Page 17 of Captivating Magic

“But you’re not angry with me?”

“I might be. A little,” she admitted. “But it’s different with you, Lo. We aren’t close. Not like Liz and I.”

A shutter came down, and his features settled into a neutral mask as he nodded. “True enough. Anyway, you should call her. She’s texted me twelve times to check on you. She’ll be beating on?—”

Pounding came from the other room, and a wry smile curled his mouth.

“Do I know my sister or what?”

“How do you know it’s?—”

“Ebba?” Liz called as she hammered her fist on the entry door. “Ebba James, you’d better open this door and stop avoiding me right this minute!”

Lo’s brows shot up. “You were saying?”

“I—”

Liz entered with a bang as the handle slammed into the living room wall. She didn’t bother to be quiet as she stomped into Ebba’s bedroom followed by her husband, Rafe Xuereb.

“What the fuck, Ebba? You can’t be bothered to answer your phone or return a text?” Hurt and worry shone in her friend’s amber-colored eyes so like Lo’s. They were darker than usual, and it wasn’t the first time Ebba noticed the changing irises. Now, she had to wonder if it was related to a witch’s mood, because Lo’s had altered a minute ago, too, when she said they weren’t close.

She sucked in a breath and whipped her head around to stare at him. Was it possible he was upset by her comment? Nerves like live wires, she studied him as he studied her, and she experienced a driving need to know what he was thinking. Just as she was opening her mouth to ask, the piercing pain from earlier returned, wringing a cry from her.

Laszlo cradled her face between his large palms. “Breathe, Sweet. In and out, slowly for the count of four.”

Trailing fingers over her brow, he spoke gibberish, or if the words meant something, she couldn’t make it out. But the warmth from his fingertips as they traveled across her forehead caused a tingle in her extremities and her heart to hammer harder than before. He lowered her to the mattress, careful to position a pillow under her aching head. His presence both soothed her and triggered a cloying, claustrophobic reaction inside.

Wedging her arms between them, she shoved at his chest. “Get off me! Get off me!”

“Ebba, Sweet, I’m not on you. I’m not touching you in any way except for my fingers on your forehead. Hear my voice. Hear my words.”

Frowning, she tried her damndest to do as instructed, but the clawing need to get him away from her increased. She screamed, long and loud enough to bring Niall running, should he be inclined. In an instant, Lo was off the bed and across the room to stand beside the slack-jawed Xuerebs. Once again, excruciating pain jackhammered into her brain, causing her to cry out.

Laszlo stepped forward only to be stopped by Liz and Rafe.

Allowing darkness to take her, she closed her eyes and welcomed the relief of oblivion.

7

“Something’s wrong with her, Liz. I can’t stand by and do nothing,” Laszlo growled.

“Shut up and look at her. Reallylook, Lo.”

He followed his sister’s pointing finger. A ripple started under Ebba’s smooth skin as if a parasite traveled beneath the surface, and a gray haze filled the air around her, clouding her aura and causing her standard glow to dull.

Until that exact moment, whenever he witnessed her shine waver, he’d assumed it was from the memory of the accident and Spencer’s death. Now he knew differently. She was under a psychic attack!

“Ebba! Get in here!” he shouted, calling her spirit self.

Liz and Rafe stared at him like he’d lost his ever-loving mind.

“Yeah, you missed that part, but I don’t have the time to explain.” To the ghostly Ebba, he said, “Start talking. What the hell is going on? No bullshit.”

With a grimace, she floated to the bed to watch herself.

“I’m not sure, but if I had to guess, I’d say my body is possessed.” The large doe-like eyes she turned on him held sorrow. “Whatever it is, it’s hurting my physical self. I’ve beentrying to chase it away, but it’s stealthy, hiding out and feeding negative thoughts. Making it seem like they’re my own.”

“When did this start?”

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