Jilly opened her eyes. She was in an unfamiliar place again. “Well, this is getting old,” she said aloud to herself.
There were no other people on the street around her. Rain was starting to fall and she pulled the collar of the coat she was wearing up around her neck before running to the nearest building. She stumbled into an enormous bookstore and the old clerk gave her a dirty look when he saw the water pooling around her feet from the rain.
“Sorry,” she said as she wiped them on the mat as best as she could. She ignored the string of obscenities the man muttered under his breath as she walked past and began to browse through the aisles. She wandered around for a few minutes looking at the huge collection of books.
When she finally made her way to the back of the huge store, she saw a young girl sitting on the floor reading a book. The girl’s head whipped around when she heard the sound of Jilly approaching.
Jilly held up her hands. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you,” she said. Jilly’s eyes widened when she fully saw the girl’s face. This was the young girl from the pictures. The poor girl looked terrified as Jilly tried to approach her, so she stopped moving and sat down on the floor with her.
“I’m not here to hurt you; my name is Jilly. What’s yours?” Jilly asked her. The girl was silent for a while trying to decide if she believed Jilly or not.
Finally, she spoke in a small voice, “My name is Hannah.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Hannah,” Jilly said with a smile. “Why are you so scared, honey?”
Hannah looked as though she wanted to bolt. Jilly wanted to hold her, but she knew it would only scare her more. “It’s okay. I’m here to help.”
“They’re always after me. They always find me,” Hannah whispered. “Is this real? I feel like I’m dreaming.”
“It is a dream, but I want to help. You need to tell me how to find you.” Hannah’s eyes grew wide with fright as shadows began to descend from the ceiling.
“You can’t help. No one can. I have to go. They’ve found me again.” Hannah got up on shaky legs and ran out of the store.
Something about the shadows stuck in Jilly’s mind. She had seen something like them before, but she just couldn’t place where. She started to run after the girl, but she was shoved back roughly and hit her head on the floor.
When she opened her eyes again, she was back in bed in her hotel room with William sleeping next to her. She sat up and pulled her sweaty shirt away from her chest. She stayed on the side of the bed for a moment, until she felt that she could walk to the bathroom. Jilly peeled off her damp clothes, turned the shower on, and waited for the water to heat up.
William leaned against the frame of the door, concern painted on his face. “Jill, can I come in?” he asked.
She turned around to face him. “I’ll be out in ten minutes. I’ll meet you in the dining room. Can you order some coffee or something?” He nodded reluctantly and walked out. She stood in the spray, letting the hot water chase the image of Hannah’s terrified face out of her head. Once she felt warm and clean, she turned off the water. Wrapping herself in a fluffy towel, she padded out into her room to get dressed.
William was waiting for Jilly in the dining room, drinking a cup of coffee and feeling uneasy. He knew that she had experienced something unsettling, but he wasn’t sure what had happened. He hoped it didn’t have Patrick’s name on it. Jilly emerged from their room a few minutes later, looking much calmer; but she still appeared as though something was bothering her. William pulled out her chair. He tugged her close to him and held her tight before letting her sit down.
Jilly smiled at him. “I had a dream about the girl from the picture. I met her. Her name is Hannah. She’s so scared; she barely let me talk to her.”
“Where were you in the dream?” William asked as he slid a cup of coffee over to Jilly.
“It was London for sure. I saw a glimpse of Big Ben above the buildings. We were in a huge bookstore, off the main road somewhere. I’m not really familiar with London, I’ve only seen pictures,” Jilly said with a shrug.
“I think I know where that is. It shouldn’t be too hard to find. Who sent you there?”
“I honestly don’t know. I went to sleep thinking about the haunted look in poor Hannah’s eyes and the next thing I knew, I was on a rainy street in London,” Jilly said as she got up and paced around the room. “I could almost taste her fear, Will. It was all I could feel. I cannot get the look on her face out of my head; I have never in my life known terror like that. We need to go and we need to go, now.”
“Let me call Nik. Maybe they can go with Caroline to Boston and make sure she gets home safe.” He walked out of the room to make the call. Jilly sat back down and looked at her watch. It was 3:30 in the morning. Although she was tired, she knew sleep would not come, so she ordered up some food and went to check on Caroline. She quietly opened the door and found her sister sound asleep. Closing the door again, she went to find William. She found him on his cell phone in their room, talking into his Bluetooth while he packed.
“Okay, Nik, so you guys will go as planned with Caroline?” He paused, waiting for Nik’s response. “Thanks, man, I’ll call you when we get there.” With that, he hung up the phone. “I need to call my pilot and see if the plane is ready. Nik and Kat are going to take Caroline on their plane and make sure she gets home safely. You need to pack right away. We’re leaving in an hour.”
“I just ordered breakfast, but I guess we can leave it for Caroline.” Jilly went to pack while William made the call to his pilot.
An hour later, both Jilly and William were ready to go. “I’m going to go wake up Caroline and tell her the new plan,” Jilly said and William nodded.
Jilly went into Caroline’s room and sat on the bed. “Car, wake up. I need to talk to you.” Caroline opened her eyes and blinked a few times before sitting up.
