Page 27 of Rise of the Witch (Witches of Keating Hollow #17)

Melissa woke with a start. Her heart was racing, and a headache had formed just above her right eye. She glanced around at the empty bedroom. “Briggs?”

Silence.

She sat on the edge of the bed, trying to calm her nerves, and then rose and wrapped herself in Briggs’s robe that was hanging on the back of his bathroom door.

The house was silent as she made her way to the kitchen, making her wonder where in the hell Briggs had gone. She peeked out the front window and spotted his truck. That meant he had to be there somewhere, right?

After making herself a cup of coffee, she wandered the house, looking for any sign of him.

Nothing.

It was like he’d just vanished.

But then she saw the note.

Mel, I’ve gone to talk to Sheriff Baker. I’ll be back soon.

What did he have to say to the sheriff? She went back into the bedroom, found her phone, and called Briggs. When it went straight to voice mail, she frowned.

Something was off. She could feel it in her bones. It was as if she could feel Briggs’s anxiety reaching out to her. Was the sheriff giving him a hard time? What exactly had he wanted to talk to him about? The questions were driving her crazy as she paced his living room.

Then when the sun glinted off the chrome of Briggs’s truck, she stopped in her tracks. His truck was parked right outside. Unless someone had come to pick him up, he hadn’t gone anywhere.

She called Sadie.

“Morning. Everything okay?”

“No,” Melissa said. “Did King come get Briggs this morning?”

“No. He’s right here. Why? Was he supposed to?”

“I don’t know. I found a note that Briggs left, telling me that he went to the sheriff’s department, but his truck is here and he’s not answering his phone. Do you think they arrested him again?” Melissa sucked in a sharp breath. “I gotta go. I need to call them and find out what’s happening.”

“Call me when you know something,” Sadie said just before Melissa ended the call.

Melissa dialed the sheriff’s office and was told that no one had been sent to pick up Briggs, nor had they seen him that morning.

“But he’s not here, and he said he was going there,” Melissa said, though she wasn’t expecting an answer.

“If I see him, I’ll tell him you’re looking for him,” Clarissa, the receptionist, said.

“Thanks.” Melissa ended the call, sank into the chair by the front door, and closed her eyes. She focused on that anxious feeling, the one that just felt like it was coming from Briggs. And in her mind, she screamed, Where are you?

Immediately, a vision of her own house flashed in her mind.

My house ? she thought. Why would he be there?

The feeling intensified. She didn’t question it. She just knew that she had to move. After throwing on some clothes, she ran outside to Briggs’s truck. But when she pushed the button, it didn’t do anything. The engine didn’t even turn over.

She let out a frustrated cry and called Sadie again.

“What did you find out?” Sadie asked.

“I think Briggs is at my house. Can you go check on him?”

“Check on him, why?” she asked.

“Something’s wrong.”

“Oh. Oh no. I would, Melissa, but we’re not home. We’re just out of town at the eastern trailhead. King and I took a morning hike.”

“Are you on your way back? Can you pick me up? I’m stranded and… Just, please, Sadie.”

There must have been more panic in Melissa’s tone than she realized, because Sadie didn’t hesitate. She just said, “We’re on our way.”

Melissa was waiting outside when King’s Toyota turned into the driveway. She ran and jumped into the backseat. “Go!”

The entire way into town, the tingle of anxiety grew. Briggs was barely hanging on, and she just knew if she didn’t get there soon, something terrible was going to happen.

“Faster,” she ordered.

King just nodded and sped up. A few minutes later, he slammed to a stop in her driveway.

Melissa didn’t wait. She jumped out of the vehicle and ran inside the house.

The moment her door slammed open, she heard a loud crash followed by a loud roar of frustration.

“Briggs!” She bolted down her hallway toward the noise and came to a dead stop when she spotted a man pinning Briggs to the floor. He had a gun pointed at Briggs’s chest and was shaking with rage.

Melissa felt the slippery ropes of magic cling to her mind, and without any thought at all, she sent it straight toward the man. In her mind’s eye, the magic coiled around him.

He froze and looked around the room. When his gaze landed on Melissa he said, “Let me go, or your boyfriend will need a pine box.”

She didn’t bother to answer him. Instead, she envisioned the gun flying out of his hand and watched as it sailed into the closet and fell harmlessly into a pile of Kassie’s clothes.

The man opened his mouth to rage at her, but the magical bindings tightened further, and they were so suffocating he couldn’t get the words out.

Briggs pushed the man off himself and sat up. “Call the sheriff. Kassie is in trouble!”

Melissa dialed 911 and then handed the phone to Briggs.

