Storiebook Charm (A Spellbound Novel 1) Page 16

  Storie nodded slowly. The cloud cover that had been hovering in the night sky moved and suddenly the full moon shone down on them. A full moon. Her mother had mentioned it, but now she shivered, a fleeting thought of how cliché it was that the moon was full on the very night she was crossing over.

  Astrid nodded, tucking the front layers of her hair behind her ears. She had a carefree look to her, more gypsy than witch, but Storie would lay down money that men stopped in their tracks just to look at her. Like Helen of Troy. “Yes,” she said.

  “Yes, what?”

  “We can only get through when the moon is full. That’s why she has to take you tonight.”

  “You can read minds, too?”

  “If the intentions are clear. Plus we’re connected, you and I. And Declan. Triplets.”

  Connected. Woven together. Storie’s head felt thick and heavy. She tried to wrap her mind around everything that was happening. Finally, she asked, “Get through what?” She peered into the darkness. “Where? How does it work?”

  “God, you really are green, aren’t you?” Astrid said with a short laugh. “It’s a portal.” She glided back to the Jeep, leaning against the red metal. “It’s where you came through the first time. When our father escaped with you.”

  She stared, a chill winding through her. So that’s why she felt a connection to this place.

  “I’ve never had any witchy training,” Storie said, defending her lack of abilities. She paced, her mind racing. This was too much to take in. Leaving her home, even if it had only been her home for a short while, and going to someplace foreign and magical… It wasn’t what she wanted.

  “You can’t go back,” Astrid said, her lips tightening.

  She stopped at the front headlights, whipping around. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

  Astrid strode to her, putting both hands on her shoulders. The wand was gone, she noticed. A nifty trick. She didn’t even have a wand. Her sister was right. She really was green.

  “I mean,” Astrid said, lowering her voice to a dark whisper, “you can’t go with Millicent to the other side.”

  A wave of fear slithered over her. “Why?”

  “It’s a long story. Suffice it to say, the council has sanctioned her. The other side is a dark place, and our mother is more dark than light. She started to turn after our father took you away. She’s been trying to get to you ever since, but they’d made a pact. You were protected.”

  Storie sank down on the running board of the Jeep. So Millicent only wanted to use her?

  “The council’s issued infractions against her,” Astrid continued. “But the pact died with our father, and now, if she brings you back, the three of us will be together again and she can tap into our collective magic. She’ll regain the power the council took from her and we’ll be left with nothing.”

  She stared at Astrid, her mind racing. “And that wouldn’t be good?”

  “No. That wouldn’t be good. She’s gone dark, and when she taps into our power, she’ll kill us.”

  Kill them? That certainly wasn’t the mother she’d longed for all these years. “So what do we do?”

  “Fight her,” Astrid said, “but it won’t be easy without Declan.”

  “Where is he?”

  “He’s on the council of elders. He helped me sneak out to find you, but he can’t go. Not yet. Leaving would be too dangerous for him. His powers are stronger than mine. My powers are weakening, and yours—” She laughed harshly. “Yours are practically nonexistent.”

  Storie stifled her indignation. It wasn’t her fault her powers were feeble. “Not quite,” she said, rotating her wrist and flicking it, pointing at the underbrush. The shrub rustled and a snake slithered out, followed by an armor-backed armadillo and a flurry of other creatures.

  “I don’t think you’ll be able to defeat Millicent by making the critters scurry,” Astrid said, shaking her head.

  Before she could answer, the air turned thick and humid around them, so heavy and dense that she could see it shimmering.

  “You’re right, Astrid,” a woman said from behind them. “Parlor tricks won’t work.”

  Storie’s heart shot to her throat. She recognized the voice. Her mother.

  Chapter 19

  Reid skidded to a stop at the circle of trees. Storie had told him that the lake was her sanctuary. He didn’t know where she’d gone, but this was the only place that made sense. It’s where she’d said she’d come fishing with her father. It seemed to be her safe place.

