Making Magic (33 page)

Aaron looked at the bag and grinned up at him.

“You’re sweet on her. Miz Woodruff.”

“Yeah, I’m sweet on her all right,” Jake admitted. “Don’t slam your door. We’re gonna be real quiet from here on out.”

The boy pushed his door shut and circled around to Jake’s side.

“Good job. Now, have you ever tried to take anyone besides a baby with you through a wall?”

Chapter Fourteen

Thea frowned as Grace panted through another contraction.

“She’s really ill…probably…cancer…” Grace panted. “Taking heavy…pain meds.”

Nick clenched his fist. “Don’t worry, I’ll put her out of her misery.”

“I love…you,” Grace said, a little louder. “But…she’s in pain…and desperate.”

“I told you two to stop talking,” Sarah shouted from the kitchen.

Grace’s control was amazing. Thea would have been screaming at everyone at this point, including her husband. They had practiced for a warm water delivery out in the hot tub. Under a blanket on the couch in the keeping room was
not
where they had planned to bring Lily into the world.

Thea sat on the floor of the keeping room, zip-tied hand and, now, foot as well. She listened to their exchange. Nick had kept himself from being tied up by convincing Sarah that Grace needed him to deliver the baby. At the moment, he had his head bowed over Grace’s bare right foot, which he was giving a thorough massage.

Pooka let out a plaintive howl from the laundry room where Nick had corralled him, under threat from Sarah that she would shoot Emmy, who she had been dragging around like a human shield until she dumped the girl next to Thea.

Swallowing hard, Thea tried not to think of Bailey, who hadn’t been so obedient. When Bailey had squeezed out of the laundry room door and headed for Thea, Sarah had kicked her into the mud room door. Sarah had then opened it and booted her outside for good measure. Thankfully, Sarah hadn’t shot her.

If they all lived through this, Sarah and Marilyn were going to regret the day they had been born. A line would form to administer frontier justice. After Nick was finished with them and Thea had administered a few kicks of her own, Bailey would get to chew on whatever was left.

Digging her fingernails into her palms again, she tried not to cry in frustration and fury. Her nose was already feeling dangerously stuffy and she was terrified of suffocating under all the tape. Sarah’s scarf smelled, and tasted, of cheap perfume and sweat, which only made things worse.

Bailey was all right, Thea told herself. She was probably hiding under the BMW. She was a smart girl. And Jake was fine too. Aaron would get help and Jake would be fine. But then Jake’s deputies would surround this place and who knew what Sarah would do then, or what the deputies would do in response.

From the sounds coming from the laundry room, either the wall, the floor, the door or maybe all three were being methodically destroyed by the Plott hound. Pooka might get himself shot for the trouble.

A small hand squeezed her arm and she tried to relax. Emmy struggled to control the twitches and spasms brought on by fear. “Sh-Sh—”

“Shut up!” Sarah shouted from where she stood in the kitchen, glaring at them. “Or I swear I will stop up your mouth like your Miz Woodruff there.”

Emmy covered her ears and rocked, her back hitting the side of the chair where Greg now sat, rigid and pale. If Greg had left like he was supposed to, he wouldn’t be stuck here with them. The man had been so passive and meek when confronted with Sarah’s gun that Thea had thought he was having a nervous breakdown. After Marilyn had trussed him up with zip-tie cuffs on his wrists and ankles, Sarah had dismissed him as no threat.

Nick had said that Eddie was up at Daniel’s repairing the rain gutter and Ouida was out shopping in Asheville. Hopefully they wouldn’t be back until this was resolved. The locked doors would slow them down. Neither of them carried keys because those doors were never locked. Sarah had ordered Marilyn to lock every outside door and window and pull all the curtains and blinds. Then she’d collected everyone’s cell phones and piled them up on the counter in the kitchen, so there was no chance of anyone sneaking a call out.

