Page 56 of The Accidental Witch

Poor Gary.

Looking at his condition, Robbie knew they had to save him. His battered handle was scarred, his bristles bent and roughed up as he quivered under Gwinnifer’s grip.

Greer made a move to snatch Gary from her, but Gwinnifer stopped him. “Uh-uh-uh,” she warned with a flick of her finger, zapping him with a bolt of light, hitting his feet to keep him in place.

Robbie fought a gasp, but Greer put a hand on her arm to let her know he was okay, even as his feet sizzled and smoked.

Still, Robbie couldn’t keep her mouth shut. Her need to fix everything just wouldn’t let her. “So Gary stole your magic and hid it from you. I didn’t know a broom had any powers other than the ability to fly.”

Gwinnifer’s eyes narrowed. “Neither did I, but apparently Aradia taught him a few tricks. Long story short, he ambushed me, snatched my magic from my very soul, and left me for dead.”

“Hah!” Greer barked. “How did that feel,Grandmother?”

Her glance was catty, an ugly smirk spreading across her face. “You know exactly how that felt, Greer. And if it hadn’t been for your mother, I would have finished the job.”

This felt like some bad movie. How could she say such things to her grandson?

Greer lifted his chin in clear defiance. “But she was too powerful for you, wasn’t she? And you killed her for it. Youhatedthat my mother was loved and admired, and you were nothing more than a hack who had to steal magic in order to call yourself a witch!” he shouted.

Gwinnifer looked none too pleased. Robbie eyeballed him, hoping he’d get the message she needed him to tell her what to do, give her guidance with her magic, but he wasn’t picking up what she was laying down. He was far too angry, his hatred falling off him in waves of almost palpable heat.

But Gwinnifer scoffed at his anguish, his pain. “Your mother was such a do-gooder. Miss Light and Truth. Always crying about justice and right and wrong. She got what she deserved for interfering!”

Holy cow. Agatha Tisdale sounded like Mother Theresa compared to this monster.

As Robbie racked her brain, trying to think of something,anythingshe could do to end this nightmare, Gwinnifer was becoming more and more agitated.

Her eyes flashed hot and angry at the memory of her daughter, and Robbie knew that meant she had to calm the situation in the hope that while she did, someone would come up with a plan.

Deciding to take the bull by the horns, she sauntered toward the woman. “So Gary stole your magic. Know where he hid it?” she teased with the sweetest smile she had in her arsenal. “At the scene of the crime. What a jerk, right? I mean, like, hid it right under your nose, for pity’s sake!”

Gwinnifer’s confused glance said she had no idea what Robbie meant. “What are you babbling on about?”

“Gary hid your magic at Siobhan’s—in the very home of the woman you killed. Which is how I got it. I moved into her apartment. In a planchette, of all the things. Crazy, right?”

Gwinnifer’s mouth went thin and tight, her chokehold on Gary tighter than ever. “You bastard! You left me with nothing.Nothing! I had to fight and scrape for five years and live like an animal, while you lived your best life here with all your little do-gooder witch friends. I’m going to kill you, Gary—but not before I kill all of them first!”

Robbie threw up a hand—herlefthand. “But wait! How did you get in here? If you didn’t have any magic, how did you unlock the gates to Moonfall? How did you even find it?”

Because she’d like to know that trick. She’d spent four effin’ days trying to damn well get here.

Gwinnifer heaved a sigh, as though questioning her villainous prowess was unthinkable. “Let’s just say I made a deal with someone in the Lost Lands. You’ve been there, I hear. You know the place. It was easy, really. They get me in here, andI hand over the coven to them, but not before I took all those uppity witches’ magic first.”

Gary whimpered, pulling away from Gwinnifer’s tight grasp, leaning out as far away from her body as he could get.

So that’s how she’d done it…but why did she wait for them to come toher? Why hadn’t she sought Robbie out to take her magic back?

“You sent everyone to the Lost Lands?” Greer said in disbelief, his eyes hot with rage, his fists clenched tight.

“Duh,” she said on a light chuckle. “Where do you think I got these powers from? From everyone in the village, silly boy…and I took it aaallll! You should have seen the look on Soledad’s face when she saw me again, after dumping me in the ground like trash in a landfill.” Gwinnifer laughed out loud. “Priceless, I tell you!”

Her laughter was growing more maniacal, the vibe surrounding them shifting with a malevolent turn, and it was scaring the shit out of Robbie.

“But why did you wait for us to come to you? Why didn’t you just come get your magic back?” Robbie asked.

“Because this little bastard refused to tell me where it was!” she shouted, hurling Gary to the ground. “I couldn’t smell it anymore because I had no magic at all. I couldn’t even find thissimpof a grandson I was burdened with to wring the answer out of him. It’s not easy being human. I don’t know how you filth do it,” she spat.

Greer ran to Gary, but Gwinnifer thwarted him again by creating a ring of fire around the poor broom. The blue and orange flames licked at his bristles as he struggled against the magic tether.

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