Evicted Witch (Jagged Grove Book 3)

by Willow Monroe

  See us lost, see us found.

  Let this spell become unbound.

  Let the distance fade like light,

  Connect us to the place that’s right.

  Let the elements agree,

  As I will it, mote it be.

  My voice grows stronger with every word, and my entire body feels lit from within. By the end I’m shouting.

  And I’m not the only one.

  “What the...? Help!”

  I whirl around, toward the sound of the voice, dropping Jones’s hand. “Rain?”

  She stops yelling. “Trinket? Where are we?”

  “Rain, where did you come from?” Even as I ask, I’m getting a sinking feeling.

  “I don’t know. I was standing in Blakely’s living room, and then I was here.”

  Jones groans. I know how he feels. “I’m sorry,” I say into the darkness, wishing I could see her face. “I was trying to put us there, not bring you here.”

  Rain sniffs. “And you say Bilda screws up her spells.”

  This is why I don’t cast spells. “I told you it wouldn’t work, Jones.”

  “Jones is here?” Rain sounds immediately happier.

  I don’t answer, and neither does Jones. He says, “Oh, it worked. You just weren’t specific enough about the outcome.” He feels around and takes my hand again, and then we walk toward the general direction of Rain’s voice.

  “Jones?” she says again.

  “We’re right here,” he answers. We stop when I bump lightly into her shoulder.

  “Thank the Goddess. Why did you let her bring me here? Wait - where is here?”

  “We don’t know, and I was trying to take us to you. Unfortunately it worked the wrong way.”

  Now I need to get me, Jones, and Rain out of here, before things get any worse. Before Dravo comes, or another possible snake, or some other ridiculous turn of events.

  “This place sucks,” Rain says.

  “Can you help me get us out of here?” I ask. I’m not ashamed to ask a teenager for help, especially if that teen has miles more experience than me.

  “Yes, but where is here?”

  “We aren’t sure, but we know Dravo put us here,” Jones says.

  “So, like, a dungeon?”

  “We don’t know,” Jones repeats more forcefully. “We just want to be out.”

  “Jeez, Jones. You don’t have to yell.” She sounds annoyed. “Ok. I can do the work, but I’m going to need a lot of energy to move all three of us. Both of you hold my hands and let it flow. Send it my direction.”

  “We know how energy works, Rain,” I say.

  “Apparently not.”

  She has a point. Again. We both grab her hand. “Now, let go of each other, so that all of the energy flows only to me. Let me be the center.”

  I reluctantly drop Jones’s hand and only then realize that I was squeezing too hard in the first place.

  “Ready?” Rain asks.

  “Where are you taking us?” I ask.

  “Blakely’s. That’s what you wanted, right?” Her voice is strong, and I feel her confidence. She’s enjoying this opportunity to save us and show off for Jones.

  More power to her.

  “Ready?” she asks again.

  I nod, then remember that she can’t see us. “Yes. Hurry.”

  We go silent, except for Rain, who is taking deep breaths and holding tightly to our hands. When she begins to hum, I feel a tug in my solar plexus, the seat of my own energy. She’s pulling on it, using it.

  Her spell is short and sweet, and then I’m blinded by daylight. Someone shouts. I turn toward it, blinking hard to clear my vision.

  The hand that Jones was holding jerks me sideways. “Go,” he yells in a stage whisper, just as my eyes adjust and I lock eyes with Angelo himself.

  He’s standing in front of Blakely’s house, on the little stoop out front. His hand is raised like he’s about to knock, but his face is turned toward us. He looks shocked, but that’s all I see before we’re plunged into darkness again.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Oh, hell,” Jones says under his breath. “Are we all here?”

  “I am - are we-?”

  “Back in the dungeon,” Rain mutters. I can’t see her - again - but she sounds like she’s about to cry.

  I squeeze her hand. “It’s all right, Rain. You tried.”

  “I think I’m turning into you,” she sniffs. “But Angelo scared me so bad that I just wanted to get us away.”

  I feel her pain.

  “He scared me, too,” I say. “You actually helped us escape.”