Now Sarah was having an intense consultation with Marilyn in the kitchen. She was obviously trying to persuade the woman to do something she didn’t want to do because Jake’s mom kept shaking her head. What few bits Thea could catch involved finding another gun and forcing Nick to go somewhere while Marilyn held that gun on the rest of them. Every time his name was mentioned, Nick would tense up.

Clearly Marilyn hadn’t signed up for shooting anyone, as opposed to just waving guns around, and Sarah was beginning to realize that her plans would have to change. Until the baby came, no one was going anywhere and afterward Grace would have difficulty getting around. Although with her gift, Thea assumed Grace wouldn’t require the same recovery time as the average new mom. Thea bit down on the scarf then flinched when the tape tugged at her skin.

Back in the car, Emmy had tried to loosen the tape for Thea, but the anchoring piece was firmly stuck in her hair and would not come loose without scissors. She wished Marilyn hadn’t been so generous with the tape.

It was strange how isolating it was to be gagged like this, cut off from everyone even though she was right there with them. Thea breathed in slowly.

“You are useless,” Sarah hissed.

“You sound like you want to keep it for yourself—”

“Well, I was… I was only thinkin’ of all the good
we
could do with it,” Sarah cut off Marilyn’s protest.

“But you said you would
destroy
it. We’d stop it and everyone would be normal again.” Marilyn waved around her. “You said they were looking for a particular baby to strengthen it.”

Sarah whirled around as if to strike her. Everyone flinched, except Greg, who must have his eyes shut.

“You heard her!” She pointed the gun at Emmy. “She said they were her babies. And you.” She pointed it at Marilyn’s chest. “You said she had those flickering flames around her. And so did that boy. That’s the power. They were taking those babies for something evil. And that baby.” She pointed it at Grace and Nick. “Their baby is—”

“If you don’t quit waving that thing around…” Nick moved in front of Grace.

“You’ll what?” Sarah came to the edge of the kitchen and jabbed the gun at him.

“Here we go again,” Grace said, then let out a long groan and grabbed for her protruding stomach.

Nick whirled around and leaned over her, taking her hands.

Thea watched as Grace wrapped her fingers around Nick’s and made muttered comments about Sarah’s character.

The contractions were getting close now. Thea leaned back and watched as Sarah waved the gun one last time before returning to her argument with Marilyn.

“I told you, Old Annie knew where that power comes from.” Sarah said, jabbing the gun back in their direction again. “That’s why she’s dead.
They
did it. They’re protecting it.”

Grace laid her head back on the mound of pillows Nick had put behind her and let out a sigh. Nick was massaging her other foot so hard Thea wondered if he was going to rub her skin right off. Emmy sat and rocked with her hands clamped over her ears and her eyes shut. And Greg had opened his eyes to stare at the pillar candles that flickered in the keeping room’s fireplace.

“It’s how the Woodruffs made all their money from way back,” Sarah said. “A powerful magic talisman up there on the mountain somewheres.”

“I know. You told me all that,” Marilyn snapped. “That’s what makes me see…what I can see.”

“But what I didn’t tell you is Old Annie wanted me to contact her grandpap for her ’cause he knew where it was. He told me what it could do in a reading. Old Annie found it. But
they
got rid of her to keep it secret. To keep it to themselves.”

Thea looked at Nick who was listening with an intent expression. That couldn’t be true? Had Old Annie found Grace’s carvings?

“But what about the meth lab?” Marilyn asked. “Jake found—”

“That was all a big lie to hide what they done. They’re using the power to keep Jake under control, the same as they’re using these children. We have to find the source to stop them from using it,” Sarah waved the gun around as if it were a toy. Not only was Sarah deranged, she had clearly never handled a gun before. Thea cringed every time the gun waved in their direction.

Marilyn looked at Nick then at Grace for a long moment then back to Sarah. “You never told me about any reading for Annie Taggart. You told me that Ron told you about the mountain.”

