Spells Trouble, Kristin Cast [books to read in a lifetime .TXT] 📗

throat as hot, foul breath blew back the hair that had fallen against her cheeks.

Fangs pierced Hunter’s forearm. A deep, searing ache twisted around her lungs and squeezed. Blood oozed hot and wet around sharp teeth as they sunk into her flesh. Mercy’s chest shook against Hunter’s back as she shouted words Hunter’s pulse drowned into a whisper.

Xena was there in an instant. A streak of yowling fur, the cat hurled herself at the beast. Her howls pierced the night as she wrapped herself around the wolf’s snout and dug her claws into its leathery muzzle. With a roar that rattled Hunter’s bones, the creature released her arm and clamored back. It whipped its head from side to side. With a shriek, Xena flew off its face. She tumbled through the air and struck a tree limb, landing in the grass with a sickly thud.

The wolf stalked back toward Hunter and her sister. Back to finish the job and end the Goode line before the new generation could step into their power.

A screech tore through the night. The wolf cocked his head and turned toward the magical rip burning against the black sky. Hunter squeezed Mercy’s hand as the cool spring air turned hot and thick. Another piercing shriek rang out as the gash opened wide. An owl burst through the tear, its feathers the same jack-o’-lantern orange as the otherworldly rip in space. Massive wings beat the air as it dove at the wolf. Blood spurted from the beast’s back as the owl’s talons ripped its flesh.

The owl circled Hunter and Mercy and let out another scream before landing on the ground beside their mother.

Blood oozed down the wolf’s back as it spun to pursue the bird. The owl hopped closer to Abigail, tipped its beak to the sky, and shrieked. A fiery bolt flashed from the tear in the night and struck Abigail’s chest. In an instant, her body was aglow in orange flames. The wolf stilled as Abigail rose to her feet and the owl took perch on her shoulder. “Fenrir!” Another voice coated Abigail’s and a glowing spear flickered to life by her side. “This realm is not your own!”

With a growl, Fenrir shook the blood from his coat and stalked toward Abigail, ignoring the twins. Abigail, alight with the fiery and otherworldly powers of her goddess, pressed forward toward the ancient apple tree that grew from the magic of the Norse Underworld.

Mercy pulled Hunter to her feet and clenched Hunter’s hand in her own as they crept toward Xena. The cat wound around their ankles, herding them away from their mother and the wolf who’d spilled out of its realm and flickered, unstable, into their own.

Mercy dropped Hunter’s hand, scooped up Xena, and ran. This time, Hunter matched her sister’s stride. Her lungs burned as she sucked in gulps of magic-charged air.

“I banish you back to your Underworld!” Abigail’s voice was thunder. It clapped against Hunter’s back and she whirled around in time to see her mother hurl the spear. It caught the wolf’s shoulder and knocked it back into the tree. Fenrir’s image flickered as it fought to break free. It howled and bucked and clawed the air, but the point of the spear had pierced through the wolf, into the tree’s trunk.

Foreboding gnawed at Hunter’s stomach. She left Mercy and Xena and charged back to the tree. Air fled her lungs as she slowed to a stop near her mother. She could see it now. The gash in Abigail’s temple. The skin hung like wet clothes pinned to a line. Athena fueled her, kept her on her feet, but Hunter’s mother was not long for this world.

“Hunter!” Athena’s voice shadowed Abigail’s, making goose bumps flash across the back of Hunter’s neck. “Something’s wrong with the gates! Don’t wait until Solstice to fix them. Promise me!”

Hunter blinked through a flood of tears. “I promise!”

Abigail looked at the wolf pinned to the apple tree, its form flickering under the promise of death. Then she turned and looked past Hunter to Mercy, who tripped over Xena as the cat struggled to keep the girl at a safe distance. “Take care of your sister,” Abigail said. “You’ll need each other now, more than ever.”

Hunter wailed as Fenrir caught the billowing skirt of Abigail’s dress and pulled her to him. The beast tore through Abigail’s clothes. Its teeth shredded her back and stained the fabric scarlet.

The owl shrieked as Abigail faced Fenrir and pressed her palms against the beast’s matted coat. It lit like dry kindling.

Athena’s war cry muted Abigail’s screams as flames consumed Hunter’s mother and the beast.

Hunter’s knees slammed into the earth as the blaze flashed out and the rip in the sky vanished as quickly as it’d come. Tears burned down Hunter’s cheeks and blood seeped from her torn forearm. She had been tapped, and now she would simply pour into the earth until her time in this realm was over.

Hunter couldn’t make a sound as Xena mewled and circled the charred remains of the woman who’d once brought so much light into the world. Of Fenrir, never fully in this realm, there was not a trace. Mercy threw herself against the tree, which now showed no evidence of their loss. Hunter’s chin quivered as she watched her sister slide down the trunk into the grass next to their mother’s body.

Maybe they’d all stay in the field at the foot of the apple tree and let the gentle Illinois breeze sweep them away.

Six

Sheriff Dearborn lifted his Chicago Bears travel mug to his lips and blew into the round O cut into the burnt orange lid before he took a drink. Hazelnut. Dearborn’s favorite. He smacked his lips, puffed a cooling breath into the navy blue tumbler, and took another sip. Trish had added an extra sugar packet even though she knew he was trying to cut out the sweet stuff.

He set his coffee mug down as he approached Goodeville’s last traffic signal. The red