Raven Ridge (Witches of Sanctuary Book 2) (2 page)

He shrugs, giving me that ‘please don’t be mad at me’ face again. “Because I’m spontaneous and you think that’s super attractive?”

When I don’t smile, he only laughs. He pulls me into his chest, hugging me close. “Because I didn’t realize how much you needed me there until today. Now grab your cider. We need to find someplace private.”

I grab my teacup and down it, leaving the empty shell on the mantel. I follow Reid out the door toward his truck. I have to heave the bottom of my dress into the tall cab before climbing in. I shut the door and grab my seatbelt, only to find Reid leaning over the steering wheel grinning at me.

“What?”

He eyes me a moment longer, as if engraving the vision of me next to him into his memory. “It still surprises me when you voluntarily go with me places.”

His voice. That smile. My heart sputters through the next several beats. “I always voluntarily went with you places.”

He leans back in his seat and starts the engine. The smile turns crooked at the edges as he glances in my direction again. “You were never happy about it.”

Okay, that was true. This thing between Reid and me definitely had its rocky start. “If I recall…you weren’t happy about it either.”

In fact, he asked me to leave town. More than once.

He smiles out the window as we head down the road deeper into Frog Hollow. Only the Innocent live in Frog Hollow. The piece of land secluded deep in the Appalachia mountains has been in the possession of the Innocent for hundreds of years. I’m not sure how far back this dirt road goes. I’ve never been to the end.

The road twists and turns as the trees grow thicker. When the sun vanishes behind the tall horizon above us, Reid pulls off into the high grass. I look around outside the window, unsure of his reasoning. The road is surrounded by dense trees on either side. He motions for me to follow him. “Come on. We don’t have much time. The spell needs to be performed at dusk.”

I follow Reid out of the truck, through the tree line, and down the bank. He helps me slide down the small hillside until my feet land on rocks. We are at the creek bank that feeds into the lake. I recognize it immediately. The creek in Frog Hollow flows directly beside the Circle where the ceremony will be performed tonight. Reid pulls a chain out of his front pocket, a golden circle dangling on the end.

Each of the Innocent has a pendant that represents their place in the Circle and to which family line they belong. My pendant is a circle of silver representing the moon. I had to steal the sun pendant for Reid.

I look skeptically at him. “How did you learn this spell?”

He absently runs his hand through his hair again. “My grandmother. I used to read her copy of the Book of the Sun when no one was around.”

“So, you’re performing a spell…by memory…from a book you read when you were a child.”

Reid chuckles. “Your confidence in me is so reassuring.”

I bite my tongue.

Reid sighs and takes my hand. “I know what I’m doing, Willa. Trust me.”

I take a breath and let it out. I do trust him. I trust Reid Thomas more than anyone in the world. “Okay, how does this spell work?”

He holds up his sun pendant. “I need to put this somewhere that no one can see.”

My hand reflexively goes to my hip. “Oh really.”

He grins, his gaze darting to the ground. “Please don’t give me a hard time about this.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “You can’t discuss our relationship status, but you can ask me to strip naked on a creek bank?”

“I never said you had to strip naked, and we are going to discuss our…” It’s as if he can’t even say the word.

“Us. We need to discuss us,” I say for him.

“And we will.” His hands are on my elbows now. That pleading expression is back. He really knows how to play me. “Willa, it’s getting dark. If you want to do this, we have to do it now. We’re running out of time.”

I look him straight in the eye and grab the edge of my dress. I hike it up my legs, all the way to my waist. He tries desperately hard to keep his eyes on mine. He can’t.

“Problem?”

“No—” he says, his voice breaking up two octaves.

I smile and he frowns at me. He drops to his knees and delicately places the gold circle on my stomach just above the band of my barely-there black lace panties. His breath hitches.

Score one for Wicked Wednesdays.

“Hold still,” he says quietly. “This might hurt a little.”

I brace myself the same time he starts talking. His voice is different. Deeper. “Sun to Moon as if one.”

He repeats it. Again and again. It’s on the third time, when Reid closes his eyes, that the metal on my hip starts to burn. I flinch, and Reid’s grip tightens. “Sun to Moon as if one.”

