28. Twenty-Eight
TWENTY-EIGHT
M illie didn’t follow yet. Something told me she wouldn’t remain behind. As much as she wanted her freedom, Aunt Tillie’s sense of right and wrong would eventually overtake her. For now, she couldn’t be my main concern.
The second I moved into the tree line I felt a presence above me. I lifted my chin and searched the heavy branches overhead. When Evan moved into a clear spot, I smiled.
We didn’t speak. I’d been right about the cavalry arriving. I was the only one who had noticed so far.
He pointed south, and I nodded. Then he disappeared again. I headed in the direction he’d indicated, my shoulders squaring. With each step, I was coming closer to the warlock.
I found him in a clearing, sitting on a boulder and staring at his phone. His blond hair was swept back from a handsome face, and he almost appeared bored as he scrolled. He didn’t look up before speaking.
“That didn’t take long,” he said, his face creasing in disappointment. “I thought Millie would hold out longer.”
“I’m not surprised.” I flashed a smile I knew would agitate him. “She is a Winchester at heart after all.”
“Is she, though?” Greg shifted, his phone landing face down on his lap. “I suppose you’re here to reason with me.”
“Not really. Aunt Tillie always told me that reasoning with the Devil was a waste of time.”
“Is that who I am?” Greg grinned. It made him all the more menacing. “I guess I like being equated with the Devil.” He pushed himself to a standing position. “Let’s talk about how this is going to go.”
“I thought I would lead the discussion, but if you want to start, that’s fine.” I was waiting for the others to get into position.
“You’re going to open that plane door for me. Then I’m going to cross over. You’re going to keep the door open until I return. Once I’m finished, you can do … whatever you want to do.”
I waited to see if he had more. When he didn’t speak again, I angled my head. “Is that all?”
“Yes.”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I can’t open plane doors.”
Greg let loose a derisive snort. “I happen to know that plane doors have opened near you more than once.”
“Me specifically?”
“Yes. I’ve been watching your family.” He had the air of a man who was dealing with a pesky administrative task. “Actually, I’ve been watching your family for two years now.”
“Should I feel special?” I challenged. “If you expect me to be impressed, you’re going to be disappointed. We didn’t even know you existed.”
“That’s because I’m good at what I do.”
“Or you’re not important enough to care about.”
Annoyance flashed across his features, but he shuttered it quickly. “You want to believe that, don’t you?” He was smug. “You don’t like the idea of anyone else more powerful than you.”
“I don’t,” I readily agreed. “The thing is, you’re not more powerful. You’re diabolical—what you did to those naiads was evil—but you had to play that game because you’re not strong enough to go at things from the front. You always have to sneak in the back.”
His eyes had gone black as his temper ratcheted up. “Listen?—”
“No, you listen.” I vehemently shook my head. “I know exactly what you did. You realized there was a plane door in the lake and you figured, since it was so well hidden, that it led to somewhere good. You were working on a way to get through when you crossed paths with the naiads.”
“I’m not afraid of naiads.” He said it in such a way I knew it was a lie.
“Of course you are.” I wanted to irritate him. “They were closer to getting through than you were. More than that, they were wanted on the other plane. You don’t have enough magic to get past whatever safeguards were put in place by the gatekeepers who created the door.”
A muscle worked in his jaw.
“I have some bad news for you,” I continued. “I don’t have the magic required to get through those safeguards either. The Winchester witches are not portal jumpers.”
“You’re lying,” he spat. He was no longer even pretending to be amiable.
“Portals have been opening all over the place lately. Doors to places that shouldn’t even exist have slid open and shut again.
You’ve been around for many of those openings.
In fact, I think you’ve been around for all of them.
You’ve just done a better job of hiding that fact in some instances than in others. ”
I burst out laughing. “And you consider yourself smart? I didn’t open any of those doors.”
“You did!” he exploded, his cheeks growing red. “You opened them, and you’re going to open this one.”
I shook my head and crossed my arms over my chest. “I didn’t open them, and I won’t open this one.
You’re kind of stupid.” I chose a word I knew would drive him to distraction.
“My presence at some door openings doesn’t mean I was responsible.
You said you’ve been watching us for two years.
Did you even look at the people I was with? ”
Confusion knit Greg’s eyebrows. “I don’t know what you’re even getting at. If this is a distraction, it’s not a good one.”