Sarah shrugged. “I don’t talk about other people’s readings. You know…that privilege thing.”

Thea wanted to snort in derision. This was pretty far removed from attorney-client privilege.

“And Ron did tell me about it…about the evil it could do, in the wrong hands,” Sarah continued. “But he also told me it could be used for good. I told you he said that. In the right hands, it could be a great power for good.”

Marilyn shook her head. “You didn’t—”

“We talked about destroying it, remember?”

“Yes. And that’s exactly what we need to do,” Marilyn said.

“But we also talked about what we would do if it couldn’t be destroyed.”

Marilyn crossed her arms and shook her head.

“I didn’t tell you what Old Annie’s grandpap told me, but…I suppose, since Annie’s gone, I can share it with you.” Sarah said, lowering her voice.

Marilyn looked skeptical.

“It cured him of the Whooping Cough. Brought him back from death’s door when he was just a babe.”

Sarah paused for a long moment and Marilyn’s expression slowly shifted to one of comprehension.

“You…you want to use it on yourself, don’t you?”

Sarah frowned. “So what if I do? I deserve it as much as anyone.”

Thea looked up to find Grace’s gaze on her.

“And once you use it for yourself,
then
you plan to destroy it?” Marilyn asked.

“If it can be. And if it can’t, well then we can put it to good use.” Sarah was waving the gun again, as if she had forgotten it was in her hand. “Imagine what we can do with a power like that. That’s what Old Annie was going to do. She even asked their Pops about using it to help others. He lied to her. Told her he didn’t know anything about it. They want it all to themselves.”

There was a long silence. Marilyn looked over at Nick and Grace again. “I understand you need a healing, but I knew Annie Taggart. If she found anything of worth anywhere, she would’ve sold it to the highest bidder or stuffed it under her mattress. ” Marilyn said. Her voice trailed off into a more haunted tone. “And…she burned with those flickering flames, too. Always burning and never consumed. I don’t know what is going on around here, but I know that if Annie Taggart had plans for whatever is on that mountain, they weren’t good ones.” Marilyn stepped forward, waving her finger at Sarah. “You give me that gun back. That was my Ron’s and he wouldn’t—”

Sarah pointed the gun right at Marilyn. “You listen to me. Your Ron, he wouldn’t want them to get away with what they’ve got planned. Those babies—”

“I don’t know what is going on with those babies, but there’s something wrong here.” Marilyn took another step, hand out. “And I want Ron’s gun back now.”

“No. You can’t. They’re using the power on you now. You see?”

Sarah’s lies were catching up with her. Her voice was getting higher and thinner. She was beginning to sound frantic and desperate.

“Sheriff’s here,” Emmy said so only Thea could hear.

Thea looked over at the girl. Her blue eyes were full of hope, even if her smile was lopsided.

“He says he’s coming in.” Her words were clear, without stammering.

Thea strained her ears, listening for anything outside.

“With Aaron.” Emmy added.

Grace made a pained noise. Nick surged up to hover over her.

“Oh crap,” Grace gasped, white-faced. “Not right now, Lily-girl.”

“Time to push?” Nick asked.

“I told you to shut up!” Sarah yelled.

When Thea looked back at Sarah, she saw Jake.

He’d appeared out of thin air in the kitchen—right behind Sarah.

Thea blinked. Jake hadn’t been there, then he had. And of course, there was Aaron right behind him, but only for a moment. She could have sworn Aaron had glanced over at her and Emmy, then disappeared into the wall.

Jake reached around Sarah, grabbing for the gun with one hand while he looped his other arm around her arms.

It was a sloppy takedown from the start, but he had the excuse of never having walked through a wall before. It had felt like moving through water, only the water was hot and it didn’t move around you in eddies or currents. It seemed to push through you and sap your energy as you passed. The whole experience had left him feeling drained and unsteady.

In the struggle, his mother grabbed the gun away from Sarah first, before he could get his hands on it. She pointed it at the woman.