Page 29 of Air Of Mystery (Witches On The Hill #4)

He lifted me off my feet, and I kicked, aiming for his knees. I slammed my head back, hoping to get his nose, but all it did was bounce off his shoulder. He laughed as he carted me towards the basement steps like it was nothing.

Letting loose a primal scream, I did everything I could to slow him down. Because I knew that if he got me down to that basement, it was all over.

Behind us the front door exploded inward. It shattered in its frame and pieces of it went flying around the room. I had a split second to think the cops had arrived. But when Don spun around with me still in his arms, I spotted the last person on earth I had ever expected to see.

Amanda Beaumont-Parker.

The red-headed librarian was standing in the doorframe, looking completely different from the last time I’d seen her. Now she was wearing an all-black leather outfit.

“Amanda!” I gasped in horror. “Get out of here!” This is horrible, I thought hysterically. The nice, small-town librarian cosplaying as Cat Woman is going to get herself killed.

“Don,” she said in a pleasant tone of voice that had me gaping at her. “I believe I made myself clear as to what the consequences would be if I ever found you feeding inside of my territory again.”

Don might have been surprised to see Amanda, but he clearly knew her, because his entire posture had changed. Instead of continuing to clamp down on me, he inadvertently loosened his grip while he backed farther away from her.

“Guardian.” His voice was a cross between a snarl and a sneer.

Guardian? My mind reeled. The Guardian was thought to be a man… A supremely gifted magician, who was an exterminator and clean-up all in one for the magickal community. Surely Don was mistaken…

But I suddenly realized that although he might be wrong, he was also distracted.

Taking advantage of it I squirmed, trying one last time to save myself, and somehow managed to grab the water pistol out of my left cargo pants pocket.

“Let her go,” Amanda ordered, and her voice rang like a bell throughout the room. The weight of the command hit me in the chest with the same percussion as a professional grade firework.

Holy shit, I thought. That’s some potent magick! She is the Guardian!

“She trespassed on my property,” Don said.

“Last chance,” she said, sounding tough as nails.

“I demand restitution!” Don argued. “Her sister killed one of my pets—”

In a movement so smooth it was hard for my eyes to follow, Amanda flung a dagger towards us. I barely had time to squeak, let alone register what was happening, before it struck Don and I was dropped onto the floor.

Don was now beside me on his knees, clutching his throat, and I scooted away from him on my butt as fast as I was able. Dark blood was pouring from his wound. It didn’t seem real, yet it gushed out over his hands and spilling all over the floor.

Trying to move farther away, I inadvertently put weight on my right arm. Which hurt so badly that I cried out from the pain.

That sound caused him to focus on me and suddenly recalling what I still held in my left hand, I raised up the Super Soaker and fired. We were only a few feet apart, and the water gun sent a powerful stream at his face, hitting him right between the eyes.

I heard the hiss the holy water made as it burned into his flesh. Don let loose a horrible sound, somewhere between a howl of pain and a gurgle, as the holy water ate into his skin. More blood spurted out of his mouth and ran down his chest.

Shocked at seeing what the holy water had done, I sat there, frozen in disbelief at the gruesome scene in front of me. When someone else leaned in, I recoiled from them.

“Let’s go,” Estella Midnight-Marquette said. And looping her arm around my waist, she helped me to my feet.

“ Estella ?” I think my eyes bugged out of my head. She too was wearing leather, and I could only stare. “I...er… what ?” I babbled.

“You did great,” she said, easing the water gun away from me. “But we’ll take it from here.”

The room began to spin as she unceremoniously marched me toward the open front door.

“But… I…” I tried to form words. “What are you doing here?”

Estella smiled at someone as we moved onto the front porch. “Here you go. She’s all yours. See if you can keep her out of trouble for a while, will ya?”

I whipped my head around fully expecting the cops, but discovered that it was much, much worse. Charlie stood there, and he looked angry enough to spit nails.

“Damn it, Skye!” he said. “I let you out of my sight for two seconds and—”

“Maybe you can yell at me later?” I said. “It’s been a hell of a day.” Oddly, my words sounded slurred to my own ears.

“Hey, how badly are you hurt?” Reaching out, he took ahold of my arms and pulled me close as if to comfort me.

The pain of him tugging on my right arm was incredible. I screamed, thought I might throw up, and then everything mercifully went dark.

***

I opened my eyes and discovered that it wasn’t a dream. I was, in fact, in the hospital. The events of the last several hours were a bit fuzzy, no doubt from the pain meds they’d given me when they’d set my arm.

