Page 3 of Boundless Magic

“What?”His heart stalled inside his chest, then kicked back in at double time. “Another dimension? Please tell me you’re joking.”

“She’s not,” Spring replied grimly. “There are traces of unrefined magic in the air. A novice performed this spell without a circle. Can you feel it too, Tums?”

Nodding, Autumn compressed her lips in a tight, white line. “Chloe should’ve known better. We’ve been teaching her how to practice since she was eight.”

“It’ll be all right, sissy. I promise,” Spring said with a quick, hard hug. “We need to call Knox back. I don’t think he’s going to find the children in the woods. Or at least not the ones on this plane. That could also be why Chloe was terrified in your vision, Tums.”

“Right. Because she couldn’t get back to the house!”

“Christ! What does that mean for them? Where the hell could she have taken Jolly?” Sweat broke out on Keaton’s lower back, and his hands grew clammy as his gut churned. “And why? Why would she take him there without permission?”

The sisters shared a worried glance, and it didn’t serve to make him any less stressed.

“What the fuck lives in the dimension they’re in?” he asked. “Is it possible our enemies exist there?”

“In answer to your first question, I don’t know. To the second, maybe. I’d like to say it’s a simple yes or no response,” Spring replied. “But I’m not going to play the candyman and sugarcoat my answers. I’m sorry, Keaton. This entire situation is a little more complicated than that.”

“How?”

“First, we need to see if we can communicate across the divide. Once we can get a better idea of what’s going on, we can find a way to get them back.”

As her sister spoke, Autumn returned to his side and placed a calming hand over his heart. Although he recognized she was as frightened as him, she also had more experience in a crisis and was holding onto her cool better than he ever could.

“Keaton, please go upstairs and find Knox, then your parents. We need to know whatever Keira and Phillip might about this spell. I’m going to assist Spring in locating a communication spell. If we can figure out what Chloe did and why, it might help us.”

“What if we can’t locate them or, Goddess forbid, get them back?” he demanded. “Can one of us be sent there?”

His wife’s expression hardened. “You can bet on it. I’m not leaving our children in an alternate dimension. But we’re not one hundred percent positive that happened yet.”

The longer he delayed, the more chance they had of failing, but Keaton couldn’t seem to make his feet walk up those steps. His need to be more proactive in retrieving his kids was causing a strange paralysis he couldn’t seem to overcome.

Meeting Autumn’s challenging stare, he nodded.

Trust.

It was an important factor in any marriage, and they shared that. Every now and again, he had to let go and allow his wife to do what she felt was necessary. Usually, her way was the right way, but old habits died hard, and his protectiveness of Chloe was the oldest habit he had.

“Babe?”

“I’m going,” he said gruffly. Hauling Autumn close, he absorbed the comfort he needed but could never request aloud. “Thank you for loving Chloe as much as you do.”

“She’s our daughter,” Autumn replied. To her, it was simple. Chloe was as much hers as Jolly, whether she was her natural parent or not. “Thornes don’t know how to fail, babe.”

Because she was right, Keaton grinned despite his overwhelming fear. “That’s what I’m counting on.”

3

As soon as her husband was gone, Autumn addressed her sister. “How bad is it if they jumped realities?”

“Scale of one to ten?”

Swallowing back her panic, she nodded.

Spring’s grimace screamed, “Fifteen.”

“Okay. No need to say it.” Pressing her palm to her forehead, Autumn sighed and looked down at the ancient tome. “How do we reverse engineer the spell the kids used so we can return home once we’ve found them?”

“That’s a bit trickier, I believe. Not only that, but we’re going to need permission from Isis to jump alternate planes. This isn’t a run-of-the-mill situation. I don’t know what happens when or if we meet our counterparts. It could create a cosmic shitstorm.”

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