Freak of Nature (The Lost Witch Trilogy #1) (19 page)

Sarah sniffed and looked up to find her father watching her.
But something else was watching her too. She glanced behind her at the shop window and shivered.

Sarah looked back at her dad, “How do we leave if we’re being watched? I can feel them watching us.
How will they not know?”

Gretchen frowned and looked anxiously at her mother.
Zane’s arms wrapped around Sarah protectively and Lash turned to look out the front windows of the store at the people walking past.

Race sighed but looked determined.
“We’re leaving in twenty minutes. We leave everything here in Huntingdon. We drive through the night and we don’t stop until we’re in Maine. I know this will be hard. Once we get there Gretchen, you can make your phone calls to your assistant manager. I’ll have a man I know take care of our homes while we’re gone. Mason and Charles will go through them I’m sure, but they’ll be watched over.”

Gretchen looked ill and shook her head.
“Mason and Charles don’t even know about me or Zane or my mother. Maybe you should take Sarah and Lash and we should stay,” she said uneasily.

Race walked over to Gretchen and grasped her arms.
“He knows everything about you Gretchen. You’re not safe here. I won’t be able to help you if you don’t come with me,” he said, almost tenderly.

Sarah’s eyebrows rose up and she turned to look up at Zane who also looked surprised.
Weird
. Floated through her mind.

Agnes stepped forward after Race stepped back and looked into her daughter’s eyes.
“Gretchen, I can’t remember anything about the month prior to my loss of memory. But the nightmares I keep having night after night are about a tall blond man coming to my house and barging through my door. I think Charles Langford is the one who hurt me. We don’t have a choice Gretchen. Let’s go. If we don’t, Sarah will be the one to pay the price,” she whispered fiercely.

Every eye in the room turned and locked on Sarah.
At Agnes’ words, a cold shiver ripped down her spine and even the warmth from Zane standing behind her couldn’t ward off the chill.

“
Me?
What do you mean Agnes?”

Race looked fierce and angry.
“I didn’t want her to know Agnes.”

Sarah glared at her father.
“I’m eighteen years old and you don’t have the right to make that kind of decision for me. If something concerns me then I need to know.”

Race glared right back at her.
“I’m your father, I have every right to do what I think is best for you.”

Sarah felt a rage she didn’t know existed, bloom outward and towards her father.
“You gave up that right when you put me in the arms of my aunt.”

Race stepped back from her and held up a hand.
“Control the energy Sarah. Calm down before someone gets hurt. Like me,” he said in a calm voice.

Sarah breathed in and out slowly and looked down at her fingers.
They were starting to glow. “Sorry. But what I said is true. Agnes, what did you mean by that? Why would I be the one to pay a price?” she asked, ignoring her father and stepping closer to Agnes.

Agnes looked back and forth between her and Race and then shook her head in exasperation.
“She’s right Race. She needs to know. Sarah, I’ve been having dreams about you for the last year. They’ve been getting clearer and stronger. In my dreams, you’re being taken to a dark room and when you get there, you’re surrounded by candle light and people. You start screaming and that’s when they all reach out and grab onto you and the room erupts in lightening. After the power melts down, there’s a tall blond man standing over your body and he’s smiling like he just won the lottery and he’s glowing with power. Your power.”

Race pounded his fist on the counter, making Gretchen gasp and everyone else jump.
“That’s enough Agnes!”

Agnes shook her head at Race and pointed her finger at him.
“The dream is a warning. We can stop it Race. Dreams are the power to warn and change. She can’t change anything if she doesn’t know. Now stop being a fool and think logically. This man, Charles, I still don’t know why he harmed me, but I assume it’s in connection to Sarah. We’re all connected here. We don’t have all the pieces yet, but until we do, let’s move forward. I say we go now before it’s too late,” she said, looking each one of them in the face.

Race nodded his head in agreement although he still looked furious.
“Let’s move. Gretchen, keep the lights on as if we’re just going our separate ways. I’ll go out the front with Sarah and Lash. Gretchen, you Agnes and Zane slip out the back. Drive as if you’re going home but then turn at Patton Avenue and meet me at the freeway exit.”

Zane grabbed onto Sarah’s arm before she could move.
“No. Sarah’s coming with me in my Jeep. The more cars to follow the less likely they’ll be able to figure out what we’re doing. Besides, I’m the only one here who can protect her from Mason. She’s not going anywhere without me,” he said in a firm, low voice.

Race narrowed his eyes at Zane and shook his head.
“Just because I haven’t bragged about my powers doesn’t mean that I’m not completely able to protect my daughter. You might be able to handle Mason, but don’t kid yourself thinking you’re a match for Charles. She’s safer with me.”

Sarah looked back and forth between her father and Zane and felt the tension in the room escalate.
She felt a strange new power coming from Zane and knew he wasn’t going to back down.

“Race, whatever Zane can’t handle I can.
We’ll be just fine. I’ll leave with him and we’ll stop and get a pizza like we’re on a date. You take Lash and head towards the police station and then keep going. We’ll all meet at the freeway exit in 15 minutes. No more arguing, let’s just go.
Now
,” she said, feeling a coldness creep up her legs. They were running out of time. They had to hurry.

Race gritted his teeth and shook his head.
“I don’t have time to argue about this. Fine, have it your way, but if anything happens to you Sarah, I won’t be able to do anything about it and I’ll hold you responsible Zane.”

Zane ignored that and pulled Sarah through the store, opening the door with his mind and walking with her out onto the sidewalk.

“You know, your dad is starting to get on my nerves.” Zane said in a conversational voice as he opened the door to his jeep for her.

