Page 64 of Forced Knocked-Up Mate

Amanda squints her eyes as if she’s looking straight through Peter, not at him. She takes my hand and gives it a little squeeze.

“You’re an interesting one, aren’t you?” she says. “Your aura is all kinds of colors.”

“I don’t care if I’m a fucking rainbow!” he barks. “Fix this, like you promised. Or are you just as bad at this as Lucy?”

“I should throw a sugar spell on you,” she says, glaring at him. “Sweeten you up a bit. Trouble is, I think you enjoy being sour.”

“Please,” I cut in before Peter can make another remark, “we don’t have to do this. Just break the spell, Amanda.”

“Where did you do the spell, Lucy? Can you take me there?”

“Sure,” I answer, wiping my nose and sniffling again a little. I don’t even bother to fight the tears that start trickling down my cheeks. I’m so stressed, I don’t even know what I’m crying about.

It can’t be Peter leaving, because I can’t stand to be around him another second.

I lead Amanda out the back and head for the woods. Peter follows a short distance behind until we reach the trees, then catches up to us. When we reach the small clearing, Amanda takes a quick look around, then asks us to stand in the center, facing each other and holding hands.

“You guys ready?” she asks.

“More than ready,” Peter answers. I just nod, trying not to cry.

I’m so exhausted, I’m just going straight to bed to sleep for a week when this is all over.

Amanda chants a few words, waving her hands above ours. I feel a strange prickling feeling at the back of my neck as her magic permeates the circle, then the air becomes electric, like lightning is about to strike.

She taps our joined hands firmly, breaking our grip. There’s a strange fizzing sound, then the thickness in the air just bleeds away.

“Hmm,” she murmurs with a frown, looking around.

“Is that it?” Peter asks. “Can I go?”

He’s desperate to get away from me.

“Yeah,” Amanda replies. “I think you can. But here’s the thing—there was no magical tether between you.”

“What?” Peter shrieks.

“I can sense that there was one,” she says, “but it’s not there now. I’d say it’s been gone for over a week, at least.”

“What are you saying, Amanda?” I ask, grabbing her arm. “We felt the effects of the spell recently, just a few days ago. It had to be there.”

“What exactly did you feel?” she asks.

“I tried to bail the other night,” Peter says. “I went down the street and started to feel anxious, so I came back.”

Amanda chews her lip, a troubled look in her eyes. “Lucy, what did the spell do initially?”

“It was a forced teleport,” I explain. “When we got about a hundred feet apart, the air would get thick, like it was too difficult to move forward. And it was hard to breathe. If we kept pushing, then the teleport would kick in, and we’d find ourselves back in the same room.”

“When was the last time either one of you pushed the spell that hard?”

Peter and I look at each other with almost identical expressions of shock on our faces.

“Not since the wedding,” Peter says.

“Wait, you got married?” Amanda exclaims.

Peter nods. “Yeah, there was a lady who said it would work for a love spell gone wrong. The elders performed the old ritual.”

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