“They’re both alive, and likely to make a full recovery,” Boone replied.
“That’s good.” Hannah exhaled heavily and flashed a beatific smile. “I was really worried when they didn’t wake up. I felt so bad for Angel.”
“Yes, well, Angel is another concern,” the doctor noted. “Her injuries are minor. She needed stitches for a cut on her forearm. Other than some minor aches and pains, which are normal in a collision such as this, she’s absolutely fine.”
“Why is that a concern?” Hannah queried.
“Because she’s a minor.”
“I still don’t understand.”
Cooper cleared his throat and immediately moved his hand to Hannah’s shoulder. He sensed trouble, no matter how he told her what was sure to be considered terrible news, and he was already bracing himself. “She can’t be released on her own,” he volunteered.
Realization dawned on Hannah’s features. “But ... she must have some family.”
“According to Angel, she has an aunt and uncle who live in Georgia and a grandfather she hasn’t seen since she was five or six who she believes lives in Arizona. That’s it.”
“What does that mean?” Hannah had a sneaking suspicion she already knew what it meant but she wanted someone to confirm it for her. “Is she going to have to stay here or something?”
“We’re not a daycare facility,” the doctor replied.
“Yes, and as she’s not ten, she doesn’t need constant supervision,” Hannah shot back. “She’s a teenager. She won’t get in the way.”
Cooper cocked an eyebrow. “How do you know that? You spent five minutes talking to her.”
“I know it because she was worried about her parents. She’s obviously a good girl. I don’t see why you can’t just give her an extra room on this floor and let her stay here until her parents wake up.”
“Because we don’t know when that will happen.” The doctor feigned patience, although his eyes were full of annoyance.
“You just said they were fine.”
“No, I said they appear poised to make a recovery,” he corrected. “We believe they’ll wake up tomorrow. We have no guarantee of that, though. She can’t stay here. We’re not equipped to monitor a teenager and, quite frankly, she’s not our responsibility.”
Hannah opened her mouth, a scathing retort on her lips, but Boone stopped her with a single look.
“Nobody is suggesting that you be responsible for the girl,” Boone reassured him. “I talked to her briefly myself. She’s in getting cleaned up. I’ll handle her placement.”
“I think that’s best,” the doctor replied, shooting Hannah a terse smile before turning on his heel and heading toward the opposite end of the hallway.
“What an uber-douche,” Hannah complained as she watched him go. “I mean ... the douchiest of the douche-y.”
Cooper pressed his lips together to keep from laughing, although he wasn’t entirely successful.
“Just for the record, Angel described seeing a shadow in the road right before the collision,” Boone volunteered in a low voice. “I talked to her right before you guys got here and she was adamant. It sounds like the sort of shadow that might go with a strange lightning bolt.”
Hannah straightened. “What sort of creature is that?”
“I have no idea. I don’t think the accident was an accident, though. I think something else is going on.”
“Well, great.” Hannah rubbed the tender spot between her eyebrows. “It’s been a full two weeks without something weird happening. I guess we’re right on schedule.”
Boone gave her a rueful smile. “I know that this is the last thing you want to deal with, but I don’t see where we have a lot of choice in the matter. We can’t just pretend it didn’t happen.”
“I know.” Hannah let loose a heavy sigh. “I’ll get Jackie and Danielle on research tomorrow. I don’t know what good it will do, but we have to look.”
“That’s probably for the best,” Boone agreed.
“What about Angel, though?” Hannah refused to let it go. “You can’t put her in a home. She’s been through a terrible ordeal.”
Boone was exasperated. “What would you suggest I do?”
“You could ... send her back with us.” The suggestion was out of Hannah’s mouth before she’d even considered how hard that would be to facilitate.
“Absolutely not.” Boone was firm as he shook his head. “You have to be licensed by the state for that, which you’re not. And, before you ask, there are no strings I can pull to skirt the rules on that one. It is what it is.”
“But ... I can’t help thinking about her being all alone in some terrible home. Hasn’t she been through enough?”
Boone stared at her, hard, and then shook his head. “Unbelievable.”
“What’s unbelievable?”
“You. You know exactly what you’re doing.”
“No, I don’t. I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“Yeah, don’t bother running that one on me.” Boone ran his fingers through his dark hair and then flicked his eyes to Cooper, who looked amused. “If I didn’t know better, I would think you two planned this.”
Hannah remained confused. “Planned what? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’m licensed by the state to act in a fostering capacity,” Boone replied, his tone weary. “That means I can take her.”
Hannah’s heart soared. “Are you going to do that?”
“It wouldn’t normally be my first choice.”
“But ....”
He was exasperated, but he couldn’t crush her. “But I already have a teenager living under my roof. What’s one more?”
“I don’t think they’re like cats,” Cooper warned.
“I know that. It will be fine. Besides, I’m not all that thrilled with the idea of the girl landing in a home either. It should just be for a few days. How much extra work can she be?”
