The Secret Life of a Witch 2 (Mystic Willow Bay, Witches Series) Read online

  Conflicted over what to do, I continue to run toward the end of the driveway. Once I reach the edge of the road, I veer right. My legs ache as I move swiftly down the side of the street, heading toward where the fields shift into boarded up warehouses and older, rundown homes.

  As I near the first building, I wonder if maybe I should’ve ran the other way. Sure, that way leads out of Mystic Willow Bay, but this side of town is so sketchy.

  What makes the situation worse is that not a damn creature seems to be around. Yet, as I dash past grimy windows and closed doors, the feeling of being watched overcomes me.

  “Eva!” Hunter sounds much nearer.

  I try to quicken my pace, but I’ve never been much of a runner, and I’m running out of breath. Plus, my shins and lungs are killing me.

  God, I really need to start working out more.

  A hand lands on my shoulder as I approach the curb. I wrench forward in an attempt to escape, but all the running has weakened me, and I end up tripping over my own feet.

  Fortunately, Hunter catches me before I faceplant onto the concrete.

  For a snap of an instant, gratitude washes over me. Then he reels me around and backs me up against the warehouse behind us, and just like that, my gratitude flies away on a broom, which yes, we actually do use sometimes.

  I sidestep to the right to get away from him, but he shoots his hands out and barricades me between his arms.

  Warning alarms fire off inside my brain as he inches closer to me until I barely have any room left to breathe.

  “Now, will you please calm down for two seconds and listen to me?” His low, cold tone sends a shiver creeping up my back.

  I seal my lips together and stare him down, refusing to answer.

  He arches a brow. “Eva, I need you to promise to hear me out all the way through. If you don’t, this is going to look worse than it is.”

  I laugh hollowly, my heart splintering apart. “Look worse than it is? Which means what? That it’s bad, yet not as bad as I think?”

  He searches my eyes, and then sighs. “Honestly, that’s probably how you’re going to look at it, regardless.”

  Another hollow laugh escapes my lips. “Okay, well, please enlighten me, then. Tell me what you’ve done that’s not as bad as I think, yet still pretty bad.”

  His lip twitches, either out of amusement or frustration. “You know, you can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.”

  “I know,” I agree. “But right now, I think I have a pretty good reason for it.”

  His lips quirk again, his gaze never wavering from mine. “Perhaps.”

  I tap my foot in impatience. “Are you going to explain what’s going on? Or just stand there and internally laugh at me?”

  He removes one hand from the wall and scrubs his palm across his jawline, contemplating. “I will, but …” His gaze wanders toward the warehouse and then to the street before conclusively landing back on me. Then he dips his head in, keeping his voice hushed as he says, “I don’t think talking out here is the best idea right now.”

  I open my mouth to declare that I’m not going anywhere with him until he explains further when a hiss slithers through the air.

  Hunter’s muscles wind tight as he lets out a low, “Fuck.”

  “Is that any way to greet an old friend?” a deep, male voice asks.

  Hunter’s gaze fastens on mine, and in the quietest voice ever, he whispers, “Eva, just know that whatever’s about to happen, you need to trust me.”

  Before I can respond, he pushes back from the wall and turns toward the street.

  “Carter,” Hunter says with a slight nod of his head. “It’s been a long time.”

  “Yes, it has,” the voices hisses. “I’ve been wondering what happened to you.”

  “Yeah, sorry, I’ve been busy,” Hunter casually replies, sticking his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “What’ve you been up to?”

  Wanting to put a creature to the hissing voice, I lean to the right. Then instantly regret it.

  Standing on the edge of the curb is a guy who looks around Hunter’s age with snow white hair, blue lips, and fiery red eyes.

  A demon.

  And he’s staring at Hunter like they’re long lost friends.

  What the crazy world is going on?

  A grin spreads across Carter’s face. “I’ve been looking for you, actually.” His smile grows as his gaze shoots toward me. “I’m glad to see you followed through with your end of the deal. I was worried you weren’t going to.”