  Dark clouds rolled in overhead, the humidity thick and stifling. Lightning illuminated the sky in a rapid one-two flash, the raucous crack of thunder reverberating moments later.

  Storie.

  He peered up, studying the sky, hoping for some clue so he could track her down. The air crackled with electricity. The epicenter was down the shoreline a hundred yards or so, where his truck wouldn’t drive. He jumped out, realization dawning. She wasn’t going to simply drive away with her mother. She was a witch, and that meant spells and portals and magical passageways.

  “Storie!” he yelled as he ran. But the rolling thunder and the lapping of the water against the sand drowned out his voice. He stopped, getting his bearings, listening. The world seemed to swirl out of control around him, the sky crackling and alive, a network of squiggly glowing lines all around.

  Witch. Storie’s letter. Not a Wiccan or some powerless Earth goddess mother. A real witch. Holy fucking Christ.

  From the corner of his eye, he caught a movement. Something white. He took off running at full speed, adrenaline pulsing through him.

  He dodged the brush and vaulted over a log, pulling up short when he saw her. Déjà vu hit him, only this time fear spread like tendrils to every part of his body. She stood on a flat-topped rock, her arms stretched toward the sky, silver light glowing at the tips of her fingertips.

  The bohemian woman Jason had been enraptured with stood motionless like a stone statue. He remembered talking to Storie in the tearoom, struggling with that damn shelf, and her mother showing up. Another witch. She’d done something to him and he’d lost minutes, frozen in time.

  Shit. This wasn’t good.

  He didn’t have any recourse against magic, but he wouldn’t stand aside and do nothing. At the very least, he’d create a diversion. Hell, he’d die trying to help Storie, no matter what it took. He skirted around the pine trees, ducking out of sight and prowling quietly until he was hidden behind Storie’s red Jeep.

  Panic stole through Storie. Astrid had warned her, but Millicent had anticipated the betrayal and had immobilized her with some sort of spell. The same thing that she’d done to Reid that day in the tearoom.

  Her mother. The word twisted in her mind. She’d been so stupid, choosing to leave The Storiebook Café, Harper and the girls, and Reid for a mother who wanted nothing more than to steal her powers and leave her for dead.

  Her eyes burned as she tried to move her arms. She’d managed to reach up to the sky, concentrating every bit of her power to her fingers until the tips glowed with fire. Sweeping her arms to the left, over and over, the cloud cover rolled in, a thunderous roar undulating through the sky. Lightning speared through the darkness, but dizziness followed, her body turning limp and weak. Her legs buckled under her, but she gathered her strength and righted herself. She wouldn’t let her mother ruin everything she’d worked so hard for. Not now. Not ever.

  Astrid’s frozen eyes were pinched and intent, as if she’d looked head-on into Medusa’s eyes ready to do battle, but had lost.

  The blinding light from above subsided, the turbulent clouds in motion above her, a heavy, warm rain falling in a torrent.

  Millicent laughed, a high-pitched cackling sound that was brittle and sent a gust of shivers over Storie’s skin. “Working the weather is rudimentary, daughter,” she said, advancing slowly, as if she didn’t have a care in the world. “Is that the best you can do?”

  “I’m not going with you.” Thanks to
Astrid, Storie knew the truth. Without her, the sibling triad was incomplete, and her mother couldn’t suck or steal or absorb their power. She didn’t know how it worked, but there was no way in hell she was crossing over to the magical world.

  “Astrid and Declan need you, Storie. You’ll let them wither away and die? You’ll let yourself go?”

  “You sent me away,” she said, the rain drenching her, the words of that short sentence unleashing all the anger and frustration and loneliness she’d felt since she was a child.

  Her mother stared at her, oblivious to the roiling sky above and the rain pelting them.

  “He took you.”

  She shook her head, seeing in her mind how it must have played out. Her father’s view had been jaded by Millicent, but… “He loved you. My father loved you,” she said, her voice barely audible over the storm.

  Millie laughed, the sound like a hyena cackling. “His mistake.”

  “You didn’t love him back.” That was clear, but she needed to hear it. To understand.