  When Jones speaks, he sounds shaken. “Let’s lay off the teleportation for right now. This is a room, so it must have an actual door, right? Can we find it? And hurry?”

  “Hurry?” I ask. The way he says it gets my attention.

  “Angelo will be able to trace Rain’s magic. He could be here any minute.”

  I moan. This is exhausting. Then I get over myself and walk carefully forward, with my hands in front of me. I spread my fingers wide, and wait for something to stop me - a wall, a door, a hard chest that belongs to Angelo.

  I take about five steps, then my toe catches on something and I fall on my face. I grunt, more in surprise than pain. It’s a good thing my hands were out, otherwise I’d smash my face into the cold concrete floor. As it is, I’ve only scraped my palms and one elbow. But what did I trip over? It felt soft, but not completely yielding, like a bag of grain.

  “Trinket?” Jones asks. “Are you all right?”

  “Mm-hm. I think so,” I answer, but then I hear a groan.

  “Trinket? What was that?” Jones asks again. “That didn’t sound good.”

  “I... Uh, that wasn’t me,” I say. I’m holding very still, waiting for the noise again. It sounded like it was very close, maybe right beside me. “Rain?”

  “Not me. I’m in the -. Oh hey!” I hear something rattle. “I think I found the door.”

  “Good,” Jones says. “Trinket, do you need help?”

  “No.”

  I’m still on my hands and knees on the floor, and cold is seeping in through my fingertips. The something groans again.

  “Hello?” Now that I know where Rain and Jones are, I know that whoever is groaning isn’t them.

  “Who are you talking to?” Rain asks.

  Someone coughs, making me jump. “Who’s here?” I ask, feeling around in the general direction of the sound. My fingers tickle against silky material, and I reach forward and find an arm. “Who are you?”

  Another cough, and the arm moves. I jerk my hand away, then put it back and give the person a little shake.

  Silence for a moment. Then, “Trinket?”

  “Mom?” My heart jumps. I grab the arm, feel my way to a shoulder, and help her sit up. Then I squeeze her in a huge hug.

  “Mom, how did you get here?”

  She doesn’t answer right away, and I can hear Jones and Rain shuffling carefully toward us. “Over here, guys,” I say. “Mom, are you all right? Can you hear me?”

  “I can hear you fine, dear, but my head is killing me.”

  I wish with all my heart that I could see her. I’ve missed her. “How did you get here?” I ask again.

  “Probably the same way you did: Dravo. Please let go of me, sweetie. I can’t breathe.”

  “Oh, sorry.” I loosen my grip on her shoulders, but don’t let go. I’m afraid of losing her again.

  “You’re kidding. Bilda?” Jones asks, dropping to the floor in front of us. “Bilda, are you OK?”

  “I’m fine, except for the lump on my head. Please. I’ve missed you, too, but give me a little room.”

  I back off somewhat, but refuse to lose contact with her completely. I hear her rustling around, and a couple more ouches before she’s done, but then she takes my hand again. “Trinket, why are you here?” she asks.

  “Dravo was supposed to have his men looking for you. I came to the house to ask if
he’d found you yet. Evidently I made him mad, because here we are.”

  “That moron kidnapped me,” she says. “Wait until I see him again. He might just lose a whole hand this time. Or his head.” She sighs.

  “You’ve been out for the last five days?” I ask.

  “No, no. Even Dravo isn’t that cruel - he woke me up to feed me, but then knocked me out again. How long have you been here? In this room, I mean?”

  “Uh...I don’t know.” Enough time to get out and then come back again.

  “Oh, dear.”

  “Why do you keep saying that?”

  “Because you aren’t supposed to be here.”

  “I’ll agree with that.”

  “No, I mean you weren’t supposed to be in Jagged Grove at all.”

  Jones touches my hand. “Bilda, are you capable of getting us out of here? Now that you’re awake, I mean?”

  She shifts under my grasp. “I’m not sure. He’s weakened me, and I can feel it, but I might still be able to pull it off - with your help.”

  Rain snorts. “We’re in trouble, then, if you need our help.”

