Past Tense Book One by Odette C. Bell

Author:Odette C. Bell [Bell, Odette C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Odette C. Bell

10

I was discharged from the hospital and driven home. By Ned Kelly, no less. Did you want to know what kind of driver Ned was? Oh, mad as hell.

He came screeching around the corner so fast, hooting so wildly, it was a surprise we didn’t have police helicopters chasing us. He slammed his foot on the brake just outside of the house and came to a careening stop. He mounted the pavement so hard, I jostled to the side, falling against Julius.

Julius pressed one finger into my shoulder and pushed me away as if he did not want to be touched by such trash. Then he rearranged his robes, pushed his wreath up his head, and got out of the car.

I had to find my nerves first, and my footing. I staggered onto the pavement, eyes still rolling around in the back of my skull. I grabbed the top of the car and faced Ned seriously. “Do you have any idea what would’ve happened if a police officer had seen us?”

“A shootout?” he asked hopefully.

I rolled my eyes.

Rather than heading into the house, he ran into the backyard and produced his rifle from his magical pocket.

I very carefully shut the gate behind me. The truth was he could do whatever he wanted in the yard. Just as Amelia could fly honest to God planes, he could pretend to rob any bank and have shootouts with the birds.

Open the gate, of course, and that would be a different equation.

I paused at the gate now. I let my fingers slide across it. Julius was just a step behind me. He watched. “Yes. It happened there.” He pointed over my shoulder, words hardly gentle. “Had your grandmother managed to get to the gate and push through, I could’ve saved her. She didn’t. Let that be the warning you apparently need.”

I sighed and looked at him. “I don’t see what I did wrong. I got the cursed ring, didn’t I?” I shoved a hand into my pocket and revealed it now.

“Yes, you did. Losing your life is never to be part of the equation of fulfilling your duty, however. If you die—”

“What’s the big deal?” I breezed past him, though of course I did think that me dying would be a big deal. “Won’t you just find the last pocket of past witches, indenture them, and make a new set of eternal slaves?”

His lip twitched. It was clear he was whirring up like an old bomb getting ready to explode. I would prefer for him to do that inside, preferably while I nursed coffee and a biscuit.

Speaking of which – the door was open. “Crap. Who’s out now? It’s not Genghis, right? Do tell me,” I reached over and placed my hand on Julius’s shoulder, body admittedly and unashamedly shaking, “you haven’t let Genghis Khan out, have you?”

“I know my limitations. When Genghis has his first visit into the real world, you will be his chaperone,” Julius said cruelly. He grabbed his toga, neatened

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