Page 94 of Which Witch Is Wicked?
"Where do you think you're going?" Moira asked. "It ain't safe for you to leave the wards."
"Sunny needs me down at the shop." And she needed to start living her life, not cooped up in a house that was slowly killing her.
"Let her go," Aerin said. "Out of all of us, she's the safest. With Death's spawn growing in her belly, none of the Horsemen will dare touch her. Besides the rest of us have work to do. Hey, you slackers!" Aerin rushed to herd two zombies standing off to the side back to work. One looked like a dried corn husk dressed in a Civil War uniform, and another, juicier one wore a three-piece pinstriped suit from the twenties. Both jumped at her words and rushed to do her bidding.
"You shouldn't go alone," Moira said, laying a hand on Tierra's shoulder. They both watched with dismay as Aerin had the zombies falling into line and doing whatever she wanted. One even saluted. "I'll go with you. I could use a break from this place, too."
"Suit yourself." Claire shrugged. "Be smart about it and take the squirt guns loaded with that Horsemen repellant."
"Claire, while we're gone can you try and talk some sense into Aerin," Tierra said. "She's drunk on power right now. She's not thinking straight."
"Actually, I think she's got the right idea. I'm tired of fighting for my life and worrying about yours. This is a happy compromise. Just look at the drying shed she's having them build for your herbs and flowers. And it's taking less time than a crew of humans. These guys don't need a lunch break and can work day and night without tiring."
While the drying shed would come in handy, Tierra didn't like the means used to achieve it. "Claire, she's practicing necromancy. That isn't good." In fact, it was very, very bad.
"Good isn't getting us anywhere, now is it? We're locked up in this house, stuck inside the wards, not able to leave or be who we are meant to be. What has good gotten me in this lifetime? Nothing." Claire answered her own question. "I'm tired of defending and fighting against these bumfucks. Afraid of Dru and his fellow Horsemen coming after me, and if the world is ending, I might as well live it up any way I can."
"You can't mean that, Claire. Remember that above all things, evil is seductive," Tierra tried again. "Can't you see that you are being duped into believing that this is easier?" When in the long run, the cost of dark magic would be more than they could afford to pay.
"You know what, Tierra, I'm sick and tired of listening to you preach."
"Claire," Moira scolded.
Tommy sidled up to them, holding a handsaw, blond and guileless as a surfer. He was the complete opposite of Claire's dangerous and fiery appearance with her dark red hair and sleeveless black leather vest and torn jeans. He draped an arm around Claire and drew her into his chest. "You okay, babe?"
"I'm just fine," Claire directed her answer to both Tierra and Moira. "Just fucking fine." She turned and walked away with Tommy.
"Tierra." Tears filled Moira's eyes once again. "We have to do something."
"I know." But what, she didn't have a clue. They had to figure a way to save their sisters and fast, before they were too mired in the muck to be rescued.
11
Water Street was deserted.
"Where is everyone?" Tierra asked. "Sunny said she was overwhelmed with customers, and where is Ryan with the delivery truck?"
"I don't have a good feeling about this," Moira muttered. "There aren't even zombies hanging around."
"That's because they're all being used as slave labor up at our place." Tierra parked on the street in front of Ambrosia's rather than behind the building. She left the car running, wondering if she shouldn't head home instead of entering the café.
Bells hanging from the door rang as Sunny pushed it open and hurried outside, her pile of pink dreadlocks spilling around her shoulders.
Tierra shut off the car and climbed out, feeling better once she saw Sunny. Moira did the same, but for some reason neither moved away from the vehicle.
"You're here! Hurry, there's a crowd inside!"
"Then why aren't you in there serving them?" Prickles of unease chased up her spine, and Tierra scanned the street. She felt...watched.
"Because you're out here looking like you're ready to bolt and I need you. Shake a leg, T. You, too, Moira. Where are the others? We could use them as well, but the two of you will do, now get a move on." She motioned for them to hurry, turned and entered Ambrosia's in another cascade of warning chimes that Tierra had hung and blessed when she'd opened the shop.
Tierra looked down the road again, half expecting to see a dried up tumbleweed cartwheel across the barren street. She turned back to
Moira. "What do you think?"
"That we'd best hightail it out of here. I got goosebumps in places that ain't natural."
Tierra glanced back to Ambrosia's. The sun reflected off the windows, making it impossible to see what was happening inside, painting the building with variegated shades of red and orange. In a weird way the building looked like it was on fire.
