“Only three?” She pouted and tossed her silky, blonde hair. “I hoped for more.”
“I need to speak with you and your sisters.”
“Susanna doesn’t want to see you,” a rich, velvety female voice came from his left.
Edwina, the heart witch, lounged on her favorite loveseat. She ran a hand through her deep red hair.
“That’s fine,” Johnny said. “It’s you I want to speak to anyway.”
“Rude!” Hattie pouted.
“You shouldn’t underestimate her,” Edwina warned.
“I’m not underestimating her,” Johnny said. “It’s not my fault you’re the sanest one of the bunch.”
Edwina tipped her head back and laughed. “It’s so cute that you think that.” Her smile vanished as if it hadn’t been there in the first place. “What do you want?”
“Do you know anything about the magic barrier?” he asked.
“The one between here and Golden Oak?” she asked. “It stops magic wielders from interfering from afar. I could’ve sworn we went over this.”
“It doesn’t physically prevent anyone from leaving town?” Johnny asked. “It doesn’t make a town disappear?”
Edwina furrowed her delicate brow. “No, it doesn’t. It’s not a physical barrier. If it were, those horrible dark shifters wouldn’t have been able to come into our territory. Why are you asking such stupid questions?”
“Because there’s a wall around Golden Oak,” Johnny explained. “It’s made the town disappear to people on the outside. The people on the inside can see us just fine, but they can’t go beyond the barrier.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Edwina shook her head. “You must be mistaken.”
“Want me to take you there?” Johnny asked. “See for yourself.”
“No.” Edwina rolled her eyes. “We’re still hibernating after spending too much power helping you and your lot last time.”
“You look fine to me.”
“I didn’t ask you how I look, did I?” Edwina snapped. “Our magic stores are dangerously low.”
“Whatever,” Johnny scoffed. “You’re probably the ones doing it.”
“I couldn’t conjure a hairbrush if I wanted to let alone trap a town,” Hattie snapped. “Even if I could, what you’re describing doesn’t sound like any barrier spell I’ve ever heard of.”
“Well, what does it sound like? Holly’s on the opposite side of this barrier thing, and I want to remedy that before I lose my fucking mind.”
“Too late,” Hattie trilled.
Johnny fixed her with a cold glare.
“What?” She shrugged. “Don’t tell me you didn’t set me up for that.”
“Enough,” Edwina moaned. “You’re giving me a migraine. Settle down and shut up.”
“Who are you talking to?” Johnny asked.
“Both of you. You’re equally annoying.” With a huff, Hattie threw herself on the loveseat on top of Edwina’s legs.
“Can we please get back to the barrier?” Johnny asked. “If Holly’s trapped in Golden Oak, all of us are going to suffer, especially you three.”
Edwina narrowed her eyes. “Is that a threat?”
“It’s a fact,” Johnny replied. “The Maiden is the only thing who can stop the dark shifters. If the dark shifters have Holly, she can’t stop them. That’s going to suck for me and the other shifters, but it’s going to be a hell of a lot worse for you. What do you think a horde of dark shifters will do when they find three powerful witches who fought against them?”
Hattie’s face paled. She looked at Edwina with big, worried eyes. “That’s not going to happen, right?”
“No.” Edwina stroked her coven sister’s hair. “I won’t let things get to that point.”
“Then help me understand what the barrier is and how it works.”
“From what you’ve told me, it sounds like two spells layered over another.”
“All right.” Johnny nodded, urging her to elaborate.
“The first might be some kind of perception spell,” she said. “That’s what’s making outsiders unable to see the town.”
“Makes sense.” Johnny nodded. Nothing about this made sense. “What else?”
“The second spell is probably just a simple barrier spell amplified to the extreme if it’s stopping a whole town from leaving.”
“There’s a weak spot in the barrier,” Johnny explained. “We found it yesterday. My friend used a spell to make the barrier transparent. It worked for a little while before the spell failed. She said it felt like something was working against her.”
Edwina frowned. “That could be any number of things.”
“Like what?”
Edwina pondered the matter for some time.
Johnny opened his mouth to ask another question when Edwina let out a sharp sigh. If she had eyes to roll, Johnny imagined she would’ve rolled them.
“Hattie, will you go with Johnny to check out the barrier?”
“Me?” Hattie gasped.
“Well, I can’t expect to adequately understand a spell that manipulates sight.” Edwina gestured to the gold coins on her closed eyelids.
“Right,” Hattie murmured. “All right, bear boy. Let’s get this over with.”
“Bear boy?” Johnny wrinkled his nose.
“I was trying to sound cool and edgy. Don’t ruin it,” Hattie snapped. “Go full bear and get us out of here.”
“Believe me, you don’t want me to shift inside.” Johnny chuckled. “Unless you like the look of destroyed furniture, of course.”
“Whatever. Go outside and…roar or something when you’re ready.”
“Can I borrow a bag or something?” Johnny asked. “I’m not looking to destroy a perfectly good shirt.”
“Top drawer under the mirror, if you must.”
“I must.” He went to the black bureau under a mirror that looked to be held up by fierce stone gargoyles. “You know, some witches live in apartments.”
“We’re not like most witches.”
“Right, you’re unnecessarily creepy.” He retrieved a leather pouch that was probably used to keep entrails inside it at some point. “I’ll roar when I’m ready.” He chuckled as he left the witch’s den.
Once outside, he undressed, shoved his clothes in the entrail bag, and prepared to shift. He hadn’t done so since the battle at the silver mines.
Once in his shaggy brown bear form,
