Page 25 of Bad Witch

I’d only been a child when I’d been chosen, but we all had different stories of how it happened. Matildas apprenticed at all ages. This was more than a calling; it was a destiny. It was fate, and fate decided when it would intervene.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I looked back at the page.

Brigid walked into the forest, where the blue cliffs rose above the trees. The river swirled and churned from her rage as she passed, the forest closing behind her, claiming her for its own. Never to be seen again.

The blue cliffs and churning river?

I read it again and sat up straighter. “Holy crap.”

Swiping up my phone, I scrolled to Fender’s number and quickly sent him a text.

I think I know where to look next.

His reply came seconds later.

Fender: On my way.

Chapter

Seven

Tempest

* * *

Exhilaration stole my breath at the sound of the big bike’s engine, its deep rumble vibrating through me as Fender rounded the corner and rolled to a stop.

He switched it off and swung slowly off the bike. “Temp,” he said with that lovely growl in his voice.

“Hey.” Was I blushing? My face was too warm. Why was I blushing?

Fender didn’t say anything more. He just stood there, waiting. For what I didn’t know. I looked around me, unsure, then back to him.

He flashed a grin. “We gonna head into your place so you can show me what you found?”

Oh…OH. “No need. I scanned and printed out the pages.” For once, I’d thought ahead. I fished them out of my bag and handed them over.

He frowned at what I’d handed him. “You should’ve just taken a pic on your phone.”

“I prefer analog,” I said as he scanned the pages.

He nodded as he zeroed in on the passages I’d highlighted. “Me too,” he muttered.

I’d only had a phone with all the bells and whistles for a few months. I’d inherited the phone Matilda W used. You could text and take calls, but that was about it. My new one could apparently do all sorts of things, and I was still getting used to it.

He glanced up. “You know where these blue cliffs are?”

“I do.” It would’ve been quicker if we’d used my door handle, leaving directly from the cottage. There was an old cabin a couple miles from the cliffs with a still functioning door that I often used when I came to and from the area to hunt goats and boar for Manny. It saved me carrying all that meat for miles, but using that door wasn’t possible now, not without showing Fender my magic or my other mode of transportation. That was out of the question, highly dangerous, and utterly forbidden. We’d have to take the long way. “It’s in Oldwood Forest, but if we ride to one of the far north entrances, we should be able to cut the hike down a bit.”

“I’ve scouted all over those woods but have never come across these cliffs,” he said. “We gonna need to camp out?”

“We might have to. I’m rostered off for the next couple days and I’ve brought provisions just in case, so it shouldn’t be a problem,” I said, holding up my backpack. Jack had insisted I take a day or two to rest, he was doing that with all the staff when he could spare us. The patients weren’t letting up, and if we didn’t rest, we’d be no good to anyone.

Fender nodded, pulled out his phone, and tapped at the screen.

“Unless you have other plans? I didn’t mean to assume…”

He glanced up and smiled, and it was…breathtaking. “No other plans, peaches. Just letting War know what’s up.”