  “I thought it was him,” she said. “My powers were diminishing, and I was sure it was because he was an ordinary human.”

  “But it wasn’t,” she said, almost to herself. Her father’s belief that witches and mortals couldn’t be together had come from Millicent, but it wasn’t true.

  “I gave you to him and sent him away.” She nodded and looked like she’d do it again if need be. “I thought getting rid of the mortal would be enough, but you’re half mortal. Your brother and sister have his blood,” she said, accusation lacing her voice. As if they’d all made a choice to be born to her and their mortal father.

  “A mother’s responsibility is to care for her children, not to destroy them.”

  Millicent glared at Astrid, frozen under a veil of gauze. “The three of you drained my power and your brother has grown strong, but even he is suffering. The time has come. The pact is broken. Now it’s time to reclaim what is mine.”

  Storie backed up, casting another frantic look at Astrid. Still immobile, but—

  She blinked, forcing another flash of lightning so she could see. Had Astrid blinked, or was the rippling light playing tricks with her vision? If she agreed to go with her mother, would it help Astrid, or would it simply be the end for all three of them, including Declan, the powerful brother she’d never met?

  Millicent advanced, her pale face calm and soft. “My dear,” she cooed, “your affairs are in order. Harper will thrive with the café. I’ll see to it. If you come with me, her girls will find their happy endings. And you can be back where you belong, reunited with your family.”

  Her breath caught. Behind Millicent, Astrid pressed her arms down slowly, as if she were encased in a tube of viscous air, heavy and obtrusive. Storie had to stall, to figure out how to help Astrid escape. “And if I don’t?”

  “I’m not evil, daughter. You’ve no idea how I’ve missed you,” her mother said, but that hard edge crept back into her voice. “I need to reunite my three children.”

  Yeah, right. Millicent needed them together to reclaim her failing power, that was the truth. She stepped back, shaking her head. “Astrid told me everything.” She grabbed hold of the Jeep and scurried up, balancing on the full-sized spare tire mounted to the back tailgate. The platform wasn’t as stable as being in the back of her daddy’s truck, but it would do. “You haven’t missed me,” she retorted. “You need me. There’s a big difference.”

  “That’s true, but you’re a witch and you belong in the magical world, not withering away in a ridiculous small town.” Millicent’s lips thinned. “Yes, I need you. Who do you need and who needs you?”

  An image flashed in her mind, and she knew the answer—at least to the first question. Reid. She needed him. She wanted him, mortal or not. The question in her mind was, would he want her after he learned the truth?

  A faint sound rose above the tumultuous sky. She glanced to the left and found her answer.

  Reid! He crouched out of Millicent’s sight, but he had to have heard everything.

  The answer to her mother’s questions flew out of her mouth before she could think. “I need Reid,” she said, “and…”

  She cast another quick look his way. He nodded, and she understood. He’d come for her. To fight for her. He knew who she was…what she was, and he’d come anyway. “And he needs me.”

  Millicent threw her head back and let loose a dark laugh. “It’s a lovely dream, daughter, but love with a mortal man is fraught with peril. He can’t understand you—not really—and in the end, you’ll have to choose to live in his mortal world and forsake who you are, or you can come with me and be what you were born to be.”

  Storie dragged in a deep breath, her mind clearing, her panic subsiding. Power surged through her. There was an undeniable electrical charge between her and Reid that she’d never felt with anyone, and knew she never would again. And he was here. He’d come to stop her from leaving. She had to get through this so she could tell him how she felt. More than anything, she couldn’t let him go. “It’s an easy choice,” she said. “I choose him.”

  But Millicent shook her head. “It’s the witching hour, my dear, and I’m afraid the choice is no longer yours to make.” She lifted her arms, a blood-red wand appearing in one hand.

  Storie acted without thinking. Her arms flew up, pointing to the sky, and she uttered the spell she’d crafted when she’d been twenty years old and had first truly harnessed her control over the sky. She hadn’t used her magic, and prayed that using it now didn’t completely wipe her out and that she could summon what she needed to fight her mother. The dark clouds gathered, swirling and spiraling, as gray fingers feathered together, like a hand reaching toward them.

