Fate Changer (The Lost Witch Trilogy #3) (22 page)

“It is true then. You are the lost witch. I am at your service,” he said and then turned to talk to Lash and Zane.

Sarah swallowed and straightened her shoulders.
Weird
. How did he know about Gretchen’s and Agnes’s dreams?

Their next guest, who stepped out of the minivan, was a woman who looked just like what the car advertised. A busy mom. She sent a smile over her shoulder as she moved to unstrap a baby from a car seat and then unbuckled a toddler. Sarah grinned at the little boy who must be around two years old and the baby girl being held securely in her mother’s arms.

“Hi, I’m Miranda and this is my little girl Telisa and my little man Shane. We’re here to help,” she said simply.

Sarah was overwhelmed at the sacrifice in time and effort that this woman had made for a complete stranger. She shook her head in awe. “Miranda, I don’t even know what to say. Thank you so much for coming. But
why
? I mean, you’re a mom and you’re putting yourself in danger to help someone you don’t even know. ”

Miranda juggled her little girl to her other hip and pushed her long, light brown hair out of her eyes before shrugging. “Because it’s the right thing to do. I’m raising my children to be strong, kind and good witches. I’m doing this for them. A man like Charles needs to be stopped.”

Sarah felt her throat tighten unexpectedly and she had to look at her feet for a moment to regain her composure. “What about your children’s father? Does he mind that you’re here?” she had to ask.

Miranda smiled and shook her head. “Army wife. We’re both fighting the good fight. Just differently.”

Sarah grinned and then noticed two small women standing to the side. They were probably in their seventies and only about four and a half feet tall and they were smiling up at her excitedly.

“Sarah Hudson, we are so glad to meet you! Beatrice was right about you, wasn’t she sister?”

Sarah grinned and looked back and forth between the diminutive sisters. “Right about what?”

“Right about your power. You’re glowing with it. It looks like you’ve been cursed lately, but you’re just as bright as the sun, isn’t she Laurel?”

Laurel nodded immediately and reached out a finger and gently touched Sarah’s bare arm. Laurel looked at her sister and then rubbed her finger in a small circle three times. “Lavina, you’re right. She has been cursed recently, but her power is slowly burning its way through. It was a poor curse though. Are you feeling okay dear?”

Sarah’s face had turned solemn at the mention of a curse but she nodded her head quickly. “I’m feeling much better, thank you. I was aware I had been poisoned, but um, I hadn’t known about the curse. Is there anything I can do to break it? It does seem as if I can’t call up my energy very easily,” she admitted as Zane came to her side.

Laurel shrugged. “Isn’t that what all curses attempt? To take someone’s power from them? But you’re too strong. It’s fading every day. Can you feel it fading?”

Sarah sighed and rubbed her cold arms. “I guess. I just wish I felt normal.”

The other sister adjusted her black sweater and nodded her head in sympathy. “Don’t worry dearie. We’ll work on you tonight. If it’s bothering you we can set you to rights in no time at all. We’re the best healers in the whole state of Rhode Island, aren’t we sister?”

Sarah smiled as the two sisters went to introduce themselves to Miranda and Ethan. Lash and Zane stood on either side of her as the door to the truck opened and a tall, good looking young man their age stepped out and walked towards them, smiling in a relaxed and self-assured way. He had dark red hair like hers, he was taller than Zane and he had the body of swimmer, long and lanky with huge, powerful shoulders. His green eyes gleamed at her as he came to stand in front of them.

“Hi there. I’m Jericho,” he said and held his hand out first to Zane, then to Lash, shaking their hands in a firm but friendly way and then he took Sarah’s hand in both of his as he closed his eyes. Sarah swallowed nervously and glanced at Zane. Zane looked puzzled but not alarmed.

Sarah looked back at the man and jumped when she felt a stream of energy move from his hand to hers. It wasn’t warm like Zane’s energy, but it wasn’t cold either. It was like rushing water, bright and fluid and powerful. Her eyes widened as she felt the energy surround her and pull something from her core. She gasped as she felt a tight pulling feeling from her middle and closed her eyes as moments later, the pulling sensation stopped and Jericho’s power faded back.

“What was that all about?” Zane asked in a polite voice, but she could feel his muscles bunching in alarm.

