Raven Ridge (Witches of Sanctuary Book 2) Read online

  Reid tosses a pebble across the fire at him. “Why? Because of some old ghost stories? The Bessette family probably started those rumors to keep people away from there.”

  “You can’t just go trespassing on people’s land,” Grady says. “They frown on that sort of thing here, if you haven’t noticed.”

  “The Bessettes are gone. For all anyone else knows, we accidently stumbled on the wrong place leaving the Hollow.”

  Grady starts to pace. “You don’t just accidently stumble down Rickamore Road.”

  “All right. We’ll wait until Tuesday night. Everyone in town will be preoccupied with the holiday. It will be the perfect cover.”

  Grady is suddenly in a panic. “Holiday. That holiday is Halloween. You don’t stir the ghoul pot on the most haunted night of the year.”

  Reid tries not to laugh as he starts to throw more wood on the fire. “What do you think we should do, Willa?”

  My eyes dart open. I hadn’t realized I’d shut them. “Huh?”

  Reid sets down the block of wood in his hands and comes over to me. “What do you think? Are you too scared to go investigate an abandoned homestead of the Haunted on Halloween night?”

  I rake a hand down my face. “That sounds like a horrible idea. Where do I sign up?”

  Reid rubs my shoulder. “See. Willa is with me.”

  Grady holds up his hands. “Fine. You take your magical friend,” he makes sure to use finger quotes around the word friend, “and go ghost hunt all you want, but count me out.”

  Abby grins over at him. “I can’t believe you’re scared.”

  Grady sighs. “There is evil down Rickamore Road. Not just ghosts. Something dark. It’s the kind of darkness that follows you home. You heard what Svetta said. The Raven has seen things in the woods.”

  “You’ve let the normal folks here tell you too many old stories,” Reid says, laughing at the wide-eyed expression on his friend’s face.

  “Maybe, but you can count me out.”

  Reid stands up, placing his hands on the back of my shoulders. “All right. Who else is brave enough to join Willa and me on a little Halloween expedition?”

  Abby and Sadie smile at each other before pounding fists. Yellow and blue sparks flash between them. “Count us in.”

  Reid glances back at Grady. “Last chance to join us, big guy. You’re really going to make me go alone with a bunch of girls?”

  Grady scowls at him. “Yep. Good luck.”

  Abby laughs, trotting over to give her boyfriend a giant hug. “Come on, I’ll drive you home. I wouldn’t want anything to frighten you on your way out of the Hollow.”

  Grady and Abby walk back around the house arm in arm, and I wait until they’re gone. “Is he always like that? Grady seemed so brave down in Charleston when he went with us.”

  “Grady? He’s always been a scaredy cat when it comes to ghosts. When this is all over, we’ll have to take him to meet old Priscilla. Show him that ghosts aren’t so bad.”

  “Yeah,” I say, recalling the ghost I’d met in the Charleston cemetery with her yellow feathered hat. “When this is all over.”

  The fire burns low now, the darkness deep around us. Sadie stands next to the flame staring at the ground. She glances at us, at Reid’s hand on my shoulder. It’s then I realize the problem. Abby and Grady together. Reid standing at my side. Sadie is alone. Ezekiel gone forever.

  “Sadie?”

  Her eyes are still a little glossy. “Yeah?”

  “Do you want to stay here tonight?”

  She immediately sighs a little. “Do you guys mind? It’s late, and after the knife in the door and what happened with your truck today, I don’t really want to walk home by myself.”

  I don’t question her lie. “Of course, you’re always welcome. You know that.”

  Reid wraps his arm around my waist. “You can have my room for the night.”

  My head instantly pops around, but he doesn’t look at me. Reid puts out the remaining flame from the bonfire, and Sadie and I go inside. She’s still quiet, but the sadness is gone from her face for now. I wash up a few glasses in the sink while Reid helps Sadie get arranged in his room. I hear him come back down the stairs. His body slams against my back and I stumble forward against the sink. He reaches around me and turns off the water.

  He wraps his arms around my waist, and we stand there like that, swaying in the silence. “I can’t believe you’ve managed to stay awake this long without collapsing from exhaustion.”

