Page 83 of Big Witch Energy

Ben stopped her mouth, kissing her. “Bullshit, I need you. I think my kids deserve you. And you deserve my kids, and I mean that in a nice way, not in a vindictive way.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Josh huffed, stripping out of his life vest.

Caroline laughed, kissing Ben. The kids, to their credit, uttered not one single “ew.”

“It’s going to take us a while to figure this whole thing out, but we’re going to do it, because it’s important. You’re important. I love you. I’ve always loved you. I will always love you,” he swore.

“I love you, too,” she said, kissing him.

“This is all very sweet, but I’m kind of feeling the gathering energy of a certain bitch-faced hag-ghost,” Riley huffed, helping a pale, shaken Edison sit down next to Caroline. An angry hiss sounded in the trees. “Yeah, I said it, you hateful old wench!”

“Thank you, Edison,” Caroline said, patting his knee with her good hand. “I know what that cost you.”

“You’re family,” Edison panted. “And somebody has to be here to post your bail.”

“Well, the good news is, I’m alive,” Caroline said, nodding to Cole’s body. “But Cole is not. Rose killed him.”

“Well, now I see that bail joke was mistimed,” Edison muttered.

“Dang.” Riley blanched as Ben moved toward Cole’s body, feeling for a pulse. He shook his head.

“I knew she was capable of it,” Alice mused. “All ghosts are capable of it, really.” She paused to shudder. “It’s just so awful.”

“She is awful,” Caroline agreed. “And we really need to banish her before she takes out my entire family.”

“How did you even get here,” Ben asked his kids, moving Caroline to his lap as he examined her injured hand. “The last I saw you, you were under Plover’s supervision. Reading.”

“We stole a Jet Ski!” Mina cried, her cheeks red but drying. She laughed at her father’s expression.

“We’re going to talk about that later,” Ben promised them. “You don’t know how to run a Jet Ski.”

“Video games,” Josh said, shrugging. “They’re very educational. And Mina’s kidding. We told Dutch we were willing to go look for his boat, to confirm the location, and he said we could borrow the Jet Ski if we gassed it up before we brought it back.”

“And I’m going to have to talk to Dutch about that later,” Ben sighed.

Mina rolled her shoulders, uncomfortable under some invisible strain. “Rose is here, and she’s gathering herself. She’s…not happy.”

“But she’s smug,” Josh said, a shiver running down his spine. “She thinks she’s won something. Caroline, how long have you been off the island?”

“No clue, but hey, look, a ghost lock,” Caroline said, holding up the lock.

“You found one!” Riley cried, grinning.

“Technically, Cole did when he was remodeling the kitchen for your aunt,” Caroline said. “So…pretty sure we’re gonna need to search this hell pit on wheels before we call the authorities.”

“Good note, after we push Rose out of this dimension,” Alice said.

“We brought some of the locks with us,” Mina said, pulling a tote bag over her shoulder. “Maybe they will help.”

Riley frowned. “You did what?”

“Plover told us where they were hidden in your office, so we brought them. You took one outside before without destabilizing the house, so we thought it would be OK. I figured we might need them if we found Caroline and the ghost,” Josh said. “Which, given your expression, is something else we’re going to have to talk about later.”

“Yes, yes, we will.” Riley nodded, clearly trying to maintain her cool. “All of us, plus Plover, will have a conversation about coven safety and operational security and doors that only respond to my retinal scan.”

The kids looked chastened, but Mina insisted. “But we helped, right? If one lock opens a pinhole portal, several locks could open a portal big enough to shove Rose through.”

Riley agreed. “I will validate your choices, once my terror runs out.”

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