Chasing the Witch (Boston Witches) (21 page)

“What? Oh yeah, I’m fine. He wasn’t menacing or anything. He’s more sarcastic than anything.”

“I’m happy that you have this gift of yours; but it scares me to death at the same time, Jill,” William said as he pulled Jilly close to him. “I hate the idea of you being out there alone, possibly in danger.”

“I know what you mean, it freaks me out a bit too. Hopefully I’ll learn to control it, soon. I’m going to go down and have a mug of hot chocolate. That always calms me down. I’ll be back up in a few.” She planted a kiss on his cheek and went down to the kitchen.

The lights were still on in the kitchen when Jilly went down. She noticed that the back door was unlocked and walked over to lock it. When she got to the door, she saw Caroline outside. She was at the bottom of the steps dressed in her pajamas with a coat over them. She was talking to someone, but Jilly couldn’t see the other person. She watched her sister and the mystery person for five minutes before Caroline turned and started walking up the steps. Jilly hurried over to the stove and started the water in the kettle for the hot chocolate.

Caroline looked surprised when she found Jilly in the kitchen. “What are you doing up?” she asked.

“I had a weird dream. I’m going to have some hot chocolate and go back to bed. Do you want some, too?”

“No, thanks; I’m going to head up.”

“Hey, Car, wait. What were you doing outside at this hour?”

Caroline’s face flushed red. “I just needed some air, that’s all. See you in the morning.”

Jilly waved and put on a smile, but inside she was anything but smiling. She decided against the hot chocolate and turned the kettle off. She was back in her room in a flash. “So, Caroline was outside when I got down to the kitchen.”

“What? At this hour?” William asked sitting up against the headboard.

“Yeah, I know. She was talking to someone, but it was too dark to see who. When I asked her why she was outside, she got all flushed and looked kind of weird. She said she just needed some air. What’s going on with her?”

William’s expression changed when he heard what Jilly had to say. “What? What does that mean?” she asked in a worried voice, her eyebrows furrowing.

“I need to get Nik. I’ll be back in a second.” Before she could reply, he had left the room. Jilly got up from where she was sitting and began pacing the room while she waited. A few minutes later, William returned with Nikolai and Katya. Jilly gave a sigh of relief when they all filed in.

“Please be silent a moment.” Katya said and closed her eyes, whispering a spell under her breath. The whole room flashed a greenish blue color, and Katya smiled. “Okay, we can begin now that I’m sure the room is secure.”

“This has grown more serious than we thought, Will,” Nik said.

Jilly’s eyes widened. “You knew about this?” she asked accusingly.

“I had a feeling it would happen, yes. I think Patrick has Caroline in his thrall. I had hoped that Kat would be able to keep him out, but he’s too strong. I suspect that she was with him earlier and may have even been talking to him just now,” Nikolai said.

Tears streamed down Jilly’s cheeks. “What can we do for her?”

“For now, we watch her,” Kat said as she walked over and put an arm around Jilly.

“That’s it? We just watch her? We aren’t going to try and break whatever hold he has over her?”

“It’s too dangerous right now; we don’t know how deep into her mind he is. Besides, we may be able to use this to our benefit,” Nik said.

Jilly shot him a murderous look. “We aren’t going to let her out of the house anymore.”

“Jill, Nik’s right. This may be our best way of finding him,” William said softly.

“We can’t just let her go to him,” Jilly sobbed. “What if something happens to her?”

“We won’t let her go out alone, Jill. Someone will always be following her,” Nik said.

“No,” Jilly shook her head and turned to Kat for help.

“I agree with them, Jilly. There’s no other option right now. We’ll ensure her safety. I promise you, she’ll be fine.” Kat waved her hand and the room flashed once more, returning to its normal state.

Jilly nodded numbly. “Ok, if it’s what we have to do.” Nik and Kat nodded and left to go back to their own room, leaving Jilly and William alone.

“Why didn’t you tell me you thought this might happen?” she spat out, her eyes blazing with anger.

“Honestly? I didn’t want you to worry about it.”

“I get that, but why did you make me feel like I was crazy for thinking something was up with Caroline?”

William shrugged. “I guess I was sticking with my plan. You are too emotional when it comes to your sister, Jill; we need to be detached right now. It’s the only way to keep her safe.”

Jilly put her face in her hands, tears spilling out of them. “I’m so scared for her, Will.”

“I know, honey. We all are, but she’ll be okay.”

“You can’t know that,” Jilly shot back.