  “It’s not that late,” I say. “We could still watch a movie or something.”

  Reid’s nose nuzzles the spot behind my ear. “You’ve been half asleep out there for the past hour. You need to rest, Willa.”

  I turn around, stepping up on the tip of my toes so that we’re nose to nose. “Are you coming with me?”

  He grins against my cheek. “May I?”

  I let out a laugh. “Why do you even have to ask?”

  He shrugs. “What kind of gentleman invites himself into your bed without asking?”

  Julien.

  The memory catches me off guard. I’d fallen asleep on the couch and Julien took me to my room. I woke up with him in bed next to me. It was innocent, but powerful. Julien and I had been something just a little more than friends. It was my fault for giving Julien that inch of hope, only to rip it away.

  Now I would pay for my greed. Julien not only wants my life, but Reid’s as well. Revenge for my weakness.

  “Stay with me,” I say, taking Reid’s hand. “I don’t want to be in that big room alone. Not after the past couple days.”

  “I suspect Sadie is having the same problem. You know Julien being back is hard on her too, whether she wants to admit it or not.”

  “I know. I should invite her to stay more often.” I look up the stairs wondering if I should go to her now, but my eyes involuntarily shut.

  “Come on.” Reid kisses my temple, and it’s only then that my eyes shoot back open. “We’ll worry about it tomorrow. You need to sleep.”

  I follow him up the stairs into my bedroom. I grab some pajamas and disappear into my bathroom. When I come back out, Reid is sitting on the edge of the bed. He eyes the Braves shirt I wear over my cotton shorts. I warned him last week that if any more of his clothes suspiciously ended up in my laundry basket, I would confiscate them. He put this shirt in my basket on purpose. He holds his hand out toward me. “I want you to know that my good behavior tonight is reflective of my concern for you to finally get a good night’s sleep.” His hand lifts the edge of my t-shirt until he finds the black cotton shorts beneath. He smiles. “And only because of that.”

  I crawl up the end of the bed to my pillow and roll over. He still sits on the end watching me, shaking his head. “You’re evil.”

  I grin back. “I never denied that.”

  He walks around the end of the bed and crawls in next to me. I’m already yawning by the time he scoots into my side. I could definitely get used to this arrangement.

  A noise erupts behind him and I jump, instantly moving on top of him, protecting him from whatever I expect might come through my door. He moves up on his elbow. “What’s wrong?”

  “I heard something.”

  Reid leans up to see the door. “What do you think it is?”

  “I don’t know. It came from downstairs.”

  Then out of nowhere, a dark flash darts into the room and pounces onto the bed. Romeo. I jump, holding my hand over my heart. He slinks up the bed, rubbing my arm as he squeezes himself through it and sits down straight on top of Reid’s chest.

  Reid scowls at him. “I thought we had an understanding.”

  Romeo moves forward, nuzzling his head against Reid’s cheek. Reid gives in and pets Romeo’s head. “For the record. Catblocking is not cool.”

  I pick Romeo up and set him on the end of my bed where he likes to sleep. When I turn around, Reid is staring at me. That’s when I realize I’m still sitting on top of him. I grin.r />
  There a light knock on the door and this time we both jump. The door creaks open to reveal Sadie, giant tears welling in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to bother you, but that room is so big, and it’s empty. I can’t stop thinking about Julien and Zeke.”

  Reid holds up his hand. “Don’t say any more. Come in.”

  He gives me a quick kiss on the cheek and scoots out of the bed. “You can have my spot.”

  “You’re leaving?”

  “Of course not. I’m going to sleep down here on the floor with my buddy, Romeo.”

  Sadie crawls into bed with me as Reid goes to gather blankets and pillows from his bedroom to create his makeshift bed on the floor. We go to sleep like that. All of us staked out in my bedroom. Each of us trying to outlast a memory of a monster.

  Chapter 6

  Behind the Mask

  All Hallows night. I fill the giant cauldron sitting in the window of my bookshop to the brim with peanut butter cups and only peanut butter cups. The sweet smell of the chocolaty treat makes me smile. Too many childhood Halloweens spent sitting alone on a front porch with no costume, no treats, and not a single soul in the world who cared enough to ask why I stayed behind. It makes me thankful for every second here.

