Page 1 of Boundless Magic

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“Chloe’s missing!”

Autumn froze in her tracks to stare at Keaton, and the door slammed shut behind her as if to emphasize her husband’s panic-stricken declaration. “What do you mean she’s missing? How long, and what about Jolly? She was supposed to be watching him.”

Keaton’s normally tanned face paled. The contrast was so dramatic, Autumn’s heart stalled before kicking into overdrive.

“Tell me you checked on Jolly.” There wasn’t exactly a threat in her tone, but a mere mortal would probably have wet their pants when they heard the outrage in her voice.

They both raced for the playroom, with Keaton beating her by a mere foot. After skidding to a halt just inside the door, her heart dropped through the floor as her adrenaline spiked.

It was empty.

“I’ll check his room. You call the rest of your family.”

“Jesus, Autumn. It was fifteen minutes. I’ll never forgive?—”

“Recriminations later, babe. We have kids to find.”

After a thorough search of her son’s room turned up empty, Autumn ran to the ceremony chamber in the basement, and with a wave of her hand, the candles around the circle flared to life. Upstairs, she could hear Keaton thudding around, and it seemed he was everywhere at once, searching for the kids. His shouts grew faint, and she could only assume he’d run outside to check there.

With grim determination, she dragged a scrying mirror to the pentagram’s center and sat cross-legged on the floor. She removed the “Keaton for Mayor” election pin from her suit jacket and looked at it. Her husband’s handsome face, with his enchanting grin and dancing aquamarine eyes, stared back at her. As usual, his shaggy, dark hair had fallen over one brow prior to the picture being taken, making him appear like a rakish billionaire out to seduce innocents. Yet he had a trustworthy quality that shone through and made people instinctively gravitate toward him. He’d be the next mayor, without question.

Centering herself with a few deep, cleansing breaths, Autumn used the back of the pin to stab her index finger and squeeze exactly three drops of blood onto the mirror for a tried-and-true spell. If she could find Jolyon, chances were Chloe would be with him.

“Goddess, hear my plea.

Assist me in this time of need.

Use this blood and reveal to me,

blood of my blood, the child I seek.”

The purplish-red droplets merged into one and turned black, dissolving into a puff of smoke. When the haze lifted and Autumn could see into the glass, Jolly’s laughing face, almost identical to her husband’s, shone back at her. Tears blurred her vision before she hastily blinked them away.

“Where are you, my little man?” she whispered.

The image shifted, and Autumn could see Chloe tearing through the woods as if being chased by the demons of hell. Her cheeks were tear streaked, and her dark hair was a rat’s nest with twigs and leaves tangled throughout. Chloe was frantic, and if Autumn didn’t miss her guess, she was searching for her little brother.

“Show me Jolyon,” she commanded the mirror.

Again, he laughed, and this time, he was clapping his hands with joy.

“Who is he with?”

But the blood on the mirror fizzled to nothing, and the image disappeared from view. Terror tried to take hold and clog her throat.

Autumn jumped to her feet and bolted up the basement steps to the main floor, screaming Keaton’s name. At the top of the stairs, she was greeted by Spring and Knox.

“Keaton texted and asked if we could come right over. The kids are missing?” Spring’s jade-green eyes were filled with concern.

“Yes! Scrying only shows me Chloe’s location. Jolly’s comes up blank.” Autumn felt as if her skin was too tight, too itchy, too everything. She needed to find her children—like yesterday!

“I’m scared, sister,” she confessed. “I’ve never been so scared.”

Knox drew her into his comforting arms and kissed the top of her head. “Hold it together a little longer, and tell me where you saw Chloe. I’ll go.”

“Running through the woods, and if I had to guess, it would be the section dividing this property from Thorne Manor. Close to the glen.” As he turned to go, she gripped his arm. “She looked terrified, Knox.”

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