  I half-expect Hunter to throw me a reassuring look, but his smile mirrors the demon’s.

  “Like I would ever stab you in the back.” He reaches back and grabs my arm, dragging me forward. “Of course I followed through with my end of the deal. It just took me longer than I thought, that’s all.”

  The demon’s eyes gleam red as he reaches for me. “Good. Then I’m guessing the shield’s down?”

  Hunter nods, tugging me toward the demon. “She’s ready to go.”

  I dig my heels into the ground and yank back, not like where this is going. “Let me go.”

  Hunter tightens his hold and pulls me closer to the demon. “Eva, quit making this difficult.”

  My heart feels like it’s being torn to shreds. Hunter, my best friend in the world, is handing me over to a demon. I want to break apart. Collapse to the sidewalk. Scream until my lungs combust. But the will to fight is greater.

  I lift my leg to kick Hunter. The damn backstabber is too speedy, though, and easily dodges my lame attempt at hurting him.

  “Will you stop it?” Hunter’s fingers constrict around my wrist, and I wince from the light pain. If he feels bad for hurting me, he makes no show of it. “Now, come on; don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be.” He lugs me toward the demon, who sticks out his hands greedily.

  “Yes, give her to me,” he hisses. “If she is it, then the master will be so pleased. And you’ll be rewarded for taking down the shield.”

  “I don’t know what you think I am,” I seethe at the demon as I twist my arm, trying to escape Hunter’s death grip, “but I’m sure as hell not it.”

  “We’ll soon find out,” he says, making grabby hands. “Now, give her to me.”

  Hunter stops a few inches away from the demon, and then shoves me toward him, still not releasing my arm. Before the demon can grab me, though, I jump backward and practically body check Hunter.

  He grunts, and his hold on me loosens. I start to run, but he snags the back of my shirt and hauls me back. Then his arm snakes around my waist while the other circles my chest, trapping my arms to my sides. I then bring my foot up to try to kick his shin again, but he lifts my feet off the ground.

  “I guess we’re going to have to do this the hard way, then,” Hunter breathes into my ear as he carries me toward the demon.

  With my back trapped against his chest and my legs dangling below me, I can barely move, let alone escape.

  “I hate you,” I growl in a pathetic attempt to wound him.

  The really sad part is, even knowing he’s about to give me to a demon for whatever reason, I still don’t hate him. My reaction makes me hate myself.

  Hunter chuckles at my lameness. “No, you don’t. Not even a little bit.”

  Anger floods through me that he knows the truth. “Yes, I do. I hate you so much, Hunter. And I’ll never forgive you for this.”

  “Liar,” he whispers in my ear, sounding as though he thinks this conversation is the funniest thing in the magical world.

  “Grr …” I fist my hands, wishing I could punch him. “You’re the worst friend ever.”

  “That might be true,” he utters under his breath as he stops in front of the demon. “Careful. She’s a little feisty.”

  The demon’s eyes illuminate with glee. “Just how I prefer them.” He extends his hands toward me.

  I hold my breath, hoping Hunter will step back. However, his feet remain welded to the ground as the dem
on’s fingers circle my arms.

  “Lovely,” the demon purrs as he looks into my eyes. “And so powerful.”

  I want to laugh in the demon’s face.

  “Powerful? Yeah, you definitely got the wrong girl,” I tell him.

  The demon shakes his head, awe all over his face as he digs his fingernails into my flesh. “You have no idea what you are, do you?”

  I open mouth to say … Well, who knows what? I never get to find out because an ear-bursting scream pierces the night, and then the three of us collapse to the ground.

  Chapter Six

  I lie flat on my stomach, my cheek pressed against the cool concrete, waiting for something insanely crazy to happen next, like the ground splitting open, or a hairy monster beast gobbling me up. But the air completely stills.

  Opening my eyes, I look around at the empty street in front of me, and then to my right where the demon lies. His head is angled toward me, his arms and legs limply sprawled across the ground.

  “Well, this sucks.” The demon’s lips move like a puppet, his eyes open and lifeless.

