Page 72 of The Most Wanted Witch

Xazier looked about the area. “Did someone call me?” he asked.

I got to my feet. “No one called.”

“Oh,” he said, smiling slightly. “My mistake. I’ll just be…”

Lou appeared before Xazier had finished speaking. He scanned the area before he turned to Xazier.

“What’s going on here? Did someone call me?” Lou asked.

“Nothing. I thought I heard my name called,” Xazier responded.

Lou looked at us and then back to Xazier. “So you just happened upon them here?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what happened. Same as you, I guess?” Xazier asked, as if leading Lou.

“Yes,” Lou said, as he kept meeting Xazier’s stare, like they were silently plotting with each other.

“Well, since no one called me, I’ll be going,” Xazier said, and then looked to Lou again.

“I will as well,” Lou said.

Xazier’s hand was by his leg, but I couldn’t help but notice him put out three fingers, then two, then one.

They were both gone.

29

Hawk and I were in the upstairs sitting room, the one that sometimes opened to unknown destinations, sometimes his bedroom, and sometimes a random sitting room, as it was now.

I slumped on the couch.He was leaning beside a window that didn’t exist if you looked at the outside of this building. Apparently the laws of physics didn’t apply in Xest.

I’d lost track of how long we’d been in the room, both stuck in our own thoughts, trying to muddle through what had happened, why both Lou and Xazier had shown up. As usual, everything we found out led to more confusion, not answers.

I was the first to break the silence. “How do you think they knew we were there?”

He shook his head. “It wasn’t the lame excuse of being called. Whatever is in that hill, they’re somehow connected to it. We just don’t know how or why.”

“Why didn’t they show up the first time?”

“Maybe because you connected to it a little stronger, on a deeper level this time around. Or maybe not.” He shrugged, still staring out the window.

I dropped my head back, shutting my eyes as I tried to shut out the world. If everything else went away, maybe the truth would show itself instead of overwhelming confusion.

“Did it feel anything like Dread? Any remnant or hint of the same magic?” Hawk asked.

“When I feel Dread, there’s nothing but overwhelming rage and hate. Whatever lies in that hill feels like the complete opposite of that. It…” My voice faded as I recalled the warm feelings it had stirred in me.

He leaned his shoulder on the window frame, waiting for me to finish. “It what?”

“It wants me near it. Like it was calling to something in me, and it felt…” I shook my head. Hawk and I only talked half of the time I saw him. The other half were glares and stares of accusation. Discussing the overwhelming pull I felt from a mound of dirt with him was a huge leap.

He went back to staring out the window. “I don’t think you should meet with Xazier anymore, or Lou for that matter. You said yourself that they want something from you. After they showed up today, I like the situation even less.”

The fight coming could be seen from miles away. It was as if we were unable to be civil for more than ten minutes at a clip.

“I can’t cut them off because they appeared in a field by a hill. I made an agreement,” I said.

His eyes met mine. “You know there’s something wrong. If you don’t trust your instincts, you’ll never survive here.”

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