“No, but I can believe that it will happen,” he said as he pulled her close to him. “Come on, get in bed. You need to sleep.” Jilly wanted to protest, but she was so tired; so she let him tuck her in. He climbed in beside her and they were both asleep in minutes.

Hannah was alone. She was in a dark forest and she could hear someone behind her in the trees. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she ran through the fog. She could hear the snapping of twigs and the crunching of leaves behind her. They were catching up. She willed her legs to go faster; finally, she saw a light in the trees ahead. She ran straight for it. It was Caroline and she was holding a flashlight.

“Hannah? Are you okay?” she asked, concerned.

“Someone’s behind me! We need to get out of here!” She ran straight into Caroline’s arms.

“It’s okay, sweetie. I’ll keep you safe,” Caroline said in soothing tones. The footsteps were getting closer. Each twig snapping sounded like a gunshot in the silent night air. Finally, they slowed and Hannah buried her face in Caroline’s chest.

“Don’t be afraid, Hannah,” Caroline said as pried Hannah’s fingers from her arms. Hannah turned around to see a man she didn’t know walking toward them. She turned back to Caroline.

“My friend Patrick has been so longing to meet you,” she said as she shoved Hannah toward him. His arms went around her and Hannah screamed. Someone was shaking her. She opened her eyes and saw Jilly standing over her bed.

“You were screaming in your sleep,” Jilly said as she sat beside Hannah on the bed.

“I had a bad dream. I was in a dark forest, and Caroline was there. Patrick was there, too. She wouldn’t help me. She let him take me.”

Jilly wiped away Hannah’s tears. “It was just a dream, honey. It’s okay now.”

“It felt so real. I was so scared!”

“I know the feeling,” Jilly said as she tucked Hannah back in. “Do you think you can sleep?” Hannah nodded, her eyes already drooping. “I’m right across the hall if you need me,” Jilly said as she brushed her lips over Hannah’s cheek.

“Mmhhmm,” Hannah said sleepily. Jilly closed the door behind her and walked back across to William’s room. He was still sleeping. She climbed into bed next to him and went back to sleep.

Breakfast went by quickly the next morning. Everyone had things they needed to do. Jilly and Caroline needed to go into work; so they ate quickly and ran back upstairs to get ready. William and Nikolai were huddled together in the corner, discussing their plans for the day. Katya and Hannah were at the kitchen counter looking through bridal magazines, picking out things for Jilly to look at. By 9:30, almost everyone was gone. Only Hannah and Katya remained at the house. A few of Nikolai’s men could be seen patrolling in the woods out back.

“Do you think your friend can help me?” Hannah asked Katya when they were alone.

“I hope he can. He’s an expert when it comes to the Shadow realm. Not a lot is known about it. Alex is the only person who has ever been to the Shadow realm and lived to tell the tale. He was taken from his home by a wraith five years ago, but he fought his way back. He’s been doing research and trying to stop the wraiths ever since. He’s a good friend and I know he’ll do everything he can to help you.”

Hannah smiled at Katya’s words. “Thank you. You don’t know what it means to me to be with all of you. It has been so hard by myself.”

“I’m so sorry about your parents and about how you’ve had to live since then. William is one of the kindest people I know; and although I’ve only just met Jilly a few months ago, I already can tell she’s got a heart just like his. I couldn’t ask for better guardians for you than them. This past week has been crazy for everyone. I hope for all of our sakes that we can get this situation cleared up quickly.” Hannah nodded, and they went back to the magazines.

William and Nikolai were driving toward the bunker where Sabine was. “We may need to move her after today,” William said.

“You won’t think that after you see where she is,” Nikolai said. A few minutes later, they pulled up to a gate. Nikolai rolled his window down and said something in Russian to the guard. With a loud screeching noise, the gate began to roll open on small metal wheels. They drove through slowly, and Nikolai pulled up in front of a large building.

“I thought you said she was underground?” William said.

“She is. The bunker is about a quarter mile from here, but we have to go on foot.” They both jumped out of the car and Nikolai led them through the dense trees until they reached a small hatch in the ground. He bent down and rapped on the window. There was a series of loud clicks and the door swung open. William half expected it to be a holdout from the cold war, but it was all modern inside. There were computers lining one of the walls in the first room and modern furniture lining the other. They continued walking another quarter mile, down a long hallway lined with doors.

“She’s further in. We didn’t want to have her too close to the surface,” Nikolai said.

William noticed that the hallway began to slowly slant downward; they were walking further into the earth. After another ten minutes or so, they came to a door at the end guarded by two men. When they saw Nikolai, they stood aside and he went in first, followed by William. William thought Sabine would be behind the door, but they entered into what looked like a living room.