I told them I was going into work. I should stop in for at least ten minutes; so if they check, I can say I was there.” Patrick nodded, and they drove to the shop. “Can you wait out here for a bit? I should only be a few minutes.”

Patrick sighed. “If I must, I must.” Caroline blew him a kiss and bounded over to the back door of the shop. She said hi to all the girls and did some busy work in the office for ten minutes.

“All right, I’m going to take off, again. Jill and I should be around tomorrow sometime.” With a final wave, she left. She found Patrick right where she left him; he was leaning back in the seat, smiling at her when she walked up.

“Shall we go then, my love?” he asked her, his voice dripping with sultry sweetness.

“Where are we going?” Caroline asked.

“I need to find Sabine. Do you know where she is?”

Caroline frowned. “No, Nikolai never told me where he had her. I think it’s underground somewhere, though.”

Patrick did his best to control the rage he felt, but some of it slipped out. His lips pressed into a hard line. “Let’s go to the woods, then. Someone is meeting us there.”

Caroline blanched at the anger in his voice. “I’m sorry, Patrick,” she said timidly.

His face changed. All of the anger left it and was replaced by tenderness. He caressed her check. “Don’t worry, darling, I’m not angry with you.”

She let out a sigh of relief. “Should we go now?”

“Yes, darling, we don’t want to keep my friend waiting, do we?” He smiled sweetly and Caroline started the car.

Caroline returned to the house a few hours later. Jilly sprang on her the second she walked through the door. “Where have you been? Tanya said you were only there for like ten minutes.”

“I needed to think, Jill. I went for a walk and did some window shopping. I’m a grown woman. I can do what I please,” Caroline said defensively.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I was just worried. I don’t like you being out there alone. Something awful could have happened.” Jilly’s eyes were full of concern.

“I’m sorry, too; this has just been a rough week for me. With talking to Jack again and all the stuff with Sabine, I really just needed some space to sort things out in my head. Can you understand that?”

“Of course I can. I’m just a worrier; you know that. You should go get washed up for dinner. You have leaves in your hair and dirt on your cheek. Where were you, anyway?”

“Oh, gosh, you’re right. I’ll go take a quick shower.” Caroline called over her shoulder as she ran up the steps toward her room. She nearly collided with William as he was rounding the corner in the hall.

“Oh, sorry, Car, I didn’t see you. I guess I’m a bit preoccupied.”

“That’s okay. I’m just going for a quick shower before dinner. See you in a bit.”

William continued on his way down to the kitchen after Caroline closed her door. He found Jilly at the stove, the makings of dinner on the counter around her. “Hey, need some help?” he asked as he walked in.

“That would be great. I’m not really even sure what I’m making. I just grabbed stuff out of the fridge,” Jilly said in an exasperated tone.

“Let’s see what we’ve got,” William said as he made his way around the counter to survey the ingredients. “Looks like we can make stew. We’ve got all sorts of vegetables, plus beef. What do you think?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Did you see Caroline on your way down?”

“I pretty much ran into her, why?”

“Something’s not right with her. I’m not sure what, but she’s off.”

“She’s been through a lot in the past week, Jill. Give her some time to decompress,” William said gently.

“I know she’s been through a lot. We all have, Will. I’m right about this. She’s not telling us something.”

William held up his hands in a gesture of peace. “Hey, I’m on your side. I’m just saying cut her some slack.”

“I understand that. I’m a little worried, that’s all.” He pulled her into a hug, inhaling her intoxicating scent.

“Okay, enough of that now. Let’s get started on dinner,” Jilly said as she pushed away from him. Thirty minutes later, dinner was on the table and William went upstairs to round everyone up.

Katya wandered in from out back, cheeks pink from the cold. “That smells so amazing, although I’d eat just about anything right now. I can’t remember the last time I was this hungry.” She walked to the sink to wash her hands.