  “Rain? Oh, I was so worried about you!” Bilda gropes for her and gives her a hug. Then she sounds confused when she asks, “But why are you here?”

  “It’s a complicated story.”

  “Well, that’s fine then. We’ll talk about it later. Everyone hold hands.

  I take a moment to pray that she doesn’t turn us into frogs or something, but it seems my mom is adept at the things Rain and I fumbled, and it only takes a blink to move us. It’s disorienting, though, and I’m once again blinded by lights. I close one eye and rub it.

  “What the hell?”

  Angelo. I rub my eyes harder and say, “Mom - get us out of here quick.”

  “Why?” she asks.

  I can almost see again, so I start backing toward the door. Jones and Rain are slightly to my right, and Bilda is standing beside me, still holding my free hand. Angelo is sitting at a desk in front of me. I assume we’re in his office. “He’s trying to banish me from the island. I have to hide.”

  “Nonsense.” She reaches out, takes my hand, and stops me. I notice that her soft perm is a little tangled and her dress is filthy, but otherwise she looks fine.

  I take another step back from him, but Bilda won’t let go of me. “Stop it, Trinket.”

  “He had me banished.”

  “I told him to, silly girl.”

  That stops me. “What?”

  She smiles sweetly at me. I feel dizzy again.

  “I was worried about you.”

  Angelo has stood up, and now he comes around to stand in front of us. “Bilda,” he says in greeting, giving her a nod.

  “Hello, Angelo,” she says, patting his arm. “I see you failed.”

  He smiles sheepishly. “I wondered if that was you. I could have told you she was determined - and slippery.” Then his smile drops away. “But I have to arrest you, Bilda. You’ve been causing some trouble.”

  She laughs. I stare at her. They’re talking like old friends, not arch enemies. “What’s going on?”

  They ignore me. “No I haven’t, Angelo. You’ve got the wrong girl.”

  “What is going on?” I say again, a little louder. Jones and Rain are watching all of this with their mouths practically hanging open. “Mom? Angelo? Why are you not throwing us in jail?”

  “I will. In a minute,” he says. “Bilda Banks, you are under arrest for the murder of two witches in the Quellan Coven - Sabrina Cappisso and Aries Donner.”

  I suck in a breath and start to step between them, but Bilda just laughs and holds out her hand to stop me. “Angelo, if you want to maintain control of your island, you need to rethink this.”

  He hesitates. “What do you mean?”

  She smiles, but it’s sad. “We aren’t the ones you’re looking for, Angelo. I didn’t kill anyone, and Trinket is too stubborn to leave, so she’ll need protection.”

  “What does she have to do with this? And why shouldn’t I arrest you right now?”

  “Because if you arrest me, then you’ll lose your beloved island.”

  “You mentioned that already. Please explain yourself.” Angelo’s cheeks go red. He steps forward, then stops. He clenches his fists. “Now.”

  “We aren’t your enemy, Angelo. Dravo is.”

  We all look at her. Was my guess right? Is he trying to take Jagged Grove from Angelo?

  Dravo is killing witches?” Angelo asks. He looks unconvinced.

  “I don’t know, but I know he’s trying to wrest this place from under you.”

  Angelo relaxes a bit. “Keep talking. Why did you disappear, if you aren’t responsible?”

  “I didn’t even know those women were dead until Dravo told me, so I assume he has something to do with it. Anyway,” she pulls herself up to her full height. “Dravo is the one you need to watch.”

  I admit that I’m kind of thrilled to be right. “And he was going to use your power to do it, right?”

  I smile at Jones, but Bilda is shaking her head. “No, sweetheart. He’s going to use you to do it. I’m just the bait, so to speak.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Oh,” Angelo says quietly.

  I want to sit down, but there’s no chair in the room, so I brace myself against Jones.

  Bilda looks at Angelo. “Exactly.”

  “Well, I tried.”

  She shrugs, and for a second I think I’ve gotten lost in the conversation. “What? Would you two please tell us what you’re talking about?”

  Angelo turns to me, and for a second I see a hint of the sexy ASS man who came to get me in Raleigh. “It wasn’t my idea to send you back home, Trinket.”

