“You need to eat,” he said as he set the pastry in front of her, along with one of the coffees.
“I’m not hungry,” Jilly replied.
“That wasn’t a request, Jill. You’re in shock and you should eat and get something warm into your system before we discuss what happened,” William said. Jilly glared at him then ripped into her danish, tearing off a small piece and shoving it into her mouth. William waited until she had eaten the whole thing before speaking.
“I don’t think you were dreaming, Jill. I think you teleported yourself here, somehow. Or maybe you were dreaming; but in your dream, your consciousness astral-projected you here in real life.”
“But how is any of that possible? Have you ever heard of this happening?” Jilly asked, her eyes full of questions waiting to be answered.
“Anything is possible with the amaranthine, Jilly. When magic comes into play, there are no certainties.” He stopped talking as a car approached them. “Come on, our ride is here,” he said as he helped her to her feet and into the car.
Caroline was happy to be home. A feeling of bliss exuded over her whole being as she walked through the door of the house. Katya had said they would be by a little bit later, after they had seen to Sabine’s jail cell. Caroline took her bags upstairs and dumped them on the floor of her room, vowing to unpack later, and checked the messages on the machine. There were a few from Emily and way too many to count from the shop. She shook her head and looked at her watch to see that it was 2:30 P.M. She decided that she should go in for at least a few hours to get some things done. She tried to call Jilly, but it went straight to voicemail; she left a message for her sister to call when she got a chance.
Caroline changed her clothes. Even though she had not been wearing them long, she always felt rumpled after travelling. She snatched her keys off the bed and headed downstairs to the kitchen to grab some lunch before she left. As she stepped into the kitchen, she screamed in terror. The handsome dark haired man she had been dreaming about for months was seated in one of the big leather chairs by the fireplace. Her first instinct was to throw herself in him arms, but she ignored that. Terror won out.
He smiled at her. “Hello, Caroline, how was your flight?” he asked in a velvety voice.
“Who are you?” Caroline asked, her eyes narrowing.
“Oh, I think you know who I am. Why don’t you have a seat?” he said as he gestured to the chair opposite him.
“Patrick?” she whispered. He nodded and smiled. “How are you here?”
“Please sit, we can have a much nicer chat once you’re comfortable.”
“I’ll stand, thanks. Please answer my question.”
“I broke through those pathetic wards my brother put up once everyone left town. After that, it was all too easy to lure a group of witches to me and convince them to let me out. Their power combined with mine was more than enough to break free,” he replied. “Now, my dear, what have you done with Sabine?”
“Sabine? Honestly, I have no idea where she is, nor do I care. She is vile and I hope I never lay eyes on her again,” Caroline spat out.
Patrick laughed and stood up, crossing over to her in an instant. “I’ll be seeing you again very soon, Caroline. Very, very soon,” he said as he caressed her cheek lightly with the back of his fingers. He looked at her once more before turning to leave.
Caroline clutched her hand to her chest. For a few minutes she sat in stunned silence. She couldn’t understand how the man from her dreams could have possibly been Patrick this entire time. He was always so gentle and loving, and this man was anything but. She jumped up and ran to get her phone. She streaked up the stairs and punched in the number Katya had given her.
When Katya picked up, Caroline said, “Patrick’s out,” and let the phone fall from her hands as she sank to the floor in fear. She heard Katya’s tiny voice telling her to stay where she was and that they would be over in five minutes. She pressed the end button, got up, and sat on the bed for a minute, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. A few minutes later, she heard the doorbell, and she made her way downstairs to let in Katya and Nikolai. As soon as the door was open, Katya flew through it and hugged Caroline tightly.
“Are you ok?” she asked.
“Yeah, he didn’t hurt me. He just scared me to death,” Caroline replied. Nikolai went to scout the outside of the house to see if Patrick was nearby.
“He’s not here, but he said he’d see me very soon,” Caroline said.
“That settles it. Nik and I are staying here with you or you are coming with us. Either way, we stay together,” Katya said.
Just then Nikolai came back inside. “He’s long gone, now. I can’t even feel a trace of him out there,” he said. Caroline looked at him oddly. “Oh, I guess William never told you about my special ability, did he? I’m a tracker. I can get in a person’s mind and find them, no matter where they hide. Patrick is powerful though; he has figured out a way to mask himself and keep me out. Normally I can feel the trace of the person’s aura around me if they have been nearby, but I cannot even feel that. I don’t like the idea of you staying here. Even if we’re with you, he knows this place too well. You should come with us for a while. I don’t think Will is going to want us to come to London, now. He won’t want us to leave the town to Patrick. Go grab your bags and let’s get going.” He gestured for Caroline to hurry. Both Katya and Caroline ran upstairs to find what Caroline needed. A few minutes later, they were all back in Nik’s car on their way to wherever they had stashed Sabine.
Jilly was numb. The events of the day had taken a toll on her mind and she felt as though she was close to shattering into tiny pieces. She soaked in a hot bath, trying her very best to not think about anything at all. She was staring at the ceiling, trying to imagine what it would be like to be normal, when William knocked at the door.