The pendant is like fire engraving itself into my skin. I grab onto Reid’s shoulder. Five times he says the incantation. Five times I have to keep myself from screaming and pulling his hair out. When he finally pulls the metal from my skin, it stings. The engraved imprint of the circle is on my skin.

“You marked me.”

He quickly stands up and pushes the hem of my dress back down. “It will fade away. I only marked you for the night.” He reaches up and touches the silver circle hanging from the chain around my neck. “Now it’s your turn.”

I remove the chain, slipping the pendant off the end. Reid takes off his flannel shirt and turns up the sleeve of his t-shirt, positioning his shoulder toward me. I roll my eyes at him. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“What?”

“After the peep show you just got, you actually think you’re going to get this on your shoulder?” I nod toward his shirt and smile. “Chippendales it.”

Reid bites the inside of his jaw. “You’re pushing it tonight, Wilhelmina.”

I throw my shoulders back, unwilling to negotiate. “Maybe you should heed your own advice and take a hint.” I glance back at his shirt. “Take. It. Off.”

Reid steps toward me, lifting the edge of the fabric. He pulls it over his head and tosses it down on the rocks at our feet. “Hint received. Now can we finish this before you’re late?”

I smirk at him, stepping closer. Reid’s skin somehow stays a perfect mid-summer tan color all year round. After Reid moved in with me, I expected to see more of him like this—maybe even a little less than this. He moved in the room down the hall from me, though. For the past two months, my Sun has felt more like a roommate than anything else. It’s growing old. Fast.

I run one single fingertip across the top of his jeans, and unclasp the button, jerking him toward me. Reid bites his lip and turns the other direction.

Damn that boy and his willpower.

I place the silver circle on his hip just beneath the denim. He finally looks back at me, his composure still intact but waning. “Moon to Sun as if one,” he says quietly. “And you have to think about me the entire time.”

I rake my eyes down his chest to the exposed waistband of his black briefs, then back up to his eyes. “Well, that shouldn’t be too hard now, should it?”

I place my thumb over the pendant to hold it in place. “Moon to Sun as if one.”

I close my eyes and think of him. I think about the first time I saw his face. I’d knocked him over the head with a flashlight for breaking unknowingly into my house. “Moon to Sun as if one.”

I think about the following days. All the time he spent pulling away from me, masking his feelings behind his I-don’t-care attitude. I especially remember the day he stopped. The day he kissed me in the middle of my kitchen with everyone we knew watching. Even Julien. “Moon to Sun as if one.”

Reid gasps. He feels the burning now.

I think about the night he confessed to me. The night he told me he was my opposite. My perfect counterpart in every way. “Moon to Sun as if one.”

I think of him now. We’re together every day, yet still too far apart. He pulls away from me, even when we have every reason to come together.

Reid grabs my wrists. “Willa.” The pain is evident in his voice. “That’s enough.”

My eyes jolt open and I jerk the circle away from his skin. His chest heaves as he inspects the small imprint emblazoned on his hip. He buttons his jeans and grabs his shirt from the ground and puts it back on. His smile curves the corner of his lips. “You better be glad it’s not just Abby expecting you there tonight.”

He pulls the golden pendant back from his pocket and motions me to come to him. “We have one final thing before the spell is complete.”

Reid takes the hand holding my pendant and places our matching circles together before wrapping our fingers around them. “Think of us and repeat after me. Moon and Sun into one.”

I slowly close my eyes, following his instructions. I repeat the words with him, recalling that confession one last time. More importantly, the kiss that followed it. The kiss I thought cemented the ‘you’re more than just my Sun’ portion of our relationship. Then I see us sitting on my couch. A memory from just a couple days ago. We watched a movie before bed. Before Reid kissed my cheek and let me walk to my room alone.

Except…this time the memory isn’t accurate. Reid doesn’t kiss my cheek. He kisses my neck. My shoulder blade. His fingers pull the strap of the tank top I wore to the side, allowing his lips full access to every inch of skin.

I try to think of something else. To change this memory back to reality, but it doesn’t change. It doesn’t change because it isn’t my thought.

