Bewitched (Betwixt & Between #2) - Darynda Jones Page 0,54
down. Thirty-seven thousand flights later, I emerged in the cavern. I heard water dripping to my left and water running to my right. I went right.
The flashlight on my phone helped me navigate the rough floor, but not much. The cave had more water in it this time, clearly tethered to the tide. My boots soaked through, and instantly I was wet once again. Not in a good way. Not in a Roane way.
I followed the water for seventeen miles or possibly a quarter of a mile. It was hard to tell. I came to an iron grate that had been pushed aside as though someone had recently entered it or exited it. The metal hinges had been cut through with something either very sharp or very hot. I ducked through a small opening and emerged through a grouping of vines and bushes into the middle of nowhere.
I had no idea where I was, but I followed the GPS back to the house, my toes frozen. I didn’t want to call anyone. It was nearing four in the morning. The more I walked, the warmer I got. But I doubted my toes would ever forgive me. I took more turns than a Stephen King novel, ending up on Lafayette then Dodge then Normal. I was finally back at the house and, more importantly, my vintage mint green Volkswagen Beetle came into view.
After fishing my keys out of my pocket with fingers that had lost all feeling about ten minutes into the walk, I tiptoed to the bug, then stopped to listen. When I heard nothing but the sound of my own wheezing, I inserted the key into the lock as slowly as I could, unsure of how far Percy’s domain reached, and turned.
That was when I saw them. The vines. Coming at me en masse like a wall of black razor wire.
I ran.
He followed.
“Percival Goode! You stop this right now! Oh, hi, Parris!” I waved.
The human drama detector next door picked that moment to step onto her front porch.
A part of me couldn’t help but be impressed. Did she ever sleep? Was she a racoon? An owl? A vampire? At this point, nothing would surprise me.
“Hey, Defia—are you okay?” she asked, her hand freezing in midair.
“Wonderful. Thanks.” I ran past her walkway, but I could still feel Percy nipping at my heels. “Percival, damn it!” How could he come this far? Wasn’t he bound to the house? Or, at the very least, our property line?
I was just about to run past Parris’s driveway when a huge black truck pulled into it. I slammed into the side. It was not pretty.
The window rolled down and a very angry wolfman by the name of Roane Wildes glared at me. “Really?” he asked. “You’re going out alone again?”
I dusted myself off. “It’s late. I didn’t want to wake anyone.”
“Anyone like me?”
I heard heavy breathing behind me and turned to see five feet of fury hurrying up to us. She was wheezing, too. It made me feel better about my own inability to fill and empty my lungs while partaking in strenuous activity without making a whistling sound.
“You were going to leave me again?” Nette asked.
“It’s late,” I repeated. “And how do you know I left you in the first place?”
“You mean when you almost got killed saving that little girl and her mom without me? Everyone knows!” She waved an arm to demonstrate the totality of it all. “Percy woke up the entire house.”
My lips parted in surprise. “I’m so sorry.” How many times had I said that tonight? Then I looked behind her, but Percival was nowhere near me. He had indeed stopped at our property line. But I could’ve sworn—
“I’m not mad about him waking me up.” She poked me softly in the chest. “I’m mad that you didn’t. And that you almost got killed without me.”
Oops. “Fine, next time I almost get myself killed, I promise to almost get you killed, as well.”
“See?” She threw her hands into the air and shrugged. “That’s all I ask,” she said, bending at the waist, still gasping for air. Goddess, we were out of shape.
I decided to turn the tables on her. “This is all your fault, anyway.”
“How is this my fault?” she asked Parris’s sidewalk.
“You took the messages. Now they’re, like, summoning me.”
She bolted upright. “How?”
“They’re all bright and summony. I don’t know.”
“So.” She, crossed her arms over her heaving bosom. “You haven’t lost your powers after all.”