Page 49 of The Accidental Witch

Now if only she could get the locator spell to course through her veins, and not ship her off to a marketplace in Bangladesh.

Chapter

Fourteen

She approached Greer with caution, crunching over the frozen ground tentatively. He sat outside by the maze in Nina’s backyard, which she still couldn’t believe was real, scrolling his phone.

“What’cha lookin’ at?”

“Just work,” he mumbled with a frown.

“What is it that you do, anyway?” He spent a bit of time on his laptop and his phone after dinner each night, but she’d never asked what he was doing.

“I own a software development company. Aradia Tech.”

Wiping her clammy hands on her thighs, Robbie nodded. “Ah, after your mother. I bet she’d be proud.”

When he didn’t look up, she nudged him. She held up her hands when he finally focused on her. “I come in peace.”

Greer blew out a ragged breath, patting the place next to him on the stone bench. “I was a shithead. I’m sorry.”

She shivered, tucking her chin into her puffy vest, pulling her hat tighter over her ears. “I wouldn’t use the word shithead. Stupidhead sounds far less abrasive.”

He barked a laugh, a puff of condensation escaping his mouth. “I’ll take it, but Iamsorry, Robbie. I can be intensesometimes, and this whole thing with my coven has me in a panic, but it’s still no excuse to run you ragged.”

Taking his hand, Robbie patted it. “I understand, and I’m all rested if you want to go another round.”

“Is Nina gonna beat me up? Without my magic, she’s undefeatable. It would be like putting a kitten in a cage match with a mountain lion.”

Now she laughed, looking up at the half moon shining down on the gargoyle statues Nina was so fond of. “I think we’ve contained her rage, but if we haven’t, I’ll levitate her and pay the price to the troll under the bridge later.”

Greer let his head hang to his chest. “I feel so damned helpless, Robbie. I don’t know what to do.”

“I’mwhat we’re going to do. I know I can do this, Greer.”

“I don’t doubt you can. I hope you believe that. But it’s all on you. All of it. It’s a shitty load to carry.”

She gave him a playful shove. “Like that’syourfault? This isn’t your fault, Greer. The reality of all this—and it’s a harsh one—is that if they do need help, you wouldn’t be able to help them anyway. You have no powers to do anything, but that’s through no fault of your own.”

“I shouldn’t have stayed away for so long…”

Tipping his chin up with a finger, Robbie looked him in the eye. “Maybe not, but whether you did or not, this might still be happening…and I think it’s because of me. I don’t know how or why, if Gwinnifer’s dead and her magic should have died with her, but somehow I still have her magic. She still stored some of it in that planchette.”

They’d talked this theory to death over the course of their time together. Her response was always the same, impossible things happened. She was proof.

Greer shook his head. “But I can’t process how. No one’s ever died and left their magic behind tucked away for safekeeping.No one.”

“But not everyone’s Gwinnifer. Maybe she had powers you knew nothing about. Or maybe someone else wants what I have. Maybe Gwinnifer wasn’t the only one who knew about where she put her magic. Maybe someone in your coven knew, too.”

“Then why haven’t they come to collect it?”

Robbie scoffed. “I have no idea. I can’t speak for anyone paranormal. It’s all still a mystery to me except for my magic. We’re getting tighter every day.”

He smiled. “You called ityourmagic. That’s nice to hear.”

With a small sigh, she smiled, too. “Yeah. I did, and we’re going to use it to find out what’s going on in your invisible village.”

With a nod, he said, “Obviously, something’s gone awry if this friend of January’s can’t find Soledad…but why? Why can’t she find her? I need to know what the hell’s going on.”

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