“You might live to regret asking that question,” Cooper said, his lips curving. “It’s nice to know that you’re still a big softie when it counts, though.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shouldn’t you two be heading back to Casper Creek? I’m going to need to get a report from you tomorrow morning.”
“We can manage that,” Cooper promised. “I’ll have Tyler get breakfast.”
Boone was unnaturally grumpy. “Make it something good.”
“You have my word.”
“Actually, you know what? I’ll handle breakfast. Then I know it will be good.”
“You’re such a trusting soul.”
4
Four
They were both so tired for the ride home that they didn’t speak, instead sitting in companionable silence holding hands. Cooper cast a wayward look toward the converted barn that Tyler called home when they parked in the lot, thinking Hannah might want Jinx for comfort, but the lights were off and the building silent. It was probably for the best, he told himself. She needed sleep. In truth, he did too.
They conducted their evening routine of brushing their teeth — and in Hannah’s case washing her face — without saying a word and then tumbled into bed.
“I’m sorry tonight didn’t work out how you thought it would,” Cooper murmured into her hair as she rolled her head onto his shoulder and cuddled close. “I wish it would’ve turned out differently.”
“I do, too.” Her eyes were closed, but she wasn’t quite ready to relax yet. “It’s okay, though. At least whatever magical thing we’re dealing with today didn’t happen in Casper Creek. I’m considering that a win. In fact, I’m so thankful for it, I’m thinking about throwing a party.”
He laughed at her response, moving his hand over her slim back in an effort to lull her. He wouldn’t be able to sleep until she drifted off, and that didn’t look likely in the next few minutes. “I guess that’s the brighter side of things.”
“It is. On top of that, we have a new bartender. Sure, she could be a murderer, b
ut she’s not one yet and I choose to believe she won’t turn into one.”
“I choose to believe that, too. Although ... if you keep a wary eye on her to start, I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t allow her to attack from behind. I’m used to the drill.”
“Good.” He brushed his lips against her forehead. “About the accident ....” He trailed off, unsure what to say.
“It had to be magical, right?” Hannah had been running the scenario through her head since it happened. “That wasn’t normal lightning.”
“I’m not a meteorologist, but I would agree.”
“And the thing Angel described to Boone makes it more likely.”
“I believe he said a magical shadow, although he didn’t give many details.”
“Yeah, that. We should probably figure out what that is, huh?”
“Probably.”
“At least it’s not up here this time.”
“Don’t jinx us. With our luck, it might follow us back.”
She poked his side. “You’re the one jinxing us saying things like that.”
“I apologize.” He shifted a bit, hoping that she would melt against him and drift off. Her mind was clearly too busy to allow that to happen, though.
“Where should we start looking?”
He let loose a dramatic sigh, the sound echoing throughout the room. “You seem wound up.”
“I’m not wound up.”
“You are. You should be sleeping. You were practically falling asleep at the scene.”
“That’s because my adrenaline was flagging at the time and there was a lull.”
“There’s also a lull now.”
“Yeah, but I need to exert another burst of energy before I embrace the lull.”
He grinned into the darkness. “What did you have in mind?”
She rolled until she was on top of him, and although he couldn’t make out her features in the darkness, the way the moon bounced off her eager eyes had his heart melting. “I thought I might show you. It will probably lose something in the telling.”
“I’m looking forward to that.”
WHEN HANNAH SLIPPED UNDER, IT WASN’T an easy passing. There was no lilting drift to carry her on a cloud of dreams. Instead, she dropped like a stone into a thick haze, and found herself in a world with no respite.
“Hello?” She looked around, confused. Was she awake? That didn’t feel right. The last thing she remembered was Cooper holding her, whispering that he loved her, and kissing her into dreamland. Was that where she was now? If so, she would’ve preferred a brighter landscape ... and perhaps some eye candy to jazz things up. “Cooper?”
He wasn’t there of course. This was her head. He was safely ensconced in his own, where she bet the dreams were far better. Despite that, she hated the feeling of being alone. Even before she moved to Casper Creek, when the world was crashing down around her after she left her job and ditched her jerky boyfriend, she always had Jinx. Now she was really alone.
“Hello?”
There was no answer, although she didn’t expect one. Because she didn’t seem capable of willing herself into another dream, she took a moment to study the landscape. It seemed vaguely familiar ... and yet altogether foreign at the same time.
“Bench,” she muttered to herself as she ran her fingers over the wooden top of the item in question. It was the same sort of bench that was littered all over in the downtown area. She’d seen one right before the accident took place and that realization had her snapping up her head. “Wait a second ....”
The intersection. That’s where she was, only there was no traffic light. There were also no streetlights up and down the road. The only illumination came from the overly large moon, which should’ve been a dead giveaway that she was dreaming right from the start.
Then she heard it. Voices. There were two of them, and they belonged to women.
“You don’t have the strength to stop me.”
“I’m willing to test that theory.”
“And if it results in the end of you?”
“Perhaps it will result in the end of you.”
