Page 54 of The Accidental Witch

Nina’s eyes went wide when she pressed her fingers to her lips before clear anger took over and she ran at Gwinnifer, who, with another flick of her long, graceful fingers, glued the vampire in place.

As Nina struggled to move, her face a mask of fury, Darnell ran to her side, standing protectively in front of her.

“Dang!” Marty shouted with an evil grin. “Where’ve you been all this time, Gwinnifer, and can you teach me how to do that?”

Pulling her blonde curls into a bun atop her head, Marty rolled the sleeves of her shirt up, which seemed strange, until Robbie remembered why she was doing it. She was preparing to go after Gwinnifer and she hated when her hair was in her face.

“Maybe you should ask Greer’s apprentice to help you?” she suggested seductively, her gaze hot.

Marty planted her hands on her hips, a saucy expression on her face. “Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to sew that foul-mouthed vampire’s mouth shut?” she asked, before she rushed at Gwinnifer, only to find herself knocked to her backside.

She hit the debris-littered ground with a grunt, a look of surprise on her face.

“Marty!” Wanda yelped, rushing to help her up, her eyes glittering with anger in Gwinnifer’s direction.

Gwinnifer swept her hand over everyone but Robbie and Greer, instantly freezing them all in place, their eyes wide with surprise.

“Gwinnifer, stop!” Greer bellowed. “Leave them alone!”

“Make me,” she demanded with an ugly cackle, her perfectly plucked eyebrow rising in challenge.

Robbie didn’t know what to do. Yeah, she had magic, but no one had prepared her to fight off a serial killer witch with it. What the hell was she going to do? She was the only one standing who had even a slim chance of stopping this madwoman.

So Robbie did what she was good at—she decided to try to manage Gwinnifer the way she’d done with the media and the press, when she had to spin and cajole to keep her mother’s misdeeds at bay.

Putting her hands behind her back, she warily approached Gwinnifer, careful to watch her surroundings. “I feel like you’ve been waiting for us.”

“It feels like absolute ages,” she drawled, twirling her beautiful whiskey-colored locks around her finger. “What took you so long?”

Robbie forced a smile, preparing to snap back at her, but Greer stepped in front of her. “What do you want, Gwinnifer? What have you done with the coven?”

She looked at him thoughtfully, her almond-shaped eyes cold and hard as she drew a red-tipped finger down Greer’s cheek. “I did what they deserved for expunging me.”

Robbie didn’t want to think about what Gwinnifer thought theydeserved. Instead, she held up her hand. If there was one thing she knew about a big ego, she knew they liked to talk about themselves. If Greer would just let her do her thing…

“First, maybe we should get acquainted. I’m Roberta Tisdale and the frozen people? They’re my friends, Nina, Marty, Wanda, Darnell and Tottington. I already know who you are, so no need to waste your breath.”

“You brought the calvary, I see. Totally unnecessary. They can’t help you. No one can.”

That suggested Gwinnifer had plans to harm her—harmthem.

Talk fast, Roberta.

“Let’s talk about where we’re at now,” she said reasonably. “I’m sure you want to tell us how you’re alive. I mean, that’s pretty amazing, letting everyone believe you were dead all this time. How’d ya do it?”

She pressed a hand to her long throat, wrapping her graceful fingers around it, but then she laughed. “It was easy enough to arrange with the proper help.”

As Robbie’s stomach did backflips, and her mind raced with every spell she’d been taught to get them out of this, she calmly said, “Cool-cool. Very clever. How did you manage that?”

She grinned a grin Robbie knew well. Her mother had grinned that grin a thousand times when she bested someone. “I created a doppelganger to take my place, of course. They executed animageof me, a stand-in if you will. They buried a hollow shell, the fools.”

Holy crumb cake. Gwinnifer could create doppelgangers? Did that mean she could, too?

The wind had begun to pick up, leaves skittering across the ground and the once-bright day went dismally dark, making Robbie’s heart begin to thump in her ears. Everyone was still frozen in place, leaving her terrified she wasn’t equipped to help them.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

So she kept talking, playing to Gwinnifer’s ego. “Who helped you pull this off? I thought Greer told me you were locked up in a jail cell, covered in magic until your execution?”

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