Page 86 of Hooked on a Witch
Chapter Twenty-one
Shannon charged for the tree line. She’d promised to go home. Maybe she should she pop away to her alternate dimension.
No. It was a crapshoot she’d end up somewhere familiar and then be able to travel back to South Carolina. With her luck, she’d end up in another country when she returned.
She’d already made up her mind not to allow Merck to face whatever came with Owen Campbell and his necromancer fiancée alone. The druids would help. That meant getting across the creek or… She plucked her cell phone out of the pocket in her dress, halting next to an ancient oak tree in order to text Eli.
Something flew by her ear and hit the tree. Black and purples swirled in the air, heralding an evil aura nearby. Texting could wait.
She ran flat-out in the direction of the creek and then along its edge, searching for where it looked shallow. Her lungs burned, and her legs ached from stumbling on uneven ground and tripping over branches, but she didn’t stop. She batted sweat out of her eyes and off her forehead. The canopy overhead darkened as the forest became dense with old trees. And maybe not just from canopy but whatever approached from behind.
Something slammed into her back, thrusting her forward and to the ground. She landed hard. The world around her settled until there was only the sound of the creek, the narrows within sight about a hundred yards ahead. Over the creek’s roar came footsteps crunching leaves and sticks. She struggled to breathe through the pain ripping through her. Another knife? A gunshot? Something worse?
She got to her knees and stood slowly while rotating to face whatever was coming. Alone and trapped—bad odds. Time to pop away. She closed her eyes to concentrate, willing herself back to the Hawaiian beach. Nothing happened. She willed harder.
Whatever she’d been hit with must dull her magic or prevent interdimensional travel.
A medium-height man with stringy brown hair sauntered her way. His aura swirled with the worst colors possible. Dangerous evil.
“Perfect shot, wasn’t it? Hot damn. You’re coming with me.” He laughed out a low, raspy sound filled with arrogance. Power buzzed off him. Not godlike abilities, nor anything on the right side of nice, but something slithery.
She glanced up at the trees her mother always loved. Her mother’s words slid through her mind, “No harm will come to you in this forest. Trust the elements.”
“What do you want?” Her voice came out far calmer than expected, given theoh-shitgoing on in her mind.
“You. Shannon Randolph. I can’t believe I’m the one who found you. She’s going to be so pleased.” He rubbed his hands together.
She was terrified, but stillness, almost an acceptance of what needed to be done, settled over her. No more running. No more being afraid of what she was. The gods may deserve her fear, but a human with pumped-up evil skills? Not so much. A sharp buildup of energy surrounded her as if an electrical current flickered through the ground. The trees swayed when the wind picked up, heralding an approaching storm.
The guy glanced around. “What are you doing?”
The wind increased, twirling into a spinning wind funnel.
Shock, horror, and utter terror spread over her attacker’s face. He stood frozen as the tornado sped toward him. With a scream he ran. The miniature tornado increased speed and sucked up its target. The funnel disappeared upward into nothing, leaving behind a gentle breeze. Where the evil man had gone, Shannon didn’t know. She didn’t see him, but sensed him gone. As in forever gone.
She’d done that. Her. No one else. Her.
In the aftermath, the steady motion of running water of the creek calmed her.
There was also pain. She touched her back, her hand coming away with blood. No knife, but it might’ve fallen out. Or was it a bullet? The guy hadn’t been carrying a gun. Either way, she was hit.
She glanced toward the narrows of the creek and then back in the direction of Merck. Wiped out from the energy output required to build the tornado, she stumbled against a tree. She wasn’t going to make it across alone. Even if she did somehow cross the stream, she’d collapse on the opposite shore.
A body pushed her from behind into the tree. Her hands were gripped behind her and cuffed.
“No disappearing. Let’s take a walk.” The man leaning into her gripped the back of her neck, spun, and propelled her forward.
She butted her head backward, intent on his nose, but he ducked. He punched the side of her head. Dazed, she fell to her knees.
One glance up and she froze. The familiar blue gaze of the host ofExtreme Survivorglared a command of compliance. Owen. Everything about the buff, blond man was angular and beautiful as one would expect for the host of several popular reality TV series.
“Behave, Shannon, or I’ll knock you out. Then we’ll have to cut the Trident out of you. No one here’s a surgeon. So your chances of surviving aren’t good.”
“You’re saying my chances of living are higher if I go with you willingly?”
He yanked her to her feet. “Can’t say it looks good for you either way.”
She wobbled, light-headed from the punch.