“Jill? Are you ok in there? You’ve been in the bath for a long time,” he said through the heavy door. Jilly could hear the concern dripping from his words, but she did not have the strength to care at the moment.
“I’m fine,” she said in clipped tones. She heard him sigh; and a few minutes later, heard his footsteps walking away. She sat up in the tub, put her chin on her knees and let the water run down her back in thick rivulets. She thought about Hannah and her heart felt as though it would break. She felt such sadness. After a few more minutes, she finally got up, stepped out of the tub onto the bath mat, and wrapped herself in a towel. She braced herself and quietly turned the doorknob and peered out into the hall. Luckily, it was empty and she quickly ran to her room. After shutting the door behind her, she climbed into bed and fell asleep.
William was worried about Jilly; this situation was going to be hard for her to deal with. He wanted to help her, but he could feel the wall she putting up around herself and he was not sure if he would be able to break through. He sat in the den at his desk doing some research on his laptop when his phone buzzed in his pocket. There was a message from Nik to call him back right away. He quickly punched in the number and Nik answered on the first ring, “Nik? What’s going on?”
“Patrick’s out.”
William was silent for a moment, trying to absorb what Nik had just told him. “What do you mean he’s out?”
“Exactly how it sounds. He’s out. He was in the house waiting for Caroline when she got home.”
William’s hand tightened on the phone. “Was she hurt?”
“No, he just scared her. I think he was sending us a message that he could hurt us if he wanted to. I think we hold all the cards right now, since we know where Mary is.”
“That’s what worries me, Nik. He will not be afraid to hurt people to get that information. We may need to move her somewhere else if we can.”
“That’s an option, but we still have some time to think. Have you found the girl, yet?”
“Not yet, but we’re close. There has been another development. It’s about Jilly. Her abilities are growing. I’ll let y
ou know more when we figure it out all the way. Is Caroline with you?”
“Not at the moment. She’s with Kat at the hotel. I’m at the holding cell where we have Sabine.”
“Keep me posted on the situation, I’m going to call Caroline.”
“I will, and let me know when you find the girl.”
William hung up and dialed Caroline’s number. She answered right away. “Will?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Are you ok? I just talked to Nik and he told me about Patrick.”
“I’m fine; he didn’t want to hurt me. He wanted to know where Sabine was; but I did not have that information for him. He left, but he told me I would see him again very soon. Finding him in the house was scary. I don’t want that to happen again. We need to find him before he does something worse than scare someone.”
“First of all, I’m glad you’re ok. Secondly, I agree with you; but there isn’t much I can do from here. Nik’s going to be staying there and keeping things in hand until your sister and I can find Hannah and come home. Do you want to come here with us? Nik can send you over on his jet.”
“No, I need to stay here. I know I can’t do anything, but I don’t want to run from this, Will,” Caroline said with conviction.
William smiled. “You and Jilly are more alike than you think, Caroline. That is precisely the response I expected from you. Let me know if you change your mind, okay? I’ll be in touch.”
“I will. Take care of yourself and find that poor girl so you guys can come home,” Caroline said before hanging up.
William put the phone down and leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. He felt helpless being so far away. His first instinct was to jump on a plane and find Patrick, but he knew that Hannah needed him more. Knowing how much pressure Jilly was under already, William dreaded having to break the news about Patrick. Reluctantly he stood up to do it. He found Jilly asleep on her bed, wrapped in a towel, with her hair coming loose from the knot she had tied it in and fanning around her on the bed. He stood looking at her for a moment. She was so beautiful; sometimes it hurt to look at her because he loved her so much. He walked over and sat on the bed next to her. “Jill, honey, we need to talk,” he said as he shook her gently to wake her up.
Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled, releasing a yawn as she stretched. “What’s up?” she said in a sleepy voice.
“It seems like you are feeling better,” he said cautiously.
“Yeah, I think the nap helped a lot. My mind was on overload. Everything in my life keeps changing and I feel like I can’t adapt to the change fast enough. So, I’m sorry if I snapped at you or if I was rude. I was just trying to cope in the best way I could. I think I’m okay now, though.” Jilly rummaged through her suitcase for a pair of jeans and a shirt. She finally found what she was looking for and quickly got dressed.
William sat next to her. “Okay, so first, I have to tell you that Patrick got out....”
Jilly interrupted him. “What? How did he do that? We put up stronger wards; he shouldn’t have been able to do anything!” Her voice raised a few octaves.
William stopped her there. “I don’t know, Jill, but he’s out. He was waiting in the house for Caroline when she got back.” He saw her expression go from curious to terrified in a split second. “Don’t worry. She’s fine. He didn’t hurt her at all. He just wanted information about Sabine. Since she didn’t have any, he left. She’s with Kat and Nik now, and they’ll take care of her.” He stopped talking and watched her as she processed.
“Okay, so what now? We’re here and he’s there. What are we going to do about this situation?”
“Nik’s going to keep the situation over there under control for now and we’re going to find Hannah,” he replied. She needs us more than they do at the moment. I’m going to be honest though, my first thought was to jump on a plane and race home when I heard he was waiting for Caroline in the house. I know exactly how dangerous he is and I do not want anything to happen to Caroline or anyone over there, for that matter.”