It was a clean break, I was told. Now I had a splint—or maybe it was a brace—on my lower right arm. I’d have to go to an orthopedist for a cast in a few days. There was something about not getting a cast right away…to avoid acute swelling and worsening the injury?

It was all kind of fuzzy to be honest. Charlie had been in the ER with me for a while, and he’d been pretty worried. Recalling that made me feel horribly guilty.

Guilty that he’d been upset, that is. I didn’t feel any guilt for trying to save the occupants of the house on Henry Street.

The doctors decided to admit me for overnight observation, because between the broken arm and all the injuries I’d sustained from being tossed around—I also had a concussion.

Sunny and my three sisters had all piled in when I first got a room, and they’d all made such a fuss.

No, they hadn’t been loud…but it was worse somehow that they hadn’t shouted.

Cordelia had been the most upset—she’d had tears in her eyes.

Brynn was concerned at the bruises that were popping up everywhere, and Kenna was in a full-fledged fury at me for getting myself injured while trying to save someone else.

“You had to go and play superhero!” she fumed. “You idiot!”

It was hard to get a word in edgewise with the four of them all lecturing me, but after a while they calmed down long enough for me to ask some questions and find out some of what had happened.

When Don grabbed me, Sunny had rushed Mary across the street where Corrine Thompson was waiting and ready to help the injured woman. My cousin had been heading back for me when Amanda and Estella rolled up.

“Yeah,” Sunny said. “I was so relieved when they arrived.”

I caught Sunny’s attention and shook my head ever so slightly. Bless her, she took the hint.

Sunny gave me a tiny nod in acknowledgment before continuing. She told the story as though Amanda and Estella merely happened to be in the neighborhood, and they helped me out of the home after I’d been smacked around by Mary’s abusive boyfriend.

It was just rotten luck, Sunny told my sisters, that I’d fallen on my arm wrong and broken it. But Amanda and Estella being there? That was synchronicity. Witches helping each other. A right place, right time sort of thing.

“So, the police were called because of the domestic abuse?” Cordelia asked.

“Yes,” Sunny said. “And also, because Skye had been assaulted. Everyone showed up. The cops did their thing, and the EMS guys took Mary and Skye both to the hospital. Right Skye?”

“It’s all kind of fuzzy,” I said, not wanting to lie to my sisters. “How is Mary?”

Sunny’s usually happy expression became serious. “All I found out was that she was stable…and getting a psych evaluation.”

I closed my eyes at that news. “That poor thing.”

“I’m more worried about Charlie,” Sunny said to Brynn. “Man, he was pissed when he found out that guy hurt Skye! I wondered if he was gonna go all in and storm the house and kick the guy’s ass...”

“Wait, what ?” I asked. I hadn’t heard any of this before.

“Hey,” Brynn said. “You shouldn’t get yourself all worked up. Have a sip of water and relax. Do you need me to adjust the bed so you’re more comfortable?”

“No,” I said, taking the cup she pushed at me. “The bed’s fine.”

“Let me at least get you a pillow to rest your arm on,” Kenna said, and zipped out of the room to go and hunt one up apparently.

“So, what did Charlie—” I began but was cut off by a nurse who booted everyone out, telling them I needed to rest.

Before they left, Kenna had returned with a foam pillow for my arm, and Brynn confiscated my cell phone and told me to try and get some sleep.

“You can have the phone back tomorrow when the doctors release you,” she said over my protestations.

“That’s mean,” I complained.

“Them’s the breaks,” she said, and I winced at the bad pun.

Frustrated at not knowing the details of who had been told what, and more importantly what ultimately had happened to Don, I shut my eyes with a tired sigh. I suppose I fell asleep for a while, because now that I was awake again, it was dark outside.

Slowly, I swung my feet over the side of the bed.

I desperately needed to use the toilet. It wasn’t fun trying to shuffle across the floor while simultaneously wrestling an IV pole, but I made it.

I even managed to wash my good hand afterward.

Then, I caught sight of my face in the mirror above the sink.

My cheekbone was purple from where Don had struck me and the eye above it was bloodshot and a bit swollen.

I tugged the loose neck of the hospital gown away from my chest and squinted down.

Yup, I had bruises all over my chest too.

Seeing that made them start to hurt more, and with a wince, I turned away from the mirror and made my way slowly back to the bed.

I’d almost made it when a nurse busted me.