“Jill? What’s wrong?” she asked sleepily.
“Will and I have to go to London right now. Hannah, the girl from the pictures, is in trouble. We have to find her before its too late.”
“Hannah?” Caroline asked with a slight yawn. “How did you find out her name?”
“I met her in a dream. It was bad, Car, she’s in a lot of trouble. Something evil is after her. I want you to research shadows in the grimiore when you get home.”
Caroline got out of bed and threw on a robe. “Ok, just shadows? Do you have anything else to go on?”
“They had glowing red eyes; that’s all I really know about them. Maybe one of the witches in our line knew about them.”
“Ok, done. I’ll get going on that as soon as I get home.”
“Thanks, Car, I feel better knowing we’re working on the problem.”
Caroline squeezed Jilly’s shoulder. “When do you leave?”
“Right now, actually. Kat and Nik will be by around 10:30 A.M. to pick you up and they’ll be taking you to Boston before joining us in London,” Jilly said.
Caroline came around the bed and pulled Jilly into a hug. “Be safe, Jill. Call me when you land so I know you’re all right,” she said with concern in her eyes.
“We will be, don’t worry. I’m more worried about Hannah’s safety than mine. I just hope we get there before anything happens to her.” Jilly and Caroline left the room together and walked out to meet William.
Caroline hugged William tightly. “Be careful, Will, and find that poor girl,” she said.
William kissed her forehead and said, “We’ll be fine, don’t worry about us. You stay safe and call us if anything weird happens. Nik said he’s leaving some men in Boston to watch over the area, so go to them if anything happens.” Caroline nodded, her heart in her throat. She opened the door for them and watched them wheel their suitcases down the hall. With a final wave, she went back inside and sat down to the breakfast Jilly never got to eat.
Jilly leaned back in the cab as William gave the driver the address. “How long of a flight is it?” she asked.
“It should take around seven hours to get there. You should really try and sleep on the plane.”
“I’ll try I want to be energized to start looking for Hannah right when we get there. We have to find her, Will.”
“We will, honey, don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to her,” William said soothingly.
“I know, I’m just worried for her. She’s so young and so alone.” A few minutes later, they pulled up at a private airport just outside of the city, where William’s gleaming silver plane was waiting. One of William’s employees came out, retrieved their bags out of the trunk, and brought them aboard the plane while William paid the driver. Jilly walked up the steps and plopped down on one of the couches that lined the walls. There were three bedrooms (all with a full bathroom), an exercise room, and a conference room. The first time Jilly had seen it, she could not keep her jaw off the ground. It was hard for her to comprehend that William was that rich; he was so normal and down to earth. He joined her on the couch and one of the flight attendants came out to ask them if they wanted breakfast after they took off.
“Maybe just some coffee and a bagel,” Jilly said.
“I’ll take the same, thank you,” William said. A few moments later, the captain told them they would be taking off within five minutes; so Jilly and William settled in for takeoff.
Caroline was just finishing her packing when she heard the doorbell ring. She looked through the peephole, saw Nikolai and Katya, and quickly let them in.
Katya hugged her as she walked past her into the suite. “Are you almost ready to go?” she asked in her soft Russian accented voice.
“Yeah, I just need to zip up my bag and I’ll be good to go.” Nikolai went out to make a call and Katya followed Caroline into her room.
“I’ll ask one of the guys to come get your things,” Katya said.
“No, I can get it. It’s only a few bags,” Caroline said.
Katya looked at her for a second, tapped a message on her phone and closed it up again. “Alex will be up in a minute to get your things.”
Caroline laughed. “Ok, you win; I’ll just let you do things your way.”
“You need to get used to people helping you, or more accurately, people wanting to help you. William will bend over backwards trying to make your life as easy as possible. He takes care of his own and so do I,” Katya said softly. “We should go; Nik’s waiting out in the hall.”
By the time they had reached the door, Alex had shown up and was ready for her bags. Caroline let him take two of them, but she carried her smaller carry on with her. Katya just shook her head. They all headed down to the lobby. Caroline went to check out and the others waited by the door for her to finish. A few minutes later, they were on their way to the same airport that Jilly and William had left from just a few hours before. They reached their destination within twenty minutes and the car pulled up next to the plane.
Caroline saw Sabine being led up the stairs in handcuffs. When she saw Caroline looking at her, she smiled wickedly. Caroline shivered involuntarily. Katya put her arm around her shoulders and pulled her in tightly.
“Don’t let her get to you; she likes to play mind games. I’ve known her for a very long time and she likes it when you’re afraid. Don’t give her the satisfaction of seeing you squirm.” Caroline nodded, and they got out of the car and climbed the steps into the plane.
Jilly was uncomfortable. Her head was at an odd angle against William’s shoulder. She sat up slowly and tried to stretch out. “Ow, that’s not fun,” she said.
“I told you to go sleep in one of the beds. I knew you wouldn’t be comfortable in that position,” William said as he looked up from his laptop.
“I don’t need ‘I told you so’s’, I need a massage. Can you rub my neck for a little while?” Jilly shot back.
