Chapter 6
“No one holds a grudge for that long,” Cece muttered to herself as she turned onto the road leading to her house.
One of the things she, her aunt, and her mom loved most about their house was the privacy. They lived in a small subdivision on the north end of the city, bordering Parsons Woods. Their house was the last on the street, with a long, tree-lined driveway and a backyard overlooking the forest.
Cece’s mother had loved that there was enough space for a garden, and Cece’s plant-loving self was tickled pink that the forest was practically in their backyard.
Her aunt had loved that the Hayes River, which ran through Parsons Woods, was only a mile or so in.
Knowing now what she did about her aunt being an apprentice water witch, her aunt’s frequent trips to sit by the river made more sense.
She sniffed loudly and blinked back the tears. She couldn’t tell Kinsley or Maisie this, but she was crushingly lonely. She missed her aunt and now Elora, and the privacy of her house, which she used to love, now felt like isolation, and maybe even a little dangerous.
“Don’t be silly,” she told herself, glancing at her reflection in her car’s rear-view mirror. “Everything is fine. You don’t have a witch family after you, and the only thing you have to fear at your house is freezing to death.”
She sighed, tempted for a minute to turn the car around and drive to Kinsley’s small but, no doubt, deliciously warm apartment. Instead, she glanced in the mirror again, pretending she couldn’t see that pinched look of worry on her face. “It’s fine. You can sleep in front of the fireplace tonight.”
Of course, that would require chopping more firewood, and while Cece was grateful for her neighbour giving her that huge pile of trees he’d cut down from his property, chopping firewood was her least favourite chore.
She sucked at it, and it hurt her arms, and sometimes being a strong, independent woman who couldn’t afford to hire someone to chop firewood for her really sucked.
She especially wasn’t going to do it tonight in the dark and the cold.
She’d just have to add extra blankets to the bed and hope for the best.
A flash of light caught her attention, and she studied the headlights that were a few car lengths behind her.
It wasn’t unusual to have cars on this road, she did have neighbours afterall, but it was a little weird that they hadn’t turned off yet.
As she watched, a second car pulled out from behind the car and passed them.
The vehicle was moving fast, and as it approached her, she squinted in the harsh glare of its headlights.
She waited for them to pull into the left lane to pass her, reflexively slowing a bit as they approached a sharp curve in the road.
The road was slick with ice and snow, and her snow tires were a few years old and not the best. On her left was a house with a long winding driveway.
On her right, pine trees, their branches loaded down with heavy snow, rose into the brisk night air.
The car was still coming up fast behind her, and Cece’s cry of surprise turned into a scream when, instead of passing her, the vehicle rammed her back bumper.
Her car lurched forward, and she fought the steering wheel to keep control.
Behind her, the car revved hellishly loud and smashed into her a second time just as they hit the curve in the road.
She slammed on the brakes, screaming again when she didn’t make the curve and, instead, her car fishtailed before hitting a dry patch on the road and flipping.
Her seatbelt locked, and there was a dizzying sensation of feeling like she was trapped in a dryer as the car rolled repeatedly.
There was a sudden and crushing pain in her leg, and Cece screamed hoarsely.
The windshield shattered, spraying her with broken glass and cold air before branches slammed through the open windshield and battered her body.
The car landed right side up with a deafening crunch, and a horrific pain stabbed into her ribcage.
She sat limply, the cold air seeping into her body and blinking in confusion at the liquid splattered across the steering wheel and mangled dashboard.
Where did the liquid come from? She tried to reach for her seatbelt, screaming again when it sent fresh pain searing through her midsection.
She squinted at her stomach, moaning quietly when she saw the branch impaled just above her belly button. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, and she wheezed in some cold air.
She could hear the crunching of footsteps in the snow, the heavy panting of someone running, but her brain felt like it was covered in fuzz, and her thoughts kept slipping away like they were caught in a river’s current.
The door was wrenched open with a loud squeal that felt like an ice pick drilled into her brain, and she groaned weakly when a dark-haired man peered in at her. “Oh, fuck me.”
“Garth, move!”
She blinked slowly, staring at the man who replaced Garth. “Ronin?”
“Hey, tiny tree witch,” Ronin said, his eyes sweeping over her and assessing the damage. “What do you say we get you out of here?”
“Can’t,” she mumbled as the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. “Branch. Impaled.”
“Again?” Ronin’s small grin and the warmth of his hand as he smoothed her hair back from her face comforted her. He pulled a switchblade from his pocket, clicked it open, and quickly sliced through her seatbelt. “I know you like trees, sweetheart, but you gotta stop with the impalement thing.”
She chuckled weakly. “Yeah, okay.”
Ronin studied the branch again before saying, “I have to pull it out to get you out of the car.”
“Fuck,” she mumbled before spitting out a mouthful of blood.
“Double fuck,” Ronin said. “You ready?”
She nodded, and Ronin, his face pale but determined, gripped the branch. “On three, sweetheart.”
“Three,” she echoed.
“One, two -” Ronin pulled the branch out with a brisk yank, and Cece screamed piercingly.
The world turned gray and wavered as hot blood spurted out of her stomach and coated her lap.
She screamed again when Ronin pulled her from the car and laid her on the snow-covered ground. Garth crouched on her other side, his face pale and sweaty in the moonlight. “Fuck, Ronin, her goddamn leg is broken. I can see the fucking bone sticking out.”
Cece laughed weakly. The pain had disappeared, and her body was pleasantly numb. She should have been cold, but the hot liquid seeping out of her midsection kept her nice and warm.
“Look at me, tiny tree witch,” Ronin said.
“Not tiny,” she wheezed, but forced her eyes open. “Dying, Ronin.”
“No, sweetheart,” he said. “No one’s dying tonight.”
She could see the glint of tears in his eyes, and she made a low groan. “Oh fuck, not again. Don’t you cry on me, asshole. Don’t you dare fucking -”
Tears dripped onto her midsection and pain - hot, sizzling, unbearable pain - roared through her. She screamed shrilly, her body bowing as Garth’s hands clamped down on her shoulders.
More agony washed over her, the worst pain she’d ever felt in her life, and when the darkness appeared at the edge of her vision, she dove into it with a feeling of relief.