Page 11 of Witch Please
His eyes locked on mine through the rearview mirror for a second and my heart skipped a beat for a totally separate reason than the immediate danger to our lives. The reminder of the bombshell followed with a painful stab through my sternum, and I glared at him. His look turned knowing, and a smirk graced his lips, which only darkened my mood if that was even possible.
“Or you can stop, and I’ll be happy to sit back and watch what kind of an effect Mazzikin have on pigeons such as yourself.”
“Come on you two.” Sissily barked twisting in the front seat so she can look down her nose at us like some warden. “Don’t you dare start because I just about had it with you two. It’s bad enough knowing at any moment I could turn into a mindless monster and all it’ll take is a touch of a Mazzikin. If the alternative is listening to your bullshit, I’ll just jump out of the moving truck right now.”
I clamped my mouth shut and faced the window more out of shame for acting immature than anything else. I think I heard River mutter an apology to my best friend, but I couldn’t be sure. My heart was hammering in my chest and white noise was mixing with the shrieks of the Mazzikin in my ears. We were still on the dirt road rocking away like a sailboat in a middle of a hurricane; so that didn’t help matters either.
Trees loomed in front of the pickup truck illuminated by the headlights, their branches ominously reaching for us, grabbing at our vehicle, and forcing me to grind my teeth from the scratching sounds joining the chaos around us. If anyone told me, I would be looking forward to going to Hell an hour prior I would’ve called them a liar. As things stood, I found it difficult to not yell at Blackman to speed up. I mean, he was driving as fast as he could all things considered.
My phone decided to voice its objection for being glued to my butt through the fabric of my jeans all day. At first, I couldn’t recall why the sound sounded familiar until Sissily turned to me and looked pointedly at my ass.
“Oh!” with a depreciating curl of my lips I yanked it out and the glare of the screen made shadows dance around the otherwise dark cabin of the truck.
A group of about four spirits judging by the extorted heads slammed into the back door and the truck rocked harshly to the right. I almost dropped the phone. After a few expertly executed juggling tricks, I snatched it midair and rushed to answer it before whoever was calling hung up.
Needless to say, I should’ve let it go to voicemail.
“Hazel Byrne, what in Hecate’s name do you think you are doing?” Danika’s voice came through the speaker of my iPhone sharp as a whip. My spine snapped straight. “Mr. Greywood just called telling me you are off pack lands and there is a horde of demons following the vehicle Mr. Blackman is driving.”
“Are you worried about Blackman or me?” my drawl earned me an indignant huff. I couldn’t care less.
“Tell Mr. Blackman to turn around and return you to the alpha.” My grandmother hissed probably hoping to keep her voice down so no one would hear her reprimanding her insufferable granddaughter. My eyes rolled to the back of my head.
“I’m not a pair of pumps someone borrowed for a night out, Danika. River knows better than to do anything I don’t want him to do.” I hissed right back.
Sissily lifted her eyebrow at me not even trying to pretend that she’s not listening to my conversation.
We hit a deep pothole on the road and the truck bounced up harshly knocking my head on the roof hard enough to rattle my teeth. Groaning from the pain I tightened my grip on the driver’s seat my nails digging into the fabric in hopes to stay seated and not be a pile of limbs on the car floor. The Mazzikin, not wasting the opportunity, rushed us from all sides like a cloud of flickering ghosts, creating a terrifying picture of distorted faces coming at us full speed scary enough I had to swallow a scream. Cold sweat trickled down my back and I watched in horror as their incorporeal forms became tangible just as they connected with the vehicle rocking it hard enough I could count the tiny rocks lined up like soldiers on the dirt road ready to ricochet and ping on the underside of the truck.
When we slammed back down to drive on all four wheels and not just two, I harshly bit my tongue and my mouth filled with the coppery taste of blood. Naturally, I blamed Blackman for it, so I slapped the back of the driver’s seat in anger. River glared at me for a second before he had to focus on the road and the increasing number of trees crowding around our truck. You’d think it’d deter the spirits from chasing after us, but you’d be wrong. Unlike us, they allowed the towering oaks to pass through them. We were the only schmucks that had to dodge obstacles.
“Are you listening to me, Hazel? Are you hurt?” Danika shouted and lost all of her holier than thou attitude. Pure undiluted worry leaked through the speakers. “Turn that car around immediately Mr. Blackman and return my granddaughter to safety or you will answer to me.”
The truck started slowing down.
“Don’t you dare, River.” I hissed at him leaning forward in case my tone was not convincing enough. Instead of his seat I latched onto his shoulder, digging my nails in as hard as I could. “Keep driving.”
Blackman glanced really fast at Sissily who was already nodding like a bobblehead and stabbing her finger at the road ahead, silently agreeing with me that we need to continue. Smart woman didn’t want to say a word and get on Danika’s shit list, so she was running for first place in the competition of being the best meme. I was a different story. I was numero uno just by being born, and the rest of the list had to live up to my standards of a screw up to stay on it.
The truck jumped forward and increased speed.
“Hazel, I know you are hoping that Leviathan will give you all the answers you seek but I assure you he doesn’t have them.” My grandmother tried a different tactic, softening her tone and all. “Stop being hotheaded. Can’t you see you are exposing River and Sissily to danger in pursuit of what? More questions and uncertainties? Don’t you think I’ve already tried most of the things you are coming up with?”
My mouth opened to tell her to get lost because I just about had it with her manipulations and lies but that’s all I had time to do. The front of the truck hit something and we pitched forward the tail of the vehicle bouncing high and tossing us into a tailspin of swirling metal. Sissily screamed but I couldn’t even look to check if she’s okay. The door on my left was wrenched open and my own scream joined that one of my best friend. Fingers wrapped around my arm, and I was yanked out of the airborne truck so hard something cracked in my neck sending a sharp pain through my shoulders and skull. The phone slipped through my fingers and Danika’s voice faded into the chaos of strong winds, screaming Mazzikin and fear clouding my mind. The last thing I saw before darkness took me in its embrace was Sissily’s blonde ponytail flapping in the wind like a white flag of surrender and chocolate brown eyes staring intently into mine. As I was passing out white wings closed in around me.
CHAPTER7
Ihave woken up in all sorts of awkward situations in my not so long existence. Hecate knows I’m the furthest thing from a saint if you’ve ever seen one. I’ve done the walk of shame dressed in my clubbing clothing in the early hours of the mornings more times than I could count. Not a stranger to hangover headaches, I knew all sorts of remedies to cure it if I found myself in a pinch. So, when I peeled my eyelids open with too much effort, I immediately wished to die so I could escape the sharp pain stabbing my temples; it spoke volumes about the state I was in. The shrieking was still going strong and not helping the beating of war drums in my skull at all.
Lesson number 19:Pain is always good. It means you are still alive although most of the time you’d be wishing for it to be otherwise.
My stomach dropped when my body wobbled strangely, which brought my attention out of my internal musings and to the present. Two things became clear at once. I was in the air and the only thing preventing my death was a strong arm wrapped around my lower back. The Mazzikin were still around although for whatever reason they stayed about a couple of feet away from me, still screaming from the top of their lungs.
From us, to be correct since I saw River’s impressive profile the moment, I raised my head. I could tell he was straining to keep us moving but he still had a tight smirk on his face.
It was starting to irk me that my life was turning out to be a shit show where everyone was having fun but me.
“She’s awake.” The bane of my existence announced for no reason, shouting it to the night stretching before us not bothering to glance my way. Sissily poked her head out from his other side, and I could see the relief written all over her face when we locked eyes.