Sarah smiled in a carefree way in case someone was watching her, which she suspected strongly they were.
“Join the crowd. He’s gone from a complete stranger to a controlling father in the space of a week.”

Zane laughed as he glanced up and down the street.
He joined her in the jeep and they headed towards the middle of town. “Do you mind if we grab a few burritos in a drive through instead? I don’t think we have time for pizza.”

Sarah nodded.
“You’re right. I was just craving pizza, I wasn’t thinking.”

As they waited in line at the drive through, Sarah turned her body to look around them at the cars and people.
“I can’t see anyone watching us, so why do I feel it so strongly?” she asked Zane as he reached out to grab her hand.

“I feel it too.
Everyone besides Lash was feeling it. Witches are good at premonitions. It’s our built in defense mechanism. The sooner we’re gone the better.”

Zane paid for the food and they drove slowly out of the parking lot and onto Main Street.
Zane smiled at her. “The adventure begins.”

Sarah smiled back and then leaned over and kissed him quickly.
“Thanks for making sure I was with you. I can relax even with life being crazy when you’re near me.”

Zane stopped smiling and kissed her hand.
“There’s no way I was letting you out of my sight. I can still see Mason coming for you and hear the things he was saying. They’ll have to get through me first to get to you and that’s just not going to happen.”

Sarah felt instant comfort at his words and relaxed even further into her seat.
“I can’t believe we’re moving to Maine. I’ve lived in Pennsylvania my whole life,” she said, shaking her head as she unwrapped her burrito.

Zane grinned and pushed his jeep to 75 mph as he hit the long stretch of road between town and the freeway exit.
“I’m already picturing romantic camp fires on the shore, looking at the stars and eating lobster and crab until I’m full.”

Sarah laughed, wishing she hadn’t just spilled hot sauce on the only jeans to her name.
“Yeah, with you, me, Lash, my father, your mother and your grandmother, I wonder if we’ll even have a moment to ourselves now.”

Zane winced.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. And speaking of crowds, what’s going on with your dad and my mom? Did you catch that tender little moment?” he asked irritably.

Sarah had a mouth of burrito and couldn’t talk so she spoke with her mind.
Looks like you might have a step-dad soon. I hear he’s a lot of fun
.

Zane shook his head at her and slowed down at the turn off.
They were the first one’s there. He turned the car off and locked the doors, turning in his seat to see the cars coming from behind. “So in that scenario you and I would be step-brother and sister.”

Sarah made a face.
“That’s kind of gross and possibly illegal. I guess I better start dating Lash instead.”

Zane turned and stared at her with a raised eyebrow, not looking amused at all.

Sarah grinned. “Relax, after what you said today in school, I’ve come to the decision that I think you’re right. I do believe you and I are kind of meant to be. Step-siblings or not,” she said and leaned over to kiss him.

Zane shook his head at her but reached over and put his hand behind her neck as he kissed her back. The honk behind them had them pulling apart quickly and staring hard at the car pulling in behind them.
It was Race and Lash.

Race hopped out of his car and jogged to Zane’s window.
“Where’s your mom? She should have been here by now.”

Zane frowned and took his cellphone out.
“I’ll call her.”

Race and Sarah stared at Zane as they listened to the ring turn into a message.
Zane ended the call and slipped his phone back into his pocket.

“She’ll be here.
She might have stopped at the house to get makeup or my grandmother’s medicine or something.”

Race looked at the road with agitation coming off him in waves.
“I’m worried. I’m going back,” he said and ran back to his car.

Zane opened the jeep door to go after Race when a strange tan car none of them recognized pulled up beside them.
Sarah hopped out of the jeep in case it was trouble. She ran around to Zane’s side as Gretchen and Agnes stepped out.

Race ran to Gretchen’s side, grabbing her hand.
“What happened? Where’d you get this car?” he demanded.

Gretchen smiled weakly.
“This is my father’s car. It’s been sitting in the garage for over a decade. I had to jump it to get it to start, but its working fine. I stopped by the house to get my mom’s heart medicine and when we got back to the car, all of my tires were flat. Race, I think they know.”

Zane and Race stared down the road as Lash came to stand by Sarah’s side.
Sarah glanced at Lash and tried to smile in a reassuring way. Lash grimaced and shoved his hands in his pockets, looking worried.

“Let’s go. Right now,” Race ordered.
They all hurried back to their separate vehicles and were on the freeway within minutes.

Sarah turned, staring at Gretchen’s car b
ehind them and the empty road going back to town.

“Do you really think they know?” Sarah asked, leaning her head against the leather seat.

Zane glanced at her and then pushed his jeep up to 80. “Yeah, I do. But if popping my mom’s tires is all he did, then they were still caught off guard. I don’t think they were expecting us to make a run for it. I don’t think they’ll follow us Sarah. Besides the further I get away from town, the easier I feel. That heavy feeling of being watched is almost completely gone. What about you?” he asked, glancing in his rear view mirror.

Sarah breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.
“Yeah, it’s fading fast. I think you’re right. So how far is it to Maine?” she asked as she turned the radio on.

Zane grimaced and reached for the last burrito.
“It’s about six hours from here. But I don’t know where in Maine, Rockland is. Maine has a very long coast line. It could take us a very long time to get there if it’s by the Canadian border.”

Sarah grimaced.
“Maybe when we stop for gas I can get a magazine or something. We’ll have to switch off so you can rest too. Don’t worry though. I’m a good driver.”

Zane frowned as he realized she was right.
“Do you even have your license?”

Sarah grinned and shook her head.
“Nope. My aunt was holding it over my head. She wouldn’t allow me to get one until I agreed to her little ceremony.”