“The man who abducted Kassie Kinny has been apprehended. Send someone over right away. And send someone to the Emerald Caves before the tide comes in. You’ll find Kassie there.”

“The Emerald Caves?” Melissa asked with a gasp as she kneeled beside him. “He left her there?”

Briggs nodded, looking exhausted as he thanked the dispatcher on the other end of the line. When he ended it, he looked at Melissa. “He left her there as an insurance policy to get what he wanted. If we didn’t cooperate, he’d let her drown.”

“What did he want?” Melissa asked.

Briggs held up a safe-deposit box key. “This. It holds valuable jewels left to her by her paternal grandparents. He wanted them so he could pawn them. Or sell them at auction maybe. He seems to think they are worth a pretty penny.”

King walked into the room with Deputy Hunt on his heels. Hunt went straight for Kassie’s stepfather and tried to cuff him, but he couldn’t get past Melissa’s magical bindings. He looked at Melissa and asked, “Do you mind?”

“Oh, sorry,” she said sheepishly. “I’m not used to wielding magic.”

Briggs grinned at her, and she grinned back.

“Could have fooled me,” the deputy muttered as he slapped the cuffs on the man and then yanked him to his feet.

“His weapon is in the closet,” Melissa said.

“Forensics will be in here shortly to search for evidence,” he said and then frog-marched the man out of Melissa’s house.

“What happened?” Melissa asked Briggs as they sat there waiting for the police to do whatever they needed to do.

Briggs sucked in a deep breath and then let it out. It was as if all the tension he carried just melted away. Melissa felt it, too. That anxiety that had been eating away at her had suddenly eased, and her headache was gone.

“I was looking through my phone and found an old message from Kassie that raised some red flags about her stepdad, so I was going to head to the station to show them to the sheriff. But that jackass intercepted me. I thought he wanted money, but it turned out, he was looking for that safe-deposit box key. He made me search this room until I found it.”

“While holding you at gunpoint, right?” Melissa said, her ire rising.

“Yeah. And then when I found it, I wouldn’t give it to him until he told me where Kassie was.

Since he didn’t really care about her at all, he told me right away.

When he heard you burst in, he tackled me for it.

But then you came in like a superhero queen, saved me, and captured him.

If there’s any justice, he’ll be in jail for a long time. ”

“One can only hope,” Melissa said.

It took about an hour for the investigators to go through everything in Kassie’s room and interview both Briggs and Melissa. When they were finally about to leave, Sheriff Baker called one of his deputies and told them to put Briggs on the phone.

“Yes, Sheriff?” Briggs said. He listened for a couple minutes, thanked the sheriff, and then handed the phone back to the officer.

“What did he want?” King asked.

“Kassie is safe. They got to her just in time, and they are now taking her to Healer Whipple to be looked at.” Briggs squeezed Melissa’s hand. “She’s safe because of you.”

“And you,” Melissa assured him. “You’re the one who pried the information out of her stepdad.”

Briggs nodded and then got to his feet. He held his hand out to Melissa. “Ready?”

“Where are we going?” she asked, already falling in step beside him.

“To Healer Whipple’s office to see Kassie.”

Melissa’s heart swelled with emotion for how kind her boyfriend was. She knew that Kassie wasn’t his favorite person, but he was thoughtful enough to make sure someone familiar was there for her after her traumatic abduction.

Melissa let King and Sadie know they could go as Briggs walked out to her car.

She held Briggs’s hand the entire time she drove them to the healer’s office.

She just felt the need to be touching him.

He seemed to be on the same wave-length, because once they parked and were headed into the clinic, he wrapped his arm around her and kept her close. It was exactly what they both needed.

As soon as they walked into the clinic and told the receptionist that they were there to see Kassie, they were quickly ushered down the hall and into her room.

She sat at the end of the exam table, wrapped in a thick wool blanket.

She took one look at them and asked, “Did you castrate that bastard?”

Melissa couldn’t help it. She laughed. “No, but I wish I could have.”

“Me, too,” she said with a sneer. “Maybe someone in prison will take care of that for us.” Then she held her arms out and said, “Both of you come here and give me a hug.”

They did as she asked, and as she held on tight, she whispered, “Thank you.”

When they finally pulled away, she wiped the tears from her eyes and said, “Now, someone get Healer Whipple to discharge me. I’m ready to go home.”

Melissa squeezed her hand. “I’m ready for you to go home, too.”

“Do you mean my home in LA, or…” Kassie asked, looking worried.

“No, not LA,” Melissa said with a soft chuckle. “The one here, with me, in Keating Hollow.”

Kassie wiped at her eyes again as her lips curved up into a hint of a smile.