Page 28 of Kat Bethel

“Did you find anything in the archives?”

“Bitch,”she snapped.“Thank you, Willow. For staying up all night, digging balls deep in hundreds of years of history.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s what you say when you’ve got nothing.”

“Not nothing,”she squeaked, offended.“Fine. I won’t tell you what I found.”

“Please share your knowledge with me, oh wise one.”

A quiet chuckle filled the room, making it feel too small. As if he were standing right over my shoulder.

My heart stuttered. The first sign he’d shown he was still here since this morning.

Was that a dream? Or had he really made me cum that hard?

Delicious.

A road to death, I reminded myself.

The logic was solid, and yet my core throbbed.

Stop it.

“Someone bought the land in the 1800s as a vacation home,”she said flatly.“It turned out badly.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. I didn’t see a house.” Not still standing, at least.

“It’s on the outskirts.”My mind went to Myrtle.

“Let me guess, someone killed themselves.” It didn't take a genius to figure it out.

“She went mad and lived her days in an asylum until she starved to death.”Guess they didn’t give her anything she could use to speed up the job.“An off-branch of the Rinah family bought it and have managed to keep things mostly contained since then. They are the ones who made the cops enforce trespassing laws over the years.”

“I knew it. Myrtle’s a Rinah witch.” I chuckled.

“Who?”

“She’s a server that lives on the outskirts. She gives offerings to the…” I tried to come up with something that felt accurate, but nothing suited him. “Creature that lives in the Dark Entry Woods.”

Another chuckle, but this time he pressed himself to my back. A hand went uncomfortably low on my stomach. Excitementfilled me, but I stomped it down. I wanted to fling his hand off of me, but that would be useless. No matter how solid he felt, I wouldn’t be able to do anything.

If this creature was of mind to, he could do whatever he wanted to me. I hated that he was right.No, you’ll get this figured out.

That piqued her interest.“What kind of offering?”

“Funny you should ask that. Dandelions.”

“Why dandelions?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” I sighed.

“They symbolize resilience and are used in wish magic. Then, of course, there are the medicinal purposes.”Willow thought out loud.

“You think he’s making wishes on them?” I chuckled. But it did bring me to what Esme said. How a blessing gone wrong made a monster. Did the monster have a wish go wrong? Somehow I couldn’t picture him doing that. “When’s the last time we made a wish?”

“You know the drill. Manifesting is manifesting.”I could hear her shrug from here.

“Valid point.” Just because little witch girls used it as a playful intro to magic didn’t mean it couldn't be used for serious purposes. I was looking for something different. This could be it. “We can assume it’s not to align his digestive tract.”