Jericho opened his eyes and stepped back from Sarah, letting her hand fall. “I’m a witch of many skills my friends. I can throw energy around like baseball. I can levitate at will. I have the power of fire and . . .
I can pull curses
.”

Lash blinked in surprise and turned to look at Sarah. Sarah breathed out slowly and flexed her hands. She closed her eyes and felt the old rushing feeling of power that she had missed so much. She felt it flow down her arms and legs and back and she opened her eyes and grinned in relief.

“It’s back,” she said looking at Zane excitedly. “He did it! I feel like myself again,” she said and then surprised everyone, herself most of all, when she took a few steps forward and hugged Jericho as if he were her new best friend.

Jericho laughed good-naturedly as Sarah stepped back, blushing furiously. He held up his hands as he smiled at Zane. “Now I can read minds pretty well too. Let me assure you there is no need to throw me in the ocean,” he said grinning at Zane, who looked surprised and then guilty.

Sarah laughed and shook her head at Zane before turning back to Jericho. “Wow, thank you. I must have a neon sign on my forehead saying,
this girl is cursed
or something. Those cute little ladies mentioned it too,” she said pointing to Lavina and Laurel who had moved to the front porch.

Jericho waved at the two little ladies and turned back to Sarah. “No thanks needed, but yeah, it was pretty obvious.”

Lash studied the tall good looking man and shook his head. “So what brings you here Jericho? This isn’t your fight. Why get your hands dirty?”

Jericho’s face lost its good natured smile as he turned and looked squarely back at Lash. Jericho’s thin, aristocratic features turned hard and deadly for a moment before he relaxed.

“Blood lust,
hmm
? You’ll come in handy then, so I won’t hold your rudeness against you. But to answer your question, he bound my oldest sister Zinnia last year. She died four months ago, a broken, dark shell. I won’t let it happen to this one. He’ll die first,” he said and then looked all three of them in the eyes before walking over to introduce himself to Ethan.

Sarah’s mouth closed and Zane looked down at his feet. Lash shoved his hands in his jeans pockets and he sighed loudly. “Wow, I’m just glad he’s on our side. Charles is toast,” he said with a slight smile.

Zane nodded and then looked back at Jericho. “Yeah, but if he tries going for you Sarah, I will not hesitate to throw him in the ocean.
He’s not the only one who can read minds
.”

Jericho paused in his conversation with Ethan and looked back Zane and winked. Zane’s whole body tensed and his hands clenched at his side as if he dearly wanted to strangle Jericho.

Sarah laughed and tried very hard to keep all thoughts of how cute Jericho was out of her head as they ushered everyone inside and tried their best to feed everyone. Agnes, Gretchen and Jenny arrived a half an hour and took over all food preparation to the relief of everyone there.

“I heard from Bea at the store again. They’re bringing everyone else with them tonight. They should be here around seven,” Agnes announced to everyone.

Sarah sighed happily as she surveyed the kitchen. She had a feeling that Francis was happy they were all here. And that made two of them.

When Beatrice and Teresa arrived later that night with seven other witches in tow, it turned into an impromptu party. Teresa went straight to Jenny as soon as she walked in the door, hugging her daughter and telling her how much she missed her. Jenny’s face glowed with happiness and she took her mother up on the widow’s walk to tell her all about her decision to change her name.

Beatrice was the queen of the night though. She had come through for everyone and as she fluttered from one group to another, Sarah could tell she was in her element. Gretchen and Agnes kept busy talking to everyone and making sure that there was enough food and drinks. Sarah was solemnly introduced to everyone there and with each new face she met, a huge weight of responsibility settled on her shoulders. Each witch assured her they were there to not only fight for her, but for every witch who had been broken by Charles. But in the end, she knew if anyone lost their life because of her, she would carry that weight around with her for eternity.

She kept her smile firmly in place but as time passed and the conversations got louder and louder, she felt a sick dread creep up upon her and she moved away from the circles of smiling, joking people and slipped out of the room. She headed for the front porch and sighed in relief as she sat down in an old, weather beaten white painted rocking chair. She pulled her legs up and rested her head on her knees and tried to breathe.

“Panic attack?” came a voice out of the dark shadows.