“I just had the same thought, but I also came to the same conclusion. We came here for a reason. We shouldn’t leave until we find Hannah.” She stopped talking and looked down at her hands, not wanting to talk about what was coming next.
William squeezed her hand. “Jill, you shouldn’t be afraid of what you can do; you need to embrace it and learn how to use it. Were you afraid of your magic when you started your training?”
“Of course I wasn’t. That would have been silly. This is an entirely different type of situation, though. This is something I was not at all prepared for. With my magic, I had thirteen years to get used to the idea of being a witch. This sort of just fell on me with no warning,” Jilly spoke with more force than she had intended.
“I get that, I really do. But we don’t really have the time to let you ease into it. We need to figure out how you did it and see if you can do it again. It might be the key to finding Hannah. This might be your ability, like my ability to move things and start fires. This could be great for you, if you just let it.”
Caroline felt better after talking with William, but she still really wanted to speak with her sister. She promised herself she would call her again before she went to bed. Katya helped her get settled into her room in their spacious suite at the Ritz-Carlton. She felt spoiled after staying in the suite in New York and this made her feel even more so. The room was amazing. It had everything she could possibly want, but she longed to be home. She cursed Patrick silently as she unpacked her suitcases.
“Where do you think Patrick is?” she asked Katya when they were finished and sitting on the bed.
“I don’t know. He could be anywhere. I think he’s going to stay close to the city because he wants us to lead him to Sabine and eventually Mary. He won’t risk losing Sabine, especially if he needs her to find Mary.”
Caroline nodded her head after Katya finished. “What’s the plan now? What are we supposed to do?”
“We’re not going to do anything. We’re just going to lay low until William and Jilly come home, after they find Hannah. We need to keep an eye on the situation and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid until then.”
“But how would we stop him if he did try something? Isn’t he really powerful?”
“Yes, he’s powerful; but so are Nik and I. We’re all about the same age, give or take fifty years. We can subdue him if necessary. I don’t want you to worry about that, though. We’ll be fine.” Katya patted Caroline’s shoulder. “Now, let’s go out and find Nik so we can talk about the plan.”
She led Caroline out of the room. They found Nik sitting in the living room of the suite with papers spread around him and his laptop in front of him on the coffee table. He was having a video conference with somebody. Caroline didn’t understand what they were saying, but she knew they were speaking in German. The two girls waited in the doorway for him to finish. Once he shut the laptop, they made their way into the room and sat on the opposite couch.
“That was Greggor,” Nik said. “I was telling him we aren’t going to be able to come to him due to the circumstances here. He says he’ll be here within the week, he needs to wrap up a few projects he’s working on before he can come. He’s very curious about the plans and he offered to help as much as he can.”
“What are we going to do about Patrick?” Caroline asked.
“We’re not going to do anything about him,” Nik replied. “We’re mainly going to just keep watch over the town and make sure he doesn’t do anything horrible until Will gets home. I don’t think we’ll have any problems. He won’t find Sabine because none of us are going to go to the bunker where she is. I’ve called the men and they’re staying underground until this blows over. They have supplies to last for two years, so they’ll be fine. I don’t want to risk anyone leading Patrick to Sabine by accident, so no one comes or goes from that location.”
“That’s fine with me. The less I know about all of this, the better of
f I am,” Caroline said. “Will I be allowed to go to work?”
“Of course. We’re not really hiding from him. He could find us easily enough, here. I just didn’t want you in the house by yourself,” Nikolai replied.
“Okay then, I need to go in for an hour at least, today. Both Jill and I have been away for too long and I’d like to check in for a bit.”
“Katya will go with you then,” Nik said as he glanced at Katya for confirmation. She nodded and the girls left the room to grab what Caroline needed for work.
William and Jilly sat at the dining room table eating dinner, discussing how they were going to find Hannah. “I think we need to figure out how to harness your new ability. That will be the key to finding her,” William said.
“Yeah, but how are we going to do that? It’s not like I can just push a button and go wherever I want. I’ve only done it the one time that we know of,” Jilly replied.
“Exactly, the one time that we know of. You could have been doing this for years and not even realized it. With us, our abilities usually manifest around the same time as our magic does. Can you remember any vivid dreams from that time?”
Jilly thought for a moment. “I’ve always had vivid dreams. I thought it was because I’m a witch.”
“That can be true sometimes. However, I think you’ve been actually going to these places in your dreams, or at least a part of you has. I think tonight you should think about Hannah exclusively and see if you can find her when you’re dreaming.”
“It’s worth a shot and we don’t really have a lot of options right now. We need to find her quickly so we can get home and handle that situation” she sighed in frustration. “Do you think we’ll ever live a normal life? When no one is after us or trying to kill us?”
William chuckled. “I’d like to think it will get a bit easier, but I don’t think we’ll ever be normal. There are too many people out there who need our help for us to just sit on the sidelines.”
Chasing the Witch (Boston Witches) Page 8
