Page 17 of Charmed

"Right." Tristan nodded. "There are a lot of caves off the beach on the east side of the island. It's possible he's holed up in one of them. To check all of them would be time consuming."

"I might be able to do a locator spell," she added, her tone distracted. "It would be tricky, but I could try."

Brady shook his head. "And what happens if we find him? Are we ready to go toe-to-toe with him?"

Translation: Were they truly prepared to do what they had to in order to stop him?

No matter how many witches their uncle had slain through the centuries, or how badly he'd treated them as boys, or the fact he'd attacked and almost killed Kaida—murder was murder. Their situation wasn't black and white. It wasn't as if they could call 911 and have the sheriff slap cuffs on the guy. He was three-hundred years old, and the only way to be rid of him once and for all was to use the witching blade on him. Or break the curse.

As a group, they'd talked about this before. Tristan had stepped up and said he'd do the deed if it came down to it. Riley wasn't a fighter by nature. He and Ceara were the same in that, if faced with having to protect the others, maybe they could use violence. In theory. Brady and Kaida? Probably. Tristan and Fiona? Yes. They wouldn't like it and it would haunt them, but yes.

The entire conversation had Riley's gut twisted and dinner settling like lead. A few months ago, his hardest decision was what ale to order at the pub and which blonde to flirt with next.

"How goes it with the task?" Kaida asked. She glanced between him and Fiona. "Any ideas?"

Riley shook his head, but Fiona nodded and took a sip of wine.

"I had a dream last night. I don't know if it means anything, but Celeste appeared." She shrugged at the surprised expressions around her. "I wasn't too happy about it."

They'd spent the entire day together and she was just mentioning this now? And here he'd thought they'd made progress in working through their communication issues. Dare he say the rest of the afternoon had almost been pleasant? Yet she'd not uttered one word about something of significance to their goal.

Ceara studied her sister, calm as always. "What did she say?"

Toying with the stem of her glass, Fiona pursed her lips. "She said I couldn't do this alone and that there was strength in numbers."

Brady made a sound of disgust. "This again? Kaida and I brought the families together, mended the rift. Our task was to find home, in all its forms. We already did that."

"Yes, but the definition might be different for them." Kaida rubbed her forehead. "Fiona is independent and doesn't ask for help. No offense," she added quickly. "Perhaps Celeste was telling her to lean on us a little more."

Riley figured that was about as likely as him becoming a UFC champion, but he kept mum, not wanting to rile Fiona. She tended to listen to her sisters better than she ever would him and this whole thing was about discovering their task to move toward completion. Far be it for him to assume he had any knowledge on the subject of the craft or the woman in question.

"That's a great theory," Ceara agreed. "Logical, too. Since she's paired with Riley, we can take a wild guess she should lean on him the most."

He choked on his wine, coughing violently. "Me?" Grabbing his water, he chugged to give himself a second and cool his raw throat. The day Fiona Galloway had to rely on anyone, namely someone like him, would be the first, last, and only sign the apocalypse was pending. "She doesn't need me. Aren't I the bling to her outfit or something? A sidekick?"

Fiona smacked him on the back. Hard. "We'll get you fitted for tights and a cape."

"Hilarious." He wiped his mouth with a napkin. "I'm serious. What's wrong with her the way she is?" He sought her sisters for an answer.

Kaida offered an all-knowing grin. "Hear that Fiona? He thinks you're perfect."

True story. "Ceara, help a guy out here."

She studied Fiona a careful beat. "Did Celeste say anything else?"

A snort, and Fiona rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that anger would cloud my purpose. There's freedom in letting go."

He gazed heavenward. "Great. I'll alert Disney. The witch has seen the movie Frozen. We can build an ice castle and sing mountainside."

Kaida tilted her head. "Fiona would look fabulous in that blue dress."

The two sisters bumped knuckles while he dropped his forehead to the table. Banged it a few times.

"Kaida dreamed about her, too, in the beginning." Tristan grazed his fingertips over his lips in thought and glanced at Fiona. "We didn't know it at the time, but she gave her a hint. Told her to come home. Like it or not, I think you need to heed her statement and listen."

"I'll take it under advisement," she drolled in that tone that said she really wouldn't, and rose. "I'm going to walk home."

Not by herself, she wasn't.

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