  “Are you dead?” I whisper, not daring to move.

  The demon gives me a dirty look. “Thanks to you, I am.”

  Huh?

  “He should be dead,” Hunter mutters from the other side of me.

  I grit my teeth, turning to face him. “Great, you’re still alive.”

  “Aw, Eva, I’d be hurt if I didn’t know you really don’t mean that,” he jokes, his fingers grazing the back of my arm.

  I jerk away and roll over to get some distance between us before facing him again. “Don’t touch me.” Then I trip to my feet, brushing the bits of gravel and dirt off my legs. “In fact, don’t ever touch me again.” I start to storm off down the street, but the memory of the scream has me slowing to a confused stop. I glance around at the silent street, my gaze traveling to the shut doors, broken windows, and the crooked rooftops. “Where did that scream come from?”

  “From Carter.” Hunter moves up behind me, lightly skimming his finger along my lower back.

  “I said don’t touch me.” I say that, yet I make no effort to move forward as I turn my head to meet his gaze. “The scream was from the demon?”

  Hunter nods. “He was in pain.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he was dying.”

  “Again, why?” I gesture for him to get along with it. “Come on, dude; you gotta give me something because, right now, I’m freakin’ out and am seriously one step away from running from you again.”

  His hand darts out and snatches ahold of my wrist. “Don’t.” When I wince in pain, he frowns. “What’s wrong?”

  “You hurt my wrist early when you grabbed me,” I tell him bitterly. “You know, when you showed your true evil colors and tried to force me into a demon’s arms.”

  Remorse fills Hunter’s eyes, but all he says is, “Quit being overdramatic.”

  I wrench my arm free from his hold and run backward away from him. “You know what? I’m out of here.”

  When he stands there, watching me run away from him instead of chasing me, I know something’s wrong. Then, when he whips out his wand and points it at me, I instantly know why.

  I increase my speed and move to zigzag around, searching for a place to hide. “Don’t you dare—”

  Undiluted heat slams against my back, and my legs lock up as I tip over like a falling tree. Right before I greet the pavement with a kiss, my body rises and levitates in the air with my arms and legs immobilized, facing downward.

  “Seriously?” I grunt. “You hit me with a freezing spell? After I just came out of a petrifying curse?”

  Hunter’s boots appear in my line of vision, and then he trails his fingers up and down my spine. Normally, the touch would send me into giddy girl, lovey, dovey land. Now, I simply shiver. Or, well, I think about shivering, but my body remains frozen due to the spell.

  “I’m sorry, but it’s for the best.” I feel him press the tip of his wand against the back of my neck. “And so is this.”

  “Hunter …” I plead, unsure of what he’s going to do to me, yet knowing it can’t be good. “Please don’t. I’m sorry for trying to run away, okay? I won’t do it again.”

  Disregarding my whining, he mumbles the incantation to the sleep spell, causing sparkling heat to glisten across my skin, kissing my fingertips, my toes, my lips …

  I let out a soft, exhausted purr before my eyelids lower as the spell overtakes me and whisks me away to dreamland.

  Chapter Seven

  Please don’t let this be happening. Please. I don’t want to wake up and see the crazy Hunter. I want this to all be a dream. I want to go back to when Ryleigh was alive. Back to when my life was boring and normal. Back to when I was boring and normal.

  “Eva,” a lovely voice graces my ears. “Can you hear me?”

  I blink my eyes open to see wispy clouds lazily floating across a glittering purple sky. It is so breathtaking that it instantly makes me feel calm and at peace. But then wariness sweeps through my body as the clouds shift and begin to trickle downward, like a dripping watercolor painting.

  I cover my head with my arms as the drops of clouds splatter across my skin like paint.

  “What the hell?”

  I turn in a circle, trying to figure out where the bleep I am.

  A grass field surrounds me, and in the distance, trees rise to the smeared sky. The area carries a vague amount of familiarity, but I can’t place why.

  “Why am I here?” I turn in a circle, searching for any sign of life.

