Anger replaced hope on Zoe’s face. “I have no idea. I’m totally going to kill that kid!”
Twenty-Six
“Is there an eclipse today?” Zoe asked as we strode into the bar. Nobody had left during our downtime, although Bonnie, Marissa, and Doc were curled up on booth benches. Whistler remained behind the bar and Rooster was on his usual stool.
“Hey.” Gunner stepped around the pool table. He looked to have been playing a round by himself. I knew what he was really doing; he was worrying about me. “Are you okay?” He tilted up my chin so he could study my face and covered my mouth with his before I could answer.
I was breathless by the time he was finished. “I ... um ... what did you ask?”
He offered up a cheeky grin. “I asked if you were okay. Then I kind of lost myself for a minute.”
He wasn’t the only one who felt temporarily lost. “I’m okay.”
“How did the dream walking thing go?” Rooster asked, his eyes shifting to Raisin, who stood next to Aric. In her fuzzy pajama pants and oversized T-shirt, she looked several years younger than she was.
“Not how we expected,” Zoe replied, patting the bar stool next to Rooster in an attempt to entice Raisin. For her part, the teenager looked mildly fearful of the tempestuous mage. “I think our young friend needs a treat.”
Whistler nodded, smiling indulgently as Raisin edged over. “I know what she likes. How does a root beer float sound?”
Raisin’s eyes went wide. “Grandma says I can’t have any sugar after ten because it makes me hyper.”
“That’s the rule in our house, too,” Aric said, helping Raisin onto the stool. “It never sticks. I think this once, your grandmother would be okay with a sugar overload.”
Raisin didn’t look convinced. Her eyes darted toward the door. “Is she still in the parking lot?”
Rooster shook his head. “We weren’t sure how long this would take. I told her to head back home, get some sleep. I’ll take you back when it’s time.”
Raisin grinned. “Can I really have a root beer float?” She directed the question at Rooster, who was something of a father figure to her. “I’ll only have one scoop of ice cream if you think that’s best.”
Rooster’s chuckle was dry. “I think three scoops is called for.” He flicked his eyes to Zoe. “You were asking about an eclipse?”
Zoe nodded. “Raisin said that Sami came to her in a dream and mentioned a bloody eclipse. Is there an eclipse tomorrow? Er, well, it would be today now.”
“There is,” he confirmed. “It hits at one. Why?”
“Because Sami said something was going to happen during the eclipse,” Aric replied. “She didn’t say what, though.”
“None of what she said made sense,” Raisin said. “She was talking really fast, and she was excited.”
“Excited or afraid?” Aric queried, shaking his head when Zoe shot him a look. “What? She’s my baby. I want to know. If she’s frightened, I’ll tear apart this entire town to find her.”
“I happen to agree.” Zoe adopted a pragmatic tone. “I don’t want her frightened either. She did this, though. She took off even though she knew it would drive us crazy. I’m so mad at her right now.”
“You want her back as much as I do.”
“Of course I do. Then I’m going to ground her. Or worse, I’m going to make her watch the Kardashians and block her from watching Outlander.”
“She likes Outlander?” From the table behind us, Marissa suddenly perked up. The eyebrow she’d so laboriously drawn on her face had smudged during the night so she partially resembled a deranged clown. “I love that show.”
“Do you watch it for the history, too?” Aric asked dryly.
“I watch it for the sex.”
“Ha!” Aric jabbed a finger at his wife. “I told you we shouldn’t let her watch it. Nobody cares about the history.”
Zoe merely rolled her eyes. “Why do you think I’m going to block her from watching it? If it was about the history I wouldn’t care. I’m also blocking that Witcher show. She’s all hot for that dude, too.”
“Superman?” Aric looked horrified. “She can’t make Superman dirty. That’s un-American.”
I made a sound in my throat to get their attention. “I know you guys get off on the banter but we need to focus. What sort of eclipse are we talking about here?”
“It’s a total eclipse,” Rooster replied. “Though as we all know, that doesn’t mean total darkness.”
“It can.” I thought back to something I’d read in a book when I’d first joined Spells Angels. “Witches can enlarge the shadow if the magic surrounding the eclipse is strong enough.”
“I’m guessing that the magic surrounding this eclipse is going to be off the charts,” Zoe groused.
“What makes you say that?” Gunner asked. “Do you know something about this eclipse?”
“No. That’s just the sort of luck I deal with.” Zoe blew out a breath and planted her hands on her hips. “Okay, we have to work under the assumption that whatever Emma has planned, it’s for during the eclipse. There’s probably some ritual she wants to work with the Archimage at the exact moment when things go dark.”
“How do you know that?” Rooster challenged. “That seems a bit specific.”
“Because I’ve been around enough maniacal idiots over the years to know that all the crap television tells us, like on Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is all true. I’m not saying that pouring salt around you will keep out demons or anything, but the other stuff, the ridiculous stuff, all comes to fruition at some point. If there’s a moment of total darkness associated with this eclipse, that means she’s going to want to conduct a ritual at that exact moment. That means she’ll try to set up a meet a full hour before.”
“Why an hour?” asked Whistler. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to set up the meeting in the morning? Too much could go wrong if she leaves herself such a small cushion.”
“In theory,
