Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“I should have figured it would happen. I’m sorry, I need to get up for a second.”
“Oh, of course.” She easily moves off my lap, and I stand to get some water and pace the room a bit while my mind clears. “Wanna talk about it?”
“I do. Of course, I do.” I pass her the water and then sit next to her once more. She doesn’t climb into my lap, but she does rest her leg on mine, keeping our connection. “I meant to tell you earlier about what happened at the ball, but then we got preoccupied with other things.”
“What happened?”
I swallow hard, remembering the moment in the ballroom when I thought the earth had fallen out from under me.
“I was standing there, talking with the guys, and I glanced around to find you. I like knowing where you are if you’re not with me.”
“I know.” She grins, not seeming at all bothered by that comment, and takes a sip of the water. “Go on.”
“When I looked around, I saw that everyone else was fine, going about their business, but you were hanging from a noose from the ceiling. Obviously, I was the only one who saw it because everyone else was just carrying on as if nothing at all was wrong. And, of course, I knew instantly that it wasn’t real. It still gave me a jolt, but I understood I was being toyed with. Add that to seeing you on that cliff, and your intent to jump, and it’s no wonder I had a nightmare.”
“Okay, this has layers.” She passes the water back to me. “First of all, I had a very similar experience at the ball. Except when I came out of the bathroom, everyone was dead. Zombies. Pretty gross. I also refused to react and said a little protection spell that seemed to piss it off enough to go away. But my mom said I’d been gone for an hour, and it felt like only minutes for me.”
“I hate that asshole,” I grumble.
“Oh, same goes. The second layer is, I can’t believe I really would have jumped off that cliff tonight.”
“Had I not been there, you absolutely would have.”
She shakes her head stubbornly. “Xander, I hate heights. There’s no way.”
“It was controlling you. Of course, I don’t believe you would have willingly thrown yourself off the cliff, but you didn’t have a say in the matter. And it took a lot for me to bring you out of that trance. It’s some creepy shit, Lorelei.”
“What was the dream about?” she asks.
“You. At your house. But you were dead, from jumping off the cliffs. The fucked-up part?”
“Oh, there’s an actual fucked-up part? Because I thought we were already there.”
“Ha ha. The really fucked-up part was that it was using you to speak, so it was you talking, but it was really it. And I pissed it off because I laughed at it.”
“Yeah, we’re pretty bad for the ego, that’s for sure. I’m sorry you saw that. We need to tell the others first thing in the morning.”
“I agree, but it’s interesting that it isn’t really fucking with the others this time around. Seems to be focused on the two of us.”
“Honestly, I’m okay with that.” She bites her lip and leans her head back on the sofa. “If we’re the target, that means it’s leaving the others alone.”
“That we’re aware of.”
Lorelei sighs. “Yeah, that we’re aware of. Do you think that if we were linked psychically, we could pull each other out of the visions and dreams that aren’t real? That we could protect each other?”
“I think it’s worth a try,” I reply immediately. “I’ll go get the grimoire. Let’s do it now and then go get in a real bed to get some decent sleep. We’ll do a sleep spell for no nightmares and to protect our minds while we’re unconscious.”
“So much spell work lately,” she mutters as she follows me into the library where the grimoire is waiting. “I went from no witch work to all the Craft in the land in a matter of minutes. I love it, but it can be a smidge overwhelming.”
“I hate that you left the Craft behind when you went to California.”
“I needed to.” She shrugs a shoulder as I flip through the book to the page I need. “I needed the break. It was good for me. But that’s done.”
“Good, because we need your magic. You need it.”
“And I have it. Okay, let’s read each other’s minds. Wait. Are you a pervert? Like, do you think about boobs and sex all the time?”
“Only your boobs and sex with you, so it should be okay.”
She rolls her eyes, and it makes me laugh as I take her hand in mine. “Ready?”
“Ready. I’ll read it with you.”
With harm to none, blessings to all, we cast this spell, this is our call.