Page 51 of The Accidental Witch

“It is, isn’t it?” he’d replied, clear pride in his tone, but she heard a bit of sadness, too.

“You miss it, don’t you?”

His green eyes looked far away. “I do. I didn’t know howmuchI missed it until now.”

“Did you mother live here?” she’s asked softly.

“She did, and Gwinnifer did, too, until they booted her out, which was a mistake, considering she was let loose on unsuspecting humans.”

Unfortunately, first trip, she hadn’t been able to hold the spell long enough for more than a glance. But seeing that place, a place she so wanted to explore, she’d gone back to the murderbasement and worked that much harder to keep the spell in place.

And she had. Each time she connected with the spell, she was able to stay longer, until they realized the spell didn’t end untilsheended it.

“So if we get there and we can’t get in, we let the kid go in alone? I’m not fucking keen on that, Cover Model. She’s goin’ to a place where, for days, no one’s heard jack shit from the people who live there, with nothing more than a fresh-mouthed talking broom? Not a fan, dude. Not a fan.”

“Hey!” Hervé squealed.

Nina grabbed him by his handle, twisting her fingers around it. “Can it, Lover. The adults are talking.”

“But how else will we know what’s going on in there if I don’t go in, Nina? I know you’re worried about me, but I have a ton of magic under my belt. I get stronger every day.”

Marty pulled her into a warm, vanilla- and pear-scented hug. “But are you strongenough? What if you get in and you can’t get out, and we can’t get to you?”

“What kind of fucking place guards itself with magic like fucking Fort Knox?” Nina spat.

“A place where we’re free to be who we are without constraint,” Greer answered. “A place free from humans. Some of us live there full time, and some have a place both in the human world and at Moonfall, but we protect the village and its magic at all costs.”

Wanda made a face at Nina. “Yeah. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to flash your fangs and fly wherever you wanted without people calling the damn CIA on you? It makes complete sense, Nina. We’d do it, too, if we could.”

Blowing out a breath, Robbie brushed her hands together. “Okay, let’s stop nattering on about who can come and go, andjust go. If Moonfall needs help, we have to find out. So let’s get there and find out.”

“Aye-Aye, Captain,” Nina said.

Silently, they all gathered around in a circle, their hands on Robbie’s shoulders, Hervé under her arm. They’d practiced this several times with the whole gang in tow.

“Wait!” she heard Tottington call. “Wait for me!”

Her eyes popped open as Tottington pushed his way in beside Nina, hooking his arm through hers. “T, you can’t go. You’re completely unprotected.”

But his steely gaze met hers, his lips a thin line. “Where you go, I go. As it was, it always shall be.”

Her heart thumped in her chest at the affection she felt for her longtime friend. Sometimes the only friend she’d had growing up. “Oh, T…” she whispered.

“We’ll look out for him. I’ll fucking look out for him, kiddo. Don’t worry.”

Without another word, except the word SAP running through her head, she focused on the new connection she felt to Moonfall.

With a dry mouth, she licked her lips and repeated the words she’d said what felt like thousands of times. “Sweet home calls to me. Across the divide, I long to see. Carry us there, bridge the gap, with wings of a bird on my snap!”

The next words she heard were from Nina, “Holy fucking shit.”

Guess she’d stuck the landing, huh?”

Greer heldher hand as they approached the twenty-foot iron gate guarding Moonfall Cove. His home. Once his entire world.

After his mother was killed and Gwinnifer sentenced to death, he’d left and never looked back. He had no magic to allow him entry anyway, even though Soledad had assured him she’d create a spell that would allow him access. The idea of being near his mother’s home hurt too much.

Since adulthood, he’d always lived outside of Moonfall anyway. As much as he loved his coven, they couldn’t offer him the kind of mental stimulation his interest in technology craved, but he’d visited often.

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