AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Moe looked at me and wiggled his eyebrows. “I like eating witches’… jams.”
A flush crept up my neck while Jag grinned with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Ram crossed his arms. “Care to tell us what the woods witch said, or are we just going to fuck around like stoned teenagers?”
Among Jag and Moe’s shenanigans, I had forgotten about my anxiety. It roared back now like a pride of lions. Still, that moment of comfort was why I couldn’t let them go and why I was going to put the people I loved in danger.
“So, a lot of people are fucked,” I admitted. I swallowed a lump in my throat. “You know that locals and my friend Juniper are trapped somewhere. But I also have—had—friends and people I had promised to protect living in a bubble dimension that has since collapsed. I don’t know what happened to them.”
“Oh, Alyssa, I’m so sorry,” Elliot said and wrapped his arms around me.
I blinked at the gesture because I hadn’t shown any sadness. I had been careful not to. “It’s okay,” I lied.
“You must be so worried for your friends,” Elliot said against my neck.
I swallowed a lump rising in my throat and forced myself to shrug. “It’s fine.”
Jag gave me a doubtful look while Moe rubbed my arm. Memories of Free Jinx flashed through my mind as though it was safe to remember now.
The last time I was there, we had held a Beltane party with three bonfires, their flames licking the dark sky of our safe little world.
The witches and shifters leaped through the fire for good luck. The vampires had stayed back, except for young Heather and Brutus. They held hands and leaped through the flames together.
Afterward, Pamarten, an elderly dark witch who had been forced to flee her home after her neighbors threatened to kill her, gathered up the ashes. She sprinkled them in our gardens to ensure a good bounty.
That fall had been the first decent harvest in Free Jinx.
I pushed the memories away and ignored the pricking in the back of my eyes.
“Alyssa?” Jag said with worry in his voice.
I shook my head clear. “I just need to find a way to track down dozens of people, including strangers who’ve been sucked into portals, even though they’re in other dimensions which are infinite in number and can only be accessed through portals I can barely open. And I have to do it because being barely able to open portals is more than most people can manage.”
Ram picked up one of the potion jars and snapped his fingers to unscrew the lid. “First, liquid cocaine, without the side effects, then thinking.” He took a sip and handed the jar to Jag.
The other man eyed it like it was full of spiders.
“Just one mouthful or you’ll be buzzing like a hummingbird and farting like a diesel truck,” Ram said.
I snorted softly. There was the playful Ram I had known in private—before he had ordered Juniper killed and things fell apart between us. Then, even in private, he was the friendly but formal self he presented to the public.
Jag looked at me and raised the jar. “Is it safe?”
If Ram had willingly drank, it must be. He put self-preservation above everything else. But I studied the dark brown liquid, watching the magic sparking within like fireflies trapped in mud. I felt a touch of the deep, primordial magic of Evanora, and a jolt of energy just from watching it.
“It’s safe.”
Jag took a sip of the potion without question, fully trusting me. He handed the jar to Moe, who took a sip.
Moe stood straighter, his eyes going wide. “Oh… my brain, it’s quiet.” He looked around as though he had never seen the world before. “I can stare at one spot for longer than a second.” He lifted the jar to his mouth and chugged the potion.
I yanked it from his hands. “You could raise the dead with that stuff.”
Whatever calm a normal dose of wake potion gave Moe vanished. He jumped up and down on the spot. “Whoo! That is good. I feel like I could… Whhooooooooo,” he shouted, throwing his head back.
Ram studied him. “The amount you drank could have woken up a comatose dragon. You should be having a mental breakdown right now.”
“My thoughts are always fast. I’m used to it,” Moe said. “This makes me quiet inside like my brain is calm, but my body is fast somehow. Can I have more?”
