Page 63 of Bait N' Witch

She kept her eyes trained on the center of the circle, appearing to listen. So did Lachlyn and Atleigh.

“Girls?” he asked. Not expecting an answer.

“Grandma Essie’s here, Dad,” Atleigh answered, even as she kept her gaze locked on whatever she saw. Shock retreated behind a tidal wave of emotions he had no hope of sorting out.

“Is Rowan there, too?”

Atleigh gave a small shake of her head. But she stopped mid-shake, her shoulders stiffening. “Is that possible?”

Grey’s heart thundered inside him. Was what possible?

The three took a shuddering breath all at the same time.

He couldn’t handle the stress. “What?” he urged. “Is what possible?

“Grandma Essie says Rowan isn’t completely gone. Not yet.”

“Please save her,” Lachlyn’s cry burst from her and about broke his heart.

“Save her, Grandma,” Chloe cried out next, Atleigh echoing her.

“Save her. Save Rowan.” His daughters’ voices entwined and wound together. Repeating the words, the pleas. In the glow of their power, tears seeped from his daughters’ eyes.

Then suddenly they stopped, silence crashing down around them, sucking the sound from the room.

“Thank you,” Chloe whispered, the words breaking.

“Dad,” Lachlyn said. “She can save her with your help.” They still stared into the center of the circle where nothing stood.

“How?” Anything.

“Do exactly as we say. Okay?”

He nodded.

“Stand in the corner that’s always cold.” The command came from all three girls. Emotionless. Like a chant.

Grey rushed to do their bidding, shivering as a draft of chilly air brushed over his skin in the spot by the fireplace. “The cold you feel is Grandma Essie.”

Had she been here all this time?

“Gather your magic inside you,” the girls intoned. “Be ready.”

Grey closed his eyes, drawing on every reserve inside him, allowing the magic to tingle through his blood, pooling into his chest and creating warmth on the edge of burning.

“Repeat these words… Satu Arammu Ina Etu Mitu Adi Nuru.”

He could be repeating the recipe to end every life in the world for all he understood. The words must be ancient. As soon as he spoke them, the warmth of the energy inside him drained, leaving a cold, dark void in its wake.

But, somehow, he wasn’t tired. At first, nothing happened. Then a pinpoint of light came to life beside him. As he watched, an old woman materialized before his eyes. “Grandma Essie?”

She nodded. “I’ve been watching over you since the day I died,” she said. Her voice sounded like Rowan’s had earlier, as though she were speaking down a tunnel or on one of those old phonographs. “Though I didn’t know I’d do this.”

“Do what?”

“I am giving up my essence, my soul, to bring your Rowan back from the brink.”

Everything inside him locked up. “What does that mean?”

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