“Don’t worry. I won’t allow her to attack from behind. I’m used to the drill.”
“Good.” He brushed his lips against her forehead. “About the accident ....” He trailed off, unsure what to say.
“It had to be magical, right?” Hannah had been running the scenario through her head since it happened. “That wasn’t normal lightning.”
“I’m not a meteorologist, but I would agree.”
“And the thing Angel described to Boone makes it more likely.”
“I believe he said a magical shadow, although he didn’t give many details.”
“Yeah, that. We should probably figure out what that is, huh?”
“Probably.”
“At least it’s not up here this time.”
“Don’t jinx us. With our luck, it might follow us back.”
She poked his side. “You’re the one jinxing us saying things like that.”
“I apologize.” He shifted a bit, hoping that she would melt against him and drift off. Her mind was clearly too busy to allow that to happen, though.
“Where should we start looking?”
He let loose a dramatic sigh, the sound echoing throughout the room. “You seem wound up.”
“I’m not wound up.”
“You are. You should be sleeping. You were practically falling asleep at the scene.”
“That’s because my adrenaline was flagging at the time and there was a lull.”
“There’s also a lull now.”
“Yeah, but I need to exert another burst of energy before I embrace the lull.”
He grinned into the darkness. “What did you have in mind?”
She rolled until she was on top of him, and although he couldn’t make out her features in the darkness, the way the moon bounced off her eager eyes had his heart melting. “I thought I might show you. It will probably lose something in the telling.”
“I’m looking forward to that.”
WHEN HANNAH SLIPPED UNDER, IT WASN’T an easy passing. There was no lilting drift to carry her on a cloud of dreams. Instead, she dropped like a stone into a thick haze, and found herself in a world with no respite.
“Hello?” She looked around, confused. Was she awake? That didn’t feel right. The last thing she remembered was Cooper holding her, whispering that he loved her, and kissing her into dreamland. Was that where she was now? If so, she would’ve preferred a brighter landscape ... and perhaps some eye candy to jazz things up. “Cooper?”
He wasn’t there of course. This was her head. He was safely ensconced in his own, where she bet the dreams were far better. Despite that, she hated the feeling of being alone. Even before she moved to Casper Creek, when the world was crashing down around her after she left her job and ditched her jerky boyfriend, she always had Jinx. Now she was really alone.
“Hello?”
There was no answer, although she didn’t expect one. Because she didn’t seem capable of willing herself into another dream, she took a moment to study the landscape. It seemed vaguely familiar ... and yet altogether foreign at the same time.
“Bench,” she muttered to herself as she ran her fingers over the wooden top of the item in question. It was the same sort of bench that was littered all over in the downtown area. She’d seen one right before the accident took place and that realization had her snapping up her head. “Wait a second ....”
The intersection. That’s where she was, only there was no traffic light. There were also no streetlights up and down the road. The only illumination came from the overly large moon, which should’ve been a dead giveaway that she was dreaming right from the start.
Then she heard it. Voices. There were two of them, and they belonged to women.
“You don’t have the strength to stop me.”
“I’m willing to test that theory.”
“And if it results in the end of you?”
“Perhaps it will result in the end of you.”
A cackle filled the stilted night air. “That doesn’t seem likely, does it?”
Hannah peered into the darkness, which was suddenly being exasperated by a heavy fog that had seemingly come from nowhere. It took a few moments, but she finally made out two figures about a hundred feet away. They stood in the middle of the road, their arms raised, and threw magic at one another.
It was difficult to make out what was happening — mostly because she had never seen a magical battle of this magnitude before — but the two combatants seemed to be well matched. Various sparks of magic flew through the air, some lifting to the sky and forming what looked to be a lightning bolt. Hannah watched the phenomenon for several minutes, confused, and then turned back to the women.
One of them was surrounded by a white aura, the other one boasting one as black as a soulless heart. They were both gasping, injured, and yet still on their feet. The one with the black aura looked stronger, though, and Hannah was convinced that she would be the victor if this continued.
“Excuse me?” Hannah had no idea why she drew attention to herself but was desperate to stop the fight. She was terrified the outcome would be more than she could bear. “I don’t want to tell you your business, but do you think it’s wise to keep this going out here? Anybody could see you.”
The women didn’t turn in her direction, instead remaining focused on one another. In fact, they didn’t even react to her voice, which made Hannah doubt they’d actually heard her.
“I won’t let you do this,” the woman with the light aura rasped “I can’t. If I have to destroy myself to end you, I will.”
“That would be stupid,” the darker woman countered. “You’ll die for nothing.”
“Maybe that’s what has to be.”
“And maybe you’ll fail either way.”
The next bursts of magic they unleashed collided, creating a huge explosion, and as the magical fire raced at Hannah, all she could do was duck her head ... and scream.
“NO!”
She bolted to a sitting position in her bed, her arms flailing about as she tried to