“Oh, you’re so cute.” I wrinkled my nose and wriggled my butt like a teenage cheerleader flirting with the quarterback. “You’re completely blind to what’s happening in these parts.” I lowered my voice. “You need specific magic to open a portal. I don’t possess that magic.”
“You have to! I need to get to the other side. There are things there—riches and magic—we both can use. We’ll split it.” He acted as if he was doing me a favor. He assumed there was something of worth over there. He didn’t know anything.
“I’m not interested in claiming money or magic from another plane,” I replied, my affect flat.
“Everyone is interested in money and power.”
“I have power at my disposal, and I’m doing fine for money.”
Greg rolled his eyes. “You can always have more power, and more money.”
“I’m good.”
Fury had his nostrils flaring. “You are going to do what I want.”
“Even if I could—which I can’t—I wouldn’t.”
I expect him to start throwing magic around and was prepared to protect myself. Instead, he stomped his foot. “I want that plane door opened right now!” He sounded like a toddler having a tantrum. “You’re going to do it, and then you’re going to help me get rid of the naiad.”
“I won’t.”
Greg drew himself up to his full height and squared his shoulders. “Then you shall die.”
I stared him down for a full two seconds, then burst out laughing. “You’re a little boy freaking out over something he can’t have.”
“I will have it.”
“You won’t. You might have caught the naiads by surprise and thrown a bunch of rabid humans at them, but that won’t work with me. Half your army of humans is either dead or out of the picture. And I have an army of my own to stop you.”
“Is that so?” Greg turned smug again. “Where is this army?”
Evan was the first to appear. He dropped out of the trees, positioning himself within five feet of Greg. The warlock was so surprised he took an inadvertent step back and smacked directly into Gunner’s solid chest.
“Hey, buddy,” Gunner taunted as Greg’s hands flew into the air. Evan caught his wrists before he could start flinging magic. “You really should’ve thought this through.”
Evan had no problem wrestling Greg to the ground, making sure the man’s face ended up in the dirt as he tugged his hands behind his back. “You made a few big mistakes here. Would you like to know the biggest?”
“I don’t know you,” Greg snapped. “I’m not afraid of you!”
“That girlie scream of yours makes me think otherwise,” Gunner replied. He was grinning when he looked up at me. “When did you figure out we were here?”
“I knew when I woke that you were either already here, or soon would be,” I replied. “How long did it take you to figure out I was gone?”
“Not long,” Evan replied. He’d situated himself on Greg’s back and was licking his index finger and sticking it in the wriggling warlock’s ear. Sometimes, when he and Gunner got together, they reminded me of teenage boys.
“Landon got upset when you didn’t show up for lunch,” Gunner explained.
“He went out looking. When you weren’t on the bluff, he started to panic and called us in.
” He gestured between himself and Evan. “Scout went out with a locator spell. Once it headed in this direction, it wasn’t difficult to ascertain where you were. ”
“Where is Scout?” I was anxious to see her. “And Landon?”
Gunner’s smile dissipated. “He stayed at the inn to keep Steve busy. He wasn’t happy about it, but it was our only option.”
“We knew this was going to turn bloody,” Evan explained. He straightened and then let his full weight fall on Greg, who grunted as he was slammed harder into the ground. “Until you went missing, it never occurred to me that Millie might be involved. I’m sorry.”
“Millie was involved,” I said, “but she didn’t go full-on evil. She didn’t realize what he was until things were already in motion.”
“I thought she was supposed to be as smart as Tillie,” Gunner said.
“They’re not the same. Close, but not duplicates.” I shook my head. “Where is Millie?”
“Scout will bring her,” Gunner replied. “She has the naiad. We ran into her when we were about to start searching the woods. The naiad led us directly to you.”
“We need to send the naiad across. Millie too. Scout will have to open the door.”
“The naiad wants to kill the warlock first,” Evan said. “I talked things over with her. I explained about the magic, and how maybe it was best to let the other humans go. She reluctantly agreed. In exchange for him.” He nudged the back of Greg’s head with his elbow. “Seems like a fair trade.”
It wasn’t the worst offer I’d heard, but there was a problem. “If we let her kill Greg, there will always be questions about what happened out here … and at the inn.”
“What’s your solution?” Evan asked.