William laughed and shifted on the couch so he could have better access to Jilly’s neck. “How was your nap, besides the awkward neck position?” he asked.
“It was okay. I was hoping for another dream about Hannah, but I didn’t dream at all.”
“We need to figure out how you dreamt of her before. Any dream like that has always come from someone else in the past.”
“What do you think, Will?” Jilly asked.
“Honestly? I think the dream came from you. I don’t think anyone else had anything to do with it.”
“Why do you think that? I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“You are far more powerful than you give yourself credit for, Jill. Mary said so herself, that you are the most powerful witch in her family line.” Jilly stood up and paced in the space between the couch and the seats on the opposite side.
“I don’t know, Will. I just don’t know if I believe I’m as powerful as Mary says I am. She did have a penchant for not telling the whole truth. I have never felt an inkling of what she’s talking about. I couldn’t even do the spell to seal her in the cave by myself.”
“Jill, the sealing spell requires at least two people to do it. It doesn’t matter how powerful a witch you are. You need to believe in yourself a little more. You’d be surprised at what you can accomplish.” Jilly just looked at William and sat down next to him.
“This has just all been a lot to take in. Six months ago, I was a perfectly normal witch who lived a perfectly normal life. No one ever tried to kill me or kidnap me, and I never had strange time-transporting dreams. I’ve been dealing with it the best that I can, but sometimes it feels like my whole world has been turned inside out and backwards. Do you ever feel like that?”
William laughed. “I used to, all the time. This life is very different than the one I thought I would have. I should be dead; but for some reason, I am not, nor will I ever be. I’m just grateful to have found you and to be able to love you for all of time.” Jilly touched his cheek and he pulled her in close, burying his face in her hair, drinking in her scent. “Jilly, you are my whole world. You are the blood in my veins and the breath in my lungs. I live for you and you alone,” he said into her hair. Jilly pulled his lips up to hers and kissed him as the tears streamed down her face.
Jilly was off the plane as soon as the doors opened. She wanted to find Hannah and she wanted to find her soon. William was instructing his driver where he should bring their luggage after he dropped them off in the city. They were going to stay in William’s manor house in Oxford once they found Hannah. Jilly’s body felt like it was vibrating with tension, as William sat down next to her in the car. He put a hand on her knee, trying to calm her.
“We’re going to find her, Jill. We’ll be in the city soon and we can search all day and into the night, if you want.”
“I won’t sleep until I know she’s safe. Whatever those shadows were that were coming for her, they were terrifying and I do not want her to face them again on her own. And I will not allow whatever Sabine has set after her to win.” She turned and faced the window, watching the trees slide by. William admired her tenacity, but he was a bit concerned with going up against something unknown. He didn’t like the sound of these shadows. Fifteen minutes later, the car dropped them off in the center of the city and they began their search for Hannah. Jilly did not know the name of the bookstore, only that it was massive and it was next to a large alleyway. There were countless places to look, so they got started quickly. William had a good idea of where he thought it was, so he quickly led Jilly through the crowded streets toward one of the back alleys. There were many older stores and the area was kind of run down.
Jilly stopped and looked around for a while. “I think this might be the area, but it’s hard to tell. It was dark and rainy before, and I didn’t get a good look at the storefront.”
“Let’s keep walking a bit and see if anything catches your eye,” William said, as they started to walk again. Twenty minutes later, Jilly stopped in front of the door of an old bookstore.
“This is it, Will. I remember the sign in the window.” William entered first, leading Jilly
as they walked into the bookstore.
“It really is a lot bigger than it looks from the outside, isn’t it?” Jilly said as they started walking through the stacks. They passed the old shopkeeper and he scowled at them as they walked by. Jilly started walking faster, pulling William behind her through the store. They finally came to the area she remembered finding Hannah, but it was empty of anything but books. Jilly let out a sigh of frustration and sank to her knees. “I was so sure that she’d be here. I mean, why else did I see her here in the dream?” Jilly was startled by a loud voice from behind them.
“If you’re looking for young Hannah, she usually comes by in the morning. You’ve missed her by a few hours,” the dour old shopkeeper said as he walked over to them.
“How did you know?” Jilly asked, genuinely curious about how he had known.
“I recognize you from before,” he replied
Jilly’s face drained of all color. “What do you mean, before?”
“You were here earlier, weren’t you? I saw you come in out of the rain and drip water all over my floor,” the old man replied.
Jilly was too shaken to speak, so William spoke for her. “If you see Hannah today, can you please have her call any of these numbers?” He handed the man a card with a bunch of numbers on it. The man nodded and pocketed the card. William led Jilly back out into the street. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and called his driver to pick them up.
“Come on, let’s go wait at the little cafe around the corner. You need to eat something.” Jilly allowed William to drag her along behind him through the street and she was only vaguely aware of where they were walking. When they reached the cafe, William deposited Jilly at a small table on the patio and went inside to get them some coffee. Her mind was racing. She went over and over the events of the day, trying to make some sense of what had happened. William returned a few minutes later, carrying coffee and a bagged pastry under his arm.
Chasing the Witch (Boston Witches) Page 7
