Chapter 40 Danni
DANNI
I took a deep breath, trying to steady the trembling in my hands, and stepped into the center of the circle.
From all around me, the other witches—my new friends—murmured encouragement, their voices like a breeze rustling the colored leaves underfoot. The massive door stood tall in the center of Main Street, as dark and mysterious as the Shadow Lands themselves.
Its surface shimmered with shifting shadows, the wood dark and oiled—almost alive. Its brass knob gleamed in the moonlight—old-fashioned, ornate, and carved with strange runes that looked like they might rearrange themselves when you weren't watching.
What if this doesn’t work? What if I open it and he’s not there… or worse, what if something else is?
I swallowed my fear and gripped the knob with one hand, the metal cold and smooth beneath my palm. I twisted it hard.
Nothing.
The door didn’t even budge.
Frowning, I tried again, twisting with all my might—still nothing. What was I doing wrong?
"I… I can't open it." My voice cracked, and I bit my lip to keep from crying.
I can’t fail now—not when I’ve come this far. Oh, please…please!
“Be calm, my dear,” Goody Albright said gently from behind me. “Pour your feelings into the knob. Think of Shadow—how you love him, how you long for him. Pour all those emotions through your arm and into the knob as you twist it.”
I nodded shakily and closed my eyes.
Shadow.
I thought of the first time he’d protected me—when I was a child and he growled at Duke and kept him from hitting me. I thought of the way he held me while I cried in the dark, how he stroked my hair with his clawed hand and told me everything would be all right.
I thought of how he looked at me, like I was the most precious thing in the world…I thought of his warmth, his strength, his deep, growling voice whispering that I was his… his little witch.
Tears welled in my eyes, but this time I let them fall. I pushed every drop of love and longing into my hand, down my arm, and into the knob.
A tingle sparked against my palm, like an electric current surging to life. I gasped—and twisted the knob once more.
This time, it turned with a satisfying click.
The door creaked open slowly and joy surged through me as I leaned forward, heart pounding…
Yes! I did it!
But the space beyond was empty.
Nothing but swirling gray mist and endless darkness.
“Shadow?” My voice echoed into the void like I was calling down a well. “Shadow, where are you? I need you!”
Please. Please come back to me.
And then… without knowing why or how… words rose to my lips like a song I was just now remembering:
“By shadow bound and heart’s command,
Return once more through veil and land.
Through love and loss, through night and flame,
Come back to me and speak my name!”
As the final words left my lips, a strange and powerful energy surged through me—warm and wild and unmistakably mine. Every inch of my skin tingled, and I felt like I might rise off the cobblestones if I didn’t ground myself.
And then… I felt it.
A presence—warm…familiar…male. Comforting and fierce. Protective and wild. It brushed against me like a breath of wind in a closed room and I smelled his scent—cinnamon and cedar and fur.
I looked around.
He’s here. He must be!
The swirling mist within the doorway pulsed—once, twice—and then parted like stage curtains.
Suddenly, he was there.
One moment the doorway was empty, and the next, it was filled with eight feet of blue fur, golden eyes, and spreading black horns.
“Shadow?” I whispered.
His head snapped toward me.
“Danni? My little witch?”
A sob broke from my chest. I threw myself forward and grabbed his arm, tugging him through the threshold and into the night. As soon as he crossed the boundary, I kicked the door shut behind him with a resounding thud. Goody Albright had warned me—Never leave a door to another realm open.
Then I turned and threw myself into his arms.
Or tried to.
My arms sank right through his chest.
I froze, shocked, and pulled back.
“No…” I whispered. “You’re not solid.”
He looked down at his hands, flexing his claws.
“Not fully,” he admitted, his voice tinged with sadness. “The doorway brought me back, but I’m not whole yet.”
“Because you haven’t made him solid yet,” Goody Albright said from behind us. “Quickly, Danni—take him home with you. You know what to do.”
I looked up at Shadow, my heart thudding.
I did know what to do.
“Come on,” I said, grabbing his massive, spectral hand. “Let’s get back to the cottage.”
I wasn’t sure how long I had or how much magic was left in the night. But I knew one thing for sure—
I was getting my monster under the bed back. And this time, I wasn’t letting him go.