My eyes dart open and Reid’s staring at me. His eyes locked on mine. He smiles.

“What was that?”

The spell.

My hand jerks away from him and I scramble back. His lips didn’t move, yet I heard him speak clearly. He cautiously guides me back to him.

Relax. This isn’t permeant. The spell will only last until dawn.

I gape at him. “I can hear your thoughts?”

Yes. And I can hear yours.

I instantly cringe. “All of my thoughts?”

He slowly places my pendant back on its chain and latches it around my neck. “No. I can only hear the thoughts you want me to hear.” His grin is crooked, and I know why. He wanted me to see that memory he changed.

I open my mouth to speak, but he quickly shakes his head. “Not now. We’ll talk about it all you want tonight, but if we don’t leave now, you’ll be late.”

I poke him hard on the chest. “Definitely tonight, though. No avoiding it.”

He stares at me hard, his fingers tipping the edge of my chin and then down to my shoulder. A gentle reminder of his altered memory.

No avoiding it.

It’s a promise. I know because he seals it with a kiss.

Chapter 2

The Declaration

The ceremonial circle of the Innocent is hidden deep within the black depth of Frog Hollow’s core. It’s only accessible by foot, the shallow creek your guide down the secret path. Poplar trees shadow the stone circle. The arrangement is similar to the one in Sera’s back yard, yet this one is much larger. Each stone is as long as a small bench. The circle is outlined by a brilliant orange flame. Sera waits for me at the edge of the stones, her flowing emerald green dress a replica of my own. Her chestnut hair dangles down her shoulders, coming to twisty ends. There is no one else with her. During the Summer Solstice ceremony there had been almost forty women present. Now Abby, Sadie, and Jade are nowhere to be found, let alone the remainder of the women. “Where is everyone?”

Sera takes my hand and walks me around the circle. “Only you and your other half enter the circle upon your Declaration. In your case…”

I deflate. “In my case, I go alone.”

Sera frowns. “Once the Declaration has been made, you may call for us. We will be waiting to join you.” She squeezes my hand. “We will be waiting to celebrate.”

I don’t want to celebrate. Why would someone want to celebrate a death sentence? The Haunted have been killing leaders of my line for a decade now. I look back at the circle surrounded by beautiful rust colored leaves. None of that matters. I know I must take this responsibility. “How will I know when the Declaration has been made?”

Sera smirks a little bit, patting my hand. “Trust me. You’ll know.”

That doesn’t make me feel better at all. I close my eyes and think of Reid.

I wish you were here. I have to go in the circle alone.

I allow him to see the empty burning circle waiting for me. His voice echoes back in my head as if he’s standing right next to me.

You’re not alone. I’m here.

I take a deep breath and watch the flickering glow. It doesn’t look any different than the circle from the Summer Solstice ceremony, and I managed to survive it. Still, I eye it suspiciously. “So, I just walk in the circle?”

Sera smiles, turning toward the flames, showcasing them. “Yes. Simply walk in the circle.”

My insides knot together. There has to be more to it than that. Sera pulls me to her, a quick, reassuring hug. A single finger touches my wrist. “It’s going to be okay. Relax.”

Calmness washes over me. My breathing slows and the erratic beating of my heart reverts back to its steady rhythm. It isn’t the first time she’s used her powers to diminish my fears. She did the same thing the first day I met her. The same day I found out I was one of the Innocent. I pull away, nodding. I know I must do this.

Sera steps away from me, back toward the darkness through the trees. “We will be waiting for you, Wilhelmina. Everything will be okay.”

Sera disappears, and I’m left alone. Me and the circle of flames. I take off my black ballet flats, placing them next to a stump of a nearby tree. I stare at the flames a second longer, recalling the way Reid made them dance in the fireplace earlier today. I miss that moment. It was fleeting, but in that small space of time as I watched the embers swirl around each other, I forgot the world around me. The pain and fear of the summer had faded with the leaves. Stepping in the circle means I can no longer ignore the truth.

I walk to the edge, the flames inches from the tips of my bare toes. Autumn in Sanctuary is a daydream. The pumpkins and the festivities a mere mask to hide the horror that dwells deep in the shadows of the mountains. The Haunted live. They seek me. One day soon I will face them again.