Sarah squeaked in alarm, but relaxed when she saw Jericho’s outline standing further down porch.

“Um, no. At least not yet. Give me another hour though and you never know,” she said with a sigh.

Jericho left his spot and walked toward her, lowering down into the chair next to hers. “Besides the cute little mom with the kids, I wouldn’t worry about it. If it makes you feel any better, I’ll keep my eye on her and her babies. But I wouldn’t worry about her either if I were you. Moms are pretty tough.”

Sarah looked at Jericho and smiled through the dark. She could see the gleam of his eyes and started to relax. “You seem so confident almost as if you’re looking forward to this. Do you know something we don’t?” she asked curiously.

Jericho laughed and rested his foot on his left knee. “Nah, not really. I’ve made a little study of Charles though and he works really well on individuals. He’s great at terrifying and bullying. He’s never had a group of witches come together to stand against him though. Like most school yard bullies, he’s weak underneath it all. All bluster and bravado and pain. But if someone’s going to rub his face in the gravel, I’d sure like it to be me,” he said with a cold fury in his voice.

Sarah couldn’t help a shiver that ripped down her spine. “Do you think someday, you’ll ever be able to forgive Charles for what he did to your sister?” she asked softly.

Jericho looked up at the sky and tilted his head back as he considered his reply. “No,” he finally said a few long minutes later. “Although the idea has some merit. I’ll think about it again, after I’m standing over Charles Langford’s grave,” he said and then stood up. He glanced at his watch and then smiled down at Sarah. “Happy Halloween Sarah,” he said and walked back into the house.

Sarah sighed deeply, all the way from her toes and stared at the bright moon above her. It was a day for monsters, ghosts and witches after all. She stayed where she was for another hour before Zane came and found her and pulled her back inside to get some sleep.

Chapter 20 – Bait

Sara woke up the next day to the strange sound of a full and very loud house. She smiled at the happy sounds and wondered if the house had ever sounded like that before. She hoped so. She turned on her side and saw that Zane was already awake and staring at her. He smiled, but he couldn’t hide his worry from her.

“What are you most worried about?” she asked softly.

Zane turned on his back and sighed. “
You
.”

Sarah smiled and sat up in bed, wrapping her blanket around her as she got up and moved to sit on the side of Zane’s bed. “That is such a coincidence. Because I’m kind of worried about you too. You’ve been drugged, bewitched and kidnapped. All because of me. I’m a little scared of what’s next on the list,” she said, trying to sound light hearted but failing miserably.

Zane grabbed her hand and pulled her down beside him. Sarah smiled as he wrapped her in warmth and comfort. “Listen my little witch princess, I’m going to be just fine. To be honest, I think we’re all going to be fine. We should be worrying about Charles right now. I was just now wondering what color flowers I should order for his funeral, because if Jericho doesn’t take him out, then Jenny will. And if Jenny doesn’t, there’s a long list of people too willing to give it a try.”

Sarah nodded, but still felt a cold trickle of worry snake its way into her heart. “You’re right. It’s no big deal. We’ll probably be done with Charles in time to hand out candy for Trick or Treaters, right?” she said breezily as she felt Zane’s smile fade.

“Oh crap. I forgot it was Halloween tonight. Yeah, we better get everything tied up quickly. I believe there’s a dance at school I’m supposed to be taking you to,” he said and kissed her cheek.

Sarah grinned and kissed him back before snuggling in deeper. “Oh wouldn’t that be fun? I’ve never been to a school dance. I was actually kind of looking forward to it.”

Zane looked horrified. “You’ve
never
been to Prom or Homecoming?”

Sarah shook her head frowning. “Listen Gorgeous, I wasn’t like you a porch light to all moths. I was an outcast. A freak. Remember my power slap? Yeah, no one ever showed up with flowers on my doorstep.”

Zane shook his head and played with her long hair, weaving the long wavy red strands between his fingers. “That is a crying shame Sarah,” he said not sounding sorry at all. “But since you’re here now in my arms, I won’t hold it against them. If everything works out the way I’m planning it to, I promise to take you to Prom in the spring. I’ll wear a tux and buy you a corsage, the whole thing. What do you say?”

Sarah smiled happily, picturing it in her mind. “I say yes. I would love to go to the prom with you. On one condition though.”