  It takes ten double size bags to fill the cauldron, but it’s worth it. Trick or Treating in Sanctuary starts in t-minus two hours, and Main Street is a hot spot. No child would be left out at my shop. I spent the morning sprucing up my simple harvest décor to a more maliciously spooky version. The spiders hanging from the ceiling actually dance.

  I can’t wait until the kids see what the ghost standing guard behind the counter will do. My black button boots click along the tile floor as I scramble to finish up the last minute touches, and I love it. I trimmed the end of my black dress at my knee so people could see my favorite part of my costume. The Wicked Witch of the West has to have her white and black socks.

  The bell above the door rings, and I glance up in time to see Dorothy trot through it. Braids, basket, ruby red slippers and all. Actually, it’s Sadie, but tonight she’s a lost little girl from Kansas. “Hello, my pretty,” I say, flexing my newly painted green fingernails at her.

  Sadie grins at me, setting her basket down on the counter. “You’re going to have to put on your wig for me to take you seriously.”

  I frown. The wig is hot. I know my spiraling blonde hair is a deterrent to my costume, though. “Okay, fine. Guard my peanut butter cups.”

  I hurry into the back room and grab my black wig and put it on underneath my big hat. When I come back out, Abby stands in the middle of the room twirling around in a poofy pink dress and sparkly crown. Like me, she altered her Glinda the Good Witch outfit to make walking around, or rather hiking around, more tolerable. She flinches when she sees me coming. “Geez, Willa. You scared me.”

  I grin and try my best wicked witch cackle. “Touch my peanut butter cups and see what happens to you, my dear.”

  Then I step around her and see Grady. I involuntarily snort. Grady’s giant figure dressed like the Cowardly Lion is more than my laugh reflex can handle. He has a mane and everything. I lose character almost immediately. “Oh, wow. I can’t believe she talked you into putting that on.”

  Grady purses his lips and it makes his painted whiskers scrunch up. “Where’s your boyfriend? At least with him in that ridiculous scarecrow outfit I won’t feel so stupid.”

  I point my finger at him. “I don’t have a boyfriend. If you’re referring to the guy who lives down the hall from me, I don’t know. He said he’d meet us here.”

  Grady hops up on the counter. “Reid is crazy about you. We all know that. Can’t we stop pretending you two aren’t a couple?”

  I grab one of the orange pieces of yarn that makes his lion mane and pull his face down toward me. “It’s the principle of it. He doesn’t get to just assume I’m his girlfriend. Hell, I’d ask him at this point, but I’ve waited so long now, I kind of want to see how long it will take him.”

  Grady laughs, pulling his mane away from me and fixing it back in place. “It’ll take him forever. This is Reid Thomas we’re talking about. He barely managed to tell you he liked you.”

  “Actually, he kissed me. He didn’t actually say he liked me.”

  “Exactly. Put the boy out of his misery.” Grady glances up at the window, his eyes narrowing. “Actually, I think I’m going to put him out of his misery. I can’t believe he backed out.”

  The doorbell jingles above Sadie’s head, and she moves out of the way to let Reid in the door. He isn’t the Scarecrow. Definitely not the Scarecrow. Reid wears a jet black tux, bow tie and all. His normally unkempt hair is slicked back, perfectly in place. “Hey,” he says, smiling. “Sorry, I’m late.”

  “Not that I’m complaining,” I say, trying to keep myself from gaping a little, “because…trust me…I’m not, but what is this?” I motion my hands up and down his perfectly tailored suit.

  He beams at me. “I’m James Bond.”

  Grady hops off the counter. “You’re supposed to be the Scarecrow.”

  Reid snorts. “I’m not five. My sister doesn’t get to pick my costume for me. I’m James Bond.”

  Grady holds his hands out, gesturing toward his lion costume. “You could have at least given me the heads up.”

  Reid laughs. “You could be a little less whipped. You know you don’t have to do everything my sister tells you to do, right?”

