Page 9 of Enspelled

“What are you doing?” I whisper when he pulls another candy bar from his pocket.

Just how many of those things does he have?

“Waiting to see what your plan is.” He takes a bite and chews, seemingly not the least bit concerned that whoever just turned up is parking outside.

I shift my focus to the bedroom door. There’s only one way out, and if we go down those stairs, whoever is out there will see us through the living room window. That’s if they don’t catch us on the staircase, something that’s looking more and more likely the longer I stand here doing nothing.

There’s a bedroom window.

Layla’s house backs up to the forest, as most of the houses in Madden Grove do. But going out that way is going to mean jumping out of a window or climbing down.

Can I do that?

I heft the book in my hands. Carrying it down is going to be downright impossible, so I’ll have to throw it, and no part of me wants to do something so disrespectful to a book that’s been passed down for generations.

If you left the grimoire behind, it would be easier to get away.

But then I remember the sadness in Briar’s eyes. The situation is bad—bad enough that she didn’t want to tell me, or even involve me in it, which means she needs me.

Badly.

I can’t let her down.

Hiding will take time she doesn’t have, because if Diana Calla thinks Briar blew up Calla’s Cauldron and killed her daughters, she’ll be hunting her even now. So she needs help.

Now.

I stalk over to the bedroom window, conscious that Bodie is following. Opening the window latch one-handed isn’t easy, but I get it done in seconds.

It’s only when I lean out and glimpse the height I’m going to have to jump or climb that nerves hit, and I swallow nervously.

That’s higher than I thought. A lot higher. And my hands are going to be full.

A door creaks, and the heavy tread of footsteps makes my heart spike in alarm. Shit. They’re inside the house.

I stop hesitating and throw one leg out of the window, my heart a frantic drumbeat against the grimoire I’m clutching against my chest.

You can do this, Sera. Just jump and roll. Whatever you hurt, you can use a healing spell to fix it once you’re in the car. But first, you gotta jump.

Hurried footsteps move up the stairs. As if the person knows we’re here.

I take a breath and release it.

I’m a second away from throwing myself out when a muscled arm grips me around my waist.

And then I’m falling.

It’s a wonder I don’t scream.

Maybe it’s shock.

But when Bodie sets me down on the ground before letting me go, all I can do is gape at him. “You jumped.”

“Don’t look at me as if you weren’t getting ready to do it yourself.” He shrugs. “But if you don’t want the woman up there to see us, we should probably go.”

His words spur me into motion. I sprint around the side of the house with Bodie following so close that our shoulders occasionally bump.

Before I can tell him to go away, he’s in the passenger seat beside me, holding his hands out for the grimoire.

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