Page 84 of Shadow Witch

“This is much better than the heat, at least, but now I’m cold.” Paige wrapped her arms around herself.

Eyva wrapped her arms around Paige. “Poor dear. You were cold last night, too, I recall. I held you as you shivered.”

Paige shot her a surprised glance. “Really? Sorry.”

“I didn’t mind, dear. Although the crying got to be a bit much.”

“I cried?”

“You did. One of the fairies bit you, and you would have thought you were bitten by an ogre.”

Paige grimaced. “The fairies bite?”

“Oh, yes,” Drucinda said as she stalked forward, swatting at tiny gnats that buzzed around her. “Get away, you damned fairies.”

“Why did we come here if the fairies bite?”

“You’ll see,” Eyva said with a twinkle in her eyes.

Paige finally stopped shivering as they moved through the mystical land. “Do you think Dewey got bitten by a fairy?”

“Probably. The damned things are like mosquitos. With your fair skin, they’ll be after you.”

“Ow!” Paige slapped at her arm. “That hurt!”

“Oh, heavens, please don’t start crying again,” Eyva said. “I know it hurts, but it’s not that terrible.”

“I’m not going to cry,” Paige answered. “I just…it hurts. If these things are mean, maybe they did something to Dewey.”

“I doubt it. We weren’t here very long. Just long enough to cast our wishes at the fairy circle.”

“Wishes?” Paige furrowed her brow as she wondered what that meant.

“Yes. Wishes on where we’d like to visit. Then after we cast them, the circle will magically take us to each place we asked for.”

“So, we went to more places?”

“I’ve got loads of pictures from who knows where,” Drucinda called over her shoulder. “We’ll have to sit down and try to guess where we asked the circle to take us.”

Paige slapped a hand against her forehead as she shook her head. “I can’t believe this. Dewey could be anywhere.”

“Yes,” Eyva answered. “Isn’t it fun?”

“Not really,” Paige answered, swatting at another fairy as it bit her. “I’m worried about Dewey. What if something happened to him? What if we went to a really dangerous place?”

“Why would anyone have wished that?” Eyva asked.

“I don’t know,” Paige said with a shrug.

They approached a clearing. Paige’s jaw dropped as she stared at the moss-covered stones rising toward the sky. “Wow. This place is so cool!”

“I told you. It’s very magical. You just have a…happy sense here.”

Paige bobbed her head up and down as she grinned at Drucinda’s grandmother. “Yes. I feel very at peace here. It’s very soothing and calming.”

“It’s the stones. They give off a slight vibration that has that exact effect.”

Paige held her hands out, studying the hairs on her arm as they stood on end. “It’s tingly.”

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