  The moving sky was enough to break Millicent’s concentration. She faltered, and at the same moment Reid shot out from behind the Jeep, sprinting toward Astrid. He ran straight for her, as if he knew that she was stuck inside an enchantment and sheer physical force was his only chance of freeing her. He accepted what was happening, and in that moment, Storie knew she’d made the right choice.

  She cast her eyes back to her mother. Millicent had seen Reid and murmured something, but Storie jerked her arm and one finger of the clouds grew instantly, spiraling, gathering strength. She spun her own finger, moving the funnel, guiding it like a puppet master until it touched down between Millicent and Astrid, forcing her mother back.

  The vigor of the tornado knocked Millicent off her feet. She landed in a heap, struggling to untwine her caftan from under her jumbled legs.

  The spell trapping Astrid broke, the air bubble that encased her rupturing with the force of Reid barreling into it. The threads broke into wispy pieces, floating up like a spider web that had been torn apart. Reid’s arm shot toward it, grabbing for the gauzy strands.

  “Get your mother out of here!” he yelled, pushing Astrid toward them.

  Astrid rushed to Storie, gripping her by the arm and turning to face their mother. “She’s not going,” her sister said, her shiny black flower-covered wand appearing in her hand. Storie’s body tingled, her skin rippling from the contact with Astrid. Energy flashed across her. She grew stronger, and her magic swelled inside her. Siblings reunited. Their powers were joining, she realized. Commingling and gaining strength. She didn’t have a wand, but maybe she didn’t need one.

  From the corner of her eye, she saw Reid circle around the truck, appearing again behind Millicent, and she took her cue.

  She held tight to Astrid, flinging her arm out, fingers pointed at Millicent. A spear of light shot out from the tip of her index finger. A wave of dizziness crashed over her and the coil of glowing red faltered, crackling like lightning. But she drew in a breath, planted her boots firmly in the sand, and held her arm steady. The storm gathered strength again, encircling Millicent like a lasso. At the same moment, Reid rushed toward Millicent, throwing the filmy strands of webbing over her. Millicent snatched at them, trying to pull them off, but they sett
led on her and cascaded over her head, draped her shoulders, and stunned her into submission.

  Storie edged toward her, her arm outstretched, but shaky. She stopped in front of her mother, grabbing hold of the transparent strands of film covering her. She wound her arm in a circle, wrapping her up tighter and tighter until Millicent was immobile.

  “You’re making the wrong choice,” her mother managed to say, her voice faint and strained under the veil. “It’s not over.”

  “I’m not going back,” she said.

  Millicent looked from Storie to Reid and back, her eyes wide with disbelief. Storie wound the threads tighter and tighter, fighting her weakening limbs and directing all her focus on immobilizing her mother. Her arm trembled. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold her magic steady, but after another minute, Millicent finally let out a shrill cry and slumped to the ground.

  As Reid sprinted to her, she let out the breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. “Is she…will she…”

  Astrid took her hand, their strength melding together again until Storie felt stable. “She’ll be fine,” Astrid said. “Without Declan’s powers, the spell won’t hold her for long.”

  Storie’s mind scrambled to make sense of what had happened. Her sister’s power had blended with hers, allowing her to defeat Millicent—at least for now.

  “She won’t give up?”

  Astrid laughed, but the humor didn’t reach her eyes. “You won a small battle, Storie, but the war is still raging.”

  Storie released her hold on the storm. The rain stopped, the full moon vibrant in the velvety blackness of the sky, the entire shoreline of the lake illuminated as if it were daylight.

  “So you’re staying here,” Reid said to her.

  Storie nodded, for once, completely sure that she’d made the right decision. No doubt. No reservations. Just confidence that her happily ever after was right here in Whiskey Creek. “I’m staying.”

  “What about her?” Reid notched his head toward Millicent.