But what the hell were the powers he’d waited for?
I shook my head again as I realized something. “I can go into the past,” I stuttered. “I can… look, this is gonna sound crazy, but I’ve had visions of McCain from the past. I’ve seen my forebear, Mary. I’ve been in her head. But it was more than that. It wasn’t just that I saw what she was going through. It was like I was actually there. And if I pushed….” I swallowed. It felt as if my throat would crack in half. “If I really pushed, the vision would turn into reality. What do you think it means?” I tilted my head up and looked at Sarah, a note of vulnerability echoing through my tone.
She took several seconds to answer. She brought a hand up, clapped it on her chin, and pulled her slender, long fingers against her lip. “To be honest, I have absolutely no idea. But it’s a clue.” She let her hand drop, and she looked at me directly. “It’s one you’ll have to figure out. I doubt McCain would have written lying into your contract if it wasn’t important. And I imagine,” she cast her gaze back to Max, “it’s the key to everything.”
I felt myself swallow. One of those swallows where you’re suddenly completely aware of not just your throat, but your lips and lungs and mouth and tummy and diaphragm. Your whole body is pushed into sharp refrain.
I brought a hand up and slapped it across my head as I tried to battle past my thoughts. What the hell could this mean? What other kind of ability could I have? Yeah, sure, I was a pretty good liar. But I doubted my sheer ability to create fiction would be the key to ending this. Or maybe, maybe I was overlooking something. Because I couldn’t deny McCain’s incredible reaction to the way I’d taunted him in the attic when I’d suggested I could lie and he wouldn’t be able to know the difference. He’d snapped, and that had been the only reason I’d been able to get out of there. So it was a clue, wasn’t it?
I brought a hand down and latched it across my stomach, letting the fingers drag through the torn scraps of my top. It brought Sarah’s attention to the blood that caked my arms and fingers. I watched her clench her teeth and push a breath through them.
“You’re still injured. And no matter what’s happening, we have to see to those injuries. We also,” she cast her gaze back to Max then over to the door, “have to remain on the run.”
A kick of fear shoved hard through my gut. “What do you mean? I thought we’d be safe here for a while.”
“For a while,” she conceded with a tight frown. “But if McCain is half as powerful as you’re describing, then it won’t take long to find us. Our only option is to keep on the run. We still have those keys from Dimitri,” Sarah revealed. “Max gave them to me for safekeeping. Though ordinarily we wouldn’t have the magic to keep on the run, those keys are all we need.”
I let myself feel a brief flicker of relief. Then I returned my attention to Max. “What about him?” I asked as I brought a hand up and extended a shaking finger toward him. He was still prone on the couch, unmoving as that shadow danced deep within his eyes.
“He’ll be okay. What’s afflicting him is no normal injury.” Her voice dropped down low, and I had to struggle to pick up the quiet words. “It won’t matter if we move him. All that matters is you find a way to fight McCain.”
“But hold on. How exactly am I meant to fight him? You told me I couldn’t kill him for the risk of killing Max. So what option do I have?”
Sarah shrugged. “You’ll find a way,” she said as she took a quick, jerked step over to Max and started explaining things to the other witches.
It was all up to me? I tried hard not to wobble on my feet as several of the medi witches helped Bridgette to her feet.
Chapter 5
I couldn’t wrench my gaze off Max. My mind was stuck in the moment we’d kissed, my body too. If I let my eyes lock on him for too long, exactly the same sensations started to chase hard down my jaw and deep into my chest. They thawed me a little, but it didn’t last. Fear slammed even harder into my heart. McCain was still out there, and he wouldn’t stop until he found me. And then? God knows what would happen then.
I brought a hand up and slammed it over my face, blinking hard into my sweaty fingers.
Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I shifted my attention and saw Bridgette there. Though she was being propped up between two witches, she still looked as if she had the gall to stand on her own, despite her injuries. Her pants were completely blood soaked, and though there were now magical looking bandages wrapped around her middle, she still shouldn’t have the strength to stand, let alone smile.
“I may not have known you long, Chi, but there’s no one else who can do this. Trust me. Don’t question your powers, just go with it. Go with your anger, fear, love,” she added in a quiet tone as she cast her gaze back to Max. “You may be new to this magical world, but that doesn’t matter. You’re smart enough to figure this out. Just believe in yourself.”
With that, the witches pulled her away and helped
