Spellbound

Chapter 2-3

Lying down to sleep that night did feel strange, despite the promise of that king-size bed. She slept on a queen at home, so it wasn’t as if she wasn’t used to having room to move around in her sleeping arrangements. No, it was more that the bed faced the wrong direction, and it was so very dark out here. And quiet. She’d thought her parents’ house quiet enough, since their neighborhood was fairly secluded and not that much traffic passed by, but this was so still she thought she could hear the whisper of owls’ wings as they flew through the sleeping forest that surrounded the cabin.

She rolled over onto her side and squished the pillow a little to get it into the proper shape. That felt better. Problem was, when she shut her eyes, she seemed to see Matías staring back at her, that knowing half-smile on his lips, as if even now he was laughing at her, at her feeble attempts to put her life back together.

“Laugh’s on you, asshole,” she murmured into the darkness. “You’re the one in prison.”

And yet…hadn’t he put her in her own kind of prison? Considering how circumscribed her life had been over the past few months, was she any freer than he?

No. She wouldn’t allow herself to believe that. Sooner or later, she’d be released from the last remnants of his influence. Besides, didn’t she owe it to Roslyn to make the best of her life that she could? Maybe Danica would never be as strong a witch as her sister Mason, who had an uncanny level of control over fire, and to a lesser extent over the weather as well, but there had to be something Danica could do with her own peculiar talent.

Yeah, great talent, she thought. The ability to never be late. Well, not really late, anyway.

Because Danica had discovered around the time she was eleven that she could always produce an extra five minutes whenever she needed them. Running late for school? No problem. Need a little more time to go over your notes before a big test? Not to worry. Spent longer than you’d expected getting ready for a date? The guy you were going out with would never know the difference, because time seemed to stop for the rest of the world while she went about her business.

She had to admit that it had come in handy, but there was nothing particularly interesting or showy about her gift. The clan could always use a seer or a healer or a weather-worker, but this? It didn’t really seem to help anyone except herself.

A shadow passed by outside the window, and Danica startled, heart beginning to pound in her chest. She lay very still, ears straining into the silence, but she heard nothing.

Only an owl, she told herself, passing over the moon. There was supposed to be a full moon tonight, after all.

Except…that shadow had looked a lot bigger than an owl.

She’d locked the doors and most of the windows, but she’d left a few cracked open to let in some fresh air. Maybe someone had seen her coming out this way, thought that a young woman all on her own might be easy prey….

Stop it. Just stop it.

But she couldn’t quite push the fear away, because she knew from personal experience that not all people were good, that some men did enjoy making victims of women. And she might be a Wilcox witch, but she wasn’t that strong. Not really. Although she supposed that extra five minutes could come in handy if she had to flee an assailant.

Even that realization didn’t seem to help, though. To make matters worse, she didn’t have any weapons with her. Well, unless you counted the walking stick that was always propped up in a corner of the main room near the front door.

Better than nothing, she supposed.

She pushed back the covers and got out of bed, glad that she’d gone to sleep wearing a tank top and some yoga pants. At least that way she felt somewhat clothed. After slipping into the flip-flops she’d left by the side of the bed, she padded out into the darkened cabin. It wasn’t completely black because of the moonlight streaming through the unlined curtains at the windows. Because of that faint illumination, she was able to go straight to the walking stick and wrap her hand around it. The smooth wood felt reassuring against her skin, although she had to admit she didn’t know much about using the stick as a weapon. Knock it against the guy’s head and hope for the best, she supposed.

If there was even anyone outside. For all she knew, she’d dozed off briefly and only dreamed that she’d seen someone moving past her window.

That didn’t feel right, though. She hadn’t been asleep, and she had seen something.

Tiptoeing in her flip-flops, she went from window to window, carefully lifting a corner of each curtain so she could peer outside. Each time she saw nothing, only moon-bleached grass and the dark, watching stands of pine trees.

By the time she’d made a complete circuit of the cabin, Danica was feeling like a complete i***t. No one had come by. Even if she hadn’t been sleeping, her brain must have manufactured that shadow. God knows she was already enough on edge after her confrontation with Matías. She should have left that sleeping dog severely alone.

She couldn’t do anything about that now, though, except go back to bed and tell herself to stop jumping at nothing. This experiment in solitude was going to be a big fat failure if she couldn’t settle down.

