Page 79 of Big Witch Energy

She’d always told herself that she would stay calm if she’d ever found herself in this sort of situation—though she’d allowed that living on a tiny island where she knew pretty much everybody, her risk of kidnapping was pretty low. And she wasn’t about to lose precious time freaking out.

She glanced around, seeing that she was inside some sort of camper—a really messy camper. In addition to dirty men’s clothes and soiled towels, it was chock-full of hastily stacked canned food and camping supplies. The carpet was littered with bits of paper and mystery stains and… Was that Cheetos dust? Something about it smelled familiar, like clovey cologne and sawdust. Paint thinner.

Her stomach rolled up into her throat, even as she tried to place it. Where had she smelled that before?

And oddest of all, the missing portrait, the purple-lady ghost in her younger phase, was tacked to the far wall of the camper—perfectly straight and smooth.

“What the shit?” With considerable effort, Caroline rolled on her side and concentrated on not throwing up. Distantly, she could hear voices from the front of the camper—the “vehicle” part of the RV?

It took her a few seconds to focus enough to make out the words being said—though she wasn’t sure whether it was the concussive head-ringing or the wall separating her and the truck cab. “Look, I don’t know what your problem is. But she’s right in there, just do your voodoo, or whatever, and finish her off so we can get this thing going.”

Another voice, whisper-hissing, like a nest of snakes writhing against each other. “You’re ransoming her. Isn’t the point to keep her alive?”

“Not necessarily. The point is to scare Riley, throw her off her game,” the man’s voice replied. “Take away her resources and force her into cooperating. We can’t get into Shaddow House without her. And if we take Caroline out of the equation, something I know you’ll enjoy—I can slow Riley down enough that…”

He sounded familiar, but she couldn’t quite place him. Ugh, she could think a lot faster if she just threw up already, she was sure of it. But then she’d be stuck in what amounted to a roomy car trunk with her own sick.

“I find I don’t like this,” the hissing voice answered. “It doesn’t seem sporting, killing my descendant when they haven’t left the island of their own choice. Standards are meant to be maintained.”

Rose.

That had to be Rose. It was different from the strident screams she’d heard before, the steel-wool whispers. Mina had described her voice as cold, like icy nails rippling down her spine. Yeah, that was about right.

“You didn’t have a problem with the previous, what was it, twenty-six?” the man asked.

Rose preened. “Twenty-seven. And each of them left the island, trying to leave me. So a price had to be paid.”

“They don’t even know you exist,” the man protested.

“That doesn’t change anything. I need to see them, to know they are holding up my family name. If it wasn’t for me, they wouldn’t even exist. I have the right to see everything they say and do. To leave me behind is an insult.” Rose seethed. “How dare they? Walk away from me as if they had the right to live just as they see fit. I am the head of this family!”

The man snorted. “That wasn’t true, not even when you were alive.”

“Without me, the family would have been nothing, had nothing,” Rose scoffed. “Their purpose was to stay where we had wealth and influence, to fulfill my vision. It was only when they didn’t follow my instructions that there were problems. And the generations after? There was no way to communicate with them, so I was forced into more drastic measures.”

Caroline blinked. How could Rose sound so…bored, as she was describing the murder of her own flesh and blood?

“The point of the matter is, I don’t see how this helps you accomplish your goal,” Rose rasped. “Even if that foolish Denton girl brings you these…whatever they are, she only has a handful of them. It doesn’t get you the full collection.”

“Yes, but it will slow her down, set her back. It will give me enough time to figure out another plan.” The man sounded desperate, and not entirely bright. “Riley’s been fucking up my plans since the minute she stepped onto the island, ordering me around, telling me where to go, keeping me from looking for the locks as ordered. But you, you were like a gift, when you reached out to me, like the universe was just handing me a new way of getting Riley to do my work for me.”

“Oh, I see,” Rose said when he finally stopped talking. “Yes, how clever of you.”

Whoever this was, it felt like Rose was fucking with him. She was just toying with him so he would keep talking, give her more to work with. Wow, her great-great-however-many-great-grandmother was sort of a gangster. Caroline might have respected her for it if she wasn’t so damned awful.

OK, first step, sitting up. You can’t fight evil from a prone position.

It took a few tries, but Caroline used a combination of wriggling and mental cursing to force herself up.

Oh, jeez, that was a mistake.

Caroline leaned her head back against the window. Sunlight poured through the glass, warming the back of her neck and head. Oh, that was nice. How could she appreciate something as mundane as sunshine on her John Denver-less shoulders when she was being abducted by her dead relative and a mystery guest?

Focus. Focus. She’d read something online once about how women should yank their hands down against their hips if they ever found their hands bound with duct tape. But, at the moment, it felt like high-handed advice written by people who had never been hit in the head with a hammer-slash-possibly-a-boat-oar.

She took several deep breaths and stood, bracing herself against the cluttered counter when her brain protested mightily. She raised her hands, groaning quietly, and slammed her joined wrists against her hips. She hissed in pain but did it again. And again, harder and harder, until she could fully swing her hands behind her, and the duct tape finally gave way with a riiiip.

“Oh, thank you,” Caroline panted, nearly crying at the relief of being able to rub her hands together.

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