  He’s crazy. “Uh - yes it was...”

  He shakes his head, leans back against the desk, and crosses his arms. “No - Imala received an anonymous letter. It said only that you were in danger, and that you needed to get away from Jagged Grove.”

  “And you just went with it?” I shake my head. “I know you well enough to know that you’d be suspicious of that, Angelo.”

  “It’s true, except that I knew something big was going on, and I knew Dravo was involved.” He looks at Bilda. “I hoped you weren’t, but I couldn’t be sure.”

  She shrugs. “Not my idea.”

  “Anyway, I also knew that whatever happened, Trinket would most likely get caught in the crossfire and get hurt. So that made my decision easy - regardless of where the letter came from, I needed to get Trinket out of the way.”

  “But you didn’t.” Bilda stared him down.

  “Actually, he did. I just escaped. Sort of.” I turn to her. “I was terrified for you. Sue me. And I’m mad that you wanted me to go away.”

  “It wasn’t that I wanted you to go away, Trinket...” she starts, but Jones interrupts her.

  “She understands. Or she will, when she calms down. Bilda, tell us what Dravo’s doing.”

  “He’s trying to take Jagged Grove from Angelo, like I said.”

  “It doesn’t actually belong to me - it belongs to the United States government.”

  Rain speaks up for the first time. “Angelo, we all know how you feel about this place. In your heart, it’s yours, handed down by your father and placed into your care.”

  We all look at her.

  “What? I get that. If I had anything left from my parents, I’d fight to keep it, too.” Her chin juts higher and she meets each of our gazes before turning back to Angelo. “Anyway, it might as well be yours. Right?”

  He nods, just barely, then asks Bilda, “But what do you have to do with all of this? Or Trinket, for that matter?”

  “He needs Trinket’s power, and he knew that if I went missing, she would come looking for me.”

  “I don’t have any power. I can barely heal a bruise,” I protest.

  “You have awesome power, dear. You just haven’t used it like he thought.”

  “So that means he can’t use
me, right?”

  “Wrong. That’s why he sent Rachel. It wasn’t a jealousy issue with her - it was Dravo. He was devastated when he discovered that you weren’t practicing, because that sent his entire plan down the drain. So he sent her to goad you into using your power.”

  I feel dirty, all of a sudden. “But she’s fine now. I think. We aren’t fighting anymore, at least.”

  “Of course - he didn’t plan on her liking you enough to drop her act. That doesn’t matter, though - now that you’re using your power, you are back in his plans.”

  Well, that’s comforting.

  “See?” Rain says. “We told you she wasn’t actually trying to kill you.”

  I ignore her. “Well, if his plans include me, he’s going to fail, and Angelo doesn’t have anything to worry about.”

  If Bilda is right, I’m still in trouble. I don’t think a lack of witches is going to stop Dravo - if he can’t use me, or us, then he’ll find another way, I’m sure. I get the impression that Dravo doesn’t like being told no. And why can’t he just use other witches? Why does it have to be me? Things are a little clearer, but not much. Right now I have another question. “So how do we stop him?” I ask.

  “We stop him together, Trinket. You and I together can overpower him easily.”

  Angelo clears his throat. “Uh, I’m sorry, ladies, but that won’t be possible.”

  “Why not?” I ask.

  He ignores me. “Bilda, you are still under arrest for the murders of-.”

  “Hey, you big dolt! She just saved your island for you.”

  “No she didn’t. She told us a fabulous story, which I need to check out. But she hasn’t explained the deaths of Sabrina and Aries, and she hasn’t given us any proof at all.”

  I step between them, but Jones grabs my arm and pulls me back against him, wrapping his arms around me to keep me there. Angelo watches for a second before turning and places handcuffs on Bilda.

  Jones whispers in my ear, “Let him arrest her. It will keep her from getting hurt while we figure this out.”

  I’m frustrated, watching Angelo perform a binding ritual and leading my mother away, but Jones is right. If it will keep her out of trouble, we can deal with her release later. I know my mother didn’t murder any witches.