His Dark Magic by Pat Esden

Author:Pat Esden
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-10-31T11:39:30+00:00

Chapter 18

You can leap off a cliff like the Fool, But it’s what you do once you reach shore that determines who you are.

—Athena Marsh, high priestess, Northern Circle

The warmth of the morning sun soaked Chloe’s skin. All around her blackbirds chattered in the weeds. Don’t go. Don’t go, they seemed to cackle. You belong here…

She blocked out their voices. This had been a wonderful dream, the coven, Devlin, magic and medicine. But she’d been foolish. Irresponsible. Shortsighted. She’d heard those words about herself enough over the years to know it was the truth.

Not slowing her pace, she texted Keshari.

We need to talk. Meet after class, okay?

Putting her phone back in her bag, she jogged the last few yards to the end of the driveway, then up the street to the bus stop. Commuter traffic flooded by. Sweat soaked the back of her shirt. Hopefully, a bus would show up soon. She needed to get out of here. Bury herself in her studies. Prepare for her MCAT exams. Move on. Not look back. Do the sane, smart thing. She’d find a cure for the boy on her own, someday, somehow. What they’d done for Em with the crystals gave her a place to start.

The smothered chirp of her phone vibrated through her bag. She let out a relieved breath. Thank goodness for Keshari.

She retrieved her phone. As she checked the message, a sick feeling twisted in her stomach. Not Keshari. A text from Devlin. Damn it.

Without reading the message, she buried the phone in her bag, deeper this time. She had to do this. She had lost sight of the path she’d been on. She’d tone down the witchcraft side of her life. Stick to meditation. Basic rituals. She’d use the Tears of Tara salt to keep the Circle or anyone from spying on her. She’d lie to Juliet. Tell her she was taking a break from the Craft.

A crushing tightness squeezed her chest. She glanced over her shoulder, toward the complex. Only a couple of windows in the main building’s top floor were visible in the distance. Joining the Circle had been a dream come true. But it had to become a brief memory, before guilt and regret ruined it. It had to be replaced by sanity.

Two women joined her at the stop.

A second later, the hiss of the city bus’s brakes sounded down the street. Chloe spotted it, moving with the traffic, stopping to drop off and pick up riders, then working its way closer. She lowered her gaze and focused on her feet, scuffing at the street-side gravel and crumpled leaves, waiting for the seconds to pass.

She raised her head as a car pulled up to the curb a few yards away.

Her mouth went dry. Dear Goddess. Not just any car. An orange BMW coupe. Devlin’s car.

He lowered the passenger window and smiled. “Need a ride?”

The bus hissed up behind his car. Chloe patted her ear, gesturing like she couldn’t hear him over the noise.

“Got to go,” she shouted.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.