Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 98961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
“Don’t burn anything tonight,” Eliza starts, following behind me as we go back upstairs to attend to Juliet. “The smell of smoke is hard to get out of drywall and you just got this house restored.”
“I’m not burning my own house,” I tell her, looking over my shoulder. “Maybe an abandoned building or something with a moat around it so I don’t accidentally start a forest fire or something.”
“Good luck finding an abandoned castle with a moat around it that actually is filled with water then. And you do know fires can blow over water.”
“Right. I’ll have to create a magical dome first.”
“I really don’t know if you’re joking or not.”
“I don’t either.”
Freya has shifted back into her regular cat-form and is perched at the end of the swing, sitting in the empty space Juliet’s little legs don’t yet reach. One of her paws is outstretched and gently resting on Juliet’s chest, and I want to immediately take a picture, though I know I can’t post it anywhere. I’d get a billion comments telling me how it’s not safe to let a cat snuggle a newborn, and I can’t exactly explain that Freya isn’t a cat at all but instead a familiar who I suspect is going to bond with Juliet and become hers.
Maybe that was the reason she came to me after her first witch died. It’s not usual to have three familiars, and it’s even more unusual to have a familiar bond with another witch after their first witch died. Both Freya and Pandora’s witches were murdered, and I just happened to be the next witch they came across. Neither had taken on the form of a cat at the time but changed to fit in with Binx.
“Where’s my phone?” I ask and suddenly feel like everything is surreal. The last time I had my phone, Lucas and I were sitting on the couch watching TV. I’d fallen asleep with his arms around me, holding Juliet in place as I slept. We were waiting for her to get sleepy before going upstairs and attempting to sleep ourselves, but I clearly lost that battle.
Was that only yesterday?
“I’ll get it,” Eliza says and speeds out of the room.
Everything was perfect yesterday. We had gone out for dinner with Abby and her family. I got a little dressed up and Lucas kept looking at me like he couldn’t wait to get home and devour me throughout our meal.
Did he even eat yesterday?
We had sex in the afternoon, and he bit me, but he didn’t want to take too much of my own blood since I’m breastfeeding. Do Horsemen get hungry? What if Osiris commands them to go out in the day?
I squeeze my eyes closed when the lights above me start to flicker, and Eliza comes back with my phone as well as Lucas’s.
“Your phone is dead.”
“Figures as much.” Inhaling, I get hit with emotion when I take Lucas’s phone. I tap the screen and fight back tears when I see that he set his lock screen to a photo Tabatha took of Lucas and me the day Juliet was born. We’re in bed and I look ragged, but the way Lucas is looking at his daughter almost does me in.
“He’ll want to see this,” I say, voice thin, and snap a few photos. Juliet has quieted down for the moment, comforted by Freya. “We should make sure to document as much of her as we can.”
“Right.” Eliza is fighting her own emotions too. She’s spent pretty much her entire undead life at Lucas’s side. The longest she’d been away from him was when Lucas and I went on our honeymoon. She’s holding it together better than I thought she would, and I’m sure it’s all for my benefit. We both stand there, watching Juliet for a moment. She goes back to sleep and the logical part of me says now is the time to take a shower and get ready for bed.
But then I remember what Eamon said.
“Betty.” Shaking myself, I go to my nightstand and plug my phone in. “I need to go check on her.”
“It seems like that’s exactly what Eamon wants you to do,” Eliza says, messing with her hair. “You’ll be walking into a trap.”
“Not if I’m not actually walking.”
Eliza tips her head. “How else—oh, you can astral project.”
“Exactly. If she’s been held spellbound, I won’t be able to test it in my astral form though. But I’ll figure out what I can.”
“Okay.” Eliza nods. “What can I do?”
“Stay here in case Juliet wakes up. I have what I need in the library.” I mentally call Binx as I go downstairs, pouring a circle of salt on the floor big enough for me to lay in. Binx shadows into the house as I’m done prepping and lays on my chest so he can watch over me.