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Nolan tipped his head down and picked up the blue stone. He could roughly make it out, but his eyes were crossing a bit as he tried to focus on it. The stone had something inscribed, an interesting swirl amidst the varying shades of blue. He could feel it with his finger, but he couldn’t see it.
Lifting his head, he started to ask the witch what was written on the stone, but she was gone.
Nolan leaped to his feet and twisted about, scouring the field and parking for any sign of her. She couldn’t have gotten that far in the seconds he was inspecting the stone, but there was no sign of her. She’d vanished completely.
That was weird.
But that was a witch for you, right?
She had been a witch…right?
The thought was sending a chill skittering along Nolan’s spine when the low baying of dogs cut through the silence of the night. The witches in the center of the soccer field had called the dandy dogs to them. It was time to send all bad puppies back to the underworld.
Chapter 9
Skylar Wallace
The air tingled with magic.
Mostly earth magic, which was like thousands of ants crawling all over his body. Not a comfortable sensation. It was tolerable when it was only Mad and Red casting spells.
But when over thirty earth witches got together to cast a variety of different spells, it was almost enough to drive him crazy. Their two magic types didn’t mesh well. At least, not on this scale.
He couldn’t complain, though. All their hard work was paying off. The damned dandy dogs were on their way.
Upon arriving at the field, about half of the earth witches had cast several “calling” spells that summoned all the deer, rabbits, and foxes in the area to the park. This constant parade of prey would lead the dogs to the park.
Once the poor animals arrived at the field, the witches sent them in various directions. They didn’t want to use them as bait. The trail was all that was required to get the dandy dogs there.
The other half of the witches had set about laying the framework for the cage that would trap the dogs once they stepped onto the field. Sky couldn’t snap his fingers and send the dogs straight to the underworld. They needed to be standing still so they could fall into the portal he created, or they needed to be pulled home. It was pretty apparent right now that they had no intention of strolling home on their own.
As the dogs bayed a second time, he turned to the picnic tables where he’d last seen Nolan. The sweet, wonderful man was already walking to his car. It was part of their agreement. Nolan would sit in his vehicle while they worked the last spells to trap the dogs.
Part of him hated excluding the man who so wanted to be included in his work. How could he not love all of Nolan’s support? His need to be there every step of the way?
But after his injuries in the first attempt, Sky knew he wouldn’t be able to concentrate if he was worried about Nolan’s safety.
Maybe next time when they weren’t up against something so big and dangerous. He’d make sure Nolan was right by his side the entire time.
“We ready to go, necromancer?” Audrey called out, jerking Sky’s gaze to the large circle of witches spread across the soccer field. His friends were mixed in among them. The only exception was Moon. The blood witch was hanging out near the picnic tables, prepared to offer Nolan extra protection if it was necessary. Sadly, his magic clashed with the earth witches and would negate all their hard work.
It was an odd assortment. Some of them were the image of the typical witch with long, breezy skirts, crazy hair, and lots of necklaces and bracelets bearing amulets and charms of protection. But there were others—like Carol—in their yoga pants and oversized sweat shirts, their hair pulled up into messy buns, and Solo cups at their feet. In the backs of their minds, they were probably calculating the minutes they’d have to sleep once they got home before they were forced to drag themselves out of bed to get the kids ready for school.
Kids…
Was that something he could have with his one-day fiancé in the car?
Magic and love and a family and all the chaos that came—
“Necromancer?” Audrey bellowed again, snapping him from his daydreams. Yeah, this was not the time.
“What? Yes! I’m here! I’m ready!” His cheeks burned. He wasn’t normally this flighty.
All that sexy man’s fault.
The leaves rattled and thrashed together as the two dogs bounded out of the thin line of woods that ran along one side of the park. Sky stepped forward, moving toward the center of the large circle. The witches closest to the dogs retreated, creating an opening for the pooches to approach.
One of the dandy dog’s long, pointed ears snapped back and its lip curled as it growled low and deep in its massive chest. Flickering firelight danced off its massive fangs.
