Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“Yeah, this is weird,” Lorne said, holding out booties and gloves for me as I climbed the stairs to him. “I had no idea anything could rattle him. I mean, he gets a bit bigger than this, yeah?”
“You know he does,” I stated, taking the coverings from him, slipping the booties over my sneakers first, then putting on the gloves. “Normally I would tell you to put him down and we’d have him stay out here, but I don’t think he’ll leave you.”
“I can’t have him jumping down in the middle of a crime scene.”
“I think he was happy to have found me, but he’s even happier you’re here.”
“But you’re the powerful witch.”
I tipped my head at Argos, who was now surveying the house, happy, it seemed, with his new vantage point. “Corvus makes me powerful, but you’re physically stronger, and I think he needs that at the moment.”
“Weird, but okay,” Lorne said softly, reaching out and fisting his hand in my henley, easing me in close. “I’m really glad you’re here.”
I was going to say I was happy to do anything for him at all, but he bent and kissed me, and all my words abandoned me. It was a kiss meant to reestablish a connection, so it was quick, his lips on mine, and then gone, but still, my pulse raced and my body flushed with heat because there was love there and my magic flared, rolling through me to him and then back again, the sacred loop I’d discovered by accident making me catch my breath.
“Okay,” he rumbled, and the slight smile let me know he felt the same. “So it turns out that the CSI team is on their way, along with the arson investigator from Jamestown.”
“So I should have a look around before everyone gets here?”
“That’s right,” he said with a slight, reassuring smile.
I began walking around slowly, careful where I stepped.
“We have things like this at home,” he commented, pointing to a small unburned plaque on the wall, hung by a strip of leather.
“Yeah, that’s a witch’s knot. For protection and luck.”
He scoffed. “It didn’t do a very good job.”
“Oh no? It looks to me like that entire section of wall is unharmed, and the bookcases are untouched as well.”
He studied it a moment, and then his eyes returned to me. “You’d have me believe that a nine-inch piece of wood is responsible for protecting that area?”
I shrugged. “Maybe not. Maybe it’s just luck.”
“Which would mean either way… I see what you’re saying.”
“All I know is that there’s a small fortune in books in that room that weren’t hurt when the firemen had to hose this place down. What is that other than lucky?”
“I’ll give you that,” he replied, then pointed at other pieces hung on opposite walls. “Tell me what those are, and then I’ll leave you alone and let you look.”
“Those are staves. Protection pieces to stave off something bad.”
“And what do the symbols mean?”
I indicated the one at the top. “This one is for protection against evil witches”—then moved down, explaining them one by one—“this one protects your dreams, and this one is another protection bindrune.”
“What’s a bindrune?”
“It’s when you combine two or more individual runes so they’re bound, and that way, they become more powerful together.”
“Oh, okay. I know what that is. I’ve seen you draw runes on the underside of your wrist.”
I nodded. “And sometimes I combine a couple to keep my focus and energy, like Raido and Ansuz. These five here on her sign are basically to protect her space from negativity.”
His gaze met mine.
“You’re thinking they didn’t work, like the witch’s knot.”
“To me, they clearly don’t, but you know me, I believe in things I can see.”
“But you can’t see a lot of things.”
“Sure. But to me, this stuff is like hanging up a horseshoe. There’s no difference.”
“What about hanging up a cross?”
“That’s faith. That’s different.”
I shook my head. “It’s not.”
He took a breath. “I believe in magic now because I’ve seen you work yours. But I never did before.”
“There’s all kinds of magic.”
“Is that what you meant earlier when you were trying to explain about universal magic? I will admit to being confused.”
“That’s because I wasn’t clear,” I began, my gaze locked with his, “but there are things that all witches use, universally, and that’s passive magic.”
“I would like an example, please.”
“Okay, for universal, all around us, always present, passive magic, tools are a great illustration, as they are unchangeable.”
“Like?”
“Like salt. Salt is used for protection, and it’s so well known that you can watch TV shows and see people make circles around themselves with it. Earlier today I told Cass to draw one if she wants to keep using her Ouija board.”
It took him a second. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Don’t worry, she’s not going to be messing with it anymore,” I assured him with a dismissive wave. “But the point is that salt is an ingredient everyone uses.”