“Oh, I don’t think I have much to fear,” Esmeralda said, a slow smile inching up the corners of her mouth.
“Don’t kid yourself,” Jack said, and as if to underscore the statement, there was another howl, closer now, almost directly next to the house. “It is very dangerous out there.”
“I’m sure it is, deary,” she said, and that smile just kept inching up, her mouth almost inhumanly large. She held up her hand, which glowed faintly. “But that should handle things quite nicely.”
“Excuse me?” Jack asked, looking around, but Red felt a chill run through him. That was no trick of the light. That was…magic.
“What did you just do?” Red asked, trying not to voice the sudden desperation he felt. Trust Big to pick the one defenseless old woman who knew how to use magic. There was a rumble and the
