Page 36 of Unhinged Magic
I couldn’t help myself. This whole situation was so fucked up. “I’m just saying, if lack of air is your kink…”
This time she shoved me. “Are you finished?”
Her glare sliced the banter from my tongue. “You have a plan?” I asked, not sure I heard her correctly.
“Yes.”
I rubbed my throat, unsure if I was on board with this lack of air shit she clearly got off on. Everyone had their own kinks, but fuck, air was life.
When she finally let go of my top, I answered honestly. “I’ll try anything, Skip.”
She released her hold, her eyes rolling full circle. “You know I hate that name.”
Ignoring the comment, I moved past her, grabbing my jacket from the back room. I extended an arm. “After you.”
She huffed her way out the door, and I locked it behind us. Perks of owning my own business.
Leading us down the road, she headed toward the forest, a duffel bag hanging over one shoulder.
Curiosity got the better of me. “What’s in the bag?”
“Questions later,” she replied without turning around.
I stared at her ass where her tights left nothing to the imagination. At that moment, because, fuck it would be my luck, she turned to look behind her, catching me in the act. “Just checking out the goods,” I admitted.
She stormed on with a subtle shake of her head. “You honestly have no tact.”
A smile crept onto my face at how easy it was to get a rise out of her, and I wondered if she was like this with everyone or if she kept those burning embers just for me.
I let my thoughts drift to the previous night when I bolted out the door under the suffocating circumstances. It had all been too much. To know my brother was here, but not. That he had been haunting Skye.
I didn’t even know if haunting was the right term, much less be able to decipher how I felt about it.
“Where are we going?” I asked as we turned off a familiar dirt trail that led onto another. As we entered the forest, it tightened around us, the trail getting thinner until I could barely make it out ahead.
She sighed. “You ask a lot of questions.”
“And you give no answers.”
Scampers scratched the quiet that fell over us, their brisk departures from our oncoming footsteps deepening into the forest. They made hasty exists before I even got a glimpse of them, clearly more frightened of us than we were them. It was a comforting thought. I had never ventured this far into the forest before, not even as a child.
We continued down the trail, winding our way through the tangled forest, when, suddenly, Skye halted in front of me. My chest collided with her back. Her hand whipped behind her, landing on my arm, halting my movement. We stood on the edge of a small clearing, the silhouette of a large manor leaning toward us.
Skye removed her hand, lifting a finger in the air. An unspoken warning.
I reached out with my magic, searching the area with my senses, but we were alone.
“It’s fine,” I assured her. “There’s no one here.”
A quick nod and she moved forward. Footsteps cautious. Silent.
I followed close behind her, mirroring her steps. “What is this place?” I murmured.
“This is Moldsworth Manor. It’s been vacant for as long as I can remember.”
I stared up at the two-storied monstrosity looming before us. Faded of color, its weathered timber exterior was now home to a sprawling expanse of vines. Their naked limbs climbed its walls as if claiming the manor as their own, winding themselves through gaping holes that once served as windows. The vacant frames stared back at us, almost leering.
“It looks like something out of a horror movie,” I muttered. “How did I not know about this place?”
