AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Say cheese,” he said.
The women whooped and cheered. Close enough?
Then Harlon spoke, and the chitchat stopped instantly. “What a wonderful flight this has been. Thank you, Madden.”
Now that they’d been cued, the women echoed the sentiment. Would they have bothered otherwise?
“Yes, we’ll all remember it for a long, long time.” Harlon’s voice grew slower, almost singsongy. “We’ll remember the incredible views. The javelinas. How peaceful it all feels. Very, very peaceful…”
Harlon droned on, slowly and softly, like a parent reading a bedtime story at that tipping point when the child gradually fell asleep.
“The way the wind snatched Bob’s hat and blew it away…” he said next.
I frowned. It wasn’t a hat that had blown away. It was a map.
“We’ll remember how beautiful Oak Creek looks, and the property Hardy told me about there…”
Not Oak Creek,I nearly said.Painted Rock Creek. You’re mixing everything up.
Then it hit me. Harlon was purposely mixing everything up — and planting new memories in his audiences’ heads in the process.
Mindspell,my dragon whispered.
There were hundreds of magic spells, though not every witch or warlock mastered every type. A damn good thing. But, hell. Harlon had two hugely powerful spells if he’d mastered mindspellsandwind whispering.
Then I looked at the radio. Most shifters were resistant to magic spells, but humans — and most relics — weren’t.
I glanced back. Chico was bopping his head to the tune on his headphones, so he hadn’t heard a word. John was sound asleep. And as for Erin…
I peeked at her from the corner of my eye. As before, though, it was hard to tell.
I burned to know. So much, I couldn’t help asking as casually as I could.
“I’m still learning the lay of the land here,” I said. “Which creek was that they flew over?”
Erin pulled the van into a big clearing where the balloon would land. Then she looked over at me and blinked a few times.
“Didn’t you hear? Oak Creek.”
I schooled my features into an expressionless mask, making sure not to give anything away. But my heart sank. I’dwantedher to be immune to Harlon’s magic, or to possess magic of her own.
But she was just a minor relic, it seemed. Clueless. Harmless. Like every other human.
Still, my dragon grumbled.She’s special. Someday, you’ll see. And I’d bet she can cause a lot of harm…to foolish hearts, at least.
I made a face, vowing that fool would never be me.
Chapter Eight
ERIN
I did my best to mimic the glassy-eyed, waking-up-from-a-dream state Madden and the other guests stumbled around in once they’d disembarked. Harlon, on the other hand, was eagle-eyed.
“Lovely flight. Just lovely,” he said, quietly studying each face, including mine.
My heart raced as I shut off the propane and disengaged the rigging that connected the basket to the balloon. My thoughts raced too, though I tried to exude the same airheaded vibes Harlon’s young groupies did. But gee, was that hard. His gaze was a heavy hand pressing on me, and when he finally moved it away, I gulped in relief. Then I did my own spying.
John and Chico hadn’t heard Harlon over the radio, but Nash had been listening as attentively as me. Had he really fallen for Harlon’s magic, or was it all a bluff?