  “Eva …” A shadow of a woman materializes in front of me. “Eva, can you hear me?” Her voice is distorted, but is clear enough that I recognize it.

  I race through the grass toward her. “Ryleigh, can you hear me?”

  The shadow grows vibrant until I can see her clearly. She looks like she did when she was dead: long, blonde hair lily white; her big, blue eyes bloodshot; and her golden tan pale. But she looks lovely, nonetheless.

  “Eva, I need you,” she whispers, extending her hand toward me. Drops of blood drip from her hand and splatter across the grass. “Eva, please help me … Save me … I can’t survive here …”

  I stop in front of her and reach out to touch her. But my fingers slip right through her.

  I frown. “What’s going on …?” I peer around. “Why are we here, in this strange place …?” I look back at her. “Why can’t I touch you?”

  She shakes her head, her hair blowing in the wind as the ground ripples. “I can’t tell you … I don’t even know how I got here … Please… This place … where I am …” She shudders as her eyes glide across the grass and trees enclosing us. “It’s so cold and dark, and …” She swallows hard as she looks back at me. “The demons … They’re going to make me do awful things.” She stares down at the blood on her hands.

  Tears burn at the corners of my eyes as I reach out to touch her again. Like the first time, my fingers again move right through her.

  “There was a demon—I didn’t catch his name—but he was supposed to get you and bring you to me,” I tell her. “We have a deal.”

  “You made a deal with a demon?” She shakes her head, causing strands of hair to move around her face like snakes. “How could you do that, Eva?”

  “I did it for you!” I panic as she begins to fade in and out. “It was the only way I could think to save you without going into the underground tunnels myself?” I step toward her, the dry grass hissing against my legs. “But maybe I should just go by myself? I mean, I know the entrance is at The Illuminating Horror House of Truth. I could just go there and sneak in. It might be better than trusting a demon, right?”

  “No!” Her sharp voice echoes across the land, causing birds to scatter from the trees. “You can’t go to that place, no matter what happens.” She gives me a pressingly urgent look. “Promise me, Eva. Promise me that, no matter what, you’ll never step foot in that place. That you’ll find anoth
er way to save me.”

  I open my mouth to promise her, but the words get stuck on my tongue. “I can’t do that, not when you’re trapped there.” I shift my weight as guilt bears down on me. But the guilt is mild in comparison to the thought of letting my sister remain with demons. “If the demon I made the deal with doesn’t come through”—a shaky exhale slips from my lips—“then I need to save you myself.”

  “No!” She reaches out as she’s hauled backward.

  I scream, running after her, but the sky chooses that moment to explode and rain down on me.

  Instead of splattering like paint this time, the drops tear into my skin like sharp fragments of glass. Blood oozes from the wounds on my arms, shoulders, and face, while drenching my shirt. The branding hot pain has my legs giving out on me, and I buckle to the dirt.

  “Ryleigh!” I cry out as I squint through the pieces of glass-like drops raining from the quivering sky.

  I can’t see through the blood seeping from my head and dripping down into my eyes.

  Chapter Eight

  The pain in my skin calms as the ground below me softens. Suddenly, I feel so at peace, blissfully content. Why? Aren’t I bleeding from the strange raining glass?

  What the hell …?

  My eyelids shoot open, and I bolt upright. Then blood rushes from my head, and I promptly fall back onto a mattress. On edge, I look around at the purple walls that make up my bedroom, the window where moonlight streams in, and then my gaze drops to my arms.

  My jaw drops.

  After what happened, I thought I’d look like I’d been tangoing with a paper shredder, but my skin is smooth and free of cuts and blood.

  “It was just a dream.” I sigh. “Great, now I’m even talking to dead bodies in my dreams.” I wonder what that means?

  I gaze up at the magical glow of the bright stars on my ceiling, pondering what happened. One star shoots across my room, and I smile, remembering when Hunter cast the illusion spell for me when we had moved in. He had done it in my old bedroom, too, for my birthday.

  “So that you’ll always be able to fall asleep under the night sky,” he said as he stood on my bed and painted the ceiling with constellations and shooting stars.