Still, she’d take the walking stick back with her. No one was around to laugh at her paranoia, and she’d probably sleep better if she knew she only had to reach out and grab the stick if she heard or saw anything else.

A step toward her bedroom, and another. Then she saw it again — a tall shadow, this time moving past one of the front windows. The moonlight seemed to etch its outlines onto the fabric of the curtains.

It was definitely shaped like a man.

Heart pounding, she tightened her grip on the walking stick. Her cell reception was for s**t out here, but the cabin had a landline. Unfortunately, the phone was all the way in the kitchen.

She hardly breathed as she inched her way into the kitchen, wincing when one of her flip-flops slapped a little too loudly against the wooden floor. The phone hung on the wall near the back door, and she abandoned caution and made a beeline for it, transferring the walking stick to her left hand so she could stick the handset under her ear and use her right hand to push the buttons.

Only…there was no dial tone. Nothing. Terror mounting, she jiggled the receiver several times, but the line remained dead. Had the person roaming around outside cut it, or had the phone line been gnawed by animals, or the pole itself been knocked over?

No way of knowing for sure right now, and she supposed it didn’t really matter. Dead was dead.

Then she spied her purse, still sitting on the kitchen counter where she’d dropped it earlier. Thank God. It wasn’t that far from the back door to where she’d parked the Land Rover. She’d grab her purse, get out her keys, and make a break for it. With any luck, the intruder would have wandered over to the far side of the house, and she’d have enough time to climb into the SUV and lock the doors before he could get back to her.

So much for solitude.

She reached in her purse and grabbed her keychain, then slung the bag over her shoulder, keeping the walking stick in her left hand the whole time. Okay, so she was right-handed, but she still might be able to land a lucky blow. No way in hell would she go outside without something to protect her.

After fumbling a little with the back door’s lock, she was able to get outside. A chill wind blew over her, tugging at the ends of her loose hair. She gave a quick glance around but saw nothing. Okay, she could do this.

Gravel crunched under her flip-flops as she hurried over to the Land Rover. Wincing at the noise, she looked around again, but the property appeared completely deserted, the only sign of life a few dead oak leaves moving as the wind picked them up and scudded them a few inches down the driveway.

She’d already punched the button on the key fob, so the SUV was unlocked. As she reached for the door handle, something seemed to flicker in her peripheral vision.

At once she whipped around…then almost dropped the walking stick she held.

He stood at the end of the drive, watching her. His dark hair blew around his face, seemingly driven by a wilder wind than the capricious nighttime breeze that had played with the oak leaves a moment earlier. The tails of the long black coat he wore also flapped in the breeze, showing a pale band-collared shirt underneath.

And…he was gorgeous, at least from what Danica could tell in the uncertain moonlight. Regular features, strong chin, the kind of mouth you’d look at and wonder what it was like to kiss. Which was crazy. She sure as hell shouldn’t be thinking such a thing about an oddly dressed stranger roaming uninvited on her family’s property.

But she was a Wilcox, and since he’d obviously spotted her, she was going to stand her ground. Anyway, she was only a few steps away from the Land Rover’s driver-side door.

“Who are you?” she said clearly, her voice carrying on the night air. “What do you want?”

He didn’t reply, but only stood there and continued to stare at her. Something in that gaze awoke a chill in her body…or maybe it was just the cold wind blowing down from the San Francisco Peaks.

“You’re trespassing,” she went on. She wouldn’t let his silence unnerve her. Okay, she was extremely unnerved, but that didn’t mean she intended to show it. “I know it’s Forest Service land all around here, but this is private property.”

His head tilted, and he glanced away from her to the cabin and then back again. Then he seemed to frown, and turned back toward the forest and began to walk.

There. That was better. He didn’t seem inclined to argue with her, or prolong the confrontation. No, he was only walking calmly into the pine trees, his back to her, and…

…and then he was gone. It wasn’t that he’d gone out of eyeshot. She’d been watching him the whole time, and it was as if he became blurry, then transparent, then…gone.

If she hadn’t been holding the walking stick, she might have had her knees give way then and there. As it was, she clung to the stick, letting it hold her up, while she stared into the darkness where a man had just stood seconds ago.

Had she finally gone completely insane?