Page 21 of Adepts and Alchemists

I had to report to Anthony.

As per my agreement with his mother, High Witch Lucretia Boline, as long as I lived under a suspended sentence, I had to make regular check-ins with her son. Now that I was officially among the living once more, the spell had taken full and nasty effect.

The itching began under my sleeves, where I could hide the marks if I chose to ignore it. But I already knew I wouldn’t be able to last long. Eventually, the need to scratch would become so severe that not even my enhanced healing could keep up with the compulsion. Lydia’s presence had acted like a down pillow, shielding me from any spells that tried to take root. Now that I was in control of the body, the tie to Anthony was back in full force. My skin felt raw by the time I managed to find a spot with signal. RJ’s cell phone plan didn’t cover the sticks, it seemed.

The phone rang, and my chest clenched tight. The impulse to jam my finger onto the ‘end call’ button was strong. I’d been dreading the moment since we parted in the Hollow. There hadn’t been time for him to ask the questions burning in his eyes. He and I knew that the best key to survival was to flee the curse, get behind a warded threshold, and sit tight until I could be escorted away by a cadre of his mother’s best witches.

“Hello?” Anthony asked, an edge to his voice.

“Hi,” I answered, unable to raise my voice above a whisper.

“Indigo?” he whispered.

It was the hope in the word that made my throat close. He was reacting exactly as I’d expected. He was too young, too inexperienced not to give his heart fully. He loved me. Which was why he should have never learned the truth.

“Right. I, uh, I had to borrow a phone.”

A beat of silence that I couldn’t really handle so I continued talking.

“Before you launch into a game of twenty questions, you should be aware we ran into a complication.”

“A complication?”

“Right. At least one of Murrain’s guard dogs found us.”

“Jesus. Is anyone hurt or dead?”

“No, which is a miracle in and of itself. The only thing that did suffer was the gas station.”

“Where is this gas station?”

I told him.

Anthony’s breath came out in a sharp gust, as though he hadn’t exhaled since I’d gone. I could sympathize. I’d been struggling to draw in breath since last night too.

“Murrain caught up with you that quickly? I thought you’d be able to reach a safe house in Tacoma before they even realized you were gone.”

I scuffed one of Lydia’s chunky boot heels into the dirt. This was the part I knew he wouldn’t like. Because it was the part I didn’t like.

“We’re not going to Tacoma.”

“Indigo.”

“It wasn’t my choice or my idea,” I defended myself. “We uncovered a lead in Mother’s Book of Shadows that might be Poppy’s grandmother. Needless to say, all of Scapegrace has voted to investigate that lead so we’re waiting in a motel not far from here. It’s one of my safe houses so there’s that. Then, once we can get ahold of the proper mirror, we’re going to use it to visit Poppy’s grandmother and hopefully she can crack the spells in my mother’s book that I haven’t been able to.” I took a breath. “And then we’re headed to the safe house in Tacoma.”

“You don’t have time for that.”

“I know!” I nearly yelled out my frustration. “But it’s not like I can force them to bend to my will. I’m one witch and not a well-liked witch at that.”

“You can’t be holed up in some motel,” Anthony said, real heat to the words now. “You’ll be sitting ducks. I know you’re good, Indigo, but you can’t fend off everything that’s coming… and you can’t do it by yourself. People will die.”

I could hear his feet slapping hardwood and wondered whose halls he was pacing. I knew his mother’s tactics well enough that he would have contacted the Council and seen to it that every citizen of Haven Hollow was safely moved to a locale with maximum security. I’d taken some of the strongest of the monsters with me, and the rest of the Hollow’s citizens were now in warded homes. Or they were strong enough to fend for themselves.

“I’ll die again before I let Murrain hurt anyone.”

The venom in the words surprised me. The truth of them was more shocking still. I might not be willing to lay down my life in defense of a coven or a hollow, but I would do it for Lydia—for the people she cared about. She deserved to come back to her body, her family whole and intact, and her mate safe at home.

“Indigo...” he began.