Page 2 of Stolen Time

Bellamy shrugged. With the light fading fast, her coppery hair wasn’t nearly as bright as it had looked even a couple of minutes earlier.

“You’d be surprised,” she responded. “I mean, a lot of my cousins have worked there part-time to help out, or to earn some extra money over the holidays or whatever. But most of them really aren’t interested in doing the retail thing unless it involves owning their own business.”

Like her parents, who had been running the treat shop on Main Street since before she was born.

“Why didyoutake the job, really?” Bellamy asked next. “I can’t believe there wasn’t plenty for you to do in Flagstaff.”

There was, of course. True, a lot of people would probably argue that a history major didn’t make me a shoo-in to work in a law office or even at my cousin Jake’s witch-finding operation across the street from Wheeler Park in Flagstaff’s historic district, but I knew someone in the Wilcox clan would havefound me a job if I’d asked. That was just how we rolled — how most witch clans rolled, from what I’d been able to tell. We always looked out for one another.

After graduation, though, I’d found myself longing for a change of scenery, and when the job at McAllister Mercantile came up, I thought it must be fate.

Or maybe just really good timing.

Also, it was plain, honest work, the kind of thing that allowed me not to think about very much. And most of the time, not thinking was the best way to ensure there weren’t any more incidents.

All witches had certain magical talents they shared, like unlocking doors or lighting a candle with just a thought. Once you got past the basics, though, things became more specialized, with every witch and warlock having their own particular gift…and, every once in a great while, being lucky enough to have two, the way I did. The one I’d inherited from my father involved being able to hide my witch powers from other witches and warlocks, something I’d never really needed, although I assumed it might come in useful at some point.

My mother’s power was also an unusual one — she had the ability to give herself an extra five minutes whenever she liked, while time froze for everyone around her — and I’d inherited something like it…except my supposed “talent” wasn’t useful in any way I’d been able to determine.

Yes, I could manipulate time, but rather than having it stand still for everyone around me, I instead sometimes went into the future and sometimes into the past, not with any real rhyme or reason. True, sooner or later, I either snapped back to where I was supposed to be or the rest of the world caught up with me, but because I couldn’t control those jaunts in time, I’d caused quite a lot of havoc in my family. The worst incident had occurred when I was twelve and went a week into the futureand thought I’d only been there for a couple of hours…only to discover upon my return that I’d been gone for nearly seven whole days.

My parents, understandably, had freaked out, and after that, I basically did whatever I could to prevent my weird, annoying magical talent from asserting itself. On a couple of occasions, I still screwed up and lost control, but because the time involved had only been a few minutes or at most an hour, it wasn’t too big of a deal.

Which was why I thought having a nice, low-stress job far away from any surroundings that might trigger me was probably the best thing to help me cope with the situation. Over the years, I’d gotten my supposed “gift” under control, and yet I still couldn’t quite trust it not to pop up at inopportune moments even though I hadn’t had a slip since I was around fourteen, almost eight years ago now.

“Haven’t you ever wanted a change of scenery?” I asked, and now Bellamy smiled again.

“All the time,” she said, her tone cheerful. “I suppose that’s partly why I wanted to go into the wine industry. Sure, I’ll stay in the Verde Valley once I find something permanent — although I guess I could also go down to wine country in the south, maybe Sonoita, since the de la Pazes are pretty cool with us being in their territory — but wherever I end up, I don’t think it’ll be Jerome. Page Springs would be nice.”

I couldn’t disagree with that comment. No, I hadn’t spent a lot of time in the small community about fifteen minutes outside Sedona, but it was a pretty place, with the Verde River flowing through a narrow valley and vineyards and wineries scattered on either side of the winding country road that bisected the area.

“Well, that’s how I feel about Jerome, I guess,” I said. “I always liked it when I visited, and being here gives me a chance to try something new.”

“Speaking of which,” Bellamy replied, still smiling, “that’s why you should check out the mine.”

A flicker of worry went through my body. “Aren’t you coming in with me?”

“Not at first,” she said. “You should really go in and experience it for yourself the first couple of minutes. But don’t worry — I’ll follow along soon enough.”

Her words reassured me a little…a very little. However, even though this wasn’t fifth grade and I was a grown woman of twenty-two, I also didn’t want to look like an utter chickenshit in front of Bellamy McAllister, not when she made all this sound like child’s play.

And it wasn’t as if I was afraid of the dark. No, I didn’t have some kind of witchy night vision — although that would have been a cool talent to have — but I knew there wasn’t anything in the mine shaft that would hurt me.

Except snakes. And rats. And probably bats, too, although I wasn’t afraid of bats. Honestly, I wasn’t all that afraid of snakes or rats, either, even if I didn’t want them running over my foot.

Or biting me, although the sturdy hiking boots I wore probably would have foiled a strike by a rattler as long as it didn’t aim too high.

I tried to reassure myself that a rattlesnake would have settled down for the night by now, although I couldn’t be sure. Maybe it was still warm enough that any snakes in the immediate vicinity might still be up and about, looking for a nice, juicy rodent before they slithered off to their burrows to await the arrival of another day.

As best I could, I shut down that line of thought. Psyching myself out before I even took a single step inside the mine probably wasn’t a very good idea.

“Here,” Bellamy said as she handed over a small flashlight, the kind of thing you could easily stash inside your purse without it taking up too much room. “This’ll make it easier.”

That was for sure. Suddenly, the prospect of stepping inside the mine opening didn’t seem quite as scary. I’d already planned to use the light on my phone to illuminate my surroundings, but I knew it wouldn’t have been anywhere as bright as the flashlight my friend had just given me.

“Thanks.”

Now that I was more or less properly outfitted to go in, I knew any other delays would be way too obvious. Besides, tons of McAllister kids had gone in the mine before me. Did I really want to be scared off by something that didn’t even frighten a twelve-year-old?

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