  Grady shoots me a look like this is all my fault. As if I’m somehow supposed to bat my eyelashes and miraculously make Reid comply with our group costume theme. That isn’t how Reid and I work. Reid is here. He’s smiling that million dollar smile that took me so incredibly long to get out of him. I don’t care what he wears as long as he wears it while holding my hand.

  Grady frowns at me when he realizes I’m not going to make some kind of fuss. “I miss Zeke. He would have totally been the Tin Man if Sadie asked him.”

  The room suddenly goes quiet. Every cautious eye goes toward Sadie. She sighs. “Guys, it’s okay to talk about Zeke. In fact, I love it when you do.” She walks over and takes Grady’s hand. “Zeke would have totally been the Tin Man, but most likely, if he had gotten wind of Reid’s James Bond plan, he would have bailed last minute and showed up as Dr. No or something.”

  “Goldfinger,” Reid says, pulling me to his side. “He would have knocked us in the head with that stupid hat all night.”

  Sadie smiles. It’s the biggest smile I’ve seen out of her in a while. “Yeah, you’re probably right. That sounds like him.”

  Sera comes through the door carrying a couple more bags of candy. She sets them on the counter. “Did you see the crowd forming out there? It’s going to be a busy night.”

  I smile sympathetically at her. “Thank you for covering again.”

  “Of course. I suggest you guys wait until after dark to sneak away, though. Make sure people see you in town first.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered.” Reid pulls out a vial of blue bubbly liquid from his pocket. “No one is going to miss Wilhelmina tonight.”

  “Is that what I think it is?”

  It looks like Witchy Whiskey, a potion we take to figure out what color we turn under the moonlight. It’s how I found out Reid is my matching half, because we turn the same color when we drink it.

  “Jade cooked it up fresh this morning.” Reid tosses the vial to me and winks. “You can’t be the Wicked Witch without turning yourself green.”

  “Are you serious?” Grady’s eyes are round now. “People will freak out if they see Wilhelmina walking around glowing.”

  Reid shrugs. “It’s not like they don’t know what she can do.”

  Sera leans over the counter, considering Reid’s plan. “It’ll get her noticed. Be careful, though. You have to make sure that when you leave, no one follows you. You don’t want to garner too much attention.”

  Reid throws a teasing wink at Grady. “Well, we should have t
hought about that before dressing Jolly Green Giant up like an over-sized Garfield.”

  “I’m a lion, jerk.”

  Reid grins at him. “Keep telling yourself that.”

  I pop open the top of the vial and drink the liquid quickly. It doesn’t taste any better than the last time I tried it, but it is getting easier to tolerate. “So, what’s the plan, Double Oh Seven?”

  “It’s easy. We’re going to bar hop. We have to make an appearance at every place in town, chat, have a drink, make it appear like we’re sticking it out for the long haul of the festivities tonight.”

  “And then?”

  “And then,” Sadie says, already giggling, “I’m going to tap my ruby red slippers together and make us disappear.”

  At first I think she’s kidding, but then she taps the back of her heels together and a puff of smokes comes out. That’s new. I instantly wonder what they’ll do. Reid takes my hand and motions toward the door. “C’mon, let’s all go have dinner at Rooster’s, then we’ll move on from there.”

  I take his hand and follow him out on the street. Sera was right. Everyone is out tonight. I’m not sure why Reid thought the glowing green light would be required to catch attention in Sanctuary. The spell hasn’t even taken effect yet and every eye is on us as we make our way down Main Street. “Hey, Grady,” Reid says behind me. Grady glances over at Reid and he smiles. “Meow.”

  Grady rolls his eyes and shoves him away, but Reid continues to laugh. Sadie touches my shoulder. Her smile catches me off guard. “I know exactly what you’re thinking.”

  My frown is instant. “I was thinking Zeke should be here.”

  She takes my hand and squeezes it. “I know.”

  “He should be between those two, mediating.” I throw my hands out toward Reid and Grady who wrestle back and forth as they walk.

  Sadie laughs. “I’m not sure even Zeke could ever keep those two in line, but he definitely tried.”

  I lean in closer to her. “What about Zeke’s sister?”

  Sadie’s eyes round. “Who told you about Erika?”