My foot passes the barrier of the circle and the flames rise. They rise straight into the air as if going to meet the clouds in the starry sky above me. I whip around.

Wilhelmina? Are you okay?

I must have inadvertently sent Reid some frantic thoughts.

Yes. I’m in the circle. I’m fine.

Suddenly the flames turn white. They thicken, shifting into a pale fog that drops around me and spreads through the woods. It drifts and swirls, snaking along the ground, until finally two forms take shape inside the circle in front of me. Two human forms.

I recognize them. Two young girls whose ghosts I met in the cemetery after performing a spell taught to me by Julien last summer. I know now that those young girls are the very first descendants of the Innocent. Contessa and Elizabeth. Orphans adopted by the widow of Frog Hollow. The figures slowly grow, the fog changing them, transforming them into women. As the fog fades away from their faces, I’m left standing in the circle with two very real, very non-ghost type women.

I can’t make myself speak.

“It’s nice to see you again, Wilhelmina,” the woman I’d known as Tessie says. Her once short, curly hair is now as long as my own.

I reach my hand out, wanting to touch her and make sure she’s real. “You’re not young anymore?”

The other one, Elizabeth, whose brown hair and mystic blue eyes are still wild as I remember, says, “We didn’t want to scare you at the cemetery that night by appearing in our natural form.”

“Besides,” Contessa says, reaching up to touch her very real fingertips to my cheek. “You had one of The Haunted with you. We thought it best to keep our true identity a secret.”

My hand absently touches my heart at the memory. “Julien was with me.”

“Yes.” Contessa’s smile fades. “I’m sorry about him. There was nothing we could do.”

My breathing steadies and my voice manages to stay firm. “You were watching?”

“We are always watching, Wilhelmina. However, there are only so many things we can control.”

I recall the night the curse consumed Julien, and all the unnatural things that occurred to keep me safe from his wrath. “You sent my mother back to me that night on the rooftop. She healed me after Julien sent that blade through my chest.”

Contessa smiles weakly. “Yes. You must understand, though. It was only because you were so close to death that we were able to do that. If Julien would have stabbed you in the heart, it would have been too late. We couldn’t have saved you. It was only because he chose to kill you slowly, to torture you, that it gave us enough time to intervene.”

Tears sting my eyes. “You couldn’t have saved Ezekiel instead?”

I lost much more than one friend on that rooftop in Charleston. Ezekiel sacrificed himself to save me from Julien.

“Ezekiel was one of the Haunted.”

“The curse hadn’t consumed him yet.” My voice is loud as the tears spill over my lashes. Ezekiel shouldn’t have died. Not like he did. On a rooftop with a monster. “He was still good.”

Contessa steps toward me. “There was nothing we could do for him. Ezekiel chose his fate.”

I wipe the tears from my eyes. “What do I do now? Julien will come for me. Maybe not tonight, but one day, he will come back.” The tears stream down my cheeks onto my lips. “I promised him that I would end his life if the curse took him. What happens if I can’t fulfill that promise?”

Elizabeth looks at Contessa, her features very serious. “Tell her, Contessa. It’s time.”

Contessa continues forward toward me. “As I understand it, you have found your Sun.”

I take a step back. “What?”

Contessa stands still, her eyes directed at me, waiting.

“No one was identified at the Summer Solstice ceremony,” I say, my voice shaking. It was technically true. I wasn’t matched with any known Innocent during the ceremony.

Contessa very calmly places her hand on my shoulder. “Tell him to come into the circle, Wilhelmina.”

I choke down a breath. “Who?”

“Reid. We know you can communicate with him right now. Tell him to come into the circle.”

I jerk away from her touch in a panic.

Oh crap. They know.

Who? And what do they know?

I turn away, afraid Contessa and Elizabeth can somehow hear my thoughts.

The original Innocents. They know about you. They want you to come in the circle.

What? No. Willa, I can’t.

I glance over my shoulder at the women staring at me.

I don’t think saying no is an option.

I don’t get an answer. Contessa crosses her arms, and I grimace at her. “He’s being difficult,” I say, trying to look apologetic as possible.