“I need to talk to the naiad.” I was resigned. “I’m not sure she’ll agree with my plan.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“Then we’ll have to let her kill him.”
Greg struggled against Evan. “I will end you,” he threatened.
“If she does agree to your plan?” Gunner asked.
“Then Greg here might be subject to a fate worse than death. I’m hoping she’ll go for it.”
“Well, let’s find out.” Evan effortlessly stood and lifted Greg by the back of his shirt as if he was a duffel bag. He’d used Greg’s belt to secure his hands behind his back. “Scout and the naiad are at the lake with Millie.”
SCOUT WAS PACING THE CLEARING when we emerged from the trees. Her eyes went to me first, and she visibly relaxed. Then she focused on Greg, who was still being carried like a duffel bag.
“I see the douche is contained.” She crouched down to look at Greg, who was practically foaming at the mouth, and grinned. “You have no idea the things I’m going to do to you.”
“Give him a tail,” Millie suggested, again reminding me of Aunt Tillie.
“A tail sounds fun.” Scout had one of those faces that promised mayhem. “How about a little pig tail?”
“I will kill you,” Greg hissed.
Scout patted him on the head. “Can I keep him as a pet?”
“As much as I would like you to give him a tail, I have something else in mind.” I turned to the naiad, who was loitering at the edge of the clearing. “I know you want to kill him.”
“I am going to kill him. He’s earned it.”
“We need him,” I countered. “We need someone to pin the deaths on. We can say that he did it for business purposes. I’ll let Landon figure out that part. We can modify his memory and make him think he really did it.”
The naiad shook her head. “He must pay for what he did to my sister.”
“He will pay. He’ll never be free again. He’ll be locked in a federal prison.”
“He has magic. He’ll let himself out.”
“He won’t.” I had to make her see. “We’ll bind his powers.” I gestured to Scout. “The two of us will arrange things so he’ll never recover them. He will have no influence in prison because his assets will be seized to pay the victims’ families. His life will be terrible.”
“Not as terrible as if he died,” she persisted.
“It will be over if you kill him.” I knew, deep down, that if she insisted on killing him, I would allow her to. “If we strip his powers and take his money, it will be a long, slow, painful death. He’ll suffer more.”
The naiad cocked her head. “What about me?”
“I already told you,” Scout answered. “I’m opening that door for you. Both of you.” She glanced at Millie. “You can start new lives. Whatever is on the other side of that door, I guarantee you it’s good.”
“You can leave this world behind,” I said. “You won’t live in Aunt Tillie’s shadow,” I said to Millie. “And you’ll be able to mourn your sister and hopefully find the rest of your family. This is the best way. For all of us.”
“It’s the only way,” Scout insisted. “We need to be able to sew this up on our end too. I know it’s not what you want, but it’s what needs to happen.”
The naiad was quiet for so long I thought she was going to stand like a statue until we agreed to her terms. Instead, she nodded. “I will trust in your process.”
I exhaled heavily. “Thank you.”
She glared at Greg. “It’s what needs to happen for all of us to have the best outcome.”
I bobbed my head. “I wholeheartedly agree.”
“Come on.” Scout clapped Millie on the shoulder. “We need to get you out of here. Landon will start melting down soon, and we don’t want you here when the cavalry shows up.”
“I’m ready.” The naiad glanced at Millie. “You’ll be welcomed by my people. There’s no need to be afraid.”
“I’m not,” Millie replied. “Anything is better than the alternative.” Her eyes moved to me. “I have a message for Tillie. Tell her that life doesn’t have to be as hard as she makes it. She’s old enough to retire. That’s what she should do.”
Under different circumstances, I would’ve laughed. “I’ll tell her.”
“She won’t retire, will she?”
“No. She’s only middle aged.”
Millie let loose a disgusted sigh. “How can we come from the same place and be so different?”
“I think it’s the dichotomy of life,” I replied. “There are many paths you can follow. One single choice changes the path.”
Millie started toward the water. “Let’s get this over with. I’m ready to go home.”
I watched her back as Scout opened the door. She didn’t look over her shoulder as she left.
Once it was our group—and the warlock who would bear the brunt of what was to come—all eyes turned to Greg.
“Now, little piggy,” Scout said as she hunkered down again. “What are we to do with you?”