A cackle filled the stilted night air. “That doesn’t seem likely, does it?”
Hannah peered into the darkness, which was suddenly being exasperated by a heavy fog that had seemingly come from nowhere. It took a few moments, but she finally made out two figures about a hundred feet away. They stood in the middle of the road, their arms raised, and threw magic at one another.
It was difficult to make out what was happening — mostly because she had never seen a magical battle of this magnitude before — but the two combatants seemed to be well matched. Various sparks of magic flew through the air, some lifting to the sky and forming what looked to be a lightning bolt. Hannah watched the phenomenon for several minutes, confused, and then turned back to the women.
One of them was surrounded by a white aura, the other one boasting one as black as a soulless heart. They were both gasping, injured, and yet still on their feet. The one with the black aura looked stronger, though, and Hannah was convinced that she would be the victor if this continued.
“Excuse me?” Hannah had no idea why she drew attention to herself but was desperate to stop the fight. She was terrified the outcome would be more than she could bear. “I don’t want to tell you your business, but do you think it’s wise to keep this going out here? Anybody could see you.”
The women didn’t turn in her direction, instead remaining focused on one another. In fact, they didn’t even react to her voice, which made Hannah doubt they’d actually heard her.
“I won’t let you do this,” the woman with the light aura rasped “I can’t. If I have to destroy myself to end you, I will.”
“That would be stupid,” the darker woman countered. “You’ll die for nothing.”
“Maybe that’s what has to be.”
“And maybe you’ll fail either way.”
The next bursts of magic they unleashed collided, creating a huge explosion, and as the magical fire raced at Hannah, all she could do was duck her head ... and scream.
“NO!”
She bolted to a sitting position in her bed, her arms flailing about as she tried to keep the magic from consuming her.
Cooper was instantly alert beside her, his face lined with concern. “Hannah?”
“I’m on fire!” She slapped at the blanket, as if trying to extinguish a blaze only she could see.
“You’re not on fire, baby,” Cooper reassured her, capturing her chin so she had no choice but to look directly into his eyes. The room was still dark, but the moon allowed her to make out the lines of his strong jaw. “You’re safe. It was just a dream.”
She stared at him a moment, her chest heaving, and then threw her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“Shh.” He kissed her neck. “It’s okay. That’s what I’m here for.”
“No, it was ... just a dream.”
“Just a dream,” he agreed, running his hands up and down her bare back. Normally he loved the feeling of her smooth skin. Now, though, she trembled in his arms and he tugged the covers tighter around her to ward off the cold that seemed to be wracking her bones. “You’re okay.”
“Yeah.” Hannah blew out a sigh. “I’m okay. I’m so sorry.”
“Baby, don’t.” He pulled back far enough to stare into her eyes. “Don’t ever apologize for something like this, something you can’t control. It’s okay. We’re okay.”
“It was just a weird dream.”
He wanted to ask her about it, get her to explain the dream so he could help her vanquish the dregs of it, but now didn’t seem to be the time. “Come here.” He pulled her back down to the mattress and pressed her body flush against his, making sure to tuck the covers in tightly around her back. “You need rest.”
Hannah wasn’t certain she could fall asleep again. He was right about her needing sleep, though.
>
“I don’t ever want to burn ... or drown ... or die really.”
He chuckled lightly. “I don’t want those things either. How about we live forever, just like this?”
“I think I can live with that.”
And then, despite her worries, she drifted off again. This time the battling witches weren’t waiting.
THE NEXT TIME HANNAH OPENED HER eyes, Cooper was already awake and watching her. A smile bubbled up immediately, and then she saw the concern in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” She propped herself on her elbows and glanced around. “Has something happened?”
“I was going to ask you that.” He gently brushed her hair away from her face. “No more bad dreams I hope.”
That’s when the memory of the first dream hit her. “Oh, right.”
“I’m sorry.” He combed his fingers through her hair. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. You forgot.”
“I didn’t forget. I just ... I don’t know. I guess I was slow to remember.”
“I still shouldn’t have brought it up.”
She waved off his concern. “I’m fine. You don’t have to worry. It was just a dream.”
“About what?”
“It was weird. There were two witches fighting in the middle of the street, throwing magic at each other. I’m pretty sure it was at the intersection where the accident happened but there was no light to confirm that. There was an explosion of sorts at the end.”
“Is that when you thought you were on fire?”
She involuntarily shuddered. “Yeah. It was coming right at me.”
“Well, that sounds like a crappy dream.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Did you recognize either of the witches?”
“No, and I’m not sure the dream meant anything. I think it was just an extrapolation from what happened last night. The witches were a manifestation of the magic — I even saw the lightning crackling across the sky — and the explosion stemmed from the cars crashing into each other.”
“And the fire?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. My mind is a freaky place to be, though.” She offered him a rueful smile as she ran her finger down his cheek. “You don’t have to worry about me. It was just a dream. It’s no big deal.”
Dances With Witches (A Hannah Hickok Witchy Mystery Book 5) Page 4