“Ugh. That boy.” She glances back at Elizabeth. “Stubborn just like everyone else in his family line.”

Elizabeth rolls her eyes. “Don’t worry, I’ll fetch him.”

Elizabeth holds her hand out, directing the lingering fog outside the circle into the woods. Then she quickly clasps her fingers into a fist as if she’s caught something and pulls it back. Reid emerges from the trees, the fog wrapped around his legs like a rope, dragging him into the circle. It drops him on the ground next to me. He quickly scrambles to his feet and I smile at him. “I told you it wasn’t an option.”

Reid turns toward Contessa and Elizabeth, but the recognition is already there. Elizabeth grins at him. “How nice of you to join us.”

“You’re—” Reid gulps and tries again. “You’re—”

Elizabeth takes a step back, allowing Reid some space. “The girls from the legend of the Innocent and the Haunted? Yes. That would be us.”

Reid looks at me and then back to them. “Why did you bring me here?”

“Why?” Elizabeth laughs, but she isn’t smiling. “You are her Sun. Wilhelmina is about to be declared head of her line. A position that has not been kind to those who take upon the responsibility as of late. You want to stand here and ask me why I brought you here?”

Reid shrinks down. I motion my chin toward Contessa. “I like her,” I say.

Contessa smiles at me. “She is rather motherly when she needs to be.”

Reid shoots me a glare, but turns his attention back to Elizabeth. “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to help her, Reid. You must help Wilhelmina find her family’s book.”

“What book?” I know I’m somehow missing a very important part to this puzzle.

Reid sighs. “You remember when I told you that I used to read my grandmother’s spell book?”

“Yes.”

“Each line has its own book. The head of each family keeps it. After my grandmother’s death, the Book of the Sun was given to my great aunt Delphine.” Reid turns back to Elizabeth. “The Book of the Moon has been lost for a century, though. No one knows what happened to it.”

Abigail slowly shakes her head. “Not lost, young Thomas. It was stolen.”

Contessa touches my shoulder. “Stolen by a family who would resort to murder to keep their name out of the legend.”

“The Bessette family.” Now it made sense.

“Yes. Roux Bessette killed your mother to keep their secret safe. He tried to kill you. They knew if we found out that their family line still lived, we would come after them to retrieve the book.”

I pace around the circle now, trying to iron out all the rough edges of the story in my mind. “Roux died in Charleston, though. Julien’s brother Lyric killed him.”

Contessa nods along with me. “The curse would have passed on to the next member in Roux’s family.”

“Who?” Reid throws his hands out in frustration. “How do we figure it out? I know nothing about them.”

Elizabeth smiles diligently at Reid. “That’s why Wilhelmina needs your help. Help her find the Book of the Moon. It is only with both books that we have the power to finally defeat the Haunted.”

Reid tries to fight back his frustration, but it gushes out of him anyway. “Look, I’m just trying to keep her alive. Going after that book now will only put her in more danger.”

Elizabeth steps up into his line of vision, challenging him. “You want to save her life?”

“Of course.”

“Then find the book.” Her stare is long and it’s full of steel. “We both know that spell is the only way to truly keep her safe. Don’t let selfishness cloud your true judgment. You’re better than that.”

Reid touches my hand, and I know he would do anything to keep me safe. He turns around to face Elizabeth and finally nods. “Okay. We’ll find it.”

Contessa turns toward me, her smile sympathetic. “Now go celebrate. Enjoy the night. It isn’t every day you get to lead your family.” She studies me as if deciding something very important. “Ah. Just here will do.”

Contessa reaches up and places a single finger on my neck just below my ear. Then they vanish. Contessa and Elizabeth are gone. The fog nothing more than steam rising to the treetops. That’s when I feel it. The burn on my neck. It’s so much worse than the spell Reid performed on me earlier. This time it burns me to the core, as if a bolt of lightning entered me at the spot of contact and shot through my body to my toes. I drop to the ground.

Electricity sears every tiny fiber in my body. “Reid. Help me.”

I roll over, clawing the spot on my neck. It doesn’t help. My back snaps straight as the pain burns a hole straight through my chest.