Page 23 of Boundless Magic

“When I saw Ra—uh, Chloe, she was wearing a blue top and jeans. There was a hole in one knee and twigs in her hair, but other than that, she seemed to be okay.”

“Which direction did she run off to?”

“The Carlyle cabin.”

“Cabin? Not estate?” Keaton asked sharply.

“Estate?” Gothica laughed again, and it was pure hilarity. “Those good-for-nothing Carlyles couldn’t be bothered with the upkeep of an estate.” Her perfect nose scrunched as she eyed Keaton, who had been silent until now. “Sorry, bud, but it’s true.”

Keaton opened his mouth to reply, but whatever he’d intended to say was cut short when the ground beneath them rumbled.

A child’s angry scream sounded in the distance, and the trembling earth shook harder.

“Jolyon!” Alastair shouted over the roar of the earthquake. “We have to get his anklet back on him.”

Staggering and scrambling to maintain her footing, Autumn bolted for the trees, screaming her son’s name.

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“Can you mitigate the quake?” Alastair shouted his question to the two Springs. “Work together to stop or lessen the effect of Jolyon’s temper tantrum?”

Keaton stared. Or he would’ve had he not been watching for falling trees. “How do you know it’s a temper—” Holding up a hand, he shook his head. “Forget it,” he hollered over the noise. “Empath. I get it. You can feel him all this way, or was it the scream?”

“Both.”

The ground stopped rumbling, and the sudden stillness was eerie as hell. As was the silence. Keaton ran toward the direction Autumn had taken, hoping to find his wife and children. Before entering the woods, he caught a flash of blue from the corner of his eye. The same color shirt as his daughter had been wearing just that morning.

Veering right, he jogged through the woods. “Chloe?”

When his daughter lifted her dirty, tear-stained face, Keaton’s heart spasmed and went into overdrive. He rushed forward, only to stop when trepidation filled her eyes and her mouth contorted to scream.

“Chloe?”

“You’re not my dad,” she cried, scrambling backward and colliding with the tree trunk she’d been curled against.

“Yes, I am.” Keaton held up his hands and slowly approached. “Why wouldn’t you think so?”

“You’re trying to trick me again.”

Again? What the actual fuck?

“Who tricked you, sweetheart? Someone who looked like me?”

A frown marred her young visage, and she slowly edged her head sideways to survey the area around them. When she glanced back at him, she paid special attention to his clothes and hair.

Still, she remained silent on the subject of trickery, as if she didn’t trust him.

“Midge, it’s me. I promise.”

“Daddy?” Her deep honey-colored eyes flew wide as she jumped up and rushed into his arms.

Sobs wracked her slender frame as she apologized over and over in a discombobulated babble. As much as he needed to find Autumn and Jolly, he also needed to let Chloe give into her deeper feelings and not try to shut her down. She’d survived a terrifying experience, and as the adult who’d aged ten years in the hours she was gone, he had to rein in his own emotions to allow for hers.

As he held her, he sent a big fucking “thank you” to the deities who’d been watching over her. Other than her apparent upset, she appeared to have weathered her mishap physically.

Chloe’s tears slowed, and she got control of her hiccuping sobs. When only sniffles were left, he drew away to study her distraught countenance.

“All good, sweetheart?”

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